Pig-o-matt-ic

These little guys turned up in a kennel at the practice today. Obviously very shy creatures, they would remain completely still whenever you looked at them, with even their eyes remaining motionless and unblinking. Very mysterious . . .

Actually, as convincing as they are (and they even had a couple of experienced vets taking a second look) these are not guinea pigs. They are actually matts clipped from the skin of a couple of feline patients today. Although this seems like a joke in bad taste, it's a real lesson in how important it is to groom your cats!! Matted fur like this becomes really uncomfortable, and can make the skin underneath very sore and even infected. Once it gets to this stage there is no option other than to clip it away and start from scratch, and some cats are so sore that they have to be sedated for their hair cut.
In our line of work, a sense of humour really helps, but there's very often something pretty important behind the smiles.