Blood, Brush, Beach

Thank you all for your kind words last night about Layla.  She and I enjoyed a nice slumber on the couch together, uninterrupted by anyone, until nearly 4 AM.  There's something very special about spending that kind of time with her... like she knows, at that point, that she is the sole recipient of my love and attention.   I believe we have a very special bond, and as much as I love Marge, it's nice to spend some time individually with my cat, too.

Much to my surprise, the bloodwork came back better than expected.  The ALT number has dropped to nearly normal, thanks to the help of Denosyl.  This likely means her liver is repairing itself after whatever damage it incurred.  It also means that the bleeding she experienced yesterday is not related.

Therefore, she will need to go for an additional blood test in a couple of weeks.  It's possible that the bleeding is caused by old veins with weak walls, just like a human would experience.  Or, she might have a blood clotting problem.

The vet said he was "happy" with the result from the ALT test, so I think it's definitely good news that Layla's liver is on the mend.  My hunch, now, is that the bleeding was caused by weak and fragile veins rather than a clotting problem, but we'll do the test to be sure.  He said to come back in two weeks, but I'll likely stretch it to three to give those poor bruised legs some time to heal.

----------------------------------------

As for our canine protagonist, Marge, she had some special time of her own today.  We originally set out on a wide, paved trail running through the woods, but had to turn back when we discovered we were essentially heading straight for a brush fire.

We surmised that something was burning (my island has been riddled with such fires lately, and my hunch is that someone's setting them) and actually saw blackened ground from a fire that rummaged through the area on Thursday, but had no idea that the fire was so close to us.  Once we got a real whiff of that smoky smell, we got a little more concerned and decided to turn around... and just at that point, we were met by a big ol' fire truck driving down the trail.

Talk about unsettling!

Marge actually responded remarkably well.  We moved into the bush to let the vehicle pass on the oh-so narrow road, and then high-tailed back to the car.  I wasn't up for any sort of fiery adventure.

Leaving turned out to be a smart choice, as there were TWO brush fires in the area, and a third not too far away.  Roads were closed, police were directing traffic, and fire trucks were speeding in every which direction.  Not a good day for a hike, for sure.

....So, we went to the beach, figuring that we likely wouldn't meet any firefighters there.  We enjoyed a 4-mile walk, and Marge, for the first time, got to walk on the boardwalk.  There were a fair amount of walkers, joggers and bikers out, and Marge did quite well.

On the way back, we let Marge loose on her 20' lead on the sand.  A zoomy fit commenced.

Roxanne, this picture is for you, since you like muscular canine rumps so much.

She did give my dad a nice set of growls and grumbles when we came home, but I guess you can't have a perfect day, can you? (Thankfully, they seemed to make amends afterwards with the aid of Milkbones.)

I promise I'll get to everyone's blogs soon.  I'm just beginning to feel better after all of the emotions from yesterday.