Animal Rescue

I have written in the past about our animal rescues, from polecats to dogs we will rescue any animal that needs help. This week was no exception. On Monday, we heard a bit of a bang on the house, but could not work out what it was or where it came from. An hour later I went to get the car off the drive only to see a large seagull sat next front of the building quietly sitting there sheltering from the elements. I put the dogs and M in the car then showed M the seagull. At this point, I decided that I need to go over to him to see if he was injured. He flapped his wings but did not run away, which is unusual for a bird like this. As I had to take the dogs out for a walk I left him there until I got back. My neighbour called to me when I was getting out of my car, pointing to the bird. I told her that I knew about it, and with a large dog blanket, I put it over him and gently lifted him and took him into our back garden, where he was put into a rather large box with a cushion to keep him comfortable.

As the weather had taken a turn for the worst and the rain started and the winds picked up, we decided to put him in the gazebo and close the walls to keep him safe and out of the elements. Once he was settled I fed him with moist brown seeded bread, chicken and fat pellets. At this point, I decided to call him Gilbert, no idea if he liked that name though.

I kept checking on him through the day and evening, then left him for the night to rest. In the morning he was very alert and interested in watching me through the window as I went about the garden. We checked him and gave him more food. He still was not wanting to walk, so I think he has damaged either his hip or sustained nerve damage after his crash. I called a lady who looks after swans and other birds that need to recuperate before being let go into the wild again, and she said that she thinks he had damaged his legs since he wasn’t using them and to see if he improves, however, as his condition did not improve I decided to take him to our vets as they could x-ray him and give him the care he needed. So far they have not called me back to let me know what his condition is, so I will call on Thursday with my fingers crossed that he is on the road to recovery.

Her tail stopped wagging…

Yesterday was one of those bloody days.

Through the night Mazikeen could not settle and all in all was moping about and generally restless through the night, making funny noises and the odd whimper.  We thought, this is it, she is going to have her first season (in-heat), as some dogs react that way, but alas no.  In the morning after a shocking night of sleeplessness, I discovered that her tail was sore, and was not wagging.  My thoughts immediately went to a broken tail.

We have a 24/7 vet phone service that is part of her insurance, so I called them to see what they suggested.  They can do a video chat so you can do a version of “show and tell”, but as with all technology that is new, it did not want to work on her side.  Her first question was “has she been swimming?” which deserved an answer of “yes and no”.  We had been to the beach on Thursday and she was in and out of the water, although she was soaked from top to bottom, she had not actually swum, just jumped about in the sea running after shells I was throwing in the water.  Her suggestion was that it could be a swim tail or broken.  I quickly explained that her tail was still wagging most of the evening, and the swim tail would be out, but a broken tail was possible.  Harper is twice the weight of Mazikeen, and they do love to play rough, but usually, this means Mazikeen dominating Harper and jumping on her, but I could not recall any rough arsing about.  She suggested getting her to the vets to get her tail x-rayed.

I called the vets at 8am and got an appointment later that morning.  The vet felt about her tail and found two places he thought it may be broken, and took her in for x-rays and examinations.  She had the first of the anaesthetic injections whilst I was there, and then I had to go so they could do their thing.  Just after 12 I was called and told to come and collect her after 1:30 and the vet would chat to me about his prognosis.  Duly at that time, I went to get her, and like the morning appointment, waited about for ages.  Eventually, I was called into one of the rooms with a nurse who explained that she had not broken it, so that was good news, but she had badly sprained it and that she needed some rest for the next few days, no rough playing and anti-inflammatories for the next 14 days which had a little painkiller in them to take the edge off for her.  

Today, her tail is wagging, not as fast as usual, and she is a little slow on her feet, but she is in good spirit.  So quite an expensive day for a sprain, however, our dogs are our kids, so we do not mind spending money on them, especially health, which I seem to go overboard with.

A little bit wet and dirty

Breakfast In The Regency Period…

It is just after midnight Tuesday, so, technically, its now Wednesday.  Yesterday (Monday) was a busy one.  Up early as the girls insisted I began my list of “Things to do whilst M is away”.  Apart from several walks for the dogs I never stopped.  First was a deep clean of the kitchen.  I knew it needed doing but as our kitchen is so busy as can be seen in the photo (I like busy, but please note, the walls are a light green, not yellow, the photo was taken whilst the sun was out) you tend to miss things.  But with all deep cleaning in a kitchen, all the appliances need to be done, the dishwasher and washing machine are easy, add the product and they do it themselves.  Apart from the detergent draw in the washing machine, which never gets used as the liquid goes in the drum, so I had to do that by hand, and it was disgusting I am ashamed to say.  The cooker I removed all the parts and cleaned each one, and stripped the ovens (two) of everything and cleaned them thoroughly, and having a “Stoves” cooker all the doors have removable glass, so easier to clean.  Every object on shelves and units were removed and cleaned and put back, then the rest of the room was dusted within an inch of its life.

Next, was to shampoo all the carpets.  Luckily I had bought a new carpet cleaner, which is excellent, and one by one each room was done.  The living room carpet, the newest of them had that new carpet smell again, which is quite the sensory drug.

Bathroom next, which was not all that hard as we tend to clean the shower after each use, and always swill the basin out, and the toilet is always clean, so it is an easy room to do.  The biggest thing was polishing the giant mirror, but even that wasn’t hard as again I tend to keep polishing it, as I hate mucky mirrors.

Next job was to tackle the ivy growing around the house, mainly cutting it back from the windows, and trimming around the security lights so no shadows were cast.  As I was in the garden I planted new flowers for the baskets, the summer ones looked worse for wear and being summer plants and flowers do not do well in autumn, now we have cyclamen in them, and I will be doing some troughs to go outside the front gate when more come into season.

Final job of the day was to install a new electrical socket in the hall by the front door so the repeater can connect to the garden gate camera.  I have fitted so many sockets and changed so many from two to three ports over the years I thought I would have finished with this, but no, there is always somewhere else we need another.

Today, Tuesday, Mazikeen had a vet appointment, she goes every month to get weighed and get her worming tablets and a check over.  She is just over a year old and has never had a season, but the nurse said today that she was a little swelled up in various areas, so it looks like she will finally have her first, that is if this is not a phantom season, which can happen.  After that and a long walk with the dogs, I painted the master bedroom, only the first coat, but it was a start.  I was doing the edging and discovered the brushes I had were shit, that’s really the only way I can put it.  Off to the DIY centre to get a good sharp one, and whilst I was there, some magnetic catches for the cupboards and a new electrical socket with USB ports.  Apart from putting up some frames and making myself a curry from scratch, I decided I had had enough, and my lower back, right-hand side, was spasming, which told me to stop.

Tomorrow, Wednesday (which is now today as it is 00:38) I will be finishing off the painting, then starting my knitting again, which is The Great American Aran Afghan.  I had started it the other day, but it is in American English, which is an oxymoron in itself, translating it into correct English is a bit of a bind, to say the least.  For example, it states three ridges, which means knit six rows, so, why not just say knit six rows.  If you were next to me when I sussed out what this meant, you would have heard my eyes rolling never mind seen them with the added slow shake of my head.  I do hate that in English there is so bastardised, and do not get me started on spelling.  Anyway, I digress slightly.  I had started it, but due to this quirk in language the pattern reads wrong, and with wrong the WS rows are not mentioned, so you have to work that one out yourself, which my test showed that you have to to the WS as a reverse of the RS.

That’s the plan anyway, but as with the best-laid plans of mice and men, one can never be sure if it will change.

If you were wondering, yes, it is raining again, battering against the windows in fact.

Vet Update…

Mazikeen has recovered from her bout of illness.  The vet gave her injections to combat the stomach problems, which turned out to be gastric irritation which had caused thickening of the gut and irritated it.  She also had injections of anti-sickness and antibiotics.  They examined her and did x-rays to make sure she did not have any foreign objects stuck in her tummy, and thankfully for all that she swallows, nothing was trapped.  I picked her up at 4pm and she was really happy to see us, although she was a little dopy due to the anaesthetic, but she soon recovered from that and was running around the house playing with Harper like nothing had happened.

The only thing the vet said to do was to feed her steamed chicken for a day or two as it was easy on the stomach and get her back into eating.  Needless to say, chicken is her favourite food, so she gulped it down every time we fed her (little but often).

Today she jumped out of bed early and has been on the go ever since.  Her only quiet moment was when she came back from the forest after a long walk and slept on the couch beside me for an hour.

Glad she is all better, but at £160 for that one trip, I would hope that she stays well.

Vet Emergency…

As with every morning, my alarm goes off, and the bedroom lights automatically switch on (the joys of an automated home).  At this point, both dogs take this as a cue to jump all over me, but this morning only Harper did.  Mazikeen was in a ball curled up next to me.  I said hello to the pup and stoked and cuddled her, but she started making noises, nothing new, when she is tired she makes a certain moan/groan noise, but with this, there was a whimper too.  I got up and went to let them both out for the toilet, Harper was up for this but the pup did not want to go, so I carried her to the door, still making moans.  I thought it may be because she is teething, but when opening the door to the garden she decided that she did not want to move.  I carried her out and she came back in.  Not her usual behaviour.  Back in the house, I got dressed and her moans increased.  I put her on the bed and lay next to her rubbing her tummy.  I checked her teeth, and although some were pushing their way through her gums she was not reacting, so not that.  I felt her tummy and nothing obvious.  She cuddled into me and started to fall asleep.  But I knew that something was wrong, so at 8am when the Vets opened I called to get her in.  Whilst waiting for the next hour to pass she climbed on me and slept in a ball again, yes she is a Daddies girl.

In the Vets office, she was quite vocal about her discomfort.  The vet checked her out and said that it could be she had swallowed something that was lodged in her tummy as puppies tend to eat everything they get their mouths around, but I knew this was not the case as we watch her all the time.  His other thought was that one part of the cut was extruding to another and cutting off blood supply which would be painful.  He decided that she should go to their hospital and be examined under general anaesthetic and give her some x-rays to check everything out.  An hour passed and Michael the Vet called to say nothing was trapped that they could see, but it depends on what the item is made from, but he was happy to rule that out together with the other thing he thought it may be, which was good as this could be fatal.  The only thing he could find is that her stomach on one side is quite thick and he thinks that this could be the problem as it would cause gastric problems along with inflammation and pain.  So panic over, but she will be there for the rest of the afternoon to recover and have some injections to sort the problem out and make her comfortable, and they also want to get her to eat something too, and I will collect her about 5pm.

I hate seeing the dogs sick, especially the pup as she is only four and a half months old, but at least she will be okay.  Roll on 5pm so I can go and collect her.