Tag: animal Page 3 of 4

The cutest geese arrived! I’m infatuated already!

On September 13, 2022

I have been wanting geese for years. I had fond memories of my little goose, Goosey, who fell victim to a bobcat before he even got all his (or her) feathers. I remembered Goosey as following me around the yard and interacting with me. The little goose attitude was cute too!

I also had some not as fond memories of a Toulouse goose named Mooch. Mooch also had attitude but not quite so cute. It was many battles of will, a few goose bites, and a bunch of squawking (from me) before we reached an agreement about who could be where…as in no, we can’t both occupy the same space. We figured it out though and all was forgiven. I developed eyes in the back of my head pretty quickly though!

Last year I tried to order some Buff geese in March, only to discover that everyone was already sold out. This year, I decided that I was not going to miss out and placed my order in December for summer delivery.

After a very very long wait…they came in! They were ready to get out of the box even when I peeked in at the post office to do a quick head count. They’re so cute! I’m looking forward to raising these guys (and girls). I ordered 2 males and 4 females hoping they are accurately sexed so I can have 2 trios.

Isn’t he adorable?

New adorable babies joining the homestead

By nsmar4211

On September 12, 2022

In Livestock

I took a few animals to a local farmer’s market to make some room this weekend. I joked last month how the vendors end up buying from each other as much as the public does…and I did it myself.

These are Cortunix quail, different colors. 2 days old in this picture, basically little cottonballs. Quail can be tricky to raise and unfortunately I’ve already lost a couple…but I’m looking forward to raising as many as I can out of this batch. Aren’t they cute???

The next picture has two combined groups…the ones with the wing feathers are my new Serama chicks. Tiny chickens, eggs a bit bigger than quail eggs, introduced to me by the booth next to me at the market last month. I also bought a couple adult pairs but that’ll be another post. These are actually several weeks old!

The red ones with barely any feathers are Leghorns from Tractor Supply (that’ll be yet another post lol) and are probably a week old. The reason the two groups are together is the Seramas were huddled together despite it being over 90 on the porch so I decided to see if they’d like a heat lamp. Yep, they did!

The quail were my final critter I wanted on the homestead. The Serama chickens I’m hoping with either help with feed bills through sales or will be single serving sized meals. The leghorns were not in any plans, so I’ll have to see how they grow. I may just raise them and sell, depending on the market and what gender they turn out to be.

But for now, I’ll just enjoy the cute baby stages of all of them 🙂

Fearless little problem brats got out again. And more!

By nsmar4211

On September 9, 2022

In Funny, Housing and confinement, Pig

I walked outside and noticed a slight problem…instead of pigs in their pen, I had goats in the pig pen??? And not a pig in sight! Below are the caprine (goat) culprits, Molly still inside and Bambi already chased out. Seems the goats have figured out how to shove hard on the pig pen gate and slide through.

But….where are the pigs???

I went back to the site of the original crime and not only had they gotten out in the same spot, they made it bigger and pushed the post I had in several feet away. Talent!

But…still no guilty looking pigs…until I walked over to the side of the main area and found these two. One contentedly making herself a digging zone and one pretending she belonged out. Looking on from the door of their pen are Bambi and Lizzy (for once, Lizzy didn’t cause any problems). Sigh….

So, once again utilizing magical objects aka pig treats…I lured the girls back to their pen.

This time…I put in a piece of cattle panel in front of the tree stump and wired it to the sides. They are strong but so far not strong enough to bend a cattle panel. Means they lost a foot off that side of the pen though… once the weather cools off I’ll be working on a new area for them that’s bigger.

Badddd piggies!

Smart piggies make their escape…where they did it

By nsmar4211

On September 6, 2022

In Pig

Came home and found the female pigs waiting for me at the animal area gate…NOT where they were supposed to be.

So I utilized my animal superior kung fu…yea…I got a couple of treats and proceeded to lure them back into the pen. I figured I’d go out of sight for a minute and they’d head right back to however they got out.

It worked! Only took about…oh…a minute for them to head into the corner…behind a stump…under a tree…and look..they pushed out the bottom of the fence. First picture is the two guilty parties after I came out of hiding, second is the area they pushed. They didn’t even FIT behind the stump so I’m not sure what magic they used!

I decided to fill in the hole and add a pole there (not pictured) and hope they wouldn’t try again.

Pineapple bacon anyone?

By nsmar4211

On September 2, 2022

In Funny, Pig, Uncategorized

Just kidding…pretty sure no matter how much pineapple you feed a pig it’ll still taste like pork.

Besides, these two aren’t destined fir the table. I plan on them being my breeding stock. They are quite funny at times!

Scary moment-Goat choked on feed!

By nsmar4211

On August 19, 2022

In Animal Health, Goat

I’m not sure which one of us was more scared at the end me or her… It was just a normal feeding time. They get a small handful of pellets at night only because the smallest one needs the extra nutrition and there’s no way to feed her without giving the other two a little something.

I stay pretty close to them while they’re eating to keep the big two from pushing the little one out of her bucket. I was feeding the other animals and watching them and noticed Lizzie dad started shaking her head. As I watched her she started flinging it more frantically but was not crying. She is a very vocal goat so this made me realize something was wrong.

I ran over and scooped her up into my arm-luckily she only weighs 20 pounds at this point. I put her head along my left arm and thumped her sides with my right hand while tipping her facing downwards. I then slung my arm toward the ground hoping to dislodge whatever she was choking on. The 2nd time I did it a huge wad of powdered powdered pellets and slime flew out of her mouth.

She started yelling bloody murder and freaking out despite my attempts to calm her down so I ended up setting her on the ground. She staggered a distance away and stood there pitifully yelling sounding like she had a very hoarse throat. From the way she was swaying on her feet it was clear that she was close to having passed out.

About 5 minutes later later she decided that she wanted the rest of her dinner and slowly approached me approached me to get more pellets. I only gave her a little bit because I figured her throat would be sore after all that.

But 20 minutes later she was more active and ran for the hay feeder although she was not still her normal hyper self. I’m hoping everything’s OK but I’ll feel better after some time has passed. Managed to scare the heck out of both of us. I’ve had to do the sling method to clear the throat of a choking duck before but this is the 1st time I’ve ever had to do it on something that big. I’m thankful she’s small enough I could pick her up.

Update: I watched her closely the next few days and she appeared to have no ill effects. I asked my vet about it and he said if she’s not coughing or running a fever, she’s good. Next up, finding a way to slow her down from eating huge mouthfuls.

The emotional pain of losing my beloved cat…not reading for the weak hearted

By nsmar4211

On August 15, 2022

In Animal Health, Cats and Dogs, Stress

This sucks. I know some people consider that a curse word but there’s no other way to put it.

(If you’ve been through this with a beloved pet I’m going to warn you now this may bring back memories and not necessarily pleasant ones…don’t read if you are affected easily)

I’m on second day and everywhere I look, everything reminds me of him. Everything I do…every daily routine…there’s a hole.

Started this morning with my alarm randomly deciding not to go off and he wasn’t my backup. He used to start walking around me, making sure to get close enough to my head the second or third loop to step on my hair. Somehow he managed to stiff leg himself and thump thump thump pointedly by…whereas normally you barely noticed he was there.

There was no “get up now” paw to my head…then to my nose.. and if I really ignored him I’d get a soft paw on the eyelid. Next up would be a single lick to the head…then cheek…then nose…and I learned quick not to let it get to the eyelid. Nothing weirder I can think of than having a cat lick your eyelid at 5am!

Now I’m up and in the bathroom. There’s no one sitting at my feet waiting for me to pet his head and remember to change his water. No one dashing ahead of me out of the door to the kitchen.

Even the routine of feeding the dogs is different. Used to be, they got fed and back in their play area while I fed him, and then they got to get their Kongs outside. This morning I brought them in and realized…now there’s no reason to put them in the pen. I did anyway but it was odd.

Every time I eat, I’m not being given undivided attention by a pair of yellow eyes. No paw patting me on the arm or leg asking for a taste or seven or heck, the whole thing. At lunch I tossed my paper plate on the ground for him to clean off and felt like the world’s biggest idiot .

Decided to try and take a nap to maybe forget for a little while how I was feeling…laid down on the couch and found myself making room for him to join me. We took naps many times together with him at my feet, against my leg, or curled up against my stomach. This time…I just couldn’t do it and gave up on a nap.

It’s put trash out day so I decided to dump his litterbox…and found out I couldn’t. I just couldn’t throw it away when I could see the little divots his paws made in the silica litter. I felt dumb…I can’t keep a litterbox….so I compromised. Got a baggie and scooped up the clean litter where his paw divots were. The rest went out and the baggie went back in the box until I can let that go too. It’s clean litter, I had just changed it.

Seeing his spot on top of some boxes I made into steps for him to see out of the window was breaking my heart every time I walked by. I decided to clean up and rearrange the stuff there…and broke down when a clump of his loose fur was in the corner. I am dreading house cleaning as I know how much fur is still around.

Dinner time was quiet and I had to throw away my crumbs and remembered not to drop my plate on the floor. Went to take a bath and put my towel on the tub like I always did so he could jump up without sliding off and then realized what I was doing. The last few years, Rudy loved to sit on the side of the tub and I would wipe him down with wet hands and rub his fur until he was slightly damp. Then he’d spend the next half hour putting his fur back in order while I got ready for bed. I figured he had trouble reaching some areas and appreciated the help.

Now it’s bedtime. Caught myself waiting for him to run down the hallway for his nightly snack of treats. Found myself looking down coming out of the bathroom so I didn’t trip on him. Worst of all…I’m laying in bed realizing I’m waiting for him to join me.

I know this is going to take some time…but in the meantime…this Sucks. Capital S.

I miss you buddy.

Sick cat part 2, even worse!

By nsmar4211

On August 10, 2022

In Animal Health, Cats and Dogs, Stress

Day 2. I woke up and Rudy was sleeping on the floor-odd for him as he preferred soft surfaces and was usually either in my bed, my chair, or my laundry basked. I took care of the dogs as usual and checked his litter box…nothing. Not even much pee. Usually he drank water like a camel and peed twice as much. He got his third dose at 8am and was really not happy with it.

He still had not asked for food…and that was always my tipping point. I always told myself if he stopped eating that would be when I would know it was time to let go.

I offered him some beef broth, he turned and walked away. I tried heating it up, same thing. I finally opened a can of canned chicken meat and offered him the juice. He did drink all of that but stopped and didn’t want anything else…even more juice or chicken broth. This is the cat I fondly called “a stomach on four legs” or “self propelled eating machine”…refusing food.

This is when I realized we were in trouble. His stomach was now tight and when he laid on his side looked like a small basketball. He was walking a weird high step walk, I’m thinking from the pain/bloating. He would not jump up onto his favorite window spot and barely made it up onto the couch. He had only groomed a small part of his side. I got the brush out and brushed him shiny while listening to him purr. I decided to spend the day hanging out with him and everything else would have to wait.

What did we do? We took a long nap on the couch…him sleeping more than me. Watched a movie (I can’t remember what). I petted and cuddled him until he had enough and put his paw on my face and then we went back to just being on the couch. His breathing was getting harder and the suspected nasal polyp was making him “snore” even when awake. He was obviously uncomfortable and not happy.

At my lunch time he finally expressed a real interest in something….my steak. It was delicious and smelled great and he kept putting his paw on my arm and staring at me…I was happy to see his old self shine through for a little while. Heading the vet’s advice but having a bad feeling about how the day was going to go, I gave him a tiny sliver of the fat and let him have the juice of the plate. He only wanted one of the two slivers I offered him, when normally we’d be sharing it a lot more.

Then I got out an ice cream bar…strawberry shortcake type. He sat next to me looking at it…when I realized it was technically not a solid food I let him have some. And he took full advantage and licked half away! I said well, what the heck…and got another one to share.

By the time half of that had been licked clean, it was time for the vet visit. I put him in the carrier and headed back into town.

This time I only had a wait a couple of minutes before they came in and took him back for a follow up x-ray. Upon hearing the news that nothing had come out, and he wasn’t asking for his food, the vet tried to hide his wince but I noted it.

A couple of minutes later he came back in without my kitty and asked me to come look at the x-ray. With a sinking feeling I followed him. Rudy was still on the table looking at me with huge eyes while the vet assistant was petting him. I took one look at the x-ray and my heart fell… It showed oversized air filled intestines and even looked like it was pushing into the lung area. The vet pointed to one area and said “he’s developed mega colon”.

I’ll admit it…I started crying right there. I knew there was no easy coming back once this had developed. I had a good idea of the seriousness of it from my research into it in rabbits. Rudy was looking at me with even bigger eyes so I picked him up over my shoulder like he liked to be carried and tried to talk to the vet through tears. I asked again, just in case, if there was anything other than surgery…vet said the lack of fecal matter after that much laxative meant the medicine path wasn’t going to work. By then I was having a lot of trouble talking due to being upset so we went back into the examination room.

Once there, I was able to calm myself down enough to talk. Once again we discussed surgery and the risks and unlikely positive outcome at his age and condition. I looked at the vet and said OK, then it’s time. He asked me if I wanted to take him home and let anyone say goodbye and bring him back tomorrow. The look on my face must’ve been like shock and I blurted out the first thing in my mind-“he’s in pain, how can I knowingly let him suffer like this longer????? Who would do that?!?!?! “The vet looked at the assistant and said ok, we’ll be back.

I have to stop here. The next part is not for the faint of heart and breaks mine just trying to write it. But the decision had been made.

Sick cat vet visit number 1, tests and results

By nsmar4211

On August 9, 2022

In Animal Health, Cats and Dogs

(Part 1 here, when it started)

At 215pm, I was in the vet’s office with my cat worried and dreading what they would find. I suspected he was blocked, and since it had never happened before (not with bowel movements) I knew it was not good.

His regular vet was not available but the other vets that are there have been good so finally it was our turn to go in. I explained what happened to the vet assistant and had brought along the baggie of plastic pieces. She thought they looked like a twist tie too, but I told her no metal found and I haven’t had anything with that kind of tie in the house in weeks. At first she thought I had found them in the litter box so I had to re explain it was in his throw up. I also emphasized that he had never eaten non food objects before except grass and straw!

A few minutes later the vet came in and felt around his stomach. I explained the symptoms again and how he was uncomfortable looking to me, even though if you didn’t know him he looked OK. Since he did not feel anything outwardly wrong, he asked if I wanted an X-Ray and blood work, which I agreed to. One thing I like about this vet office is they do not push services on you and always ask what you want done.

They took him back and did the x-ray and blood draw and then brought him back to me. As typical of most animals, he was not a fan of the vet office and liked to retreat into his carrier, so I let him hang out in there while we waited.

A few minutes later, the vet came and asked me to come look at the X-Ray with him as he wanted to show me something. This is usually not a good sign in my experience! Upon looking at the X Ray, I saw large sections of air in his intestines in several places. There was nothing visible as a blockage, but only metal or bone would show up on an xray and not plastic. His stomach was also still full of food, despite having thrown up so much and not eating enough for me to be able to tell.

The bloodwork was ready and there was nothing “off” indicated in it at this point. The vet said he wanted to try a strong laxative and give him 24 hours and redo the x-ray to see if anything had moved along in his system. I asked what options we had at this point…he winced and said basically just the laxative. I already knew a 16 year old asthmatic cat was not a good candidate for invasive surgery and he confirmed it. I asked about massages etc and he said to try it…but no solid food, only liquids as he needed to see if the food progressed along the track.

The vet asked about his litter box as I had mentioned it was the auto type and asked how I would keep an eye on what he did. I explained I had already unplugged the box and put down a puppy pad, and Rudy was good at using the litter box even like that. This satisfied the vet.

So we went home with 3 doses of Lactulose (laxative) and a strict “no solid food” order. Upon arriving home, instead of running around like he normally did, Rudy just went up on the couch and went to sleep. I woke him up for the first dose of medicine which did NOT go over well-apparently it tasted bad. He did not once ask me for food, which was not like him-usually 2 hours and he’s begging.

Later that night when it was almost time for bed and I was reading in bed, he came up and laid down next to my leg. I started petting him and realized his stomach was getting harder and he was breathing a bit harder than normal, even taking into account his asthma. I petted him as long as he would let me and fell asleep with him against my head.