Noelnadesan's Blog

It was a very quiet day at the Veterinary Clinic.

The reason: the crowds were all at the footy match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The MCG is known to overflow with footy fans whenever there is a popular contest. Traffic jams on the roads leading to the MCG are common occurrences on such days. Those who stay at home join their friends and party merrily. Invariably,

1. Football is known as footy in Australia

those who take sides engage in a private war of their own while the game is on.

The hospital staff was keeping one eye on the telly to catch the latest action. As the Australian football league match was drawing to an end, tensions began to rise. There was only ten minutes remaining. Everyone was engrossed in the results as the match was swinging to a nail-biting end. Nobody could predict the outcome as both sides were battling to score the winning kicks. The clock was ticking away, keeping everyone guessing. No one knew which side would score the winning point. The waiting was nerve-wrecking indeed.

At that moment, a young woman aged around twenty and haphazardly dressed, entered the clinic with a dog, accompanied by a young man. The woman urged the man to come in but he chose to wait outside.

I approached the young lady and inquired about her dog. She told me the dog had unfortunately swallowed a balloon that was hung to celebrate a birthday. This had happened half-an-hour earlier, she said. Alex, her companion, was listening quite indifferently from a distance. Andrew, the nurse assisting me, was engrossed in the Footy match but joined me when I called him. With his assistance, I force-fed pieces of washing soda crystals to induce the dog to vomit.

I instructed Andrew to lead the dog to the cemented courtyard outside. He was to keep an eye on him, hoping that the dog would bring out the balloon. After Andrew went out, I engaged the young woman in a conversation.

I was interested in hearing more about the party. I was keen in knowing how the dog ate the balloon. She explained that the dog had not eaten a balloon and that the cause for the problem was Alex who was waiting outside, pretending not to be involved in the incident!

I was perplexed, and stared at her with a look of concern. Around this time, I heard the dog coughing. He was throwing out the contents of his stomach. Andrew investigated the content of the vomit with a stick and took out an object, which alas, was not a balloon!

I couldn’t help but laugh!

I assured the young woman that the balloon had been removed and that she could relax knowing her dog would be fine.

Andrew looked at the other nurse engrossed in the footy match and muttered, “Because of a bloody condom, I missed an opportunity to watch the climax of the match!”