Aaah, Raffles!
Oct. 4th, 2020 04:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anefHad arranged to visit my mother Thursday-Saturday, followed by a <6 meeting in a pub garden for Saturday lunch. As I start packing on Thursday morning I notice that Raffles has a copiously weepy eye. Normally I would leave it overnight to see if it cleared up, but I can't leave it for the weekend.
Rang the vet. "I can fit you in at 5pm," said the helpful receptionist. "That's great. Er, you haven't got anything earlier , have you?" "I don't actually have an appointment at 5. I am fitting you in." "Right, lovely, see you then."
At 4.30 we squeeze Raffles, complaining loudly, into his lovely new cat box. The front door falls off its hinges. We cram it back on and haul cat across to the vet. We wait in the car park for half an hour, because Covid means no waiting rooms. By now I am deeply depressed at the idea of a) cancelling the weekend and b) trying to put eye ointment onto Raffles twice a day. Which we have done once and it was a Nightmare.
Although it has been raining, it has fortunately stopped for the moment. I sit on a slightly damp plastic chair. While waiting we find out a lot more than we really wanted to about another pet owner's dog's internal workings. Finally the vet comes out. "Which eye was it, then?" she enquires cheerfully. Raffles glares at me from two (now) identically clear golden orbs. "That one," I point, adding "He's a nightmare to treat with eye ointment, by the way. The last time it happened we had to get one of the nurses to come round twice a day to help us. Of course, if we had to..."
Vet hauls cat carrier into surgery. Ten minutes later she emerges, opining that although there is a very slight reddening of the (cornea?) she thinks we can manage without the eye ointment, and it should be OK to abandon him for the next couple of days. General rejoicing. "But he has put on weight again, another 0.3 kilos." That makes him 7.8 kilos. We then spend another 10 minutes discussing diets. "We need to aim for 7 kilos," says the vet firmly. I agree to stop feeding him Hills TD, as he has lost most of his teeth by now anyway, and swallows the biscuits whole.
We finally set off at about 6.30, and make it to my mother's by about 9 pm, completely shattered.
Rang the vet. "I can fit you in at 5pm," said the helpful receptionist. "That's great. Er, you haven't got anything earlier , have you?" "I don't actually have an appointment at 5. I am fitting you in." "Right, lovely, see you then."
At 4.30 we squeeze Raffles, complaining loudly, into his lovely new cat box. The front door falls off its hinges. We cram it back on and haul cat across to the vet. We wait in the car park for half an hour, because Covid means no waiting rooms. By now I am deeply depressed at the idea of a) cancelling the weekend and b) trying to put eye ointment onto Raffles twice a day. Which we have done once and it was a Nightmare.
Although it has been raining, it has fortunately stopped for the moment. I sit on a slightly damp plastic chair. While waiting we find out a lot more than we really wanted to about another pet owner's dog's internal workings. Finally the vet comes out. "Which eye was it, then?" she enquires cheerfully. Raffles glares at me from two (now) identically clear golden orbs. "That one," I point, adding "He's a nightmare to treat with eye ointment, by the way. The last time it happened we had to get one of the nurses to come round twice a day to help us. Of course, if we had to..."
Vet hauls cat carrier into surgery. Ten minutes later she emerges, opining that although there is a very slight reddening of the (cornea?) she thinks we can manage without the eye ointment, and it should be OK to abandon him for the next couple of days. General rejoicing. "But he has put on weight again, another 0.3 kilos." That makes him 7.8 kilos. We then spend another 10 minutes discussing diets. "We need to aim for 7 kilos," says the vet firmly. I agree to stop feeding him Hills TD, as he has lost most of his teeth by now anyway, and swallows the biscuits whole.
We finally set off at about 6.30, and make it to my mother's by about 9 pm, completely shattered.
