Petco.....Where the pets go............

To get de-skunkified, in our case.

I had the just wonderful pleasure (insert HEAVY sarcasm here) of having my dog "skunked".

I took him to the groomers this morning and then while he was there, I purchase the above product and sprayed the hell out of my house, especially in the rooms where he had been. I had to wash some bedding too, because we have a trundle bed and he got next to the bedding on that one bed. Oh joy.

And of course, it can't be a nice spring day where I can have the house open all day to help air it out.

No. It's 90 degrees here at 1:30 p.m.

I aired it out as much as possible this morning and will do the same this evening once we get back from the youngest's t-ball game.

I also have to keep him out of the one room where he "transferred" the most odor. So the oldest gets to sleep with me for a few days while it gets aired out.

Oh joy.

And here I thought I was going to get to have a nice relaxing Saturday until the youngest's t-ball game.

Well, on the positive side, he's nice and clean now.

Correction...

....we have one dog, one cat, and now we are down to one fish.

My Lopsided Unicorn

About two weeks ago we noticed that our dog, Burbank, had a floppy ear. He's a German Shepherd and they don't normally have those.

So we took him to the vet and found out he has a Hematoma on his left ear.

Which means surgery.

Which means money.

So on Tuesday we took him back and he had his surgery.

He originally came home with a cone.

Can you imagine a cone on a big ass dog like this?

Yea, it was torture for him too.

He kept bumping into things.

Poor guy!

He wouldn't eat or drink.

The next morning I woke up and saw the cone on the floor.

Sans the dog.

Uh-oh.

So since I have never put a cone on a dog, we had to go back to the vet so they could show me how.

I also had them look at his ear.

They decided to take him back in and wrap his ear.

Picked him up after a few hours and this is how he looked.

Sans the cone.

Happy for him AND for me!

I'd much rather have him look like a unicorn, than a depressed dog with a big ass cone around his neck.

Plus they showed me how to give him his meds if he wouldn't take them with other food.

Okay, I tried.

I tried to put it down his throat, but it's a little intimidating to me to put my hand down his throat.

Needless to say it didn't work well.

So we got "Pill Pockets".

They are very squishy treats you "hide" the pills in.

That worked most of the time. But I still had to entice him to take them.

Then my friend told me to put it in Velveeta.

Well, I didn't have Velveeta, but I did have sliced cheese!

Yea, the cheese works like a CHARM!

We go back in a week to check his ear and bandages, and then a week after that he gets his stitches out.

Then no more unicorn dog.

But at least he'll have two good looking ears again!

Memorial Day 2007

Okay, it's not even 9:00 a.m. and already I have things to write about!

This morning I was laying in bed with my girls (they get to sleep in my bed on the weekends when daddy's gone) awake and playing with the cat when the phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and it said "unknown number" and had some freaky phone number that I did not even recognize. For a second there, I thought about not answering it, but then I figured I probably should. And also, in the back of my mind, I remembered that hubby was pulling into a port on the other side of the world.

Yes, it was hubby! He was so happy to be on land! They had spent almost two months out to sea with no port visit. They even got a "beer day" for being out so long (they get two beers each, so it's not like it was a drunk fest out there, hell it probably wasn't even a "buss fest" out there for most of them).

We talked for a little while and then I handed the phone over to the eldest and she got to talk with her Daddy for a while. I always love watching them talk with their Daddy. Sometimes I can hear his voice too on the phone while they're talking. Then the youngest got to talk to Daddy and her telephone skills are much more concise than the eldest. I've got to figure out questions to have Daddy ask her next time where she will answer them and not have to think too much. That's when it gets her, when you ask her questions that she actually has to think to answer. She becomes silent................... If it was night, you could probably hear the crickets it would be so silent on her end.

So we got our morning call from him and I showed the girls where Daddy was. He's in a place called Dubai, that's in the United Arab Emerites. The eldest says, "Dubai? Is that where you got "do buy" things?" ............smart ass................................

Then some sad news. The eldest came out to the family room to see the hamster and the hamster wasn't moving. That always sucks. Being the one that finds the deceased pet. My youngest sister found my grandma's dog, Lady, when Lady passed away. I was so heartbroken then. So it was up to me to get rid of the hamster. Now, if you know me, I'm NOT one to have to deal with dead animals. I had to get rid of a dead fish (it was one of those sucker fishes and man when they are dead they are hard as a rock) and I had to scoop it up to flush it down and so I used the fish net, put it in a cup and it went THUD. :::::::::::::::shudder::::::::::::::::: Blech!!

So now we are one less pet in our house (okay, why is hubby always away when an pet in our house dies? He was away when I had to get rid of that fish, and now the hamster), and we are not replacing it. Dr. Doolittle has one less pet to worry about. Oh, don't get me wrong, I LOVE our dog and cat, and even enjoy the fish. The hamster was one thing thought that didn't rock my world. But I never hated it. Rest in Peace Jackie The Hamster.

Today the eldest has an indoor soccer game and then we are off to our friend's house for a dip in the pool and bbq.

I Never Thought I'd See This!

My big German Shepard trying to hump my little cat while licking the back of her neck.

Bizarre.

Of course the rest of the night he's off chasing her and she's finally like, um, get the hell away from me dog. I don't think I like what you're trying to do!

Did I Say That?

Something I never thought I'd hear myself say,

"Cat! Get your head out of the toilet!"

Behind The Liquor Store, Cash Only

Today I took my cat in to get her spayed. I looked all around for places and I found this one place that came recommended from my neighbor, who researched places when she took her cats. When I told my boss about this vet, he knew exactly who I was talking about too, as he's been there before too!

The Veterinary Hospital is actually in a building behind a liquor store (the two places are in one big building, just separated by walls, so two different places of business). And it's Cash Only. I shit you not.

At first I was a bit leery because, hey, it's BEHIND a liquore store and it's CASH ONLY! Hmm.....

But my boss and my friend definitely recommended him. And put it this way, my boss MAKES cat food for the stray cat that resides behind our office at work. Any my friend adores her cats immensely! So I don't think they'd take their cats to some half ass place. Plus, I trust them both.

So I give it a go.

No fancy stuff in there. Just simple friendly service.

Yes, he is a licensed veterinarian.

He's been in business for years too, so it's not like it's a fly by the night business or anything, and obviously if he was doing something wrong, someone would have reported him by now and he'd be out of business.

I dropped my cat off in the morning, and picked her up in the afternoon.

Straight, simple and to the point.

I got a shot record from him too, and hey, they even have a computer!

But think about it. Low overhead, cash only so you don't have to worry about bounced checks or stolen credit cards. At least this way he won't lose any money due to dishonest people.

Overall I was pleased by the results.

My cat is now asleep on my bed, resting.

She's had a hard day. She's used to running around my house torturing us.

So if you need a good vet, don't be so quick to discount the one behind the liquor store that takes cash only.

Dr. Doolittle?

Within the past year, our household has gone from ZERO pets to 14!!! Okay, now granted, 11 of those are fish, but still.......

Last year for my eldest daughter's birthday, she wanted a hamster. Thus started pet number one.

This year for my youngest daughter's birthday, she wanted a fish tank. Then came number, 2, 3, 4 & 5.

A couple of weeks later, at my work, I acquired a kitten from the whore momma cat in the back of our office. That's #6...

***Story about why she's called the Whore Cat......... This cat is your basic alley cat. My boss found her one day just about dead and gave it some food to keep it alive. Well, she's alive and well now and since hanging around the back of our office, she's had about 3 litters. Now, the reason she's called the whore cat is because she goes looking for it when she's in heat. It's not like she waits for her "suitors", or is getting "attacked" by the male cats, because there are places behind our office where she could hide and not have to worry about the male cats. So we know she goes out looking for it, hence the "Whore Cat" nickname.

Then, a few weeks after that, my aunt tells me she's moving across country and didn't really feel like she could take their dog. So I offered to take him for her. Now we have #7.

So you say, okay, that's 7, where's the other 7? Yea..... A couple of the Molly fish that we got ended up having a shit load of baby fish. We think they may have been pregnant when we got them, as they had their babies about a month later. So now, after the baby fish were "weeded out" by the other fish, 7 baby fish have survived over a month and a half now...

So here I am, in a 1200 sq. ft. house with 14 animals, 12 of which are contained in a cage or tank, thank goodness!!!

Our dog? A German Shepard, who is a very nice dog, but definitely has a bark that would scare people.

Our cat? Well, she's inherited her alley cat "toughness" from her momma. Word to the wise, if you ever come in our house, wear shoes or socks, otherwise she'll attack your feet. Okay, granted, she still is a kitten, but she's got a bite that'll make you yelp!

We've got our own security here people.....if they get past the dog with his loud bark, watch out for the cat...............

Kiss The Girls And Kick The Cat.....

That has been my husband's "sign off" in his latest e-mails.

He's out to sea right now and so the only way we can communicate is via e-mails. But thank goodness for e-mail!!! When we first got married, he left a week later for six months. Other than calling me when he got into a port, the only other way we communicated was through regular snail mail. Sometimes it would be weeks before I received a letter and then I would get like ten of them all at once, and sometimes they were out of order too.

Nowadays we can talk to each other via e-mail and carry on conversations to the point of almost instant messaging. I can send him pictures, short movies of the girls, etc.

Gotta love technology!!!!

Oh, and as for the "kick the cat" part, well, let's just say we have a wild cat. We've nicknamed her the "Vampire Cat". She's only a kitten still, born around July 1st, but we'll be walking down the hallway and she'll come up behind us and start attacking our feet and legs! WHILE we're walking!! It's a rare moment that she'll let us just hold and pet her. She lets me hold her more than she'll let anyone else though. We can't even let her in the bedroom at night because we'll get no sleep! She'll just attack at will, if she's awake.

Oh, that reminds me, I need to stock up on bandaids.........