Tom was fed up; just when he thought he had finished with the dentist for a while, he broke another tooth. Feeling I had been getting away too lightly, I began to suspect sensitivity and incipient toothache. When our shared appointment arrives, the dentist says that the broken part was where she'd already repaired earlier, and fixed it again without pain or problem, and my toothache having evaporated, any worries prove to be groundless save for a small amount of gum withdrawal (if that's the right expression), she blows the puffer round my teeth almost with impunity. We go home relieved.
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I am in e-mail communication with the potential future landlady of Simone's and Jean-Felix's daughter (see previous), an Indian lady (I think) in Golders Green. She sounded nice, and very well-spoken, on the 'phone, her written English is slightly quirky. She says it's necessary to let them know, 'We have a quite cat as pet. Tabby is an old cat and does not purr a lot.'
~
Bram, who is staying with us now, is a noble and handsome dog:
though nervous of many things, goats, cows, tractors, Tom...
Also unfortunately rather attracted to cow poo, though he takes to heart being told off for eating it,
'What me? Noooo!'
But it's good to have a dog to walk again, and to reacquaint myself with the beauty of our hilltop on a late afternoon in winter.
11 comments:
"gum recession" lucy. i had to dig deep into my previous life for that. i'd recommend a sensitivity toothpaste and aside from brushing with it, also rub a little on the area after your evening brushing. and ONLY soft or ultra soft toothbrushes! this last part, i can't stress enough. ok, dental hygienist over and out.
nothing worse than living with a loudly purring cat!
sweet pup. bad breath, i presume? (which brings us full circle to the oral cavity!)
In Mary Roach's book Gulp, she says dogs eat poop because they get nutrients that are sufficiently pre-digested. Which is why they love cat-turds.
http://www.amazon.com/Gulp-Adventures-Alimentary-Mary-Roach/dp/0393348741
Oh, he is handsome. Alas, still a dog, eh? Glad the dental work went better than expected. I just had him graft surgery recently. Do not want to see the periodontist again anytime soon, however charming he is.
Hmm. Make that gum graft. Hate autocorrect.
Is Mr. Handsome being dog-sat or is he adopted, Lucy?
Oh dentists. Mine has left messages that I'm due for a cleaning, that is my teeth are. Too busy with other parts of my body and have not called back as yet.
Thanks ladies.
PC - receding gums, that's what I meant I think. Getting long in the tooth! Thanks for the advice, you can take the girl out of the dental surgery...
Z - some dogs seem more predisposed to it than others, Mol never did it. It's often a problem with Labrador types, so with guide dogs. He's not too bad about it really, he's a rescue dog and very food obsessed anyway, and eats a lot of things he shouldn't, just one of his anxieties.
Leslee - hi. I am glad you didn't have him graft, you always seemed so happy with the him you've got!
Ellena - no, he's only with us for four days while his mum's away in Paris. She's not had him very long, and didn't want to send him to kennels, but the Paris trip was really unavoidable, so we stepped in. He is lovely but clearly has a lot of baggage, and wouldn't be the dog for us. I can see the dental hygienist may not be a priority for you.
The participle "capped" gets a bad press at the moment. It's something the government does (more especially the troll-like mannikin with the shocking bee-sting smile) and it's rarely good news. Almost always it refers to something we aren't going to get.
It's nice to read you doing your best to rehabilitate the word - even if you don't mention it by name. Tom is capped and all of a sudden it's like a mini-Christmas present. Excavation is off the agenda and you both go home relieved.
Because, of course, of something that didn't happen. One might say that this is the same as nothing and that, given my new proclivity, should be grist to my mill. I begin to wonder whether "grist" might be cognate with "scrapple" but sternly turn away from that alley-way; I'm not entirely sure what cognate really means.
I think what I've just written qualifies as nothing but nothing with a soft centre; like one of those toffee eclairs. What is inarguable is that I've filled up space (which could be nothing in drag) in your comment column. Done my duty.
Ah, Lucy. To have a dog again to walk the hills with.......
Lovely looking beast. Is he a beagle? (cannot judge size from photos).
I once had a red setter that loved to roll in fox poo. Since I walked him in the adjacent woods he could usually find some. Returns to house often involved a full, perfumed shampoo!
Robbie - mind you, the dentist did say it was downright peculiar that there was no pain, since she'd never devitalised the nerve, and that might indicate a necrosis on the root, which might lead to complications... all very baleful. But I'm a firm believer in - if not an effective practitioner of - 'sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof', so we just counted our blessings for the moment. 'Grist', I've always understood is a participle, an archaic version of 'ground' used there in the passive voice, so everything that comes to the mill gets ground. Sounds a bit like something to do with gristle though. Doing well on the old King James quotes aren't we?
Avus - he's a bit big for a beagle, but quite houndish, lovely loping movement and very alert, slightly pointer-like, a good dog to walk with, until he sees a goat/cow/tractor/jogger; he doesn't have the thick-skinned cheerfulness that most hunting type dogs have. He's only a year or so old, and his history is uncertain but not happy, he's fearful of many things but especially men, and needs lots of reassurance and attention, so he's sticking to me like glue and looking at Tom with fear and mistrust that nothing seems to override, which is kind of wearing. In addition he ran off when his owner was walking him before he came and presumably ate something horrible and came to us with an upset stomach, which hasn't made for a very good start. It was brave of her to take him on, and as she's a woman on her own with lots of space it's OK, I think she'll stick it out and make a go of it with him, but I can see how the tragedy of so many rescue dogs with these seemingly intractable problems plays out: people can't really integrate them into their lives, so they go back to the refuges becoming more and more let down, insecure and unsuitable for rehoming. This has happened to him a couple of times already. But he is very lovely too.
I always take a rescue dog to give them another chance in life but one is a hostage to fortune! I have only ever had to return one, a lary border collie which even I, with a life time's dog experience, had to give up on after a very fraught month.
A cat man I am but that is one fine looking dog.
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