Murphy had a reprieve from the nasty needle...Susie had been called out and the other small animal Vet, whose name is Evie, was snowed under...with small animals I presume, I could visualise her under a heap of Hamsters and Gerbils...so now our appointment is tomorrow afternoon.
There are farm animal and horse Vets in the practice but they stump in and out with muddy boots and blood-stained jeans...open the 'fridge door and search inside for medication... filling their pockets with syringes and interesting looking phials...they grunt at the receptionist and stump out again, to drive away with a scattering of gravel in important Land-Rovers with Vet On Call signs stuck to the windscreen.
There's an enormously over-weight cat which sleeps on a chair behind the counter and a little dog of indeterminate breed that customers? clients? are allowed to open the door for when he asks to go out...but then you have to keep an eye open for when he wants to come in again.
Murphy spat at him last week...the little dog looked quite affronted.
When we were doing the animal rescue we came across a Vet who was willing to neuter the male dogs for nothing...there was a catch of course...you had to help. Goodness knows where she came from...she must have been six foot tall and had a very large chest which she tried to stuff into a pair of blue overalls...it didn't work, so she'd tied the sleeves round her middle.
We met at the cottage of another couple in the rescue malarkey...they had what was once a cowshed at the back of their cottage and this was where the Vet performed the operations.
There was no electricity...but Pat found an ancient oil lamp and some kerosene and a handy hook in the roof...she was awful fierce...not Pat...the Vet. She was German and spoke little English so we were mostly in the dark as she issued orders...none of us able for more German than a rather rude song we'd learnt...
That afternoon she neutered twelve dogs...and there wasn't a mite of bother afterwards...none of them had any infections...they all came round quickly from the anaesthetic and were right as nine-pence the following day. She handed Pat a plastic bag with the testes in it...
When we were living at the other cottage we had a lovely Vet called Majella...she was a real sweetheart. She'd tackle anything...even the big Boar we'd borrowed to mate with our pigs...he wasn't in the least bit interested though. But our pigs were...they'd eaten their way through to his pen and bitten his snout...left teeth marks actually. Because he was a borrow I 'phoned Majella in fright...please can you do something about his bleeding nose...
She peered over the top of his pen and said 'Oooo, he's quite a big chap isn't he?' but fair play to her, she scrambled over the top of the pen...didn't want to open the gate in case he made a run for freedom...jabbed him with anti-biotics and smeared his sore snout with something or other...then she had a cup of coffee and a rollie.
At the other end of the social scale of Vets, there is the one in Sligo town who is seriously grand. Maureen and I took a maggoty sheep to him before we knew any better...he emerged from his room wearing a white jacket...like an American Doctor...the receptionist had perfectly manicured nails and must have spent a small fortune on her hair highlights...we'd tied a dog lead round the sheeps neck and it stood there on the pristine floor of the waiting room bleating at the top of its voice while both peeing and pooing...the poor animal had so many maggots on its rear end that some dropped off onto the floor.
Maureen had a fit of giggles...the Vet raised an eyebrow and stepped hastily backwards, while a child waiting with his Mother burst into floods of tears...
We edged towards the door...dragging sheep with us...said so sorry for bothering you...and collapsed into gales of laughter once we were back on the pavement.
Sheep was grand...we drove all the way to Sabine's and she didn't mind the maggots or the poo and spoke kindly to sheep while she made the both of us wash our hands with tea-tree soap.
Parish Records Are Brilliant!
