Brush with a prickly issue

Two weeks ago I had to cut a large chunk of Flossie’s tail off. We had returned from a walk and cleaned up, when I decided to give her a quick brush.

She has an impressive plume of a tail with long trailing fur. Fur, it turns out, that’s ideal for wrapping around prickly burr-type balls that she’d picked up on the walk.

Six in total, tangled in a clump, like velcro. And they were huge.

My mission to remove them started with my hands, then a brush, and then a comb. It took me half an hour to remove the easiest one.

Flossie wasn’t cooperative, wagging her tail enthusiastically when I needed her to keep still. With difficulty, I managed to remove prickle ball number two.

The remaining four were stuck fast. I decided to research the problem online to see if there was a clever solution to our predicament. I found a suggestion that coconut oil would help.

❝ There was only one thing I could do. I needed to cut them out.

Great. I have coconut oil. I smeared some all over my hands and then all over the spiky lump on Flossie’s tail.

Flossie loves coconut oil. Perhaps, inevitably, she licked my hands and her tail.

It made quite a mess. And the prickle balls remained firmly embedded in her tail.

There was only one thing I could do. I needed to cut them out.

Flossie’s not the bravest when it comes to these things and I needed her to be still and calm while I was brandishing scissors.

I occupied her with a tasty treat while I set about giving her tail a haircut.

It was surprisingly easy. I felt a little guilty as I cut a massive section off. But I was relieved to liberate her from the nasty spiky things.

I trimmed it as neatly as I could and Flossie now sports what I suppose could be called a “tail fringe”.

It makes me smile when I see it. Luckily, she doesn’t seem to mind.