A ‘Hot Diggety Dog’ Hodgepodge

As I write this, I’m sitting here on a very hot and humid Georgia afternoon, very thankful for this distraction and for air conditioning!  I’m grateful to our hostess, Joyce, for hosting “The Hodgepodge” and I’m grateful to her for telling me how to revert back to the old blogging format!  Life is good, once again…

1. The Hodgepodge lands on National Dog Day this year (August 26th). Do you own a dog? Did you have a dog when you were growing up, or maybe some other kind of pet? Would you say you’re more of a dog person or a cat person? Neither is okay too : )

I don’t own any dogs anymore, but we had more than our fair share of dogs, during and after my stint of volunteering at our local animal shelter, back in 2004-2005.

 This was “Ethan” the first shelter puppy I adopted.  He survived parvo and led a long, happy life.

There were so many homeless animals, it was overwhelming to me!  I worked, tirelessly, for two years to find homes for as many dogs and cats as possible, including adopting five dogs and twenty-two cats of my own!  Needless to say, our pet food bill was quite large for a few years!  All of our dogs have since passed away (some were old dogs when we adopted them), as well as most of the cats.  However, we still have two of my original “shelter kitties”, both are almost 17 years old. 

Pictured above is “Kyle”, the oldest of our “shelter cats”  (photographed while sitting in a nest).

“Fat Susan” (photographed while waiting for her next meal at The Cat Cafe’). 

The above pictures were taken about 5 years ago.  These days, “Fat Susan” isn’t so fat anymore, although her appetite is still good.  “Kyle” now spends most days just sleeping on the porch swing.  I guess I don’t have to tell you that I’m more of a cat person than a dog person, do I?

2. Last time you felt ‘dog tired’?

Ed and I both had appointments with our dermatologist last Friday morning.  It takes almost three hours to drive there and back.  We also ate lunch, did some grocery shopping, and stopped by to visit friends for a while.  I was “dog tired” when we got home late last Friday afternoon!

3. It’s said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. When did you last prove this idiom true or prove it wrong?

I’m in the process of learning to use my new Moo Soo battery-powered stick vacuum, that I absolutely love!  It’s small and light, there’s no cord, and has only a tiny dirt cup/filter to deal with.

4. A favorite book, television show, or movie featuring a dog. Why did you love it?

The first book/movie that comes to mind is “Marley and Me”.  Both were funny and, of course, a little sad.  I loved how they covered Marley’s life, with her family, from beginning to end.  Our family’s version of “Marley” was a wild and crazy dalmation named “Lively Loveable Spotazz” who lived to be ten.  “Tazz”, as we called him, really lived up to his name!

Lively Lovable Spotazz in his later years

5. Last time you had reason to (literally or figuratively) exclaim ‘hot diggity dog’?

Last night, when we finally finished a 300 piece puzzle we’d been working on for over a week!  Oh, and did I mention there was missing piece?

6. Random: (long but worth the read)

The Story of “Flutterbee”

As I mentioned last week, we’ve had a flurry of bird activity in our yard, this year.  We’ve had a record number of cardinals, with many  trying to perfect the art of flying back in early June.  As a result, we had no less than three cardinals fly into the large “picture window” over my kitchen counter.  The second of these casualties flew into the window one night while we were eating supper.  Ed got up, went outside, and discovered a young female cardinal had knocked herself ‘out cold’ and was on the ground underneath our kitchen window.   

The bird remained unconscious for about 90 minutes.  Once the bird woke up, it became clear she was hurt badly.  Her wing and leg, on one side, were clearly broken.  We decided to place the bird inside of an old dog crate, and wrapped around the bottom of it in plastic mesh, so the bird couldn’t escape through the bars. I placed some food on the bottom of the crate, along with some water in a small jar lid.  We then placed the crate and bird in a closed section of our chicken coop, so it would be safe from our cats.  

For two days things looked grim.  The bird flapped and flopped wildly every time we came near her, but couldn’t do anything except scoot on her good side. She wasn’t able to sit up, so I doubted she was able to eat or drink.  Her feathers stayed wet from scooting through her drinking water, while going back and forth across the crate.  At one point, I told Ed he would be doing the bird a favor if he ended her misery.  Thankfully, he didn’t listen.

About this time, we decided to place a small, motion activated camera near the bird in the crate, in order to observe the bird from inside our house.  What we saw happen, next, was nothing short of a miracle.

It’s a daily occurrence for assorted birds to fly in and out of our old chicken coop.  Many have learned how to slip through holes in the wire. They help themselves to left-over scratch feed, then fly back out the way they came in.  Several birds had been in and out of the coop while our injured bird fluttered and flopped, helplessly, but on this particular day, day #3,  we saw something different.  A pair of cardinals went into the chicken coop, slipped in between the bars of the top of the dog crate where the injured bird was, and actually proceeded to feed the injured bird! (her parents?)  We were shocked to say the least, and this incident proved to be the turning point for our injured guest!

After that day, the injured bird figured out how to eat the seed I provided in a lid.  She began to try to sit upright, although not on her feet.  Random birds continued to come and go in the chicken coop, but we never saw any birds attempt to feed her again.  As our bird guest slowly began to recover, I decided to give her a name.  Because of the way she flapped and fluttered about, I decided to name her “Flutterbee”.

About a week after “Flutterbee” flew into our kitchen window, a third cardinal hit the kitchen window with a sickening thud, during suppertime  Once again, Ed went out and found a bird knocked out cold!  This time Ed laid the bird on the bottom of “Flutterbee’s” crate/cage.  After a while, the bird woke up, and immediately figured out how to get out of the cage!  (Guess who was watching, and figured out how to escape the cage?)  We let the second  bird go free, but kept “Flutterbee” confined to the inside of the coop. This provided her with a large area to re-learn how to fly.

“Flutterbee” continued improving, daily.  I’d read that it takes a broken wing about 3 weeks to heal.  However, I’d also read that a broken bird’s leg takes much longer, and may never properly heal.  As we began to approach the 2 1/2 week mark, it became apparent that “Flutterbee’s” wing had healed because she was now flying back and forth across the coop, constantly.  We’d put perches in each of the four corners of the coop, and she became able to fly and land on a perch, at will.  She could sit on a perch [at night] to roost, too, even though still a bit wobbly. 

We knew the time was quickly approaching when we would need to let our “Flutterbee” go.  It took three attempts before we felt the timing was right to let our guest go back into the wild.  It took a bit of doing to get her out of the coop, but once she went, she flew across the yard, low, but without faltering.  She landed in a nearby bush.  I placed her little blue jar lid full of seeds under a nearby tree and watched.

For days, afterward, “Flutterbee” would come, every day, to eat seeds out of that little blue lid and drink water from the bowl beside it.  She was easy to spot, with her messed up tail and her sideways hop, both due to her recent injuries. Other birds soon grew wise, and took over “Flutterbee’s” feeding place.  I’d quickly make her another feeding place, and she’d always find it.  This went on for several weeks.  Ed and I were thrilled to be able to see our “Flutterbee” every day and watch her continued improvement. 

It’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve seen “Flutterbee”. (A lot of our birds have moved on)  The last time we saw her, she was still hopping a bit sideways, but her balance seemed to be getting better.  Her tail looked less frazzled, and  she could fly with no problems at all.  Wherever “Flutterbee” is, I hope she knows what a blessing she’s been to us!  She’s one of God’s little miracles from this crazy summer of 2020, and we were able to witness it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shelter Tales…Freckles

***I’m linking up today with http://www.mrsmamadrama.com and http://www.bellycharms.blogspot today for their co-hosted blog hop called “Think of Me Thursday”.  If you’d like to hop along, check out either blog for details on how to link up.

I was going through old photographs the other day, and I found some pictures of “Freckles”.  It’s been a while since I’ve posted a “Shelter Tale”, so it seems like a good day to write one.  Be forewarned though, this one doesn’t have a happy ending. 

Way back in 2004 I was volunteering at our local animal control shelter.  I was adopting LOTS of animals, because I couldn’t stand the thought of those beautiful, innocent, kittens and puppies being destroyed.  I was letting my heart overrule my head…I couldn’t help myself!  More times than not, after doing my Friday afternoon volunteer shift at the shelter, I would end up bringing some kind of an animal home with me. 

I already had several cats and kittens, as well as two adult dogs, and a hound puppy at home–when I went for my usual Friday visit to the shelter and saw “Freckles”!  It was love at first sight!  He was a white, fat, fluffy, little butterball of a puppy!  I knew my husband was probably going to kill me, but I had to have “Freckles”.  

Freckles--just look at that face!

I have no idea what kind of puppy that “Freckles” was, but he reminded me of a “Chow”.  His fur was thick and fluffy, and he was white all over except for his ear.  He had little black spots sprinkled all over his muzzle–hence the name “Freckles”.  “Freckles” also had a hernia, so I took him to the vet to get him checked out. The vet said that it would be fine to let the hernia wait until it was time to have “Freckles” neutered, then he would repair it at the same time he did the neutering.  

About four months later, “Freckles” was neutered and had his hernia repaired without any complications.  He was a happy healthy little puppy.  Our old collie mix “Hobbs” (the first dog that I adopted from the shelter) acted as “mother” and caretaker to “Freckles”, as well as the hound puppy that I adopted a few weeks before “Freckles”.  They were one little happy family. 

Freckles is giving Hobbs a kiss

Then when “Freckles” turned a little over a year old, his troubles began.  He developed the red mange.    He began to scratch a lot, and due to frequent scratching, he began to develop huge sores on his skin. I never did totally understand everything about mange, except that it concerns a dog’s immune system and mites.  There are two types of mange, regular mange, and the red mange.  The red mange is the most difficult type to cure.  80% of all dogs treated will be cured, the other 20% will not.  

The treatment for red mange is a dip prescribed by the vet.  It’s a strong chemical type of medication that is  mixed with water and sponged all over the dog.  You have to wear gloves to protect your skin.  It burns if it gets on your skin.  Judging from the way “Freckles” behaved, it must have burned his skin, too.  Treatment consisted of two treatments given two weeks apart. 

After being dipped, “Freckles” would act really sick for several days.  He was one miserable-looking dog.  After we’d dipped him twice, “Freckles ” still had huge sores.  I took him back to the vet, and they shaved all of his beautiful fur off.  We followed that with two more rounds of that horrible chemical dip.  “Freckles” just got sicker and looked more miserable.  He was no longer active.  He didn’t play with the other dogs anymore.  Instead he laid around licking his large, bloody, weeping wounds.  

Unfortunately, our poor “Freckles” fell into the 20% category of dogs who are unable to recover from red mange.  He could not be cured.  I was forced to make the toughest decision that I’ve ever had to make regarding one of my pets.  I made the choice to have him put to sleep to end his misery.  It was a sad day when my husband and I took “Freckles” to the vet for the final time.  I stood outside the office building on the steps and cried.  It makes me cry to this day to even think about it.  My husband went in and held “Freckles” until he breathed his last breath.  He came out with tears in his eyes, and swore that he would never do anything like that again. 

So that is the story of “Freckles”…a life that didn’t go exactly as we planned, but we gave him the best that we could–we tried.  The Christmas following “Freckles” death, I hung a small ornament of a freckle-faced dog, wearing angel wings on our Christmas tree.  I like to think that he’s still with us in spirit somehow.  At least he’s not alone in “Doggie Heaven” anymore, the old collie “Hobbs” who took on the role of  his”mother” and caretaker, passed away this year at Easter.

Shelter Tales… Taken From The Newspaper

While I was volunteering at our local animal control shelter, I began writing a series for our local newspaper called “Shelter Tales”.   I recently found some of the old articles I’ve written, and thought that you might occasionally enjoy reading an excerpt from some of those articles.  The following is one of those excerpts:

“Our isolation room at the shelter has been quiet lately.  The last unusual visitor that we had staying in there was a buzzard!  What a shock that was when I turned on the light to the isolation room, and there he was–in all of his ugly buzzard glory! (I never knew what I’d find in that room)

I did not realize that buzzards are “protected” birds. ( I can’t imagine why, there are plenty of them all around! ) I’m not sure what happened to injure this particular buzzard, but I believe it was attacked by someone’s dog, and the dog owner brought the bird to the shelter after the attack.  After patching the buzzard up and letting it recuperate, Loretta found it a home at “Sanctuary on the Sapelo”, an island sanctuary for certain kinds of wild animals.

Recently a most unusual event occurred at the shelter. One morning Loretta came to work and found a large black dog chained to the door handle of the animal shelter.  While not knowing if the dog was friendly or not, Loretta still had to deal with him before she could even enter the building to begin her workday.

Fortunately, the dog was friendly, but the poor thing had a large chain embedded in his neck and back.  It was embedded quite deep and must have been very painful.  The chain was carefully removed, and the scar healed nicely, but unfortunately, poor “Scar” wasn’t adopted, and eventually had to be euthanized.

On a happier note, I’ll share one last tale with you.  A couple of months ago, someone left nine motherless newborn puppies outside of the shelter.  This could’ve been a real disaster, but I believe a “Higher Power” intervened. 

It happened that a delightful Boston Terrier named “Monica” was living at the shelter at the time.  Monica had recently given birth to seven puppies of her own, and all but one of them had died.  Sweet little Monica took in those orphaned puppies and raised them all, plus her own surviving pup!  The orphaned puppies were a large breed of puppies, while poor Monica and her pup were small,  making it even more amazing that she was able to raise all of them. 

Believe it or not, Loretta was able to find homes for every one of those orphaned puppies, for Monica’s little pup, and even for Monica herself!  Now that’s a happy ending!”

I hope you enjoyed reading the excerpt from my old article.  If you did,  let me know and I’ll share some more with you.  Thanks so much for stopping by…

Six Word Saturday…

 

Once again, thanks to Cate at http://www.showmyface.com for hosting this meme.  Hop over to her place and join in the fun!  Unfortunately, my six words today are sad ones…

…..Sadly bidding my faithful companion farewell 😦

My old dog, Hobbs, is dying…  He is in the final stages of heartworm disease.  He’s not eating at all, and each breath is labored.  He can only walk a few steps.  I’ve watched him progressively grow worse with each passing day lately.  I know his time is near. 

Hobbs was an old dog when I adopted him from the animal shelter six years ago.  He already had heartworm disease then, and treatment wasn’t an option.  He was such a kind a loving dog, I just had to rescue him.  He’d been at the shelter for a while, and was on the “to be euthanized” list when I adopted him.  I’ve had six wonderful years with him, and I wouldn’t change a thing.  They’ve been good years, and we’ve had lots of good times together.

Hobbs has been the best dog that I’ve ever had.  He’s been my grateful, gentle, loving, loyal companion for the past six years.  Every time I’d return home, Hobbs was always there to greet me when I got out of the car.  He’d wag his tail, and try so hard to talk!  Anytime that I went outside, Hobbs was always there beside me.  Hobbs even “mothered” two puppies that I adopted after I adopted him, something male dogs never do.

There are two things that I will always remember about Hobbs…the first thing is how he loved to dig holes–especially beside my car!  The other thing is  how  he always layed down to eat.  I’ve never seen a dog lay down to eat until I met Hobbs.  Hobbs even taught one of the puppies that he “mothered” to lay down when he eats, too.

I checked on Hobbs last night before bed, and Ethan, one of the dogs that he helped “mother” (and the one who lays down to eat) was there with him.  It brought tears to my eyes.  I know that Hobbs will be missed by Ethan, too.

It’s hard to say goodbye, and to let Hobbs go, but I know that his time has come.  Go rest in peace, my faithful friend…

So You Want To Talk About Pets!

I am a lover of animals, keeper of pets, and I take my job VERY SERIOUSLY!  Many people have various things that they are passionate about–my passion is animals!  My family would argue that I am maybe a little too passionate about them… 

a message left for me by my clever youngest son

Six years ago I was working at our local elementary school, and volunteering at our local animal shelter.  As a result of both jobs,  my list of pets became quite long…and it hasn’t changed much today! 

  A pond full of goldfish/koi,  two hermit crabs,  a hamster,  2 rabbits,  a parakeet,   21 cats and kittens of various ages,  and  5 dogs!   Yes, our house is known as a sort of “mini-zoo”! 

The pond and fish was an anniversary gift from my husband, which I wrote about in an earlier post.  We’ve had it for many years, but I still enjoy watching the fish swim around.  We’ve battled birds, snakes, and turtles for the sake of our fish in that little pond! 

The two hermit crabs and  the hamster were classroom pets– kept at school during the week, but brought home on weekends and holidays.  Every Monday and Friday would find me lugging my precious cargo back and forth.  It wasn’t an easy task, but the children loved our classroom pets! 

"Oreo"

  It was no wonder that our classroom quickly became a popular spot for other students to visit.  The sight of little “Oreo”, the hamster, rolling around in his ball brought squeals of joy to the children. 

I rescued our first rabbit, “Sugar Pie”,  from the animal shelter after somebody discarded her after Easter was over.  The second rabbit, “Honey Bun”, was a gift from a co-worker and friend. The rabbits share a large bunny hutch with a partition in the middle of it, so they can be near each other, but not close enough to make baby bunnies! 

My parakeet, “Tweety”,  is a rescued bird.  Another friend and co-worker found him lurking underneath her car port one day.  Her husband was actually able to catch him.  They did not want a bird, and didn’t know who he belonged to…so she thought of me, and asked if I’d take him.  I could tell that he’d been someone’s pet, and he even talks at times–especially when my daughter comes over.  However, his speech is garbled and we can’t quite make out his words.  I’ve had him for five years.  “Tweety” has to live on top of my curio cabinet because “Bobs”, the house cat,  has this strong desire to catch him and have him for a meal… 

Once I began volunteering at the shelter, my outdoor cat “herd” quickly began to grow.  There is always an abundance of cats and kittens at the shelter, and most of them get euthanized.  There was a time when I “tried to save them all”.  My assortment of  cats quickly grew from 4 to 21!  My husband dreaded seeing my car door open on Friday nights, for fear of another hungry mouth exiting the car! 

Outdoor cats live perilous lives, and our numbers have diminished to around 16 or 17.  One died of old age, while some were victims of predators,  lizard poisoning, etc.  Did you know that eagles will kill and eat grown cats?  If the cat is small enough, the eagle will actually carry it away… cats also eat lizards–and some lizards(blue tailed ones) are poisonous to them.   

Please note the “Cat Cafe`” in the picture below.  My loving husband built it for me, so my cats could eat without worrying about the dogs stealing their food.  It’s about four feet off the ground, and has a top on it to protect the cats from the rain.  My sweet husband also built the rabbit’s hutch.  

Although cats are my first love, I am not immune to dogs.  Although we already had one dog, a dalmatian,  within six months I adopted 5 more!  We became the parents of 2 more adult dogs, and 3 puppies during those six months.  Two of the adults have since passed away from old age, as well as one nearly grown dog who eventually had to be euthanized due to incurable red mange.  We desperately tried to save the dog with red mange.  We put him through 3 rounds of treatment, but he grew sicker with each one.  Finally, we decided it would be more humane to end his suffering.  The vet agreed.  He’s the white puppy in the picture below, and his name was Freckles.  What a heart-breaking ending for such a beautiful dog!  Ethan, the hound puppy in the picture, also suffered from the same “red mange” but responded well to the treatment and was cured. 

Me sitting with 3 of my dog babies... in 2004

I suppose I don’t have to tell you that for a good while,  most of my paycheck went toward vet care, and buying food for all of these pets!  Every one of my cats and dogs is spayed or neutered.  Even though our vet gave me a discount, and the county paid half of the cost, it still cost a lot of money.  I don’t regret a penny of it though.  It’s the only way to control the pet population. 

Every two weeks, it takes a shopping cart just to hold the pet foods and supplies for “my zoo”.  I can’t tell you how many conversations have been started by the sight of my cart full of animal supplies!  It’s been especially tough to  make the money stretch now that I’ve retired, and the economy has taken such a downturn.  I try not to let my husband go shopping for supplies with me because he tends to get ” ill”  when he sees the total on the bill! 

The hermit crabs and the hamster have passed away.  I no longer volunteer at the animal shelter.  It’s too hard to go and leave so many “needy” animals behind each time.  I’ve decided that I’ve done all that I can do there.  Even though I don’t go to the shelter these days, sometimes animals still manage to find their way to my door.  Two more cats have joined our family during the past year. 

I’m determined to care for my pet population for as long as they live…or I live–whatever!  By then my husband and I will probably be looking for someone to help take care of us…do you think there might be a place for us at the shelter? 

If you are interested in reading more of my animal adventures– just click on the links “Shelter Tales” or “pets” at the top of this blog…

Thanks so much to Brent Riggs for hosting Tuesday’s themed blog hop.  Just click on the link below to visit more participating blogs.

Click here to enter your link in the blog hop and view the entire list of entered links…