He's on the mend!

Awoke this morning to see Archie's wee face gazing forlornly from his bed - but making no attempt to leap out, full of the joys of life as normal. I dressed quickly and tried to lure him out for a walk. He would not budge from his bed.

So I rang the emergency vet, explained the symptoms, and made an appointment for an hour or so later.

Half an hour later, he did stand up, then he tottered a few steps. He was still looking very sorry for himself - just standing gazing around. Then - a breakthrough - he showed an interest in JR"s hat on the radiator, and made a wee attempt to stand up on his hind legs and reach it! We were delighted - he was getting back to his wee naughty self- and let him trot off with it. Then as we were having breakfast, I said to him, 'Where's monkey?' He (normally) cannot resist going in search of one of his toys for a bit of a tug-of-war... And and he did! He came back with it and gave the teeniest growl and tiniest tug! It was like a Disney movie - JR and I were both quite teary. He was going to be all right! (We cancelled the vet appointment).

He showed an interest in food, though not the special Doggie Christmas Dinner meal he left yesterday (he left food!). We gave him some cold turkey, and he gobbled it up. He's had a couple of boiled rice and turkey snacks.

He's shown an interest in his new toys, taking each one out for a bit of a chew. And now he's snuggled up on the sofa with me for the afternoon's snacking, sipping and viewing (me) and snoozing (Arch).

Just as well I have a backlog of recorded TV programmes - Christmas TV is never very enticing, though I'm glad I didn't miss the programme about Nick Park and Aardman Animations - it was epic!

Thanks for all your good wishes yesterday - they worked!

PS I didn't make him pose with this - I just propped it up in front of him. It is a chewy toy, apparently.