Black Doggerel

Woo hoo! Blogathon signups are now open. I have signed up, and now I'm begging you all to sponsor me.

**Click here to sponsor me. You know you want to.**

This year I'll be doing my brain-fried, caffeine-fuelled song-and-dance in aid of The People's Dispensary For Sick Animals. This is a UK-based charity that covers veterinary treatment for pet owners on low incomes - such as myself, for example. I wouldn't have been able to give homes to the pets I have here if they didn't exist; and if that were the case I'd probably not be here, never mind where my dogs and cats might have been. I owe them more than I could repay if I blogged myself senseless for a year; but this is a start. So please help me, my darlings; I promise to do my very best to make it worth your while in entertainment value.

Yesterday I noticed Squish shaking his head more than I was happy about. I looked in his ears and was mortified to find one of them red, swollen and oozing inside. I do check his ears, but I clearly haven't been checking them nearly often enough. I really feel that I dropped the ball on this one. I won't be letting myself drop it again.

So, vet today. One ear was still pretty bad and the other ear, which hadn't been red yesterday, was red today. It's a bacterial infection, and he got an antibiotic shot in the back of the neck and a bottle of Canaural.

The vet we saw today was Jenny. I've never had anything but good experiences with any of the vets there, but I'm always especially glad to see Jenny, because she was Scampi's vet. It's largely thanks to Jenny that Scampi retained his mobility and his quality of life right up until halfway through his seventeenth year, and it's thanks to Jenny that he went peacefully and swiftly when the time came. I've given Jenny the URL for this blog, so maybe she'll read this entry; if you do, I don't think I need to tell you how grateful I am to have had you in my dogs' lives.

And that brings me to this: It's almost Blogathon time again. This year I'm going to be blogging in aid of the PDSA. That's the organisation Jenny works for, and without their existence I would not have been able to have Scampi, Spike or Squish in my life at all. I owe them more than I could ever possibly repay. Blogathon registration isn't open yet, so I don't have a little handy link for people to sponsor me yet - but I will soon. So please to be watching this space.