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My Little Zoo |
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Ferret Face (FF) - a
very loving gray tabby. He was given to a family as a Christmas gift
(1995). The only problem was that they already had a Chow. The Chow
kept trying to eat the new kitten. FF also came FIV+, a lot of love,
and medical bills, he is now a happy indoor kitty.
UPDATE 5/4/99: Never underestimate a cat! While walking Rusty, guess who appeared crossing the street? You guess it, FF. Looking no different than the day he vanished. He is now home, however not too happy about his new room mate "Rusty". A SPECIAL THANK YOU to the great family who cared for him, all those months he was missing! They have now moved to northern Arkansas, but "Gray Cat" owes them much. UPDATE 9/22/99: Now enjoys playing with Rusty, and getting him in trouble. UPDATE 10/8/00: The boy is doing great, a little over weight, 18+ pounds. This year he was promoted to senior Max Cat Food, the idea of shedding off some of the weight. No such luck, he just eats more! UPDATE 2/1/2009 It's nine years later, the the boy hasn't changed much. He has lost some of that excess weight, moves a bit slower, but what the heck... not bad for an older cat. Rusty - Arrived 3/29/99 and is the second oldest member of the family. He is a Rhodesian Ridgeback/Lab mix pound puppy off "death row". Only 16 weeks old and was to be killed in two days. How could we pass him up? So far is doing well, very loving, and has only had 1 accident in side! What a nice surprise, not having to deal with little puddles. Now at almost 17 weeks of age is 17" tall and 29 pounds.
UPDATE 9/22/99: Not much taller but weighing in at 59 pounds. We have gone from a short burnt orange coat to a strawberry brown and thicker coat. The tail is now tipped with a hint of black and a few white hairs on the chest. His personality has shown its true side, Ridgeback! In just six months we have dealt with an infection under the jaw, sarcoptic mange, ear infection, worms, and two rounds of the red mange. I WAS going to get a new computer, now our vet can afford one. ;-) UPDATE 10/8/00: You can sum it up in two words "BIG & HEALTHY"! The boy has had a very good year, 10 months and the only trip to the vet was for a routine check-up and shots. The
2000 + Rainbow Bridge
Our fur kids are only on loan to us for a very short period of time. Then it is their time to move on. These are the fur kids that left us since 2000. Cotton: Arrived 2/23/98 and left us in summer of 2002. She was a very loving cat. Her coat is as white a snow, eyes as blue as the sky, and a purr that sounded like a race car. Cotton had been in danger of being "put-down". She was found in Texas, wounded. The people that found her took her to the local vet, there she tested + for feline leukemia. Homes for these cats are hard to find. Lucky for her, every one in the vet office worked hard looking for a home. The vet did all the medical care, one of the employee's mothers, drove down and got her (600+ miles), to bring her to us. While Cotton only spent just over four years with us, we won't forget her. She earned the nick name of 'Her Highness' and was full of spunk until the end, when she lost her battle with leukemia. Ashley: 2002 - 2008 While working on an extended project in Miami, I became a bit lonly and bord. Sitting at my computer in the hotel I stubled accross a local cat rescue website. There she was, the perfect little family member! Rescued from a horder with 135+ cats, with only one eye and Feline leukemia+, what more could you ask for! As a rule, this rescue group didn't adopt to out of state folks, but after a long conversaion on the phone, they offered to bring her by the hotel. I think they figured out I wasn't just the average person. It was love at first sight, Ashley jumped right into my lap. Resuce was so happy that she was going to a good home they waived the adoption fee. After the project was done, it was time for Ashley and I to go home. I didn't want her to go as freight, and I couldn't take her on the plane with me. So I called in a few favors, she rode home in the cock-pit of a DC-8 cargo plane! Ashely lived the good life, she loved everyone, it didn't matter if you had two legs or four. However the summer of 2008, her good eye got infected. After two rounds of antiabotics and no improvment (the infection was spreading), we made the difficult dission to have her PTS. Rudy: 2000 - 2008 Born to irresponable people, who gave him to 'human trash'. The boy could have been bad, but never held a grudge. His mama was Rott, his father was the black Lab down the road, and he was the runt of a large litter. He was given to a family as a 'FREE PUPPY'. After a couple of weeks, he found himself chained to a tree, and classifed as being to stupid to housebeak. By the end of his first year of life, the owners were down to feeding him only a cuple of times a week, and that was proving to be too much trouble. They thought nothing of telling some friends that they were planning to dump him in the woods the next week-end!!! Luck was on Rudy's side, one of the friends was a dog lover, and while they couldn't take Rudy in, the activelty looked for a home.... our phone rang.. and the rest is history. Rudy came to us about 40 pounds under weight, no training, but with lots of love to give. First thing was a trip to the vet for a good medical, shots and to be altered. Then lots of food, love and training, proved to be all the boy needed. Rudy wasn't a saint, by any means, but worth his weight in gold. The summer of 2008, he suddenly quit eating his dog food. One trip to our regualr vet, who wasn't that worried, One trip to the doggie ER who just blew it off to 'old grumppy Rott''. A trip to a friend's vet, who ran an x-ray and was worrid, and refered us to another vet. The last stop, one of the best equipet vet offices in the city. By now it had been almost 5 weeks, since Rudy had quit eating dog food. I was cooking and spoon feeding the boy. This vet, figured out the problem... cancer. Rudy died a week later. Given new
Homes
Sometimes giving your pet a new home is the best choice. In 2000, we had to make a move (900+ miles north) in the dead of winter. Some animals just don't do long winter moves as well as others fish top the list and snakes are a close second. Also the cost of transporting big tanks isn't cheap. So all of the fish and equipement were sold/given away. Junior and Red, went to a friend who had several pythons and boas of his own. Junior - Bad temper but cute Royal Python. This little guy was my wedding gift. While on our honeymoon, my husband looked in the local newspaper and saw an add for a "Ball Python with set-up". Well he knew nothing about snakes, but knew I wanted something called a python. So here came Junior, the tank was the right size, but that was the only thing done right. This poor guy was underfed, his water bowl was 1/2" deep and 3" around. Junior is about 4 feet long. To add insult he had been kept on sand. Well a lot of care and food, he looks great, but still refuses to accept humans.
Red - a very nice looking Red Tail Boa. We found him in the local pet shop, the previous owner had donated him because he had become to large. He came in a 30 gal. tank that was way too small for a 6+ foot boa. He now lives in a 75 gal.
UPDATE 10/8/00: He is now the proud papa of 4 adorable little ones!
My Tanks UPDATE
10/8/00: Due to cross country move in our near feature, all tanks have
be shut down. Tank 1 is a 30 gal. Hex. - community tank Tank 2 is a 55 gal. - Jewels and Plecos Tank 3 is a 75 gal. - UPDATE: Was most interesting community, however had a fungus that we couldn't get under control. The Jewels survived, but Jack, Julie and Oscar didn't. Rover since has also passed away. To make room this tank has been shut down, until we move back into the house. The Jewels now live in the 55. Tank 4 is the largest 150 gal. - Oscars & Plecos Tank 5 is a 5 gal Hex - this is the baby tank for all the fry Any one who thinks that fish aren't like other pets, never had an Oscar. Like other animals fish do have different personalities. Some are very calm and passive, while others are simply bullies. Over the years I had some very unique fish, even though some are no longer with us, they will not be forgotten. Rover, Jack & Julie all came in a VERY dirty 55 gal. A friend of mine had become to busy with work, family, and a new puppy. Rather than let the fish suffer, he sold me the fish and set-up. It only took 2 weeks before we bought the 75 gal. It broke our hearts every time Rover would try to turn around, and have to bend his tail.
Rover - a VERY large 18"+ Common Pleco - This guy was about 12 inches when we got him, and grew to over 18". While he will be remembered as Oscar's playmate. He had a few unique personality traits of his own. When he would be done playing, his favorite place to rest was under a large piece of wood. However with his size, getting where he wanted took a little skill. To watch him was much like watching a person parallel park a car. He would swim past the log, and back in to his parking place. Watching his guy eat was also a favorite past time. Many people think that plecos just live off algae, however they require much more than the algae that would grown in the tank. His normal diet was shrimp pellets, algae wafers, and when in season a half a large zucchini squash a night. Rover is no longer with us, but went out with style. He had been acting normal all day, then just before an important guest came over for dinner, Rover swam over to the back of the tank, just under Oscar's territory laid on the gravel and dropped dead. There is no discreet way to remove a fish of this size from a tank, and the tank sat by the dinner table. So remaining as calm as possible, we simply explained that Rover was a very heavy sleeper, and removed him after our guest had left.
!@#$% and !@#$% - a pair of 4" Jewels. These guys did live in tank 1, when they were only an inch in size they attacked "The Boys" (very young oscars), killed the knifes, and tried to kill the upside-down cats. Were promoted to the 75 gal. tank, and did just fine! They may have been the smallest in the tank, but by far the most brave. These guys are still with us!! Having out lived all of their tank mates, not to say they are tough fish, but even the fungus affected them. Since we have now taken down the 75 they live in the 55 with a couple of fancier plecos |