Rest in Peace, Hairy

Oh Hairy. You probably have no idea how much your death tears me up. I so was not ready for this, though your health as of the last few months was a clue that you were not doing so well. I tried, baby girl - I really did. I'm sorry - I feel as though I failed you.

I haven't really put it out there, but me and Hairy have made several trips to the vet's office over the last few months... if it's not her eyes, it's her skin. We put ointment in her eyes for months and kept her on Benadryl to stop her from scratching her skin up, but nothing was helping. We finally put her on some oral antibiotics along with the eye ointment and she looked SO much better. Then here is it a month later and almost overnight she's on her last legs.

It really and truly happened fast... I woke up yesterday morning and her eyes were looking bad again. I called the vet and was instructed to start her back on antibiotics so I did. That evening when I came home she looked so much worse. Really skinny and squinty... it was terrible. My friend Jeni bought her some baby food and Gatorade and she ate pretty well. I put a heat lamp over her because she felt cold to the touch. I stayed up pretty late so that she could rest before I woke her up to get her to eat again. When I got up this morning she was barely moving and her breathing was so shallow that you could barely tell she was alive. She felt so cold.

I stayed home until she passed and then I held her and cried for a good hour or so - so much that I made myself pretty sick. I just didn't want to believe it was over - I kept looking for some sign of life, I guess out of desperation. But I knew better.

In a way I guess it should be a relief... I'd briefly considered having her put to sleep, because I just couldn't keep her healthy. I was just so tired of seeing her sick and since she couldn't voice it I never knew how bad or good she felt.

I've pretty much expected that she would not be as healthy as other hairless rats as they're pretty fragile creatures to begin with. On top of that she wasn't bred to be hairless - she was just sort of a mutant (all of her litter mates were furred). Most good breeders can weed out a lot of health problems over time, but Hairy didn't get that benefit. She didn't have the best start, though she seemed healthy up until lately... Gosh, though, these last few months were pretty brutal on her. From what I've read the life expectancy of a furred rat is 2-3 years... for a hairless it's usually 18-24 months. She was just a few months shy of 18 so I guess she was getting pretty up there in rat years anyway.

Anyway, Hairy, you were my first ratty girl. I really and truly loved you to pieces. I won't be getting over you anytime soon. I just hope that you get to rest, finally, and be free of sickness. Again, I'm really sorry that I couldn't save you. I love you.

R.I.P. Little Girl

I should have posted this weeks ago, but I haven't spent much time near the computer.

This little lady didn't exactly have a name... we just always referred to her and her twin sister as "The Girls." She was very sweet... I watched her grow up from a teeny tiny baby. Her father was my first gerbil, Testiclees, so in a way she was my grand-gerbil.

I've been pretty distraught over the way it happened... those puppies that I took in temporarily got ahold of her somehow... what an awful way to go. 😭 She was still young so I know she had a few good years left in her. I feel completely and utterly responsible for her death... I just wasn't thinking. If I had been I would have known better than to leave puppies alone with my other pets. I was just kind of at a loss as to where else to put those dogs... if I had left them in the streets they would've been hit by a car eventually - probably right in front of my house. I guess that was life's way of telling me that I can't save everyone. Damn if I don't keep trying, though.

Anyway, little darlin' I am SO sorry and you will be missed.

Interesting thing I saw today...

Saw this fella at PetCo... I really, REALLY wanted him. But I did not want him $120.00 bad. 😕 Oh well. (For those who can't tell, he's a hairless guinea pig).

Isn't he adorable?! 😀

Chattanooga Field Trip

For those of you who do not know who Walter and Perry are, here's a little insight:

That is what we were stuck with all day. Ok that is a total exaggeration, but no shit the two kids not wearing Saks shirts severiously reminded us of Walter and Perry.

Anyway, we got to pet sting rays. They were pretty slimy, but awesome. I don't really know how those things think, but they seemed pretty social. They would come up and let you touch them (sometimes even poking up out of the water a little bit), and then they would usually splash you and swim away then come back and do it all over again. Shadow was scared of them, but he didn't say so - in fact he said that he wanted to pet them, too. So, thinking I was being helpful when one swam our way again I grabbed his arm and stuck it into the water. He was so stiff that I ended up nearly dunking him. He was not happy about that. I don't think it ruined his day, though.

All of these pretty creatures and flowers were in the butterfly room...

This is the wall on the way down to the water animals. I like it. 😀

And here are the only pictures I took that came out sort of ok...

I really like this picture of Shadow for some reason:

And this is me and Nick on a brick couch. I want one. 😂

Also, we had lunch on the Southern Belle. The weather was FANTASTIC and it was quite enjoyable. Then we went over the the IMAX theater and watched a movie about dinosaurs entitled "Sea Monsters." It was in 3D and stuff... all the kids were screaming and trying to touch the creatures. It was pretty funny. I found out that if I'm sleepy even an IMAX movie will not keep me awake... I only napped off and on, though - I didn't sleep through the whole thing. ALSO... Shadow said that he really liked going to the "climax" theater. Yeah. That was good for LULz. 😂😂😂

Anyhoo, for a souvenir we bought Shadow a white t-shirt with sharks on it. But it's GREAT because when you go out in the sun, colors appear and also more sharks. It's the shit. 😀 So all in all it was a pretty fun day.

R.I.P. Little Clyde

Dude, you was my leezard. 😭 I could never touch you for fear of stressing you out. Hell, I was always a little worried about lingering near you for too long lest you puff up and turn dark.

I liked watching you eat, though. You were a pretty neat fella. I always loved the pale shade you would turn after a good meal of crickets, which meant that you were satisfied.

And your toes! You had the cutest toes of any animal, EVER! I enjoyed watching you climb around all shaky like a leaf. The things you could do with your eyes was pretty awesome, too. It always tripped me out every time that you would have your back to me, but would turn your eyes around to look at me. You were just neat. All over. For real.

I’m sad, Clyde, because I’ll probably never have another chameleon... you kids are just hard to keep alive. I wasn’t really ready for you to leave me. I already miss turning your lights off and on every day. ... Bye, my little buddy.

I slept most of the day...

I slept most of the day because I was up barfing all night.

It truly sucked and my head has never hurt like that before in my life.

I’m so glad it’s over.

On the bright side I had the best care-taker I could have ever asked for:  Shadow. I’m telling you - that kid was awesome to me last night. He heated up a slice of pizza for himself for dinner and didn’t ask me for ANYTHING. Also, he brought me tissues and water and medication and even a bucket to puke in. He petted my head and said he was sorry that I felt bad and shooed the dogs away when they got all over me. For serious, he’s the BEST KID EVER.

When Nick got home from work he handled everything else - my guys totally have my back and for that - I am grateful.

I don’t work at PetSmart anymore.

I can’t say that I won’t miss the job I did because I will. I really enjoyed working with the animals and some of the owners were pretty cool, too. I even made a few good friends (you know who you are and you will be missed.) No worries, though... I’ll still be around with the animal shelter so it’s not like I’m going to vanish completely.

BUT (for the most part) I won’t miss any of my ex-coworkers or the high school-esque drama that never quit. No matter how you slice it that place employs mostly kids (or adults that couldn’t act like adults) and well - there was a lot of immature, he said / she said, "this-manager’s-my friend-so-I-can-do-what-I-want" type of behavior going on and I’m just not down with all of that.

Not to mention that retail will always be retail, which usually forces you to choose between any semblance of family life and work... I don’t know about you, but my choice will always be my family. I don’t want to work holidays rather than spend time with them - so I won’t. That is my choice and if it means losing a part-time, low-paying job (with as far as I’m concerned - no opportunities for advancement seeing as how I WILL NOT sign a 2 year contract) then so be it. No matter what the store manager says, I DO, in fact, call my own shots - and I DO, in fact, do what I want. That’s the joy of being an adult. Life is choices and I’ve made mine. I have no regrets.

Honestly, this couldn’t have come at a better time. With my mother’s recent behavior she’s no longer on the list of people who could watch Shadow while I work, and until I get my other car running I really don’t want to have 3 jobs to get myself to, plus have to try to get Nick to his, anyway. It’s just hard to juggle it all - so I’m thankful for the break. And also for having my weekends back. It’s nice. 😊

Oh, and by the way I’ll be volunteering at the Animal Shelter’s thrift store, Secondhand Tails, on every other Friday during the day. If you haven’t been by the new location you should stop by there. It’s huge, and really nice. All proceeds go towards taking care of the shelter pets so it’s for a good cause, too. 😊

Have a nice weekend, friends. 😊 I know I will. 😉