not to leave you all in suspense about fred -

[mouse_rants]

once he was tidied up a bit, he did forgive me.

and i do have a couple of pics:
before:


and after:


still a little damp and smudgy, but it turns out a lot cleaner than i thought - although his face is still pretty grubby (didn't want to try shampooing that)


haven't figured out how he got the side of his nose so dirty.