OneGuyFromBarlick

The replacement small blue ball has survived so far.......

Winter has been giving us a nudge over the last week so I have made things a little warmer for my 'Lady of the Manor'.
Aah bless

We should all be looked after like our animals are!

Jack has a good diet and routine and this morning as usual he produced two satisfactory evacuations within the first 15 minutes of our walk. Right on schedule as usual. But then he went AWOL in Valley gardens for five minutes, no sweat I just waited until he remembered who he had come out with and we resumed our walk. Then came the surprising bit, something I have never see before in a lifetime of being a companion animal. Inside 5 minutes he produced three more evacuations which were mainly fresh green grass. Nothing surprising about that and that must have been what he was doing when he vanished. What does amaze me is the speed that the grass moved through him. Talk about good transit times! This must be some sort of a record and he must have the cleanest bowels in Barlick!

By the end of yesterday, because of a very active afternoon exploring my mate's estate in Lancashire, Jack had produced six bowel movements, the last one being form. He sensibly refused the biscuit in his tea and only ate the meat. He's fine this morning, only one delivery but firm. He appears to have surmounted his little blow-through yesterday!

Jack has made a full recovery and is getting back on to his grub again with no visible after effects. He's a tough little bugger! John was reminding me on Sunday about the Patterdale I gave him for a cab dog, it lived to be be 23! I may have to put up with Jack a little longer.....



Jess at 20 years old. Patterdales tend to go grey as they age, Jack has started now at ten years old.....

Remember that at this time of year it's a good plan to get some of those flea drops that you just dab into the middle of a dog or cat's back. This is just the time of year for them to attack!

I spent £6 on a small vial of the flea treatment at the vet's yesterday and applied it. Expensive but worth every penny, Jack has been doing too much scratching and personal grooming of late but there was an immediate improvement. It's very affective stuff! Dog-watching is fascinating and an integral part of stockmanship.....

We do the same monthly with our cats through spring and summer, costs a lot more than £6.00 though. We need different brands for each of our two cats as one has an allergic reaction to a particular brand.

For my cat I use one of those drop on the back of the neck ones every 3 months. I think they are $16 each time.

That's the same as this one at £6 Cathy.

I think I hit the nail on the head with the flea drops. Far less scratching and grooming. I shall keep my eye on him and repeat in a few weeks.....

Have you also given him fresh bedding Stanley incase there are any flea eggs in his old bedding?

He sleeps on the blanket that covers the sofa and I washed it about a week ago Cathy. I think we may be safe. Good point though, many people forget the bedding....

Excelpet Fleaban Insecticidal Spray is set to be removed from shelves, it has been found to be highly toxic after some cat owners have claimed the product left their pets shaking and frothing at the mouth.

When in Australia I often wondered about the anti-mossie spray that everyone used...... I'm always suspicious about something that is so powerful!

A couple of good doggie stories on the BBC science news web pages at the moment...

`How did dogs become our best friends? New evidence' LINK

`Why dogs are friendly - it's written in their genes' LINK

I find nothing to argue about in either story. Dogs do what best aids their survival as do babies. They have learned over time that smiling gets attention and so it's fixed in their genes. Powerful stuff survival!

Whose got Chooks?
Last week our states Sunday paper received a letter from a lady saying her chook had laid an egg weighing 93gm. Many others replied with weights going up to 120gms. Bearing in mind that most eggs weigh about 50gms almost all the eggs were double yolkers.
Here's a list of some names given to these egg-ceptional eggs.
Eggy Murphy
Susan Boiled
Dwight Yolkem
Eggy Pop
Yolkel Harum
Yolko Ono
Egg Sheeran
Egglebert Humperdinck
Kevin Bacon and eggs
Googie Withers
Pope Benedict
Breggsit
Teggsas
Great Eggspectations
Mt Eggerest

Some of them 'cracked' me up...

I think Wendy is the only one Cathy. At one time many people had a few hens in the pen but it's easier to buy them..... Some of them will have no idea where their eggs come from! It's usually old layers that produce these big eggs.....

One of my girls lays big eggs from time to time but hers aren't double yolkers. I feel sorry for her as she is a very lightweight hybrid. I've been given an early birthday present of 2 gold laced Black Orpingtons, they are huge birds but will only lay small eggs, that OK with me! I'll take a piccy later, they are very good looking girls.

The article also says that a hen is born with about 4000 ovum, or yolks, inside her and once they've been laid, there will be no more.

I've seen Buff Orpingtons.....

I've only just been enlightened about eggs, 71 years and whatever will I discover next? I thought the yolk became the chicken but it is only what the embryo feeds off.

I share your wonder China. I learn surprising things almost every day!
Jack had a good day yesterday with his mate Mick, Susan's husband. He was exhausted when we finally got back in the hutch!