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| The hodge-podge crew (Lexi, Quinn & Snickers) |
Wow...well I finished up my Vet Tech program (with three more animals than I started with - and I couldn't be happier)! I have an amazing little furry family from the biggest to the smallest.
Snickers was my first dog and has been a great companion. She will be 15 this July and unfortunately, her body is starting to slow her down. She is slowly loosing her hearing and eye sight and her kidneys are failing, she also has arthritis and spondylosis. She is on daily pain relievers for her arthritis, as well as medications and supplements to subside the symptoms of her kidney failure. We went through a couple of very rough months last summer/fall and I was worried that she might not make it. Snickers is a strong girl though and she has been doing well ever since. She sleeps a lot but she seems happy comfortable other than being stiff when she wakes up. Snickers has always been an independent girl but still enjoys a good cuddle. She has really mellowed in her old age and has even become less finicky when it comes to nail trims and baths (her two most hated things)!
Quinn came into my life in November 2010 during the first semester of my Vet Tech program and if you've read the blog before you may have read her story. She is our youngest munchkin and a whirl wind of happy crazy fun loving beagle. She loves everyone and everything. Quinn is always on move and always looking to get into trouble. She constantly makes me laugh and I love all her silly happy moments! I love all my girls but Quinn is my heart dog. There is just something about her. Somehow everyone she meets falls in love with her even if they are not dog people.
Enter ... The Captain. Captain Colbert is our furry little hamster who came to live with us this past December. He was one of 12 hamsters at my school for us to learn rodent handling, husbandry, anesthesia and health care. We came in one morning and one of his eyes was enucleated most likely from an accident with his wire wheel (he now has a wheel where eye balls cannot get stuck)! It's more common than you may think for rodents eyes to pop out as they protrude quite far out of their skulls to begin with. Anyways, we put Colbert under general anesthetic and our vet surgically removed his left eye. He was a very good patient and didn't even need a mini e-collar ;) . After his surgery he became known around school as The Captain! It took him a few days to adjust to the lack of an eye but he healed well and has been a happy little hammy ever since. He spends his days sleeping and his nights making his comfy cozy nest. Luckily, none of my girls really bother with him. His cage is up on a high dresser so occasionally they look up at the noise as he runs in his wheel. I usually only bring him out when the girls are sleeping soundly so we don't run into any problems. Snickers probably wouldn't notice him with her eye sight but Quinn would love to howl and him and play with him. Lexi is quite feisty and would probably chase him down and take him out in one chomp.
Last but not least, the newest addition to our family ... Lexi. Her initial bio was the previous post on my blog ... and now for an update. Lexi has come a long way since we adopted her in January. She was and still is quite attached to me following me everywhere. She has gotten MUCH better with staying home. We used a crate and treats to work on behaviour modification and bring her through the anxiety. She is starting to wander around a bit more with Quinn and will even venture outside on her own occasionally.
One Sunday, about a month after we adopted her, she started walking funny and was extremely tense in her abdomen. The vet thought it might be attributed to her Addison's disease and by the next morning she was walking normally and her abdomen was normal again also. On Tuesday she went to daycare and they noticed she was walking funny. By the time I got home around 8pm she was dragging her back feet behind her unable to get them under her. I rushed her to the vet where we did blood work and x-rays. It was determined that she had a partially ruptured disk. The options presented to me were surgery (a couple thousand dollars) or we could try bed rest and medication for the pain until the vertebrae calcified. Needless to say, I had to go with the second option. It took a few weeks for Lexi to be able to walk only dragging her left leg a bit and she progressed slowly over the next 2 months. We are very lucky to have a great cage free day care in town that sectioned off a space for Lexi so she could rest but not have to be home alone as we worked through her separation anxiety. She is now happy and pain free and able to run around with Quinn and go for walks. The residual damage is that she sometimes drags her left toes very slightly and she occasionally urinates when in a deep sleep.
Lexi's personality has really come through. She is a feisty little terrier full of life. She loves to be groomed and will sit on a lap for hours cuddling. Quinn and Lexi play together all day long. Lexi loves to wait at the top of the stairs or around corners to pounce on Quinn. It's her one strategy against Quinn's agility, speed and long legs!
