Category Archives: Pets

my current and past family pets

My Mutts Have Issues

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So my friend Annette and I decided to take our mutts to the beach for a day of frolicking in the sand, surf and sun. I only took 2 of my 4 monsters because Nellie’s old and might not make it out of the car before needing a nap and Callie is fear aggressive, an affliction which doesn’t translate well around people. Or other dogs. Or pretty much anything that moves. So Skip, Wally and I joined Annette and her perfectly behaved German Shepard, Tess.

tess2

Let me just say there must be something wrong with me because my mutts have issues. I prefer to think they’re just flawed little creatures who zeroed in on my inclination for adopting not-so-perfect beings. Either that or I’m a crappy guardian.

take-your-pick

Nellie, however, is nearly perfect. Emphasis on nearly. She does have a tendency to use table corners as appetizers so that’s a check in the flawed box. Good luck finding a piece of wooden furniture in my home lacking her teeth impressions.

nellie-sleeping-on-sofa

Nellie’s favorite pastime

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The P Word

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Red Sea

It’s practically a miracle I posted at all this week. Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not like a parting of the Red Sea or anything, but still miraculous in its own way. You see, whenever I sit down to write my blog, someone insists on sitting across my lap and napping on my keyboard. That someone is my new mutt, Wally.

wally on keyboard 5

Don’t worry, I won’t bore you ad nauseam with continued Wally blogs…Wally did this, Wally did that, yada, yada Wally….I promise to bore you only when he does something exceptionally cute or particularly irritating. Wait. He does both those things. Guess I’ll be boring you more than I planned.

I'm bored

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Eight is Enough

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So I’m at Berkeley Humane Society a couple weeks ago picking up cat food they donated to my nonprofit when a little black dog, happy as all get-out, walked by and immediately caught my eye; he’s the type of dog I’ve been looking for. Not that I need another dog. I should think 3 is enough. And it is. But…
Berkeley humane
My Greyhound is over 11 now and being that she’s not in the greatest health, I thought I’d keep my eyes open for a small dog to add to my animal family since Nellie may not be with us much longer. I’m a firm believer in things are meant to be and that day was no exception.
Nellie at park

Nellie in her prime

I ask you, what are the odds I’d be at the Berkeley Humane Society that day (where I’d never been) and their volunteer was walking a Dachshund-mix (exactly the dog I had in mind) by my car at the exact moment I drove up? Now don’t get me wrong; I didn’t jump out and adopt him right then, if that’s what your thinking. I’m not THAT impulsive.

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Should Have Stayed in Bed

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Due to the fact that I just didn’t get to it this week, here’s an encore blog from a couple years back. Hey, you probably don’t remember it anyway so it’ll be just like new!

What a morning.

I ask you, have you ever had one of those days when you realize pretty early on you probably should have stayed in bed longer? Or maybe not gotten up at all? Continue reading →

The Joys of Fostering Ringworm Kitties

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So as if having 7 animals isn’t enough, I’m one of only a few people at the humane society willing to foster ringworm cats and kittens. Consequently, I often have a room or two filled with the little buggars. By buggars I mean the kittens, not ringworm. Personally I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s not an actual worm. That would be disgusting. No, it’s just a fungus, like athlete’s foot.

worm2

Not this kind of worm

Since ringworm is contagious to people and other animals, I have to keep these cats isolated. Luckily I have 4 bedrooms so I’m an instant ringworm B&B of sorts. Come little kitties, stay a while. Relax. Chill out while receiving weekly sulfur dippings and daily oral meds.

cat b&b

This is the life

At first I wore a smock and gloves when handling my 5 ringworm domestic kitten fosters but quickly tired of that. So now I hold them with abandon. To hell with ringworm! So far so good. I’m rash free as of this writing. Just in case, I have a tube of Lotrimin waiting in the wings. I’m nothing if not prepared…

Lotrimin

Smartly, I let humane society staff perform the particularly stinky sulfer dips. I have my limits you know. But I do give the kittens oral meds each morning along with meds for my aging Greyhound. And then there’s the feedings. With 12 stomachs to fill, I don’t get to eat and run anymore. I feed them, scoop cat and dog poop, give meds, grab a bite, then run. I’ve become good at organizing my mornings.

sulfur dip

Stinky sulfur dips

Ringworm cats are unadoptable until they’re symptom free and getting them to that point takes weeks. But I don’t mind. Actually, ringworm is the easy part. That’s because I’m used to fostering feral kittens, not domestics. And believe me, there’s a world of difference. Continue reading →