What a lucky boy.

We won't know for certain until tomorrow but it now looks as if Wilf will keep his tongue. I can't begin to describe what a relief it is! He had another very thorough examination at the vets yesterday and there is no sign of further swelling nor are there signs of the toxins killing any of the tissue. From the evidence of the welts across his body it seems that he managed to plonk himself unconcernedly down on a group of caterpillars. As a result his rear end is extremely inflamed and the toxins were transferred to his muzzle and mouth when he licked ( what the French would call ) his ' les parties ' to relieve the itching. If it had been the other way round he would not have been so lucky. I knew he was still feeling low because he let the lady vet treat his extremely swollen and red tender parts without so much as a murmur of gentlemanly disapproval.

This morning I found a couple of small caterpillar processionary chains wandering across the driveway. There were probably 30 - 40 in each, not the 400 or 500 that come down in the summer. We are now faced with a garden that is effectively a 'no go' area for the boyz . 36 hours on , my hands are still swollen and red from carrying him so the poor fellow must be in real pain.

'The font' returned from looking after 'grannyfont' last night. Wilf who had been feeling sorry for himself all day suddenly came alive and charged across the courtyard in greeting. He did something he's never done before. He opened his mouth, let his swollen tongue hang out, and then sat stock still staring up at 'the font ' as if to say " You cannot believe what happened to me while you were away !". He is still being fed water by syringe but managed to eat some warm porridge for breakfast. He got it down slowly and with difficulty but he got it down. I find myself so grateful for the vet who opened up the surgery on Sunday night to see him.