Little Gifts

i didn't set the times pers - she did! it is like she is just so incredibly hungry that her world is off kilter until she eats. in turn she makes the house chaos until she is fed. she doesn't gulp or eat it fast and she isn't like this at any other time. she also gets a late night snack which has prevented bile vomits in the morning. obviously her tummy rules the rest of her!

crisovar should i get out my sister's microscope and look myself? is that what the vet would be doing?

i can set mny watch by my little foster girl. if she does not have breakast by 7am and dinner by 6pm then she goes a little loco. it is currently 6.16pm and she is sobbing and chewing on one of the dog feeding stools simultaneously. if i am not awake and ready to fill her bowl by 7am she will get on the bed, start talking and chewing on whatever bit of me she can find until i get up and go immediately to dole out the food. she has had a problem where if she gets too hungry she vomits up bile so i do aim to stick to the timeframes, but honestly she carries on so desperately i can't help but laugh. she cries and talks and jumps around and comes over and gives me looks and generally can't sit still or keep her mouth off anythiong until food goes into her belly. anyone else have a dog like this? my other two couldn't care less about feeding time until 7.30pm - that seems there limit and they start hanging around like bad smells. and now at 6.22pm she is eating the knobs on the back of my computer chair with great urgency! must go!

pav lova i am also concerned about the chemical side of things but don't have the skills to identify a dog with worm burden. i know about bloating in pups but how can i identify a worm burden in adult dogs? is it about immediate poo checks? is it about the places they have visited off property that might have infestations? i reaally have no idea.

what about lucia? she deserves a 'ladies' name!

i lost a wonderful dog to heartworm in my early 20s so am diligent about that ever since. i use panoramis so it has flea, heart and other worm prevention in it and it is a monthly tab. the worm it misses - tapeworm? i give another tab every 3 months for that. i used to be a bit whatever about intestinal worms but this year i had a healthy foster dog who had been previously wormed but who stll vomited up maybe 20 worms of 3 different types in one small puke one morning and i realised how disgusting and unnessecary that was to let a dog live with that inside its body. we've never had a tick on any of our dogs but my 2 get a daily massage and check over for anything and everything while sister does her furry beast once a week. she is now 9 so has started growing skin tags which can feel very tick like under all her hair!

he's obviously thinking of getting one of those rare blue staffies! what a bargain!

you should all be very proud of what you have achieved. good on you for also having a practical exit strategy and sharing it. this will be a loss but anyone working in rescue understands there comes a time when it isn't feasible to continue. best wishes to all of you!

The poor little goat. That's abuse! I can't believe someone would do that. Hope it was ok after that yes thankfully he was teela. he remained in the care of myself and my partner after that and eventually moved from our small acreage to a farm with girl goats to breed. he was a nubian. long time ago now though.

we had a pet goat in a share house and he was being weaned off the bottle. he would suck vigorously on his bottle and do lots of farting during and after. there was a big party at the house one weekend and after hearing him scream for his bottle the next morning some bright spark decided to feed him left over alcoholic punch. he drank his bottle quite happily but a little later while on the long concrete back verandah he farted and sent diarrhea flying across the entire length of the verandah. it took a lot of scrubbing to get that off.

actually that is a reality - some dogs get multiple interest in them so an applicant wont have a clue that they are competing for a specific dog. maybe the feedback on why an applicant wasn't successful needs some fine tuning so people aren't so discouraged and left feeling bad about what they have to offer?

i had the world's oldest budgie out of the aviary and had left him sunning in a smaller cage in the car port. next to him was a larger cage with two tamed lorikeets, also getting a bit of sun. the wind knocked the budgie cage over and woody got expelled from it. so he just flew over and crawled into the lorrikeets cage and was sitting between them when i next came outside! he was clearly getting too old for adventures. today my cat loving friend came to take me to physio. my mum was also here faffing around and managed to let my naughty sbt out the front door and off the verandah. she then took off like greased lightening. having only one good hand, an old woman and a dog disliker at my disposal i figured i'd just have to wait and pick my girl up at the pound later today. but my wonderful friend got in her 4wd, drove round the corner, called to my girl and she turned, ran back down the street and launched her chubby self into the air right into the drivers seat on top of my friend. it was a miracle! she's a bit bored given we haven't been able to do walkies and play tug.

T that is why when i do home checks i go in and just talk and look around and get a feel for the people and their lifestyle because i want which ever dog and them to have the most brilliant life together. people just have to be perfect for the specific dog they are interested in, not perfect according to my standards. i home checked some religious vegetarians and they were worried about that but could clearly tell the difference between what they chose to eat and what a natural dogs diet was. and i've not yet met a dog who doesn't like a sleep in with its humans!

i noticed that too sheridan and i can't speak for everyone in rescue but i have no probs picking a good breeder over rescue because good breeders will also be making sure their dog is right for the person. when a dog is in foster care we learn all kinds of important things about them that a potential adopter will not know. i remember in one home check i did for another rescue my only worry was about the activity levels of the potential adopters. turns out the dog in question was low activity due to an untreated injury before rescue so the match was perfect. in another home check for another rescue they were concerned about the ongoing health needs of the rescue dog being met. the potential adopters turned out to be so wealthy and their own dog had the same problem so they had actually altered their property at great expense to accomodate that health issue. maybe some rescues are too over the top but maybe that is because they learned the hard way? i've heard ams talking about shar pei to interested newbies in such a way that you'd think she didn't want to get rid of them to anybody yet her dogs are rarely returned during the trial placement and if they are it is because something isn't right for the dog. i still remember completing the in depth application form just to be a carer and worrying i wouldn't be considered good enough!

this will come across as snobby but i don't care how many hoops someone has to jump through to get a companion animal. the more they read and know and are questioned perhaps the better they are prepared for 10 plus years of pet ownership. and given owning/feeding/health caring for an animal over a long life can cost the same as buying a car people should be doing their own research to make sure they are getting the right animal for them as well, including the financial side of it. it's about time people took some responsibility for owning animals and not just buying them. simply loving an animal is not enough.

oh kirty my heart stopped when i saw stevie's name. you gave her such an amazing life by letting her safely reach her potential in a world without sight. the stories of her experiences with you were so heartwarming. i know nothing about ccd - it sounds so insidious. stevie didn't deserve this and neither did you or you family. some things just effing suck.

hey deshonko kennels haven't run a listing of what they have available at exorbitant prices yet this christmas. maybe they bred this one too?

i am the fun police on this because i saw the story a few days back and just thought why? out on a farm this would be handy but other than that what is the point? we already know some dogs are amazing. if their spca is anything like our rspca i'd much rather those workers spent all that time and money helping more than 3 dogs. maybe if a farmer had taught his dog to drive the ute while he fed the sheep off the back i'd be excited by it but i'd hate to think of the spca diverting funds from saving and rehabilitating more animals for this. sorry everyone.

i just found photos on my camera that my sister took the day after e my wrist. i'm obviously dead to the world but the dogs are still being careful of my damaged arm!

funny but mine have changed since we've been fostering and there has been more proper name useage. the little foster girl, a shar pei we have has always had lots of nicknames. dimples - pimples, doodle-bug, baby girl, bubby girl, noodle, dumpling, wrinkle face, whiny girl, mona, dilly and a wole heap of actual cantonese names that represent her origins and characteristics like li-lui which means strong girl or chi-long-gou which sort of means wrinkle face dog or ling-ling which means sound x 2. we also have sorr-mihn which means silly noodle. worrying noodle would suit her more but i haven't translated and checked that one yet! i figured she should know some of her native language. the only name she responds to is dimples though. she reckons the rest mean dinner is now served.

i am currently recuperating from a shattered wrist. i swapped which side of the bed i sleep on as my heart girl and my current foster girl have been known to play vigorous bitey face with me as the wall to bounce off. but from the night i came home they both sniffed my new arm but have been very careful not to go close or even jump on the lounge or bed near it. they still play on the bed but don't involve me in their games and they still lie on me on the lounge but on the other side. my heart girl just came to try and scratch my arm off the computer as she does if she wants something and even though both arms are up she only went to the good arm. how do they know these things? my heart girl is one thing but my foster girl is also obviously very intuned and special.

happy birthday babies! caz i have also been thinking about you regularly wondering how things went and where you ended up. need update like t needs humungo doggy cuddles!

i think he's just trying out a new yoga pose - maybe the lotus stretch?

i love puppy stack pics! tapua sent me some photos of the kids in their pre-school area and they are all such happy, confident munchkins! another wonderful litter from pauline and pete!

my unpaid and semi abused carer has decided to just go and take a nap right when i decided to get out of bed and want something to eat. can you believe that? i just had to microwave my own chicken pie! and me with only one good hand! and i've come up with a cunning plan to at least get my xmas decorations into the house. then my sister can hardly say no to putting them up as per my strict instructions with me sitting there all sad faced and lifeless can she? ......insert evil patient laugh...... i swear it does all actually hurt and i sleep half the day away and i do have to be very careful coz it was serious, etc but have taken this on board as an experience to learn from rather than something to mope about. it is just a short period of my life derailed right now if i do everything i need to do to recover fully and mental strength is a big part of recovery. i actually think about all those poor rescue dogs who get injured and have no pain relief or specialist to set their bones right and no-one to hold them and tell them it will be ok or to feed them when they can't feed themselves. i have nothing to complain about when i think of them. mind you, i wouldn't mind having a proper shower! i feel like sir bob geldof and i have a lot in common at present!