Big Lou fits his head

The hot topic that has caused a stir in the Village tonight is Big Lou's visit to the Vets. As his annual check-up and jab loomed in Big Lou's PawPilot he became increasingly glum. The dulling of his spirits had not been helped by Rez, amongst others, who had predicted a diet would be called for. Rez had even taken time to explain that "fat cats" must have their temperature taken in order for their correct weight to be calculated . As you can imagine, all cats dread their temperature being taken.

So, we squeezed Big Lou into his travel box and set off early for what turned out to be a smooth passage down the dreaded Ladder Hill. We have always preferred the first appointment of the evening as it avoids having to spend time in close proximity to other waiting animals and motley owners. During Rez's last visit a vile yappy type dog did a little pooh when he was called into surgery. Apparently he always did this when he got excited. Thankfully the huge lady who accompanied him came to the rescue with a tissue and an empty pocket. Whilst waiting we decided to take the "Bull-by-the Horns" and place Big Lou, in his travel box, onto the scales. With some trepidation we patiently waited for the LCD numbers to stabilise.

They did. At 6.7kg.

Things were looking grim.

Finally a very young and not unpleasant "new" vet came out and called for "Lewis". After several seconds Big Lou and myself, almost simultaneously, twigged that the inexperienced young vet had made a clumsy error with names and was in fact calling for Louis. We let it slide, on this occasion, and went in. Big Lou was placed on the table and dragged from his retreat, leaving a trail of sweaty paw marks across the shiny table. After the usual prodding and poking I broached the subject of size/weight, noticing out of the corner of my eye a distinct black look coming from Big Lou. The vet listened, prodded some more and then went as far as some pinching, before taking Big Lou's travel box, minus occupant, out to be weighed. She returned and performed a slick piece of mental arithmetic and pronounced Big Lou's actual weight to be 5kg.

We held our breath.

She then went on to say that for the size of his head she did not think that Big Lou was overweight.

If Big Lou had been blessed with lips I feel sure that at that point he would have smiled. Instead he allowed himself to be injected and forced back into his travel box for the journey back to the bosom of his family in Cuddesdon.

Upon arriving back at home he mooched about a bit to show his disdain of the whole event. However, when Rez strolled in from an evening saunter, flighty as usual, he went up to her and whispered "I told you I was big boned".