greenstorm | Moments that are perfect (Reply)

I've been brushing Avallu some every evening, just taking out a basketball-sized amount of hair or so every night. He's starting to blow his coat, gently and not spectacularly. He's very happy when I go find him every night and bring him in for brushing.

Tonight I took off his collar and brushed under it. He was super super happy, tilting his neck to help me get the spots I was missing and then lying down with his head along my leg and closing his eyes and sighing happily as I very gently worked through the under-collar fur with a brush. For the most part his coat is very non-matting but that neck spot, under his ears, and the very backs of his feathers can get really dense and also really matted. I was just quietly brushing him, he was slowly falling asleep making little happy sounds, the house was quiet. Everything was exactly right with the world.

After having brushed out tonight's basketball-sized amount of hair from mostly that narrow band around his neck (and having spent lots of time petting him and snuggling) I went to put his collar on and even with all the hair removal it barely fit. I had to carefully part and de-poof quite a bit of his fur to get it on.

I hate to think that he's halfway through his life now, or more. The bond increases with all of them every year.