39 Degrees!

Today was very hot, a sweaty humid 39 degree hot that made everyone lethargic.

Even Jake was laid back, not his usual self. He had started doing a funny cough and at one stage seemed to just fall over. It was a bit frightening and we decided we should take him to the vet to be checked out.

When I made the appointment the lady asked what was wrong and after I described the symptoms she asked me to keep Jake in the car when we arrived and the vet would come out there to see him.

It sounded to her like he might have caught kennel cough from his stay with them while we were away and it's very contagious.

I quickly looked it up on you tube and there were many dogs on there with coughs but there were lots of different coughs too so it was hard to tell if it was what he had.

It was an unbearably hot day so I didn't want Jake waiting in the car for too long so, even though my husband was down and in agony with a sore back he came along too and stayed in the car with the air con blasting them both while I went in alerted them we were there.

The vet came out straight away and after a very brief examination determined that it wasn't kennel cough and that we should come inside so he could examine him further.

It only took him a few minutes to discover that he could hear that Jake has a slight heart murmur and it was most likely causing him to cough and he quickly reassured us that it was very mild and should be fine and we should try him on some medication and come back in two weeks. The heat of the past days had probably stressed his body and he is an 11 years old-man dog.

I was relieved and I'm hoping he will be fine for a long time yet because apart from this he is in pretty good nick for an old boy :(

After that we fell into a heap at home for a while and Jake went straight to sleep. I then had to go out to get some supplies so while I was out I took a quick look at the lake just down the road as I was hoping for a sighting of the black swan family.

I sat in the viewing area for about 5 minutes and within one minute this funny big footed blue chested bird came along and just stared at me. I have no idea what sort of bird it is but I do see them around here quite a bit foraging in the car parks around the shopping centre.

I'm sure it was hoping for food but I had nothing. It was very hot and I couldn't stay there for long so I starting snapping off some shots and the bird continued to stare. I wanted to get closer but as I moved towards it, it casually turned and slowly walked to the fence, ducked through and was gone. No sign of The Swans, probably gone somewhere cooler. Anyway I was happy, blip done :)

Went back home for gallons of cold water and a relax and glad to see that Jake was doing fine :)