We went to the vets today, me and Norman.  Just to be clear, unlike the time I had a bike crash and got the vet to check me over, this time Norman was the only patient.  It was just for a vaccination but we’d not been for a year so he was weighed.  It seems that what I thought was fat fur is actually just fat.  Half of his body weight again compared to last year to be exact.  So Norman is now on a diet and I am on a guilt trip.

Fat fur or fatness? Norman is really not bothered either way.

I seem to be slightly obsessed with animals at the moment.  First, it was watching the geckos at night on holiday, while they had territory wars over who caught moths from which part of the wall (incidentally, they make noises like teeny, tiny chickens.  And no, I wasn’t drunk.).

Then I got all upset when Norman woke me up earlier this week with a petrified frog.  They cry, I swear.  It almost made me cry while I took him somewhere peaceful and out of the way of paws as it was clear that froggy was not long for this world thanks to Norman.

Before we were called in at the vets today I asked a very sad looking lady in the waiting room if she was ok.  She burst into tears – her cat Daisy is very poorly and was being referred to the Royal Veterinary College in London.  One look at Daisy and I almost started crying too.  So we sat together chatting about all things feline and I rubbed her back when she cried (how is that supposed to help?  And what instinct makes you do it?  It’s weird.)  She has given the vet permission to let me know how Daisy gets on so I’ll call on Monday.  Paws crossed.

And finally, there is the penguin.  Years ago a friend bought me a noise activated penguin back from Asia.  It barks (?!), dances and lights up.  It was very kind but drove me bonkers so I stuck it in a cupboard.  A few nights ago it fell out of the cupboard and miraculously, it still works.  Unfortunately I have no idea where the instructions are on how to turn the damn thing off, so I hid him under a bag of chocolate biscuits in the cupboard.  He still did his barking though – so much so that Norman heard him and started trying to get in the cupboard.  And the noise of that started the penguin barking again…and so on.  In the end, I stuck a giant Toblerone (the obligatory one you have to buy at duty free on the way home from holiday) and two bags of jelly sweets on top of the biscuits and the noise eventually stopped.  Only now all of that sweet loveliness is out of bounds unless I want to set the penguin off again.  It looks like it’s not just Norman on a diet now :o)

Oh, and finally, finally, I can’t finish an animal based post without showing you the two, four week old hippos puppies currently residing with Sister 1, her husband, Little Pea and her three other dogs (two of which are the parents to the hippos puppies).  Sister 1 doesn’t really do things by halves!  :o)

And finally, finally, finally:

Have a lovely weekend :o)