Boo

I MISS MY BABY BOO.

Boo was struck by a car and sustained injuries too much to heal. I must say, she was one tough dog. 2 broken legs, head trauma, and tire tracks across her belly, and she managed to walk home.

I always thought we ran a pretty tight ship. We don't leave our dogs out roaming free while we are gone. The four big dogs had runs out back, the others remained inside. EVERYONE comes in at suppertime, everyone sleeps in the house. Playtime is observed - we stand guard in the yard herding the roamers back in when they stray. But all it takes is one stubborn dog to distract you long enough for another to trot out to the road, cross the street, die.

Boo wiggled out of her collar. She had been known to do this, but had a good week staying on her line and the day was going to be nice. I didn't want to leave her cooped up inside. She had other plans. I don't know what she was doing, or where she was hit. I just know that Chris had been out of town and was sick with the flu. He was heading home while I was at work. He called that afternoon saying, "we've got problems."

I rushed to the vet and fell apart when I saw her on the floor. She lifted her head and wagged her tail. It was downhill from there.

I don't think I've experienced this much of an absence. I've lost a lot of dogs - but she was such a presence that not having her around is so obvious. It really hurts. She was such a good dog.

My little Cindy Lou Boo Hoo - I miss you!

The Sunny Side of Life

This past weekend Chris, Justice and I took a trip to Dragon's Tooth, somewhere between Roanoke and Salem, a bit past McGaffee's Knob. It was a great day! We hit the trail at 9:30am with two other groups of folks. The viking group went first (one fella had a viking helmet on), followed by an older couple and then we tried to meander our way far behind them. We passed the viking crew, as they took a break to drink their alcoholic energy drink, and then passed the older couple and found ourselves all alone on the trail until we got to the top! At the sign we are half way there. A really pretty trail takes you from the parking lot to the AT. At this junction there was a meadow in the trees that would make a perfect camping spot! We traveled up and up to where the trail turned to rocks and we clambered up passing Justice from one person to the other. He was tired. There were a few places where I was very nervous about him. But he did great.

The rock seat is us at the the top before we head over to the Dragon's Tooth.

Then a dog's eye veiw from the top.

Heading back down.

We were so glad we got there early. We headed back down somewhere around 11:30 and were met by through hikers and half of VA Tech. It would have been way too many people for us. I would say 9:30 is the latest I would start that hike. I'm sure we'll do it again next year.

Oh, so that's what life feels like...

Smiles the cat.

The other day I had my feelings hurt. I had forgotten I had any. Anyway, it was interesting, as I found myself cleaning the litter box and became very upset that Smiles was dead. And then it reminded me that Smokey was gone and that I would never see his circus dinner dance, nor would he jump into my lap again. This in turn reminded me how Buddy put his head in my hands just before he died.

One animal death forces me to re-live all the other animal deaths I have experienced.
It is all very painful.
I will have to turn these feelings off now...a matter of self preservation.

Dog Gone

Wednesday, October 8th, some son of a bitch ran over Smokey and killed him. It was morning, Chris was letting everyone out to pee and came around the side of the house just in time to see the car brake, heard the dog yelp and watch the car drive away.

Smokey was a good dog, very sweet. The best little dog as far as little dogs go. He is missed. You know, I look around for him and he's not there. I even called him the other night...

So on the same day, later that afternoon, on our way back from town, we arrived to find Smiles, our lovely little kitty smashed in front of the house. She was still warm, so we knew it had just happened. I saw her aunt Star yesterday and went to pick her up and called her Smiles.

It's been rough. I know people think, 'hey, you've got a thousand animals, you probably don't even notice they're gone.' WRONG. Each of our animals are so unique in their own way, that we do notice, and are sad, and mad - if you can't tell.

New and Old Tattoos

Here we go - new tattoos! I got the hip one at Harry's Tattoo Shop in Danville. I love it - he did a great job. I think it really fits me. The knot between the shoulders Chris and I got last year for our 8 year aniversary. No tattoos to commemorate this year though. I hope that soon there will be more to come.

Let's Play Catch...Up

Oh so it's been a while!
Life speeds by like a steamrolling pitbull.
SO, since the event of Fifi's Fight things have been going on as normal - for what we consider normal.
We adopted Smokey, a Chihuahua. He came from an old lady who smoked - a lot. Smokey was aptly named huh!? He smelled like cigarettes for weeks! He's turned out to be a really good dog, for a chihuhua. Shorty does want to eat him, as does Boo. But the other dogs are very nice to him.
Our Cat Mustacha, whom we thought was a male, got really fat and gave birth to 3 kittens. Lovely suprize!
We had some mangled cat show up in the yard - it was missing legs and was seriously suffering - my first call to animal control as I am a bit neurotic about rabies.
We lost Maynard. He passed away June 27th, 2008. On his own too. It was a sad relief, as we were planning to end his suffering the 28th. He had a few really good months before the end and for that we were grateful. He was a good dog and is missed.
In fact - it was a death match at our house for a while. Diamond the cat had 1 kitten and then immediatley ignored it to death. It was buried behind the garage. Then she had three more kittens. Two of which were dog toys and the third died on its own - they were also buried behind the garage. Then Maynard. Then I ran over a kitten who was in my car engine. It was terrible.
I actually managed to give away a kitten! Probably saved it's life.
So that's all for now.
Life's too busy to stay on a computer too long.
Love to all.

Can a Name be a Jinx?

Ok, so the animal drama continues.
Not a week had passed from the Fifi disaster when I found myself in the garage staring at one of our many cats. She's not a friendly cat, not a mean cat - just a "leave me alone" kinda cat. So when I found her in the garage, and she didn't run from me trying to pet her, I leaned close to make sure she wasn't dead. She was alive, one big yellow eye looking at me, the other eye looked like a peeled purple grape that was trying to blow up. I blinked, and looked again. I was having a hard time believing what I was seeing. But, sure enough - the eye ball was not an eye ball.
Ok - so an exploded eye ball isn't so unusual. The kicker is, the cat's name is Beenette, the feminine of Beenie, the nickname of our black and white cat Sabastian, who is blind. He lost one eye when he was a kitten, and the other exploded from herpes while he was trapped in a recliner (his collar got caught on the internal workings of the recliner and there he sat, silently for almost a week). The reason Beenette is named Beenette is that when she was born, we noted that she looked and acted just like Beenie, hence the naming. SO why of all the cats we have, does Beenette loose an eye, so very similar to the way Beenie lost his? Is it because we named her that and therefore jinxed her?
Well, the cat survived the night in a crate, and I hauled her off to the vet in the morning, with fingers crossed that they would see her, considering we still have money owed on Fifi. Again, kudos to Kings Mountain Animal Clinic! They took her with no problem, squeezed her into an already full schedule and removed the eye and fixed her up - all in one day, and under $200!
When I went to pick her up, the vet's office looked like a zoo - yet they accomodated me, sticking me in the employee lounge to wait for the vet to come and talk with me. She explained that Beenette probably got hit by a car and the trama blew out the eye. Her jaw and mouth were bruised. The cat is lucky to be alive really. So the vet encouraged me to keep the cat inside. There is only one problem:
She's a house pisser - BIG TIME.
We had made a habit of chasing her away from all door entries to prevent her from coming in the house. Now we are trying to keep her in. The poor cat is really confused.
Poor us, we are just really poor right now.

Fifi's Fight

Fifi lost her fight for her puppies.
Fifi went into labor Wednesday night and gave birth to one dead pup on Thursday morning. Noting that all was not well, Chris took her in for treatment and she received a C-section that afternoon. The second pup also died. Fifi is ok.

A note:
Boston Terriers are a "created" breed of dog and because of their small size and large heads, complications can and do arise in pregnancy and birth. In Fifi's case, according to the vet, Sidney was not the stud we had hoped for and failed to fully impregnate Fifi, therefore, resulting in Fifi developing only 2 pups. With all that room to grow, the pups grew to an abnormal size and became too large for her to pass. Although she passed the first pup, something had happened within the day prior to birth to kill the pup. The second pup became lodged in her birth canal and she required a C-section, a very costly operation.

We are very disappointed in Dr. Fisher, Fifi's primary vet. Upon noting the emergency, we attempted to have Dr. Fisher help save her life, but "he was too busy to assist her." Having heard that, he has now lost 2 current patients and the remaining pack will not be visiting his office ever. We were thrilled with the service that Kings Mountain Animal Clinic offered. They were ready to assist Fifi immediately, regardless of other surgeries scheduled that day. They attempted to revive the puppy but were not able to, and they provided assistance with a payment plan. Kudos to King's Mountain, and may they make lots of money from us in the future. It's nice to know that there are still some vet services out there that actually care about the animals and are not out for a buck as we have observed with several other clinics.

Fifi's uterus was spared through all of this, and if we choose to pursue breeding again, we will have to wait about a year and be prepared to have Fifi undergo regular checkups throughout the pregnancy (just like a person!) and have the finances available for a C-section if the need arises.

We are just glad that Fifi is ok. She was very frightened during it all. She attempted to care for her dead pup as if it were alive. She cleaned it, carried it around and was so upset when she returned from the vet and couldn't find it. Chris was absolutely wonderful taking off work and finding vet care for her. We bought her a stuffed toy after we picked her up and she has treated it like her pup for several days now. She is quickly recovering, as are we.

Sidney doesn't have a clue.

So This Was Christmas

We had visitors this holiday!! The dogs did great. They are getting used to having company and bark a whole lot LESS. No growling. They actually took to the visitors and wanted their love and attention.