In the black

Charlie the Moodle hasn’t been himself since he got his claw caught in his ear last week.

When we go for our morning walk he takes a few steps, puts his tail to one side and swings his head around in agitation, then stares at me imploringly until I pick him up.

I took him home after the walk yesterday and he just lay wanly in his bed. He didn’t even lift his head when the youngest turned up unexpectedly because she’d accidentally left her school skirt at my place.

My panic started to escalate and I made a few frantic calls to vets, with a catch in my voice as I explained the situation and begged for an appointment.

I managed to score a 10am at a vet around the corner from my place and texted DD to tell him about the latest drama.

DD asked if I’d tried throwing a ball for Charlie. Charlie is obsessed with chasing balls.

I doubted it would make a difference, but I gave it a try. Charlie leapt to his feet and dashed off down the hallway after the ball.

I ditched the tremor in my voice at that point.

At 10am I carried the maudlin Moodle to the vet and ran through his symptoms.

It turned out Charlie had an ear infection and impacted anal glands.

Sexy talk.

The vet stuck a cotton bud in Charlie’s ear and it came out covered in black stuff. Then he carried him off down the hallway to have his ears cleaned and his anal glands expressed.

More sexy talk.

The bill was even sexier: $350.

Jaysus on a jetski.

That was the cheapest option, which involves me putting the drops in Charlie’s ears twice daily.

It would have been even more expensive to go for the once a day medication and wallet crushing to get a treatment injected into his ears that provided a week of treatments.

I am not convinced Charlie has been cured, as he put his tail to one side and swivelled his head wildly all the way home.

But he does seem perkier, as you would be after having your anal glands expressed by a vet who looked a bit like Dr Chris Brown.

In other news, I went out last night with some old magazine mates. We’re all slightly ADD and very menopausal.

We talked at a million miles an hour and the conversation jumped around like a caffeinated rabbit.

But I found the verbal mania oddly relaxing. As we hugged goodbye I noted to my friend that I wasn’t burdened by the normal guilt I feel after social engagements.

The conversation had been rapid-fire, filled with loud laughter and often so intense that it was difficult to get a word in. We all had very strong opinions about so many topics and we expressed them forcefully.

I didn’t feel that I hogged the conversation. We all did.

I was a bit exhausted though because it was after 10pm when we finally came up for air after four hours of rapid-fire chitter chat.

Way past my bedtime.

And I still had to work out how to put drops in Charlie’s ears. I thought it would be a doddle, but it turns out when you lift a Moodle’s ear it’s impossible to find the canal. Everything is hairy and convoluted, with no obvious hole.

I eventually squirted and hoped for the best.

It’s going to be a yawn-filled day.

Song of the day: Talk Talk