Zoo Day No 2... Not

No Zoo Day today - a much more pressing matter to deal with!

Yesterday Archie developed a wee malaise. Not much, just the occasional retching - nothing coming up. He seemed fine, and was certainly not off his food, nor yet was he loathe to charge around the hillside with the other dogs.

In the evening the coughing/retching began to get more frequent, sometimes with a foamy dishcarge, which he rapidly lapped up if we weren't quick enough. About 9pm, we considered taking him to the emergency vet, and rang them. They were quick (and sensible) to point out that to come in the door at that time of night was immediately £108... any medication or treatment on top of that. Luckily, he seemed to settle for the night. Phew.

I took him along this morning. Yes, he has Kennel Cough and has some medicine to take for a few days. It's not in his chest, so the vet wasn't too concerned, but did say he had the most beautiful teeth he'd seen in a while. A more reasonable £43.75, including medicine. Mind you, on my first visit to the vet many months ago, when we had a bill of £40-odd for a five minute consultation, I declared it was daylight robbery!

As we waited at the bus stop, a lady who was also waiting pointed to Archie and gave me the fingers, mouthing something I couldn't hear because of traffic. Did she not approve of dogs on buses? I went over to find out what her problem was.

Turns out she was telling me that she had TWO schnauzers at home! We had a good chat while waiting for the overdue bus.

The vet suggested we don't go for a big run around today, and to keep away from other dogs, so as not to pass it on. So we played around with an indoor blip. This is no Photoshop trickery! We tried this a few times, and then he managed to flip it up and catch it!!

Archie the Wonder Dog.

PS That haircut is getting nearer...