I took Blondie back to the Animal Hospital this morning. When we returned, she was sans cone. She, Volt and Cochise immediately ran to the low, shady corner of the yard and she gave them a full report.

Her sutures are removed (except one, I’ll get to that in a minute). The vet tech removed the sutures in Blondie’s shoulder, but wanted the doctor to look at her eye before they took those out.

Blondie and I waited for just over 1/2 hour for Dr. O’Connor to see us, most of that time a Cockatoo was shrieking and screaming in the back area and that sent Blondie into a frenzy. Didn’t do much for me either. I didn’t know what they were doing to it, but it was not happy.

When the doctor got to us, she determined that Blondie’s eyelid was healed up nicely and made ready to remove those sutures. Blondie wanted no part of THAT and it became a struggle that took the vet tech and me holding Blondie while the doctor eased in with scissors. The tech finally pushed Blondie’s upper eye lid down so she could not see the scissors coming in at her eyeball. That helped.

It gives me the willies just thinking about it. Poor Blondie!

Dr. O’Connor took out two sutures. A knot is embedded in the edge of the eyelid, but there are no ends poking out that might scratch her cornea. The doctor decided to leave that one. It should dissolve. To prevent infection I will continue applying the Bacitracin eye ointment twice a day. If it becomes enlarged or red I’ll need to take Blondie back and they’ll take the knot out surgically.

Blondie’s Comfy Cone e-collar impressed Dr. O’Connor and she asked for information on the company that makes them. I sent that when we got home. We (even Blondie) were much happier with the Comfy Cone than the standard plastic e-collar she came home with. Even though this was an improvement, Blondie is ecstatic to be rid of the Cone.

I’m going to take Blondie back to the Animal Hospital a time or two just to say, “Hello” … to dissipate the idea that something bad will happen every time she goes there. For years she and Cochise have been eager to go for their check-ups, but her recent experiences have made her reluctant to go back. I want to fix that.