a dog's life

Acorns are poisonous to dogs.  I did not know this.  Never having had a dog, I've picked up odd snippets about what they should and shouldn't eat, but not in any systematic way, and some of the advice seemed overly cautious anyway.  When I read that grapes were poisonous to dogs I remembered Gerald Durrell's account of the family dog Roger crunching his way through bunches of them on the vine and thought Oh, really?  Roger was still alive in the next chapter.

My dog owning friend equally did not know that acorns are poisonous to dogs, and when she saw her dalmation Lucy eating acorns on a walk the other day she did not stop her, merely remarking that she was sure Lucy shouldn't be doing that since acorns weren't good for her.  Turns out they are more than not good for her.  Lucy's ensuing stomach upset was quite horrendous, and she is now on a course of pills from the vet that my friend has strict instructions to make sure she finishes, and a diet of chicken and boiled rice.

I am selfishly relieved I went round for coffee today, and not earlier in the week.  Lucy is now quite bouncy, and almost restored to health.  She does not like the pills, and my friend found one spat out in the corridor while I was there.  She is pretty bored by the chicken and rice diet as well, and ate the cat's food when the cat was not quick enough off the mark emptying the dish.

The cat is not allowed to have a cat flap, since the previous cat had a habit of bringing live rats into the house.  Instead she comes in from the garden under direct human supervision to make sure she is rat free, either through the door or the kitchen window, which my friend jumped up to open for her more than once in the time it took me to drink two cups of coffee and eat two biscuits. Then the cat had to have some more food out of a dish on the table, because the dog had eaten the first lot.  My friend apologized, but I didn't mind.  It's a relief to see that other people's animals are about as firmly in the driving seat as ours.