PonderEthereal

Yesterday, we got confirmation that Sam, one of my (mine as of when Ryan OFFICIALLY abandoned them - as opposed to just leaving them high and dry) ferrets, has adrenal disease. Adrenal disease is super common in ferrets, apparently.

The first vet I took him to was useless. He just didn’t know the first thing about ferrets and wouldn’t have known adrenal disease if it smacked him in the face. Bless his heart. Knowing what I know now, Sam was displaying classic signs of adrenal disease… hair loss all over his body except his head, muscle mass loss and fat gain in his hindquarters.

He doesn’t usually look that pathetic. He was stretching in this one, which makes him look WAY skinnier than he usually looks. But it’s a good demonstration of just how odd a ferret with adrenal disease can look.

He needs surgery - but that will cost upward…

• He thinks he is about 100 pounds bigger than he is.
• He is really adorable in this shaggy, big ‘ole sad eyes, pathetic kinda way.
• He sleeps all curled up as if maybe if he curls tightly enough, he could curl up into himself. And he drools.
• He loves cheese.
• He has no use for little dogs. They are annoying what with all the yapping and jumping and panting.
• He totally went head to head with a Great Dane the other day. He don’t care. He’s bad like that.
• Out of a huge dog park, he chooses the 6″ wide cement curb to walk on. Because the dirt. It is dirty.
• The other dogs frolic and play. He pees and scoots. That’s what he does. He does not play. He has no use for this thing called play.
• When the other dogs come sniffing around to find out what is so interesting about the peeing and scooting,…

We worked on the ‘down’ command last night. He got lots of love and praise. I groomed him a little and played with his feet and his tail. He hates having them touched. And really, who can blame him? His toenails are cracked and probably have some sort of fungus and last time somebody touched his butt, they stuck a thermometer up it - which he was none too pleased with. But he’s getting better about it, which is good because they both need to be groomed something fierce.

Today, I took him to the pet store and we worked on not marking indoors just because it smells like other dogs. It’s hard to put 6 years of un-neutered past to rest in a couple of months. He doesn’t really play with toys so it’s hard to spoil him… but he sure does sleep a lot.. so I bought him…

Tobi left today for training. When all of this training thing started, I had no hesitation sending him for two weeks because I knew it’d be the best training he could get and I was ok with being without him. This morning, I took him on an extra long walk and snuggled with him and groomed him for like an hour before the guy showed up to pick him up. The Sit Means Sit people are great and he will have so much fun and I know he’ll come back a completely different, healthier, happier dog but he’s been gone for like 4 hours now and I’m already going nuts. The house seems to echo without him here.

In those four hours I’ve revamped the filing cabinet with a chrome finish, edged the back yard, gone shopping and organized the yard tools. I’ve also scrubbed both bathrooms within an inch…

“im from the middle of nowhere down in the dirty south we do everything areselves when it comes to our animals.”, one email told me. It’s one of about 15, so far, that I’ve gotten from my craig’s list ad.

So, Tobi is home. All of the second thoughts I had are completely gone. So far, he is the best house dog. He’s very gentle and doesn’t go far from me. I’m keeping him on a leash for a while to keep an eye on him but it’s 16′ long and he’s glued to my side. I was wiped this afternoon so I laid down on the couch to take a nap. He settled in on the floor next to me. For two hours. Quietly.

He doesn’t know how to sit. An 8 year old dog - no obedience training. No obedience training (other than being obviously house broken), came in…

Yes. I don’t even have the fucking dog (said affectionately) yet and it’s ALREADY a saga. Because nothing in Carrie’s life would be complete with one of those.

So… I adopted the dog (heretoforthwith called “Tobi” - identity concealed to protect the innocent) on Friday. He couldn’t come home with me because they wanted to neuter him first. So we set up an appointment for him to be neutered Monday and I would pick him up Tuesday. In the mean time, on Saturday, we went to visit him and keep him company and pass clandestine treats between the bars.

They had moved him to his own enclosure instead of having to share with another dog anymore. He even had a little bed in the new digs. He almost snubbed us in order to go lay down on this new-found amenity before, I’m sure, he was afraid, it wouldn’t be there…

I’m just full of all natural remedies today. Excuse me while I cough this out of my system. Then we’ll go back to regularly scheduled synthetic fun.

I found the ingredients on the back of a widely sold all natural product. I did some digging and used the end result on my own animals when one of them unwittingly brought in fleas.

5 drops each of the following essential oils :
lavender
peppermint
lemon
cinnamon
clove

Let it sit for 24 hours and then mix with 1 of the following :
8 oz of cat shampoo for a flea shampoo
4 oz distilled alcohol and 4 oz water for a flea spray
4 oz carrier oil for a skin oil
a few drops at a time with 8 oz arrowroot powder or cornstarch for a powder

Spot check on your animal for sensitivity before you use any of the applications on their skin.

…

I took Moxie to get neutered yesterday. Dropping him off in the morning was almost like dropping a kid off at school for the first time. Only, I knew I would be picking him up minus a couple of ounces. How sad. Not that he doesnt have plenty of ounces to go around.

I picked him up that evening and he was splay legged in his carrier with dizzy eyes. Themz some good meds. He stayed in the bathroom over night so that they other cats wouldn’t bother him but when I opened the door to the carrier he was all acting like it was the best accommodations ever. Like maybe he had never seen a box of sand SO hospitable before. He rubbed on everything and watched my every move. It was like he was 6 weeks old all over again. If I moved, that might mean I was…

I have a bone to pick with these screwballs that charge $50-$100 ‘rehoming’ or adoption fees for animals that need homes.

I want a kitten that is in need of a home. No need to be purebred or anything fancy… just a kitten that will grow up in our house and will have a great family and live a happy life.

There are all of these organizations that take in foster animals to find them homes and they all whine and moan and bitch about how expensive it is and about how much they need support. And then the perfect adoptive family comes along (like mine) and they want to charge me an arm and a leg to adopt one of these creatures that is apparently eating them out of house and home.

Arguments for charing the fee :
Screen out bad homes or people who want to use the animals…

I have a `4 year old, male Three Toed Box Turtle that I keep in an outdoor enclosure. It’s been about a year since his enclosure was ‘refreshed’. Some of the plants were overgrowing or dying and the soil level was lower than I would like. I like to stay hands-off with his enclosure… it’s his territory and I like for it to be an actual habitat rather than something for my pleasure. But once a year, so far, seems about right to overhaul it and touch it up.

First, of course, I took him out and put him in the tub to soak. Then I pulled out the driftwood, water bowl etc. When I pulled out the water bowl, low and behold there were a TON of baby worms under it. My effort to seed worms in his enclosure WORKED! I scattered these out throughout the enclosure. I would…