Meet The Cat

Sabina is overrun with stray cats. It's quite common for me to have cats in my yard, on my porch, and even sitting on my car every day. If you go out at night when they are all on the prowl it reminds one of something straight out of a Stephen King movie.

Anyway, amidst all of my visitors there is one little cat that I've taken a liking to. When I pull in to my parking spot after work, here she comes running to greet me. She is quite friendly and will even jump up on my lap when I'm sitting in my front porch swing. She tries on a daily basis to enter my house but of course I don't allow this. Here are a couple of photos that I took today after I threw some food out for her.

News: Cute Newborn Kitten Markings

Posted by David Pescovitz at boingboing.net The fur on this kitten, born Sunday, March 23, 2008 in Sacramento, California, seems to spell out "I (heart)(dot)." That's especially cute because the kitten's mother is named Dottie.

RIP Storm

Storm passed away today during a car trip to the animal hospital. It came as a bit of a shock since I really did expect her to make a recovery from her recent illness. Her condition deteriorated rapidly this week when she stopped eating on her own after being started on Baytril about a week ago. Although she was being force fed I guess the food wasn't enough to sustain her strength. By Saturday evening she had lost the use of her hind legs.

I must admit that I'm more than a little bit angry with my vet because I don't feel like he took her illness serious enough when I first took her to see him three weeks ago. Even when I called last weekend to try to make an emergency follow up appointment because I felt like Storm was getting worse, I felt like I was given the brush off. The vet simply told me to start her on a prescription of Baytril because it sounded like a possible bladder infection. Then today when I was standing in the hospital waiting for them to confirm that there was no heartbeat, the vet had the nerve to ask me if she had been suffering from an upper respiratory infection. Now I understand that he must see a lot of patients throughout the week, but it made me mad. I politely reminded him that I had initially brought her in for bleeding. Then I said that I believed it must have been bladder stones or a blockage. He just kind of nodded his head in agreement.

I should have insisted on X-rays the first time I took her in. I don't think Storm should have died from a bladder infection or whatever it may have been. You want to believe that the doctors are trained and know better than you how to treat an animal. Yet recently I've felt like the doctors could care less what happens to my little ones.

Other Troubles

February and March have consisted of ongoing health problems for two of my guinea pigs; Storm and Gabe. Gabe's upper respiratory infection did clear up and he went back to eating on his own. However during this time of being handfed his teeth began to grow too long. A few weeks ago the vet filed his teeth to try to help him with his eating. He still isn't back to himself though.

Storm has been bleeding which has caused great concern for me. The vet seemed to think that it was an external problem rather than an internal one. I have been cleaning her with baby wipes and warm baths and then applying a rash ointment each day. However, I haven't seen her condition improve so I plan on taking her back in for another appointment. I still think there is something the vet is missing.

I had another scare last Monday when I woke up to check on my tortoise. Sometime during the night she had become stuck inside her hide-a-log and couldn't get out. I didn't think I ever was going to get her out without hurting her. Needless to say she is fine and the log has been removed permanently from her enclosure. I've replaced it with a large plastic flower pot from my shed.



This was just too cute! I had to share. This is not my hamster by the way.

RIP Sprinkles

Sprinkles passed on today from a battle with abdominal cancer. On Thursday she had stopped eating and moving around her cage. Today her condition took a turn for the worse and she had to be taken to the animal hospital. I said my goodbyes and told her to send a big hello to Pinball as she joined him.

Gabe's Liquid Diet

My guinea pig, Gabriel, is fighting an Upper Respiratory Infection this month. He was treated the first week in December with antibiotics and seemed to be getting over it. Then a few days after being off the Baytril he took a turn for the worse and refused to eat or even move around much. I guess he was taken off the medicine too soon. After a second visit to the vet on Christmas Eve he is back on his antibiotics. The doctor said he is right on the edge of being in critical condition. So over the next 48 hours it is extremely important that I keep him warm, hydrated, and try to get as much food in him as possible. Since he is refusing to eat on his own I've had to force feed him. I made a couple of liquid shakes to syringe to him.

Protein Shake
Ground Pellets
Water
Pedialyte
Sm. amount of vanilla yogurt
Strawberries

Veggie Shake
Water
Half can of mixed vegetables
Parsley
Vitamin C

Penguin Adoption

My students did one of the sweetest things for our classroom Christmas party. Knowing how much I love penguins, the students chipped in together to purchase one of the new WebKinz penguins as a Christmas gift for me. I've named him Colby and have registered him at the WebKinz world. I've already spent several hours online feeding him and decorating his new home. I can certainly see how addicting these cute little virtual critters can be.

Updated Photos of Zoe

Zoe has really started to fill out and change her looks. I think she has quite a bit of fuzzy hair for a skinny pig.