Archive for Critters
Hope Elizabeth · 06/19/07 at 3:37 pm · Filed under Critters
Sam hasn’t been a very good puppy dog patient and, up until the last couple of days, I’ve really been unable to do much of anything. It started the other morning when I came home from driving my daughter to school and found Sam laying in my bed, his splint off and blood all over my sheets. He’d somehow worked his splint off and his paw was torn wide open. I can’t even describe the horror I felt when I saw him, but I will say I have an extremely weak stomach and I don’t do well with blood. I think at that moment I was in more pain than he was. Anyhow, I called my husband, who rushed home, and together we took Sam back to the vet’s office. He spent the day there and Dr. C. rewrapped his leg. He also dressed him in two t-shirts, the sleeves taped to the splint, so he wouldn’t be able to pry his arm out of the splint. We thought all would be fine.
A woman has to sleep sometime, right? Not a good idea when you’re the proud owner of a very stubborn pup. I woke up the next morning to find Sam with his paw out of his splint. He hadn’t worked his arm out through the top of the splint. Nope! My clever canine chewed a big hole right in the middle of it. Nice, huh?
Want to know what made things even better? The vet was out of town. Eek!
So I re-wrapped it with duct tape the best I could and tried to kept Sam as quiet as possible. What else could I do? When he chewed off that splint, I did it again. I continued taping and praying (in between bouts of crying and stressing) until the vet was back to his office.
Since Sam has been such a lousy patient, really fighting the splint and wanting to run, he’s staying with Dr. C. for a few days. He’s more contained in a kennel and, hopefully, the vet will have better luck keeping him calm and quiet as he mends. Since we’re very worried about infection, I know he’s where he should be. He needs the extra care.
So while I’m missing my big baby, I know he’s being well taken care of by the doctor. In the meantime I’m using my break from dogsitting to do some things that need doing - shopping, banking, post office’ing (what would you call it?) and all of that good stuff. I’m even thinking about sitting down and crocheting a bit this evening. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?
Oh yeah. I almost forgot. I’m also celebrating. Happy anniversary to me and my cutie-pie husband. Tom and I were married 13 years ago and I love him as much today as I did on the day we wed. I’m an incredibly lucky woman to have such a wonderful man in my life to love. I can only hope I make him even half as happy as he makes me. <sign & heart flutter>
You know, this is the first picture of me that I’ve ever posted on my website. I’ve always been too ashamed of my weight to share images of myself but you know what? My darling husband has loved me, regardless of my size, over the last 13 years and I’m thinking that means I’m a pretty okay person, even if I am a bit fluffy. So here you go, a picture of the both of us. Isn’t he a sweetie? Gosh I love that man!
Hope Elizabeth · 05/02/07 at 9:04 pm · Filed under Critters
Today has been a rough one. Tom and I came home from work to find a note from the State Troopers telling us that two of our dogs (the beagles) had escaped from their kennel and been hit by a truck. Jake, our oldest beagle, was across the road (dead) and our other beagle, Spike, had been taken to the Vet Hospital. We went inside and called the hospital ASAP. We were told that they had to put Spike down - he was too badly injured to be saved by surgery. As if that weren’t bad enough, the vet had more news to share with us. She does not believe his injuries were caused by a vehicle. Based on his condition, which I really don’t have the heart to share right now, she believes he was killed by coyotes. Jake was most likely killed by the truck while sticking to his buddy Spike’s side as they tried to get home.
The images in my head are horrific. I just picture whining and crying and feelings of terror. It’s horrible. It makes my head hurt and heart ache.
Tomorrow we’ll go to the vet’s office to pick up Spike’s body. We’ll be burying him and Jake together. There’s no reason to separate them now - they were puppy dog pals to the end.
You know, I realize Jake and Spike were Tom’s dogs - he fed them, watered them, hunted with them - but it’s killing me to know that I won’t hear them howling anymore whenever I walk by their dog pen. I used to toss them a couple of eggs now and then, for being such good chicken coop guard dogs and now they won’t be there anymore to wag their tails and beg for just one more treat. It’s wrong. It’s so, so wrong.
I may be an animal lover, but I truly despise coyotes. I don’t care what comes naturally to them - I still abhor them. They suck. They really, really do.
Edited 05/07/07 - Added a couple of pictures that I found.
Spike wishing he could run thru all of that winter snow.
Jake giving us one of his silly smiles.
Hope Elizabeth · 04/08/07 at 7:48 pm · Filed under Critters
Is this pitiful or what? Tom, Tim, Hollie and I sat around this evening watching Zathura and of course family time wouldn’t be complete without some lovin’ from our Sammy! He snuggled up under the blanket, used Tim’s leg as a pillow and snored while we enjoyed the movie. He really can be disgustingly lazy sometimes, not to mention a huge couch hog, but how can you not love a face like that?
Hope you all had a very Happy Easter!
Hope Elizabeth · 02/16/07 at 5:53 pm · Filed under Critters
Gotta love all of this snow in Central New York! Of course we have nothing compared to those folks about an hour north of us, but we still have a whole lotta snow! Enjoy watching our Sammy play fetch with his basketball in the snow.
Hope Elizabeth · 10/17/06 at 11:46 pm · Filed under Critters
What could be better than a good snuggle? I can’t think of a thing.
Hope Elizabeth · 10/15/06 at 12:40 pm · Filed under Critters
Tootsie & 5 Babes (3 weeks old)
I thought it was about time that I shared a picture of the new babies. As you can see, Tootsie had 5 babies - all grey tigers. Three of them short-haired tigers, just like her. One of the babies has fur that may go either way - long or short. It’s really hard to tell right now. The last baby, the biggest and darkest tiger, is long-haired and fluffy. They’re all precious, aren’t they?
Don’t ask me how many males and females. I haven’t checked.
You should see them when they’re awake. They’re just learning how to play and it’s so funny to watch them wobble around and try to attack one another. I can’t help but sit here and say “Awww!”
Hope Elizabeth · 06/21/06 at 9:05 pm · Filed under Critters
Big boys need lotsa love and attention too.
A nice belly scratch now and then can’t hurt either.
Nacho and Timothy
Hope Elizabeth · 06/17/06 at 10:31 pm · Filed under Critters
Well, it looks like Tootsie decided to move again. As I’d mentioned before, she’d originally had her kittens under my bed, but eventually moved them to my daughter’s closet. I guess she got tired of her too-cramped surroundings, or perhaps she felt too vulnerable on the floor, because after a few days she moved them to our bathroom linen closet. Not only did she move them to the linen closet, but she moved them to the second shelf of the closet. I guess she felt they deserved a penthouse apartment - a dark, crowded penthouse apartment, but the penthouse nevertheless.
<singing>Movin’ on up… to a de-luxe apartment in the sky…</singing>
Anyhow, after one kitten took a tumble off of the shelf, I felt it was time for me to move them. I gathered them up, along with their favorite bedsheet, and I moved them into the back room. I put up a gate so the dog couldn’t bother them and the kids and I happily watched them waddle around the room, investigating their surroundings. Tootsie checked on them a few times, to make sure all was well, and seemed okay with their new home.
Keyword: seemed
Tootsie wasn’t content for long. Timothy found her checking out his dresser drawer and we immediately knew what she was thinking. He calmly emptied the drawer out and waited. Sure enough, she wandered in that evening, kitten in mouth, and plopped it down in the dresser. Once she went to get the second one, we knew that she wasn’t ready to give them any sort of freedom yet, so we helped her out a bit - gathering up her bedsheet and using it to line the drawer while she got the babies settled.
So there you have it, their new home. The kittens aren’t very happy, they pop their little heads out of the drawer to meow and complain about their quarters, but like any good mama, Tootsie just puts them back in their place. She knows they had a brief taste of independence, and they enjoyed it, but she’s just not ready for them to leave the nest yet - so to speak anyhow. Maybe next week she let them explore a little more. We’ll have to wait and see.
Want some more pictures until then? 1 2 3 4 Enjoy!
Oh, by the way, we’ve named the babies. Tootsie and Nacho are the proud parents of <drumroll> Squid and Kissie. Squid received his name when we realized he has 6 toes on each foot. Kissie’s name is sort of a play on her mom’s name since she looks so much like her - you know, Tootsie Roll and Candy Kiss. Cute names, don’t you think?
Hope Elizabeth · 05/26/06 at 4:15 pm · Filed under Critters
Almost a week ago (May 20th) around 2:00 AM, I was laying in bed reading when I heard all sorts of sounds coming from under my bed. The sounds weren’t unfamiliar sounds, I’d heard them before - mew, mew, mew. That’s when I realized that Tootsie, our grey tiger kitty, was having her babies. Yay Tootsie!
She had three kittens, but only two survived. She had them way under my bed, so other than a couple of quick glimpses of them, we haven’t really been able to see them - until today. I guess Tootsie decided it was time for a change because she moved her babies to a more comfortable spot - a box of beanie babies in the bottom of my daughter’s closet. It does look like a very cozy spot. It’s dark, but not too dark, and I’m sure it’s soft and warm. She’s somewhat boxed in with a closet organizer above her, so I’m guessing she feels safe from the other animals. I was a bit worried that one of the wiggly babies could slip down between the stuffed animals and smother, but I solved that problem by covering the box with a blanket. Luckily Mama didn’t seem to mind the change and seemed content to settle down with her little ones.
Enjoy the picture of our new babies. They’re almost one week old and their eyes are barely open. There’s one grey baby and one orange baby. I know you can’t see their faces, they’re all cuddled up to mommy, but I’ll get some more pictures when Mama is feeling a little less nervous. Precious, aren’t they?
