The good thing about storms is that they don’t last.
Eventually the sun comes out but sometimes there is damage left in its
wake. To give an update on the previous
post, Vlad is doing very well and will get his sutures removed later this
week. Unfortunately, the news about the
goose is not so good. Gertie did not
make it. She was such a fighter but her
injuries were too severe. We kept her as
comfortable as we possibly could in her last few days.
I’ve had a roller coaster ride of emotions over all these “little
storms” this summer. The open house was
fantastic. Not only was it our highest attended and grossing event ever but the
whole day really just could not have gone any better. That same weekend our beloved pitbull Rigley
got sick. He was simply lethargic and wouldn’t eat. It came on all of a sudden.
Not only had he been fine but I even had him in for his yearly exam less than a
week before. It wasn’t so simple. Rigley was crashing and was given only a few
days to live unless we took drastic life saving measures. Nigel’s and my
philosophy with every animal here is quality over quantity. While we hated to
lose him we did not want him to suffer at all. The beginning of his life had
been hard enough for him. We wanted the end to be with dignity. For some reason, that dog touched me more
than I ever realized. His death has been harder on me than I expected and I’m
even fighting back the tears just writing this.
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| Cesar, baby Chinchilla |
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| Isela, baby Chinchilla |
But I said this summer was a roller coaster so on to the
good news. Baby Chinchillas! We had been
donated several chinchillas over the winter but despite having 4 of them, none
of them were able to be used for our programs. They were not used to being
handled that much and that would not be safe for anyone. Chinchillas are one of
my favorite education animals for our programs so we decided to breed them
specifically so that the offspring can be trained to be used in
classrooms. We had 3 little baby
chinchillas born to Coco this summer. Unfortunately, chinchillas are not able
to nurse any more than 2 babies at a time. The smallest one didn’t make it. We did
our best to step in but it just wasn’t enough.
Coco was proving to be a great mom, until day number 3. By then she got sore enough to bite both
babies on the head. They became afraid of her and didn’t want to nurse after
that. We left them together but supplemented the feeding as needed. Here’s the
crazy part. This all happened a few days before my mom and I had to go to
Florida for a graduation. Let’s just say that my skills are a little better
suited for the nurturing of small mammals than Nigel’s so off to Florida we all
went. They travelled well and bonded again with their mother. It took a few
more weeks for their wounds to heal but they are doing great. The little boy
has been named Cesar and the little girl has been named Isela. Recently, we moved
the both of them and their mom into their big high-rise, multi-level cage. The babies are so much fun to watch bouncing
around.
Most anyone that has ever been here has met my cat Sahara.
She has taken over our kitchen table. We don’t actually eat there. She spends
90% of her time on the table. She has learned that it’s the best place to get
fed first and to get all the scratches from the volunteers that come. This cat, along with her sister (and litter
mate) who is half her size, are nearly 17 years old. A couple weeks ago she got very sick with
vomiting, diarrhea and extremely lethargic.
I brought her to work with me fully expecting to have to euthanize
another pet in just a few short weeks.
All of her tests though were inconclusive. Her bloodwork showed no real
change. Her x-rays showed a few issues that were consistent with being sick but
no obvious mass or answers. We put her on all sorts of medication and she is now
doing very well, in fact it’s hard to believe anything was wrong. At her age, I’m sure there’s more going on
that we couldn’t find but I’d rather keep her happy on her table than put her through
all sorts of tests.
Rabbits, rabbits and more rabbits! We were donated rabbits. To be perfectly
honest, they were all to be snake food but we had a small collection of them
that Nigel decided to keep around. I take no credit for anything to do with the
rabbits (at that point) because I am highly allergic to them. I am most grateful
for all the volunteers that can look after them for me. One of them had a litter of babies but the
momma died when they were about a week old. Two of the babies survived so I took on the task of hand raising them. It
definitely tested my allergies but I think my body is finally getting used to
having them around because it’s not as bad as it used to be. These little guys
went everywhere with me, especially to work every day so that they could get
their feedings. The girls at work just
loved them and you can imagine all the fuss 2 baby rabbits would get an animal
clinic. Last week they moved into their
adult cage. Then the next morning the
rollercoaster headed downward again. One
of the rabbits was not using her back legs.
It’s heart breaking to see her drag herself around. I’m not giving up on
her though. We had been given a bird that had paralyzed legs several months ago
and he’s now moving both of them. That’s
what I’m hoping for this rabbit. I’m hoping that with time the use of legs will
come back. These are my babies. I have
been up late at night and again very early in the morning to feed them. I’ve
even had to sneak them into the store in my purse when I ran in so they didn’t
get left in the heat. I have fallen in
love with these two little bunnies.
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| Baby Bunny |
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| Baby Bunny |
Today was bitter sweet for me. I said good-bye to my little
baby bunnies. They have moved on to their new home. The sweet part is that it
will be a great home for them. Not only will they be spoiled but I know that
everything possible will be done to continue the nursing care the white one
needs. The other good news is that they
have gone to live with some of our volunteers so we will definitely get to
continue to see them. For now, I’m ready
for calm but our life is full of adventures and good or bad, I would not have
it any other way.
