the mighty (temporarily) fallen

So yesterday Barry and Charlie were under the house barking because there was a cat in there (doing the worst thing a cat can do as far as they're concerned: it was out of their reach and seemingly didn't give a loose root about their presence). After I got them out for a second time, I noticed Barry had quite a bit of blood on his foot. I called the vet and the vet nurse said well if it's stopped bleeding and it's not obviously deep just wash it in salty water and it should be fine. There was a lot of blood around, but Barry wasn't bleeding, so I washed his leg and went to work.

Still, I am pernickety about Barry so I called the vet and made an appointment for later in the afternoon. When I got back, both Barry and Charlie were up the back of the garden barking at the dogs over the fence (this happens about 10 times a day, they're so creative). There was blood everywhere, including in their bed. It finally dawned on me - it wasn't Barry that had been bleeding at all, just Charlie. And copiously enough that it looked like Barry was bleeding because he was just happily trotting through Charlie's blood.

So Charlie and I went to the vet and it was nowhere near as bad as it looked. She had spent all day with it (the cut is somewhere in the paw, but not on the pads) so she had blood all over her face, she looked like she'd been in some kind of traumatic horror crash or something, but she was fine. There she is above with her tail wrapped as tightly as possible round her arse (of course for all she knows she'll have a thermometer stuck up there a second time, though she didn't seem to mind the first) and looking determinedly towards freedom.

She's comfortable now, though panting a bit. I just forced a pill into her mouth, something I never thought was possible.

Oh yeah and my sister Nicola had a baby (Jemima) and my friend and colleague at work, Anna, did too (Evelyne). But Charlie cut her foot!