And on it goes...

This morning Alan and I were playing on the floor with the dogs when Alan says, "What's this long white hair in Max's ear?"

"What?"

"Max has a weird long white hair in his ear."

I pull Max over and yes, indeed, there is a long white tendril-like thing in his ear.  I give it a gentle tug and it pulls away from a larger white thing, deep inside his ear.  At first I'm scared--what is this?--then I realize it's a cotton ball, shoved nearly to the center of his brain, that the groomer has neglected to remove after his bath.  It takes me some time to get a grip as the cotton keeps shredding, but finally I pull out a wad of cotton that is soaking wet and has been stuffed into Max's ear since yesterday morning.

Can you sense my total and consuming outrage..??  The fluttering nausea in my stomach..??  This poor wee dog has had a soggy cotton ball stuffed inside his ear for 24 hours..!!

I dry out the inside of his ear as best I can, then Alan and I look at each other.  He says, "Either you call, or I do."  Trust me when I say that though I can be really, really cranky, Alan can be worse.  I call the vet's office and ask to speak to our vet, Dr Barry.  He's out today, so I ask who I would talk to about their groomers.  I get the Office Manager.

I start off telling her about Ozzy's scalping.  Thankfully, she knows the Papillon breed, so is just as upset and clueless why the groomer would have given Ozzy a Marine Corps buzz cut.  Then, I tell her about the cotton wad in Max's ear.  Now she is truly not happy as that can lead to an ear infection in no time at all.  And all because the groomer forgot to take the frigging cotton out of his ear...!!!

So, long story short.  Max will get a free exam to make sure his ear isn't screwed up, and she refunded the grooming money, though she said she would rather refund Ozzy's hair, if she could.  We had a long discussion about the groomer, who she assures me is experienced and comes from a long line of groomers in the area.  You bloody could have fooled me.  Neither of us have any explanation why she would have buzz cut a long-haired dog.  The task now lies with her to deal with the groomer.

We are going now to the Co-op to buy Ozzy a sweater because he is shivering without his hair.  And the temperature has plummeted, so it's chilly and windy today.  Of course it is.