Jacob followed behind me with his kit and wrapped a muzzle around his snout, just in case he woke up and decided to give one of us a nip.While he shaved a patch on her front leg so he could draw blood, I wrapped Obie's back leg with the scarf.In theory, because he had just burned up all of his sweat, there was less chance of him catching on fire again, but it didn't hurt to be cautious.Especially because both of us were very close to Obie, and if he burst into flames, we would walk away with burns.
I positioned the cutters onto the first nail, making sure not to take too much off.I worried it wouldn't cut, but it went through with ease.
Easier than the firesteel.Maybe I didn't have to bring these massive cutters after all.Some sparks jumped up but landed safely on the wool.
What a relief.My strategy worked.
I continued on, clipping his nails while avoiding the pieces shooting through the air like little bullets.In a perfect world, we could put him in a habitat that had rocks that would naturally wear them down.Or put up some scratch pads that he could use to keep them to a healthy size.
When I was done with his hind legs, I shuffled around Jacob."Are you done with his front legs?"
He nodded."Go for it.I've already examined his mouth.Just want to check his heart while we're here."
I clipped the rest of his nails, pleased that we managed to get them to an acceptable size for now.That should make him feel more comfortable.
Jacob hummed when he examined some of the cuts on his body."He won't need stitches, luckily, but some of these are nasty.Poor thing."
I took the opportunity to give Obie a little pat between his gorgeous floppy ears.It wasn't necessarily right to pet wild animals, but this one felt like he needed a little bit of love.And there was definitely no risk of him getting too attached to people.If anything, it was the opposite.
"I'm done," I announced.
Jacob nodded."Me too, and I think our boy is starting to stir, so time to get out before we become toast."
I took the muzzle off and grabbed my bolt cutters on the way out.We were safe on the other side of the bars with the gate closed by the time Obie opened his eyes and sat back up.He looked adorably dazed and didn't instantly start growling, which was a good sign.
"Looks like he's waking up well, that's always a relief."Jacob patted the bag with blood tubes."Alright, I'm going to get that sent off to the lab.You should run some water on your arm."
I'd already forgotten about that.My skin was just a little red, and I was missing some hair, but that was it.Mostly, I was really pleased that we managed to get Obie checked out.
If his bloods came back clean, he could move out of Quarantine and we could find him a much better home.That was all that mattered to me.
