Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Pinkie and Sweetie


Pinkie is a female guinea pig that has been in foster care. Last week her foster Mom let us know that she was breathing heavily (labored) and had some diarrhea , she was then rushed to the vet. It was found that she had a grade 3 heart murmur and fluid surrounding her heart, she was diagnosed with heart disease. Now she is on some meds, Baytril and Lasix ( for her heart). The good news is that she has greatly improved on the meds and is back to her normal self, vocal and happy. She may always need to be on the lasix and Foter Mom, Dawn and I decided it ia best for her to stay in her home and not be adopted somewhere else. We are afraid that the stress of moving to a new place would cause a relapse. We are all hoping that Pinkie stays well and still has a long life ahead of her. here is a picture of that goofy, loveable girl.


Tomorrow Sweetie is getting spayed, but shhhh, don't let her know that. No need to get her worked up ahead of time.


Friday, May 25, 2007

Update on Tawney

Tawney our own guinea pig, the piggy that has a neurological disorder, he went to see the vet on Monday. Seems that there isn't an infection or anything wrong with his ears, he just has some build-up in his ears. So we'll need to clean his ears once in a while. but there has been a new problem with Tawney now. His poops seems to build up inside him, it kind of gets stuck in his anal region and then clumps up as more poop develops. Instead of individual poops coming out, his doesn't seem to be coming out , so they wind up clumping up into a mass. So, what I have been doing is pressing lightly on each side of his anal region and that pushes out that clump for him. I am giong to get him back into to see either Dr.T or Dr.Fijas to find out why this happening to him and see what we can do for him. My fear with his poops sitting around in him like that, that he may wind up with a bacteria build up there and/or an infection. Poor tawney that must be so uncomfortable, I've been doing my best to stay on top of it and pushing it out for him, but Guinea pigs poop very often! He has been eating timothy hay normally so I do not know why this is happening. He has been urinating normally, thankfully, I do not need to express his bladder for him , I could if he ever needed it, but he has been doing that regularly and without my help. Tawney is a guinea pig that made a turn for the worse , health -wise, when he was only a baby, we didn't think he was going to make it. With TLC and supportive care he improved enough that he does have a good quality of life. He'll never be a normal guinea pig, and we'll always do what we can to help him out like we did when he was a baby. Tawney will be turning 3 years old this year in Decmeber , he is our miracle pig. Our other miracle pig is Champ, he WAS paralyzed, but now he isn't , he is turning three years old in July :)

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

hooray for adoptions! :)


It has been a wonderful couple of days. Two very adorable and sweet furry friends went home. Wilbur and Satin.

Satin was brought to us as a young baby, she was part of a litter of ten. The crazy part was, there were 5 girls and 5 boys. All of them were eventually adopted, but Satin was the last one remaining, just waiting here for the day when she'd go home. It was well worth the wait for her! She has the best home ever. Mom, Patricia, and her new brother, Tommy, have adopted her and she is now family.

Wilbur has a sad story but with a really happy ending. Wilbur arrived with a lot of missing fur, scabs and open sores, he also itched and chewed himself a lot and cried out in pain as he did so, it was heartbreaking to see. I got him in to see Dr.Fijas as soon as we could, and found out that Wilbur had Mange/mites. Dr.Fijas prescribed Revolution to take care of the mites and to repeat it once a month for three months. After the first treatment , we could see the improvement, less chewing and scratching, and the scabs healed up. Once he was into his third treatment he looked like an entirely different piggy. He was happier, more comfortable, he grew fur in all over. It was apparent to Dr.Fijas and I that his mites were all gone. And he also had someone who wanted to adopt him in the worst way , hehhe. Jennifer who adopted our goldfish that were left in a bucket, fell in love with Wilbur as soon as she laid eyes on him. And she just picked him up today and will be taking him to his forever home. Jenn has really turned around the lives of these "discarded" pets, by offering and giving her heart and home to them, she has given these pets that had sad beginnings , such happy endings. Thank you so much Jenn M. :)
That is a cute picture of Satin, but we still need to download pictures of Wilbur. I didn't take any pictures of Wilbur while he was suffering from mange to show any before and after pictures. But once I have the after pictures downloaded you'll see how happy he is and say "awww" to his utter cuteness

Saturday, May 19, 2007

The Doogie




Yesterday, Doogie the guinea pig was adopted. The Kramer family adopted him, they had adopted a special boy piggy from us in November, formerly known as Friskie, now is called Bubba. They also adopted an adorable white dwarf hamster. Now Doogie is a part of their family. Doogie arrived here because his former owner had allergies from him. Doogie was very shy and he even flinched, jumped and backed away from our touch. We could tell he wasn't handled much. But after his stay here with us from December 2006,until yesterday he became a very outgoing , vocal and love able piggy. I am sure he is scared in his new home and environment but I know he'll adapt and go back to the charming piggy he is :) Here's a picture of the Doogster. I love the picture of him with his stuffed animal. He had his head rested on it , sleeping, using it as a pillow, but when I grabbed the camera to take a picture, he lifted his head up.



Jade has been feeling a bit better these past couple of days, I can tell. She seems less sleepy, more energetic and affectionate. I know this won't last, but I am so happy that she is having good days.



Tuesday, May 15, 2007

every moment, every day




Jade is doing the same. She has had some visitors here to love her and make her feel better with all the attention. Today, Grandma and Grandpa visited ( my Mom and dad) and loved her all over, and on Saturday Jenn stopped by to give her lots of kisses and love. Jade didn't eat as well on Sunday, but yesterday she ate all her canned food, she didn't leave any scraps for the other cats to eat after her. She looks so tired and drained , I wish I could make her feel better. I wish she didn't have this at all, i wish it was treatable, I wish so much for Jade... She's our loveable, huggable, sexy black cat. And she always will be.


I'll be making an appointment for our guinea pig, Tawney. Tawney is our piggy with the neurological disorder. he has a black residue in his ears and lately, his neurological symptoms (head tilt, wobbliness, siezures, etc) have been a bit worse than normal and I have a feeling the ears have something to do with it. Also right around this time every year , he always gets worse, always in May near Memorial Day. Each year it has happened, and we have had Tawney for three years now, it has been one of those unexplainable things. We still will be taking him in to see dr.T or Fijas for a check-up and have the ears looked at.


There haven't been any newcomers or adoptions this week. It has been quiet.


Oh, and we have been updated by Autumn the rabbit's foster Mom, Autumn has been very calm and loving lately. Autumn became rather moody and miserable after her spay surgery. She has been in a foster home for many months now. She always showed love to any cats or dogs , but all people she didn't care for. Until now, Carrie (foster Mom) has let me know that these past few weeks, Autumn hasn't shown any aggression to her or her son, and has been quite a nice bun. Question now is has she gotten comfortable with Carrie and her son, but will still react aggressively towards anyone else? Or will she be able to adapt to someone else and like them too? The good news is that she can grow fond of people, it may take time for her, but now we know she can and will which helps her chances of being adopted. I'll leave a cute picture of her, here's Autumn!

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Our hearts are heavy


I have horrible news about our cat, Jade. If anyone has been to our house, then you would know Jade, she is the slender black cat that demands attention from you. Lately she had been acting sick, she became very picky about what she will eat, and won't eat her normal food. I made an appointment for her and in the time from then until her appointment ( a few days) she went downhill, she started drinking a lot, even obsessed about water in general. She started crying in the house kind of a " I'm lost, help me" sounding cry. Dr.T wanted to do a blood work up on her even though she just had the same blood work done 6 months ago, he said it can drastically change in that time period . And it did, it came out perfectly fine six months ago, and yesterday it was VERY bad. She has renal failure, Dr.T told me straight out that her kidneys are not functioning for her at all anymore. I am afraid that her time with us is very limited now, and it breaks and tears at my heart knowing that. There isn't anything we can do for her to make her better. Dr.T told us to let her drink water as she wants, right now, she is drinking from her bowls, faucets and bath tub. I know she wants to drink out of the toilet and fish tanks ( She'll take water anywhere she finds it) but I am not letting her drink from those areas. He also said it is great that she is eating canned food ( she has completely stopped eating any dry food) and to let her have as much of it as she wants as long as she is keeping it down, and she is. Jade still loves visitors , she still feels up to climbing all over you and demanding attention, if anyone wants to visit her and love her, please do. I'll keep everyone updated, I am hoping we still have quite a bit of quality time with her, we will make each moment count.
Old man Butterscotch the rabbit also went in to see Dr.T , the lump by his mouth was an abscess, he poked it open and drained it and now Butterscotch is on an antibiotic twice a day. Dr.T said this could be a sign that Butterscotch is developing teeth problems, if the abscess comes back or another appears he'll need to have the inside of his mouth looked at.
We also got the Advantage to treat Lexi and Lizzie for the lice, so soon enough all those lice will be dead.
Here's a head shot of Old man Butterscotch ( he is 9 and half years old) he is a cutie. It has been a very sad time for us, but we are loving and enjoying Jade. I encourage anyone who also has come to grow fond of jade to please visit her soon, ( I know how hard it is to see her sick and know what will be happening) I know how much she loves everyone and how much she will enjoy that. Thank you.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Here's Harry


I accidently pressed enter without adding the picture of Harry, here he is!

attack of the creepy crawlies

We has a young visitor today , she wanted to meet girlie guinea pig, Lizzie. She made a great catch and saw that Lizzie has lice crawling on her :S Not to worry though Lice is very easy to treat and quickly eradicated. Since Lizzie in the same cage with Lexi , they both will need to be treated. I'll make them an appointment as soon as I can on Monday, they'll both need Advantage ( that is what our vet likes to use for guinea pig lice and it works great) they'll just need to get their weights for the proper dosage they'll need. Good eye Christina!:)
Tuesday, we have an appointment for our cat, Jade, she has been having very different eating habits and drinking habits lately, I am worried about her. And Butterscotch the rabbit is going in as well, I noticed a small lump near the corner of his mouth the other day, it's best to have that looked at. I am hoping that there isn't any real bad news and that everyone will be getting better. I'll leave this post with an adorable picture of our cat Harry. He is wearing his best tuxedo.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

RANDY :), Guinea pig girls and Cooters







I now have some pictures of Randy in the computer, so here he is being lazy on our couch. Tell me, isn't he just a handsome, sexy looking boy cat? rowr. hehe, He sure has made himself at home here.


The two female guinea pigs, Lexi and Lizzie, they were extremely scared about a month ago when they first arrived. They have finally calmed down and settled in after a few weeks, and now Ray and I are able to bring them out of the cage and spend time with them. I feel they are now able to be adopted out so I've placed them on Petfinder. They have two totally different personalities too. Lexi is more pushy and bossy in the cage with Lizzie but she is real timid around people. Lizzie is a pushover with Lexi and timid with her but is really outgoing with people. Here they are hanging out on top of Ray, Lexi is the all brown one, and Lizzie is the multi-colored piggy.

There was an adoption today too. The last two of the Florida river cooter turtles have gone home. Yippee! That's great for them. There were three cooter turtles that were brought there back in October of 2006. They were caught in Florida by their original owner and brought here in Western New York, they were then kept as pets for two years. Then the owner decided they didn't want them anymore. They were going to let them free in a nearby creek here in New York if we were unable to take them in. First of all they wouldn't survive our Winters here, it isn't anything like Florida! Secondly after two years in captivity their chances are slim out in the wild, plus they could introduce a foreign pathogen into the environment. The best thing for them was to re home them. There was a small one, a medium sized one and a larger one. The smallest one found a home quite quickly, the other two were here for a while, but their perfect home and Mom just came for them today :)