My New Buddy

We went to Critter's for crickets after work today... and just guess what I came home with. (Hint: Something other than crickets - though we got those, too).

...
...
...

Ok, you suck at guessing. I got a little ratty friend! He's only about 4 weeks old and was brought in by a lady who thought he had cancer or something, though he's just hairless. (A rat she had for snake food had babies and he was the only hairless in the bunch). I was so happy to meet him (we think he's a boy, but I don't really care). Btw... either way, his / her name is Hairy. 😀 Anyhoo, here's some pics.

This pic sums up the last week and 1/2 for us...

Pitiful.

That's about all I can say. We've all been sick, hurt, or under the weather for almost two weeks... as soon as one of us feels better another one starts to feel like crap. Life's not all bad, though... and I'm dedicating the next blog to that. 😉

[edit] Btw... Scooty's not bleeding out the ass or anything... that's just a rope toy. That was the first time he actually laid down to rest since I had to put that thing on his head and I just didn't want to disturb him by going in there to move it. That's also why the picture quality sucks... I didn't use a flash, either.

R.I.P. Tiny Alice

Last night we found Tiny Alice dead. She'd been sick for a while so we were expecting it. It's actually kind of a relief because there wasn't much we could do for her aside from make her comfortable while she was here. Chameleons are pretty fragile creatures by nature... so much so that I don't understand how one could ever survive in the wild. They have a high mortality rate whether in their natural habitat or captivity.

She appeared to have some some sort of respiratory infection which affected her eyes. (Yeah, it didn't make much sense to me either, but read up on it and you'll see). She couldn't catch and eat crickets if her eyes weren't working. Attempts to hand feed her baby food and such failed because we could not get her mouth open. I think that was the worst part... her not eating. She always had such a hearty appetite that I nicknamed her "Hogzilla."

Anyway, she looked so peaceful for the first time last night that I only felt a little sad. I held her for a few moments (which is not something Alice would've ever tolerated) before putting her in the freezer. I suppose I'll call the crematory tomorrow and see if they'll get her and Mr. Sam done for me. (Yeah, I've been saving him because I knew this was coming). Oh, and the picture I chose of her was her at her best... always puffed up over something, LOL. Well, I hope the little lady now rests in peace. She will be missed.

heartbreak

As most of you know I volunteer with the local animal shelter. Today was the first day I really went into the kennels... they needed a few people to take some pictures for their PetFinder web page. Of course I was up for helping.

When I first got there we talked about who would take which pictures and the best way to organize all the pics and get them back to the person who needed them, etc. Then into the kennels I went.

... I've gotta be honest - I cried my way through most of them, snapping pictures between fencing and tears. I felt so bad for all of those dogs... it was cold and their little feet were wet. Some of them were really skinny. The worst one's were the one's who'd "given up," meaning they didn't even bother to come to the front to greet people anymore. They sat in the back looking hopeless and sad.

It was so hard not to reach out to them... I just wanted to love on them all and let them know it would be ok. But I couldn't for fear of losing it on the spot. I hated to keep them at a distance, but I had to. I desperately wish I knew how to tell them that it wasn't hopeless... that that's why they were there. Someone cared, goddamnit.



I care.

Ok, so it's happening.

In case I didn't tell you all I got a call from AMC yesterday saying that they could neuter my boy today since there was a cancellation. So I took him. Of course it needs to be done and I've pretty much decided in my mind that it's the best thing for him... but I still felt bad when I left him. He was fine until they took him away from me and then he looked all nervous and scared. I felt terrible.

I can't wait for them to call me and tell me that it's over with and that he's fine. I can't wait to see him this evening, either. The procedure was going to cost me about $40.00 to the vet because I got a certificate from the League of Animal Welfare... the certificate cost about $23.00, but that's still a pretty good deal. If anyone out there needs a pet fixed I'd get in touch with them... they really can help you out with the cost and truly that's something you should have done anyway. ... Well, my original point for delving into the cost was that I spent an extra $55.00 for bloodwork to make sure nothing unexpected went wrong again. I learned with the whole Ivermectin ordeal that it's better to be safe than sorry.

Well, before I left him I had to sign some stuff and the surgery tech who talked to me was awesome. She made me feel a lot better. I wanted to ask for a keepsake from his surgery, (like, oh... his nards in a jar or something), but I didn't. When I was a little kid I had a pretty little female dog who's name was Little Girl. Yes, and my brother's dog, (my dog's brother, also) - his name was Little Boy. Very creative, yes? Anyhoo, I still have her stitches from when she was spayed (which is pushing 20 years ago). Wow... I still miss her. Someone took her shortly after she was fixed, (but I'd had her for a long time)... and I never saw her again. *sigh*

Damn, I'm just done... I don't want to see where else this might go. Later, friends.

[Update:] Scooter's out of surgery - the doc called and said he's fine. I'm so relieved. 😀

m(_ _)m [updated]

Well, today Scooty's getting fixed. I really hate to do that to him, but it was part of the agreement for me to adopt Emma. It would probably be better for him considering he would likely never get laid anyway. I could only imagine how frustrating that would be. I hope everything turns out ok... I'm a little nervous about it. Honestly, I'm on edge anyway... I haven't slept much in pushing a week... I've just had too much to do. I've been feeling pretty out of it lately, needless to say. *sigh* ...


[update]
Well, there has been some confusion again. This is at least the second time that I've had an appointment at AMC, but when I show up they tell me that it's on a different day. I don't really know who's at fault - I do have the appointment date written down, but also (like I said) I've been a little out of it lately. Anyway, so it'll be two weeks from now that we get Scoot fixed. That's fine with me, I guess. *shrugs*

*sigh* I'm just having mixed feelings about the whole situation... I mean, I'm doing this mostly because we adopted Emma; not only was it part of the terms of the adoption, but now he humps and he'd never really done that before... Had we not got her it was pretty up in the air, I guess, as to whether we'd have him neutered or not. I guess what I'm wondering is if Scooty feels that having a friend justifies him losing his nards. He seemed really lonely before because he was alone a lot while we were at work and asleep and now he's got a pal to hang out with and they play all the time. I just wouldn't want him to feel like, "Oh great, another dog. AND I get my balls edited? Life is wonderful." You know?? Even if you've commented before tell me what you think now. I need some guidance. I don't want my Scoo to be unhappy.

Death takes two around here.

This morning when I was feeding all my babies breakfast I found one of our hermit crabs dead. I also noticed Sam (one of our gerbils) acting a little weird. He looked normal; he just wasn't acting right. Well, gerbils have lots of little weird mannerisms and stuff, so I didn't think much of it. Alas, when I came home today with an upstairs in tow to make their little gerbil apartment into two stories, Mr. Sam was dead.

I'm not sure what happened, but there was blood smeared on the glass in several places. Oh no... He was buried under the wheel this morning and I picked it up off him. What if he was hiding?? What if he knew the other gerbils were up to something and was hiding out?? ... ... Fuck... I feel sick. Well, here's Mr. Sam's little memorial. I will miss you, pretty boy.

[Edit, 02/06/2007]: When I wrote this last night, I was pretty upset. For what it's worth I'm not blaming my other gerbils... those guys had been living together for months without problems so I don't think they hurt him. But they do chew corpses, which makes things look bad when all is said and done. Anyway, I guess that's it. Just wanted to clarify things a little now that I'm more calm.