Feathers And Eggs
What a mess! That was my first thought when I opened my door. Jasper and Rosa came flying around the corner of the kitchen. If I thought my house was a shambles, it was nothing compared to what those two looked like. I had been out shopping. Jasper did his usual sing-song when I locked the door leaving him and Rosa behind. My new stray Rosa was tucked into her kennel when I left.
I buy fresh eggs from a farmer. Big beautiful eggs with deep yellow yolks. When I’m not at home the farmer use’s a house key I gave her. She places the eggs on a table just inside the door. This time she put the two dozen eggs on the floor.
Jasper is a smart wee guy. The way he uses his paws to do things amazes me. This time his intelligence was not at all funny. He has watched me slide the bolt on Rosa’s kennel many times. It was fairly easy for him to get those tiny paws working until he had Rose free.
They tore the place apart. What a grand old party they had going on, racing from room to room. Jasper dragged a feather pillow from the bed. They chewed a hole in it and discovered feathers inside. I think they went a bit wild. When I opened the door, feathers were flying around like confetti at a wedding.
Feathers can be cleaned up. If they are dry. But if you add two tiny dogs, two dozen eggs and fluffy feathers, you end up with a big gooy muddle. They discovered the eggs, chewed and mauled both cartons open, then apparently swatted raw eggs around. All two dozen were broken. Both had feathers and egg yolk on their whiskers so I assumed the little devils chowed down on a fair bit. Just for the sheer fun of it, they had rolled in the slurky stuff. As the egg dried, thier coats were stiff and hard.
When I entered the house, I just groaned when I saw Jasper’s long coat. Rosa’s was matted to her body, but wait a minute, I had left Rosa in her kennel. My shoes crunched on shells that were in every room. Every piece of furniture those two terrors could get to, was slimed and decorated with feathers. It must have been fun in the bathroom, I could see where they had played ring around the toiled bowl, dash out, bounce off the walls, slid through to first base and start over.
Concerned about them eating egg shells I phoned my vet. I really hate it when he sounds amused. He suggested I keep on eye on them for diarrhoea or any sort of tummy distress, even blood in bowel movements. It would have been better if he had told me that both dogs would likely have diarrhoea so foul smelling I would gag.
I found out something new about a Maltese coat. Feathers sort of melt into the hair when wet, making for a nice mooshy mess. Rosa’s coat isn’t as soft or silky, I stupidly thought it would be a breeze to bath her. She’s so tiny I could lose her in the sink. What a battle, she fought, barked, snarled, bit me in one finger that I know will throb for days. Just as I was giving her a final rinse, she pooped in the water. That makes it sound so tame. In reality, the fumes made my eyes water. I ran more water, started over, had her wrapped in a warm towel, and she blew again.
Finally she was done. I looked down to see Jasper in that squat position dog owners know so well. He went around and around the table, leaving a trail of stuff behind him. The house reeked! I felt sorry for both of them. Bedraggled little critters, both had sore bottoms and no let up in sight. Pepto Bismal worked again. It was about 3:00 AM when they were able to sleep.
I made some toast this morning, it set the smoke detector off. The toaster was full of feathers. I turned on the over head fan to help air the room, feathers were on the rotating blades, it looked like a blizzard in here. It is going to be a long day!
