My birthday

I have come to realize that I am married to one of the most selfless, giving men in the world, and I am SOOOOOOOOO grateful to my Heavenly Father for that. Rob is amazing and is always putting me first. Anyways a few weeks ago I went to a dog show with my sister Jennifer, and I met her at my parents house and she has chinchillas in her bedroom she was telling me how someone had brought in a couple of Chinchillas to Petco where she works because they couldn't keep them, well they normally do not take in chinchillas so Jen's ears perked up and she offered to take them home, well we got to talking and it came up that if I could convince Rob to let me have them...I could take them home. Well this was around September 11th, so I've been working on Rob and he's been dragging it out and telling me that "He'll MAYBE think about it, blah blah blah, teasing me about them" Well Thursday he was going to call my dad and have my dad bring them home on Friday my birthday and surprise me with them and he decided to just let me bring them home so he set his alarm clock for 5:30pm JUST so he could tell me that I could bring the 'rats' home as that is what he 'affectionately' has been calling them, as they have 'big ears, tail, runs on all 4 paws, makes them rats....'

Well my darling, loving husband spent HOURS Thursday night researching about chinchillas and came up with the conclusion that they were in a cage that was too small, and were on wire on the bottom which can be hard on their feet and they needed different things. So he researched cages, read reviews about them, and had one all picked out, but Petsmart only sells that one online and we figured the shipping would be outrageous so we just found one that was comparable to the one he found. so Friday for my birthday he took me to Petsmart where we got them a much larger cage, a dust bath house, a HUGE exercise ball, a bin feeder, a hay rack, some more hay and different treats, and chew sticks for them we also go them an exercise wheel as they have chewed a big hole in the one that they had. (Rob has decided though that we need to buy them a different new exercise wheel as the one they had chewed on has ball bearings and is sturdier it was slightly noisy as they have worn it out from running on it.). So much for 'free' chinchillas ;) Rob says that he just wants my animals to be happy and healthy as when they are happy 'momma's happy.' I just love him to pieces.

We also went to Costco together and bought an Electronic Keyboard/Piano, this is a Rob's Birthday/My Mother's Day/His Father's Day/Early Christmas present, it's been fun, it's been years since I have really played the piano and it's been a lot of fun to play and it's bringing back lots of memories for both of us. I even pulled out my flute (which is in BIG time need of polishing) and was able to play a little bit with it.

It has honestly been one of the best birthdays I've had.

Here come the sleepless nights.....

First thing this morning I get a call from Petco, wanting to know if we could take a tiny kitten into our adoption program, of course I said yes, I'm a softie and have a special talent of raising baby orphaned kittens. 2 Years ago I had 12 kittens (3 different litters) that were at the local shelter at the same time. It was tough but rewarding, my cat Sissy LaRue is one of the kittens I raised. Anyways the guy brings the kitten in, she's a beautiful probably medium to long hair probably will be a blue tabby althoug a little hard to tell tabby at this point. She's about 2-3 weeks old and was found INSIDE this guys trucks engine. SCARY and lucky she didn't get eaten up in the engine. So for the next week or two I will have to get up every 2-3 hours during the night to feed this little one milk replacer with a bottle. I've named her Mercedes since she was found in a truck.
The first picture is of her snuggling with 'surrogate' mama a stuffed kitten that has a pouch for a heating pouch, and a 'beating' heart that tends to calm baby kittens, the 2nd picture is of the 'mama' then a picture of Mercedes in my hubby's hand, I should say that my hubby's hands are HUGE, and then just the little cutie, she has a NICE set of lungs on her, she's very noi


Today I was SO excited to get home from work and go get the mail, as Shellie's new "Walking Harness' came today. It's called a Gentle Leader and it goes on their face 'mimicking' how where their mother grabs them when they are puppies, the back of the neck and the nose, they are totally awesome and can curb even the strongest pullers not to pull. (Hmmm....maybe I need to suggest one for Buddy the lab that comes to doggie daycare....we literally have to just let him run to the front without a leash on because he WILL dislocate your shoulder from pulling so hard). I have been using one to walk her, and I ordered her a 'deluxe' one that is decorated and padded, it came today. I was SO excited to walk her my 'excuse' that tonight was the season finale of "Numbers/Ghost Whisperer and Flashpoint" did not even PHASE me (besides, hubby has them recorded for me every day). Here is Shellie in her new 'gentle leader' You can read more about it here: Gentle Leader Dog Head Collar Website (btw, we did 45 Minutes walk tonight)

Our Latest Addition to our family....

Rob's work is doing away with the swing shift, so he had to either go to days or graveyard shift. He really didn't want to go to days so he picked graveyard, well that leaves me home alone 5 nights a week....UH not my favorite thing in the world, I was a little freaked out, so Rob agreed to let me adopt Shellie, a Golden Retriever. For those who really know Rob, this is a HUGE deal as I've been BEGGING for a big dog for 4 years.....While she's not a Great Dane....Shellie is an AMAZING Dog! I already feel safer. I know I have my 'cats' and 'chihuahuas' but what really are they going to do? 2 of my cats would run and hide, DeeJay would show them to the fridge, and Mini Dee would beg for loves and attention. The chihuahuas Sebastian would make a loud fuss but he's all bark and no bite, Zoey might bite their big toe, but that's not really what we need, one kick and they'd both be dead.

Meet Shellie (named after Shellie Elkins---> Golden Retriever who was missing for 4 years then reunited with her family due to being microchipped---my Shellie has the same expressive face).....she is our newest family member. She has something called Osteochondritis Dissecans and will need surgery on her shoulders (once confirmed with better xrays on tuesday). She is 7 months old, and is one of the BEST dogs I have met, so far she knows sit, lay down, heel (needs work), roll over, off, and only chews on doggie or kitty things....no shoes or furniture. She is very mellow especially compared to several 'adolescent' Goldens we have that have been coming for daycare 11 months old, both are boys and are HYPER! (Maybe it's a boy thing). Shellie is such a sweetie. She loves attention and will 'sit' on your feet, she likes to be right where you are, she loves to play with squeaky toys, play tug of war (even if you don't want to, she brings the toy and plops it on my laptop) Here are some pictures of my beautiful girl:
Here she is on her way home for the first time, she's sleeping in my back seat on her bed that the owners sent with her. Then just her happy face, look at how expressive her eyes are

Notice the food on the left, she is trained to sit and wait for food & water until you give the okay, she is up to 5 minutes, you can't leave the room yet but she is getting there.

Just another happy girl shot!

You can see more pictures of Shellie and read more about her on our 'zoo' blog
http://thethompsonzoo.blogspot.com

Tabby is feeling better....

I don't know how many of you have been lucky enough to witness Tabitha's obsession with paperbags but it is a site to behold! We put our medications for animals going home etc in brown or white paper lunch bags. One day Tabby stuck her head in one and was pawing at it etc for HOURS. She does this every now and then, lately hasn't been feeling too hot so she hasn't been doing it. Well today she decided she needed to, was pawing at the paper bag so I got her out one to play with:



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Jasmine

For many of our blog readers you worked at or are familiar with Camelot Pet Resort, Jasmine another one of the office cats has been sick, she is losing weight (you can see her back bone), throwing up all over the place, diarrhea, her hair coat isn't growing back (not just because of Jon's urging...) Jasmine quit cleaning herself so had to be shaved Dec 30th (believe it or not for her 1st shave in 9 years she was better behaved than TIKI who gets shaved every few months). Her hair coat is still very thin and hardly growing. So we did bloodwork thinking she might have kidney disease like Tabitha. The ONLY Thing on her bloodwork that was off was her White Count was extremly high, so we put her on antibiotics about a week ago. We rechecked her and her heart was slightly 'muffled' but not really a murmur, and it's very fast between 300-360 beats per minute. So we xrayed her and she's showing some changes in her heart, has fluid in her heart sack. And much to our 'embarassment' as we ARE a veterinarian we have a couple rule outs:

1- Feline Heartworm Disease (she will be the 2nd cat we have diagnosed so far in 2009).
2- Endocarditis (Inflamation and infection around the heart)
30 Hyperthyroidism

Either one of the heart ones can be fatal. We have diagnosed more cats than dogs with Heartworm Disease, and several have been diagnosed on Autopsy. We are ordering in some Feline Heartworm Tests and will hopefully be testing her to find out for sure. We did put her on Vetalog to try and help her more. You can be sure that all 4 of the clinic kitties will be getting their monthly prevention FAITHFULLY each month from now on! What an eye opener!

Tabitha on the other hand is doing remarkably well with her kidney disease, she's gaining weight, (has gained 1#), is more perky (jumping up the door frames) and starting to get some of her 'attitude' back (smacking your face when you hold her).

Tabitha

For many of our readers, you have worked at or have been to Camelot Pet Resort (Uncle Dan's Veterinary Hospital), anyways if you know "Tabitha" aka Tabby Cat, she's not doing so hot. She has gone from 12# to 7.11# in a very short time period. She loves her water, always has to use her 'paw' to get it. Today we did a Urinalysis and Bloodwork on her, she has 3 different types of crystals in her urine as well as has elevated BUN (75) normal is up to 35 and Crea 4.6 normal is like 2. something. So little Miss Tabby Anne has Chronic Renal Failure (Kidney Failure). Here are a couple of websites with info: http://www.felinecrf.com/ or http://www.felinecrf.org/

Now Tabitha isn't showing any signs other than weigh loss and kind of 'weird' smelling breath. She has been awfully affectionate lately, 'begging/pawing' to be picked up. She also is a 'girl with a mission', she follows Heather around in the mornings and 'helps' clean by tasting everyone's fresh water. For now we are doing research to see what we need to do to lengthen/extend her life, and putting her on Royal Canin's Renal LP diet, (everyone gets to eat it since it's too hard to separate 4 kitties to eat).

Here are some cute pictures of Tabby Cat:
Yep still Cranky looking all the time!

During one of her 'flop' moments in front of fish tank

STUFFED herself into this tiny box, had to really try hard!

Likes to sleep on the desk when Alvin isn't hogging it :)

Yes this is Tabitha ON TOP of the filing cabinet!

Tabby on a Kozy Bag

Puppy Love

Does this look like he can't 'stand' the dog? It TOTALLY does not. Rob is ALWAYS telling me he can't stand the dog...who is as you can see a BIGTIME Daddy's boy! He pees all over me every time I touch him...but NEVER pees on Daddy. You can see the adoration in their faces....the dog is our chihuahua Sebastian who just turned 1 year in January. Rob comes home from work at night and gives Bastian some loves and Bastian just melts in his arms.

DeeJay is now our oldest kitty at 9 years old. Pipsqueak is a little kitten and just 8 months old...you guessed it Pippers LOVES to tease, torment, and make DeeJay squeal. So this is DeeJay's solution to annoying little brothers.....

Pip was pestering her on daddy's footstool so DeeJay got even and put her 13# of body weight on Pipsqueaks 7# LOL, she held him there for a while. Don't tell anyone but when she doesn't think we are watching she lets him lick, and clean her and love her and sometimes even plays with him......typical big sister/little brother relationship don't yah think? LOL!

Baby Birds 5 weeks old

They are really changing now:
http://setarehpets.net/babiesdec1.html

So far we have:
1- Boo
2- Samantha Opaline not sure on color variety yet
3- Freddie: Jade Double Violet (Green Single Dark Factor, Double Violet Factor)
4- Casper: no sure on color yet

New Pictures of baby birds!

The oldest is now 3 weeks old! They are getting so big! "Boo" who is the oldest is starting to get colored feathers. Boo likes to be held which is good. I was worried about how 'tame' they'd be seeing as how they are 'parent' raised. But they seem to be doing good with the daily handling I am doing with them.

We've got babies!

Well my lovebirds have started hatching! So far we've got 2 babies, one born on the 29th, and one today on halloween. Aren't they the cutest? I LOVE the 2nd picture!

We're gonna be 'grand--feathered--parents'

We have 5 Birds right now (1 Congo African Grey, 2 Lovebirds and 2 Parakeets), well October 6th, my lovebird Kira whom is 2 years old decided to start laying eggs, so every other day for about 10 days she laid an egg, so we've got 5 eggs. We are hoping they are fertile as both my lovies are both DNA'd sexed 1 Male 1 Female.
Here are the pictures:

This is her nesting box, his and her feathers, and then lots and lots of shredded paper towels, they shred their cage lining EVERY day. Thinking gonna have to get something else for the bottom of their cage! They've got about 4 or 5 large piles around their cage. BUT it's best not to disturb them too much or mommy will get really upset!

Here's the happy couple. Kira (mommy) on the left she is a Sea Green Lovebird, and Kai is on the right he is a Green Violet Peach Face Lovebird. They both came from the same breeder in West Jordan. Kai is fairly recent addition after Kira's '1st Mate' had an unfortunate accident with my cat DeeJay.......Kermit was 6 years old. But Kira and Kermit weren't bonded very well. But Kai and Kira are VERY VERY close! He takes her food into the nesting box so she doesn't have to leave the babies for very long! What a sweetie....wish all men were like that :)

The eggs have to incubate for about 23 days, so beginning on the 29th of October we will begin watching for hatchlings! I'm so excited, I've never really dealt with baby birds before other than the baby sparrows/robins that have been brought into the clinic. So this is a DEFINITE learning experience. Rob has had lots of birds...so this is one 'animal' species where he 'dwarfs' my knowledge :).