The Vets

I had the edge taken off my excitement big time. This morning I went out to do the bird feeders and as I opened the back door, one of my hen Blackbirds, the original one I'm pretty sure, been around for at least 3 years, came out from under the holly flapping madly, couldn't take off and ended up gasping for air, wings spread in my woodbark border. I picked her up and thought she maybe had crashed into a window and was stunned. So I popped her in the shed in a box, did the feeders, had a look and she was still laying with her wings spread, so thought I'd give her a bit longer. After an hour, no change so I thought I'd best look at her more closely. Both her legs were broken. Heartbroken, I doubted there would be anything that could be done but anyway took her when I went with Emma to see Damien.

I got there 3 minutes after the afternoon surgery started, and there were already 6 people waiting. The only spare chair (there were people in couples) was next to a bloke in overalls. No problem I thought. The longer I sat there though, I realised I'd made a big mistake. He absolutely stunk. He had no pet with him either. He smelled like rotting fish. I was nearly puking. I wondered why he was just sitting there as people came and went. In the end, I got up and went to the reception desk and spoke to Elin about my bill, and then accidentally sat down in the next seat along when I went back, as this was now vacant. The stench wasn't quite so strong then. Turned out he was a puppy breeder I think, when it was his turn (he wasn't seeing Damien) he went out to his vehicle and brought in carry boxes full of puppies. :(

Anyway, I sat there a bloody hour and a half in the end, and was losing the will to live frankly. Emma, who normally sits under the seat as good as gold, kept coming out and looking at me, looking at everyone else, bored out of her brains. There was a young bloke with a Staffie that screamed, whined, cried and huffed non-stop, despite the guy's best efforts at fussing him to keep him quiet. If Damien had been on any other day this week, I would have walked out I think.

Anyway, as anticipated the poor blackbird had to be put down. We couldn't work out what had happened to her. So upsetting poor thing, I'm sure she is the original hen, and the mother of two of the others I have here, all three of them were completely different to look at one has a white throat, one a goldy coloured chest, and she was just plain brown. If she'd been hit by a car, I think there would have been some more injuries, so maybe she got her legs caught in something. I was hoping one of them would be okay, but they were both smashed out of her shoulders, so no hope for her, it would have been impossible to heal her and she wouldn't have been able to feed, or take off. Wouldn't have lasted five minutes in the wild.

So Emma had her anal glands done, no screaming this time although she did wriggle a bit. Damien reckons something is not quite right with her left hand one, and we need to keep a check on it, say perhaps within the next 8 weeks. If it gets any worse, it could mean surgery. So not particularly good news there either.

He said "see you" when I went out the door. I wish.... *swoon*