The Interloper

When we returned from Mum's 80th birthday party last weekend, Mollie immediately made a bee line for an old rack in the hall. On the bottom rung were some old sheets, but Molls sniffed and sniffed so I pulled one out – and shrieked. There, rolled up in the back, was a large hedgehog.

We took it outside, put it in a box and inspected it. It was crawling with fleas and tics (lovely) so I fled back inside and sprayed everything with anti-flea spray- with Moll's itching I'm not risking anything – and threw all the sheets in the washing machine.

Then we tended to Mr Hedgehog who, I have to say, had the twinkliest eyes and the neatest little hands I'd ever seen. We fed him milk and biscuits and were going to take him out to the workshop and let him go there but Himself was concerned about the tics. So we rang the RSPCA who arrived an hour or so later, assured us that all hedgehogs are infested with tics and fleas, and took him off to release him in pastures new.

Shame, I was quite getting used to our new friend – it had such a lively, intelligent face - and apparently they're great for eating slugs. But it will be happier out running free, even if it doesn't get free food.

Many thanks to all re Moll's predicaments. She had her blood tests, at vast expense, and we should get the results soon. As for her legs, well it's both knee caps that are dodgy, so it's shorter but more frequent walks, no jumping and lots of swimming. Surgery is something that we might have to consider at a later date but I'm trying not to think about that right now.

The most extraordinary thing is that I pitched an idea to my editor yesterday to write a piece on the Bowen Technique for dogs. She said yes - an ideal one for me. And now I've been researching it, the technique is something that Mollie's leg condition could really benefit from. Is that divine intervention or what?