sphynx_again

So today, I'm doing ringworm baths, moving recently infected cats out of the momma room and into the sick room, passing through the dog kennels between them. On my way through, I turn a corner just in time to see some blonde chick ducking under the rope with the huge white sign dangling from it that says "QUARANTINE: DO NOT APPROACH." Mind you, she's ducking under on her way BACK into the public dog kennels.

I stop dead. "You can't be back there!"
Her: oh really?
Me: Yeah, that's what that sign means.
Her. Oh, I didn't realize that meant I couldn't go look.
Me: Well, it doesn't mean "Duck the rope and come on in!" That German Shepherd back there could take your head off, but that's not the reason for the sign. Theres also a litter of sick puppies back there. We don't know what they have, or if it's contagious. So if you stepped in their germs, then walk all over the shelter, you are endangering every animal in here. Which is why that tray of bleach solution and irrigation boots are right there next to that rope.

Also today. Group of frat boys outside in our dog play area in their underwear and santa hats taking pictures with the dogs. It was 20 degrees.

Woman on phone wanting to surrender her cat who hates other cats so bad that merely seeing another cat sends him into rages where he bites people. Didn't really think through the fact that he'd be in a cage surrounded by other cats, and being handled by the general public in that environment.

Idiotic people without the IQ required to operate doors. I think I walked past the kennel door ONCE where I didn't have to shut it. At one point, somebody let a dog out of his kennel, who then ran through the open door into the cat area, and started having a hay day. Other employee rounds up dog, goes back into kennels, yells "did somebody lose a DOG???" Person responsible didn't seem to recognize the fact that if you let a dog out of it's kennel, you should probably make an effort to chase it down. Or at least alert a staff member. Since that particular Lab/Akita mix isn't good with cats. Sorta wants to eat them, even.

Never have I been so happy to be stuck all afternoon in the sweltering laundry room doing lime-sulfur dips.

On the positive side, the American Eskimo who came in on deaths door is a whole different dog today. He grinned at me, walked outside on his own four legs, and ate treats and canned food off the fork. Amazing what 2 days worth of antibiotics and food will do for a sick dog. And shaving off all the feces matted fur around the back end too. Tuesday the vet was "cautiously optimistic" that he would survive.

Have I mentioned I hate people sometimes?

I get to go see lion king on stage! I'm so very excited.

Help my shelter win $1000! Or whatever your favorite shelter is for that matter. But since we are #7 in the state, we actually do have a small chance of winning, if I can round up some votes.

Go to http://theanimalrescuesite.com

Click on the big purple "Click here to give - it's FREE!" button. (Advertisers on the site do the actual donating.)

On the next page, click on the banner at the top that says "Help your favorite shelter win a prize! Vote Today"

Search for Humane Society of the Palouse in Idaho.

Thanks much :)

So we've got a dog at the shelter, been acting like she's had a UTI. Urine was... interesting colored... to say the least. Lots of blood and stuff, but no crystals. Put her on Baytril for two weeks with no improvement whatsoever. Time for x-rays.

And holy cow, it's no wonder the poor dog is peeing blood. And no antibiotic is gonna fix THIS:




So she goes in for surgery Wed to get that taken care of. For reference, this is a 113 pound dog. For those who don't know what you're looking at, those big white spots are stones in the bladder. Thats one stone the size of a small orange, one the size of a lemon, and a whole double fistfull of gravel sized stones.

So last night at med-time, I discovered that ED's (Eyeball Dude) eye was protruding farther than ever before. Like seriously an inch out of his face. All scabbed over and nasty. So this morning I took him in, and it was decided that no, he really wasn't in great shape yet for surgery, but the way that thing was sticking outta there, he was going to wipe it right out himself. Vet says "ready for my diagnosis? That's yucky!"

So we knock him out, and the vet just grabs the thing between his fingers and pulls. We initially thought it was the whole thing, but turns out it was just the lense, cornea, iris, and misc. tissue. He had to dig around to clean the rest of the globe out. But it's all gone now, stitched up, and hopefully will heal nicely.

The other eye is actually doing a little recovery on it's own, and there's a chance he might keep that eye. Don't know how much vision he'll have though. Just have to wait and see.

Such a sweet little thing though. Purrs up a storm if you pet him, and comes to your voice if you talk to him. Which means, don't talk if his cage door is open, unless you are in a position to catch!

I'll take another picture later in the week for comparison.

They're DEAD already!
"PETA targets fish toss at Pike Place Market "
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009319216_apwapetathrowingfish.html

Note on front door at work upon arrival Tuesday morning: "I found this and don't know how to take care of it."

Photos of "this" will follow behind the cut. Warning, they're pretty nasty, if you can't handle graphic pics of eye injuries/disease, don't look.

As for his overall wellbeing, he's not doing too bad. He's a super sweet little guy, loves to be talked to and pet. Wasn't real keen on having his ears cleaned today, but the herd of mites needed thinning. He doesn't seem to be in pain, or he's been in pain so long it no longer bothers him. So our hope is, after a week or so of antibiotics and good food, he'll be strong enough to undergo surgery to remove both his eyes. Yes, we've had an eyeless cat at the shelter before, yes she did fine in a community cat room, and yes she got adopted.

Also, this evening another little foundling came in, same age, same size, body type, condition, same HUGE ears, one small lesion on one eye, and a URI. We're assuming they are siblings, and put them in together. They love each other.

Anyway, on to the pics:
( Read more... )

seriously, I want one! If I ever do much sewing again, I'll figure out not only this pattern, but all my other druid forms too. make the whole set!
http://garnetbear.deviantart.com/art/Plush-Moonkin-120238900

Your dating personality profile: Big-Hearted - You are a kind and caring person. Your warmth is inviting, and your heart is a wellspring of love. Practical - You are a down-to-earth individual who is not impressed with material excess. You care about the stuff of like that really matters. Adventurous - Just sitting around the house is not something that appeals to you. You love to be out trying new things and really experiencing life.

Your Top Ten Traits 1. Big-Hearted 2. Practical 3. Adventurous 4. Intellectual 5. Liberal 6. Outgoing 7. Sensual 8. Traditional 9. Religious 10. Romantic

Your date match profile: Practical - You are drawn to people who are sensible and smart. Flashy, materialistic people turn you off. You appreciate the simpler side of living. Conservative - Forget liberals, you need a conservative match. Political discussions interest you, and a conservative will offer the viewpoint you need. Adventurous - You are looking for someone who is willing to try new things and experience life to its fullest. You need a companion who encourages you to take risks and do exciting things.

Your Top Ten Match Traits 1. Practical 2. Conservative 3. Adventurous 4. Intellectual 5. Big-Hearted 6. Religious 7. Funny 8. Traditional 9. Outgoing 10. Sensual

Take the Dating Profile Quiz at Would I Date You

http://notalwaysright.com/

Enjoy.

Yesterday I bought 9 shrimps for one of my fish tanks. Shrimps cost $3 each. Today I see several shrimp shells littering the floor of the tank, but not one shrimp.

I think I bought very expensive fish food.

A meme. Stolen from Draggonlaady.

The first seven (7) people to respond to this post will get something made by me.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done this year (2009).
- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a mix CD. It may contain animal parts. I may draw or paint something, but I doubt it. I might bake you something and mail it to you. It could be a hunk of lead. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure! [not me either]
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch is that you have to put this in your journal as well, if you expect me to do something for you.

So we got in a dog right before Christmas, ready to pop pregnant. Guy was leaving town, and was just going to take the dog out in the woods and dump her if we didn't take her. This is her 4th or so litter, she's just an outside dog, always has pups about this time of year, out in the snow. Usually has 7-9 pups, about half die.

So a week later she has 9 pups (all black, doesn't it figure!) Yesterday, we have our vet look at her, as she seems awful bloated. Rads aren't clear, but all indications are pyometra. In for surgery she goes, and guess what... I'm the ONLY employee with a handy close-able spare room with no carpet. So I pick her up after surgery, bring her and the 9 pups home. She's doing well enough considering, but today she's losing staples like mad. By late afternoon she has 3-4" opening in the skin. Subq stitches look great, but I'm not supposed to see them! Also, she's leaving trails of blood everywhere she walks.

As I'm trying to get a hold of the vet to arrange for new staples, work calls. Just got in a puppy. Owner/breeder was going to drown him because he was deaf, therefore not worth anything. So some random guy gives the breeder $20 just to get the puppy away from the guy so he can bring him to the shelter. Pup won't DIE if he's left in the shelter, of course, but would be much better off in a foster home! Especially with another small adult pit bull to play with! I sigh. "Fine, I've already got 11 dogs in my house, what's one more?"

Oh, and Shelby doesn't have pyometra, her bladder was just the size of a jug of milk. For whatever reason, she has no muscle tone. So she just kinda leaks all the time, though she did go potty and poop when we got back from the vet. Long term prognosis is totally up in the air for her.

New tires are on, car drives well.

In other news, someone asked about surrendering a 15 year old dog to the shelter because they couldn't have it in thier new house. What on earth makes people think someone's going to adopt a dog that old from the shelter? Or do they think we have a nice little doggie retirement home? No, a dog that old will live in a kennel for the rest of it's life, while we do our best to make it a comfortable and enjoyable stay. Then we have to put it to sleep. Do people truly not realize how this works, or do they simply not care?

So the Schwabs guy came out, took one look at my tire, and asked how far I'd driven on it. Well, just a little ways down the pavement before I got out and checked, then down to the other end of the driveway loop and back to the house. "Hmmmm" he says in a not very encouraging manner. So he prys the tire off the wheel and declares the tire ruined, unrepairable. Shows me about 4 spots where the tire is damaged badly from driving on it flat. And, even better, since it's an all wheel drive car, the tread on all 4 wheels has to match. And since the tires on it are the original factory tires, and are about half used, there's no way to replace the one tire. So I get to buy a whole new set of tires. Joy.

At least he helped get my car unstuck!

So I go out to thaw my car before work this morning, realizing it's going to take a little time as I haven't driven in 3 days. Takes longer than expected, because the snow/ice that has drifted and built up in such a way as to make on nice smooth slope from rooftop to nose. This means that my windshield wipers are beneath about 5" of packed snow and ice.

Finally get my car clear enough to drive. Attempt to do so. After getting on the pavement, I immediately realize something is wrong. Get out. Rear tire is dead flat. Drive back to house. Get out the spare tire and twisty handle... cannot for the life of me find the jack. Finally give up and call Subaru Roadside Assistance for... assistance. He tells me where to find the jack, and I do indeed find it. I say I'll attempt to change it myself. He says "well, it's free anyway, might as well use it..." so I say fine. He says he'll call back with a time for service.

He calls back a short time later. Next available service time is 3:00 pm. Fine, I'll take it, in the mean time I'll go out and change it myself. When I succeed, I'll call them back to cancel the service call.

Back out into the snow. Get the jack all set up, tire is ready to go....
no lug wrench. I can't belive there's no lug wrench. I've all but picked up the car and shook it out, and there's STILL no lug wrench.

So I'm waiting for the roadside guy after all.

I finally did it. On Friday the 13th I bought myself a new(ish) car. I have not taken any pictures of it specifically, but it's about as generic as they come, so you can find pictures on your own if you feel you need to.

I settled on a 2006 Subaru Forester. I'd always thought I wanted an Outback, but after trying the two out back to back, I chose the Forester instead. It is Urban Grey, with grey interior. Moonroof big enough to feel almost like a convertable. Otherwise, pretty plain. But it drives nice, it's comfortable, and it gets better mileage than the Exploder. The 4-speaker sound system is surprisingly good, but no sattelite radio or aux input. Those showed up on the '07 model. Plus, I managed to find a 3 year old car with less than 9,000 miles on it. Quite a find. And with the 100,000 mile warranty, it should be quite reliable. Consumer Reports says it is anyway! It better be, I plan to drive it for many years to come.

With the cloth interior, I'm paranoid about staining it, so want to get seat covers. Unfortunately, (well, really it's quite fortunate, but inconvenient in this instance) it has side airbags that pop out of the sides of the seats. Which means I have to buy semi-custom seat covers for it. Which is 2-3 times as expensive as the stretchy universal covers. They look a lot nicer though, which is a plus. But until I get them on, I'm not eating or drinking in my car. Probably better for me anyway, but I'm driving to Oregon next month and no way can I go 8 hours in a car without munchies! So I gotta have them by then.

I also want the fitted cargo area covers for the back area too. The upper level models have hard surface in the cargo area, this one is all carpeted. So when I had to buy bark the other day for the yard, I covered the whole damn interior with a great big tarp. Got 12 bags of bark in there too, though I probably should have stopped at 8, certainly at 10. Oh well, we got home, no apparent damage done. But according to the printing on the bags, I put over 2 yards of bagged bark mulch in there. That's pretty damn good.

All in all, I'm happy with my purchase. The Exploder is going to Oregon in July to live with my dad. I will miss the nice stereo with subwoofer, the leather interior, the fuel computer, and the overall largeness and usefulness of the vehicle, but I won't miss it's fuel costs. And repair costs. And floaty, squishy suspension. And wind noise. And probably some other things too. But of course Subaru ergonomics are quirky. Taking a while to get used to certain control placements. And I didn't realize I had automatic climate control until I read the manual, because the controls are pretty vague. Other controls are just plain in the wrong place, or work backwards. Oh well, I think I'm better off in the long run with the 'Roo. I know I am. And I like it, even though it's not green. And it's not the L.L. Bean edition. Therefore I can't call it Green Bean.

It is June.

It is snowing.

I love north Idaho!