puppy love

when i lay down to sleep last night i had the feeling of overwhelming sadness take over my whole body. i felt my eyes fill up with enough tears to burst the banks of any river and as i felt them take over my eyes and start to run down my face i had never felt so alone in my life but then i looked over at a pair of the most amazing big brown eyes that looked at me with the innocence of a new born baby.

this very sweet young man  was sitting on my pillow as close as he could be and as i looked at him he gave me the most special gift in the world.  he very gentily and ever so tenderly washed away each and every tear on my face and brought a smile to my lips.  he made me feel so much better. i felt a really warm feeling in my heart that only a beloved canine friend can give.  Murphy had worked his magic on me.

losing a pet

today has been a really sad day for me.  i lost my cat of nearly 15 years.  People might think if they havent been through this experience before oh you have lost many pets before you must be getting use to it by now they couldnt be any wronger.  like when you lose a member of your family or friend it doesnt matter how many times it happens nothing makes the next loss any easier. 

Cleo was a sweet little girl.  she was a tortie the kind that is white, brown and black and in her earlier life she didnt live with us as she lived in another home where they didnt treat her particularly well. someone even trimmed her ears with scissors can you believe and she wasnt given a lot to eat or very regularly and not shown much love either so when she got to us she was kind of shy and took a little time to get use to hubby and me.  when she did settle in she gave lots of love and i got really fond of her.

A couple of weeks back now she collapsed in a heap on the floor one morning and as she was near one of our younger cats who was only to likely to swipe anyone that got in her way i thought she might have been hit and fell down.  on taking her aside i noticed she was looking very unwell so i rang the vet and took her down.  she was diagnosed with being anaemic and apart from that they couldnt see any particular wrong with her so after i asked for bloods to be drawn we got the tests done and took her home.  in the next day the tests came back and nothing definite was diagnosed and by that time she had started to sound chesty so a chest x-ray was performed and she spent the day at the vets when they found on the x-ray that she had fluid in her chest in the space between the ribs and chest and she had 100 mls of fluid removed and she was returned to us home that evening with medications to help her settle better.  because her heart wasnt able to be seen on the x-ray it was decided that she either had chronic heart failure and or a tumour.  we went back to take more repeat blood tests after a few days over the weekend on medication and not much more was found out on examination only that her anaemia had settled down somewhat but her heart was now a lot faster and she was given heart medication to try out.  for the last two days on the medication she was eating well and doing heaps better  and  i went out and got her lots of nice food i knew she would love and all of the fresh meat i processed in my food processor so that it was nice and soft and easy for her to eat but when she awoke this morning she was panting, heart racing and although she ate ok she wasnt looking happy.  when i took her down this afternoon they found she had now fluid in her stomach and there was the option of another fluid removal but i decided to let her die in peace and with some dignity left.  she passed away this afternoon in my afternoon assisted by the vet and i will place her in our memorial garden very soon now and i have bought some nice flowers to go on top of her spot.  it was hard to let her go but there was no guarantee that if we did more fluid reduction and gave her some further medication to try and control the fluid returning that within a few days she would be back here again.  the vet said that she didnt think in any case she had more than a week or two at the most to survive if that.  so her life is now over and i will miss her heaps.  i have so many lovely memories of our times together and of her and of course heaps of photos to look back on and i will never forget how she was with me and how much love she showed me.  RIP dear sweet cleo you will be in my heart forever.xxx

wilber, willy and billy

we also have some goats and they are the most beautiful natured animals i could ever meet.  so many people say oh get a goat for a lawn mower and a lot of people i know dont put a lot of time into spending time with them.  my boys are so much fun and are real characters.  they can be sweet and cuddly, playful and hard case and just old fashion fun.  Wilber he is the old states man of the family and likes to keep his boys adopted by him in line he is only just over a year old but the mature boy of the family.  Willy and Billy they are twin brothers of just over 3 months of age and still babies at heart and when they spot me they come a running and let off a little cry of pleasure.  Willy is the biggest character watch out if you are feeding him nuts cause the bucket is likely to leave your hands or you might just a little shove all in good fun of course as his front legs come up over your shoulder and he loves to be fed by hand apples are his favourite. Billy on the other hand is a little more shy but also very loving and he is the one who calls to you.  i have different coloured collars on them as they are so alike to look at but Billy is a little bigger than WIlly who is catching up fast.  As i look from my window i can see them trying to grab at the overhanging branches of our huge redwood tree and using the bits hanging down as their play toys.  they do look so cute when you watch them and then they also look extra cute when they lie in the sun after breakfast and enjoy the warm sun on their backs as catch a few zzzzz.  keep you posted.  furryfriend lover.

womble and dino

for those who have not owned a piglet before it is quite a different and special relationship to have. we have now adopted two boys womble who is 3 months old and dino who is 5 months.  they are both kune kune piglets which means in theory they should be a lot smaller than the average pig.  well the old saying that pigs will eat anything is definately not true when it comes to our boys they have a number of pet hates.  both of the boys have been hand raised and lived in homes for at least part of their early life which meant that they were human friendly and didnt have any fear of cats or dogs either in fact womble in particular loves our labrador who he likes to cuddle up with and enjoys playing with their toys though our cavie isnt too sure about this very strange creature being in his play area.  Wombie came with mites which he bought with him from his first home and so had to be isolated for the first few weeks from dino and meant he had to have a regular powdering of himself and his hay.  in the morning he is the first awake and not short of telling me in no certain terms that he wants brekky first.  dino is a little more patient and only a wee bit and because he is outside in his purpose built home and run i dont get to hear him so loudly whereas wombie is in the laundry where he sleeps in his dog crate and can that boy snore and once brekky is over he is more than happy to nap in his big pile of hay and dino well he likes to lie out in the sun and i can see him as i speak stretched out in his run.  when we got dino he was the biggest houdini i had ever met and escaped the property and was off and down the street and my hubby was running after him and dino he couldnt understand what the problem was he was just taking a morning walk so we had to make him his own dino proof house and run  maybe we should have callld him roadrunner lol and wombie he was put in the 4x4 when we picked him up in the back and managed to squeeze his body through a small gap and was feeling very pleased with himself sitting in the back seat and when i looked i saw three pears had been demolished and all that was left on the back seat were the cores - guess he likes pears.  having said that i have found that these piglets have huge characters and are really humourous but try and move them from where they are for any reason and can they be stubborn and dig there toes in.  very soon we will have both boys neutered and they will get to live in the same home so i have been told from those who know better than me that male pigs get on ok together as long as there isnt a female on heat in the house - which there wont be so hopefully everything will go ok.  will let you know later on how it all works out.  furryfriend lover.xx