Gracie is a sick Snorkelface

Her front leg was double its normal size.

A pelican Snorkelface.

Banjo catching some down time after a good old fashioned 'bleeding'.

About 10 days ago Gracie and Banjo were playing in the backyard and both of them got a bit carried away and they gave each other a bit of touch up. Banjo came off without a scratch but Gracie got a couple of holes in her side and under her neck. There were only small holes and did not appear to need the vet so I patched her up and she seemed fine. Last week the holes became infected and I took her straight to the vet who opened them up, cleaned them out and then stitched her up. She bled really heavily after the operation and the drains they put in her were seeping a lot. This eased up a few hours after she came home so the vet was not too concerned about it.

After a few days later she was not getting better and her face and neck became very swollen and she came out in a bright red bruise. The vet removed the drains in case they were making the wounds worse and put her on more antibiotics. On Monday morning Matt dropped her to the vet as the wounds had opened again and the tissue was weeping and smelt really bad. My vet was baffled as to why she was not getting better so he kept her in to run tests. She was so swollen she looked like a pelican not a beautiful Snorkelface.

Her blood test have shown that she is low in protein and iron but they still can not work out what the underlying problem is. Today they decided to try giving her a blood transfusion to see if that would help the healing so Banjo stuck up his paw to go and help his sister out. Mind you since he is the one that caused the problem he was giving her blood whether he liked it or not. According to the vet nurses he loved every minute of being at the vets and was not phased at all by getting a big needle in the neck. He had a lovely day out and got to sit next to Gracie's cage and eat treats that he conned out of everyone that looked at him. Plus he got to eye off the cat that lives in the surgery and is spolt rotten. Mind you the cat is way smarter than he will ever be and he was muzzled the whole time so who knows what he thought that he would get away with a surgery full of people watching him. He is pretty but not so bright. I might add the surgery cat only has one eye and is still more on the ball than he will ever be.

Gracie wagged her tail and cried when we came in and she looked very happy to see us. She still has a puffy little snout and her neck looks raw and very sore. The vet nurse reports that she is in good spirits considering everything and has not lost her appetite so that is a good sign. All of the blood tests have come back OK (nothing sinister showing up) so at the moment no one can work out what is happening to her.

I miss my little Snorkel. I just want her home with us being a spaz, running around the house with one of my bras in her mouth looking all smug and pleased with herself for finding a bra.

Hurry up and get better Baby Grace because Banjo needs you and he is very sorry that he played rough with you. He promises that you can have all of the brain that you share with him whenever you want it. Besides, he has model looks so a brain is no good to him anyway.