The vets was fine, if a little rushed.

The man seemed tense and was incredibly short with us, to the point that we both felt a bit stupid for asking the questions. Which is a shame, because you’d like to feel someone understood your silly concerns, and could at least be pleased you were asking.

So his bum-wiping is perfectly normal – though he got the finger-up-the-bum treatment to empty his anal glands; his friskiness is perfectly normal and may well continue until 6 months or the snip at 5 months; the bits by his mouth that we thought were scabbed and looked sore are probably also perfectly normal since it’s likely his teeth catching his folds, and… That was about it. Thank you very much, there’s your flea and worming stuff, that’ll be forty-two pounds fifty, please.

I left feeling more bruised than Jasper, I think.