a99kitten's Musings

I’m in the kitchen making breakfast for the huskies while Angelus stares at me (im)patiently. I hear BAM, BAM and paw scurrying. Run into living room as Storm is chasing a clearly disoriented bee around the room. He (the bee) finally hits the floor and Storm grabs it. NO!!! Both huskies have done this before and you end up with a swollen-lipped and/or tongued husky that you have to tweeze the stinger out of – no fun!

He drops it and the bee is flailing and buzzing so he grabs it again. NO! I yell again. Meanwhile Angelus, who had come in to see what the ruckus was, see/hears/smells the bee and says “Outta here” and goes and sits by the stairs. He and I have the bee-fear ever since we were viciously attacked by a a paramilitary bee hive and stung a bunch of times. So I am fighting my feeling of “run to the other room” too.

The bee is now under a chair where Storm is trying to get it but then stops each time I say NO. But then the bee moves and Storm is like “Come on!”

So I grab the cover off a shoe box my husband left in the living room and cover the bee. Try to show Storm – see bee is gone. Move along, move along, nothing to see here…

Run in the kitchen, grab a big cup and then slide the box top off and put the cup over the bee, a piece of paper under the bee and toss him over the side of the deck. Of course, the entire time imagining him as a cartoon Disney bee and him falling and so get sad. But then decide it was him or the huskies. I had to protect the huskies.

Storm just looked at me said “Really Mom? YOU had to protect ME from the bee? That’s the story we’re going with?”

Took Stormy to the vet today. It was for a blood test after his last visit where he tested slightly anemic. He’s slightly anemic because he isn’t eating well. And he’s probably not eating so well because his medication was upsetting his tummy. Sigh.

So after I ran a little “test” myself (stopped all medication for 2 full days) and seeing Storm much happier and eating and then once back on his medicine going back to not eating as much, I talked to his doctor today. Was actually just a tech appointment today for a blood test but hung out and waited for the doc who wanted to see us. After waiitng there for awhile and then being moved into a private room so “the doctor can speak to you”, you get very stressed. And let’s just say that sitting in the waiting room comparing cancer meds with other doggie and kitty moms kinda sucks and creates stress.

But really she just wanted my details on what was going on with Stormy. She also said let’s let his tummy heal. No medication except his Cushing’s meds, which he has been taking without incident for a couple years, and some OTC Pepcid AC.

I was supposed to give him one of chemo meds tonight. But the doc agreed and we are stopping them for now. Good news is that he gobbled most of his dinner tonight! And then came over to me when I was eating dinner and wanted some of mine! Which he hasn’t done in a long while. So I got some cheese and doled it out to the boys. Angelus of course always wants more people food so he was pretty happy :)

And for the first time in a about a month, I feel a bit less stressed about Storm, his eating and his meds and feel like my “no medicine for 48 hours” test might have been what we needed. Weird how stress actually can physically manifest itself. Actually feel a bit less “tight” or “wound up” tonight.

So paws crossed. But the Stormy puppy needs to be happy. And eating. :)

This morning I was reading the packaging of the “topper” I recently started giving to Angelus (Stormy is still too picky) with his regular dry dog food. It’s called Stella & Chewy’s (and no I did not buy it because I think Chewbacca makes it.) Basically they are a healthy doggie MRE. I break up a half of one and put it over Angelus’ dry food instead of adding a bit of wet food. He gets bored of the same food every day – wouldn’t you? So I switch up the “topper”.

It’s freeze-dried food “Natural with added vitamins and minerals”, “Made with raw, wild Alaskan salmon and raw, naturally raised beef plus fruits and vegetables” and “No grain, added hormones or antibiotics, artificial preservatives, sugar, salt or coloring”. We are trying the Surf n Turf now. And will then move on to other flavors if he keeps liking it.

I, on the other hand, didn’t eat breakfast (never do unless a Sunday mimosa brunch!) and am now eating a Lean Cuisine frozen lunch that contains so many things that I can’t pronounce, it’s best I don’t know what it actually is. Oh…and don’t forget just a touch of sodium.

Hmmm. I clearly take much better care of the buds than myself! Eh…that’s OK, they are waaaay cuter :)

Fun, if cold and wet, SUMMER August morning. Sigh….coastal summers kinda blow. But the huskies aren’t hot and then we get a gorgeous September – November so oh well. But I usually start getting really annoyed by the weather around now until it’s over (usually mid-late August.)

When we first got to Mavericks we didn’t see any other dogs. Uh-oh – too early? But then 2 ladies came with their dog but he was a ball dog – dang. The huskies do not understand ball or stick dogs. They say CHASE ME!!! Why chase a stupid ball or stick?? Angelus chases the dog as they chase their object but then if the dog doesn’t engage after a couple tries, he is done trying.  Storm doesn’t even try. He used to chase balls a few times and then would sit down and shred it. So I didn’t want him to steal other dog’s toys! But he was *usually* pretty good about that.

I tried getting them to walk down the beach but neither really had any interest. I think they wanted to stay by the beach entrance so they wouldn’t miss any new dogs coming in. Then we saw a group of people and dogs that we knew from past visits to Mavericks come around the cliff from the other side/beach. And then they decided it was OK to go down there and check it out. It was the Scottish Deerhound, a couple other spazzy dogs and then Grommet the boxer.

Ohmygosh – Stormy and Grommet were playing and playing and playing. They were having such a good time. And me without my iPhone today to video it :( Stoopid Mom. Grommet’s Mom was telling me how Grommet had a tussle with a really large husky awhile back so he is usually pretty skittish around huskies but he was doing great with my guys, especially Stormy (Angelus was mostly mixing it up with the other dogs.)

Storm and Grommet were tearing around, chasing each other and then other dogs would start in the chase too. I get a little stressed because I don’t want Stormy to get take out accidentally since the other dogs all outweigh him by a lot.  But everyone did a great job of not taking each other (or us 2-legged creatures) out.

When it was time for Grommet to leave and his Mom leashed him up, Stormy wanted to follow them out.  It was so sad – Stormy got so bummed his friend had to leave. After that, Stormy wasn’t so interested in staying. What a goober. He was probably kind of tired too after all that running and playing. So after a few attempts at walking further down the beach and only a couple small dogs coming in, that the huskies had no interest in playing with, I said who wants to go? Storm turned around like “Let’s Go!” and he led the march back to the car. And when I say march – I mean it.  The kid could out-march a battalion :) Angelus likes to dawdle on the way back. Sniff, pee, sniff, pee. Storm – he marches. Focus. Stay on target!  He would have made a great X-Wing pilot :)

I love watching them have fun. They are the best boys.

Last weekend, I went outside to take care of my kitty Gypsy. She lives in a big outside kitty house with kitty trees, shelves to jump on, etc. She used to live inside with her brother Jack. Then we got Angelus. He would chase the cats but generally left them alone once they jumped up into one of the trees or out of his way. Then we got Storm. Storm’s addition to the pack turned Angelus’ wolf/pack instinct on BIG time. BIG time. They would chase the cats. So every day when I got home, I would go inside, put the cats away in our home office, and then bring the dogs in (who always went to work with me). Then at night, would bring the dogs into the bedroom and put up the puppy gates, and then let the cats out to have the run of the house at night. Then in the AM – they got put away and the dogs were out in the house as I got ready for work. Rinse/Repeat. Every day.

Then when I was out of town and husband was in charge of this schedule for a day or 2, he let the dogs in before the cats were secured. They instantly found Jack and, as husband described it, acted just like wolves and chased/tag-teamed Jack and Angelus grabbed his butt in his mouth and Storm grabbed his front end in his mouth. All the while Jack was scratching at Storm’s face and Storm did not care. This all happened in like 3 seconds and then husband picked up both dogs by the scruff of their necks and they dropped Jack who ran into the closet and likely began plotting everyone’s deaths…or at least whose stuff he was going to pee on first.

Husband told me this and I freaked. He said we needed to find the kitties a safer home. I was sad about this as I had Jack before I had husband. But they weren’t safe here and that was not fair to them. At the same time, trying to find 2 kitties a home is pretty hard. And I was not just dropping them off at a shelter. That was not an option.

In the meantime, husband drove to Fresno or some such inland hellhole and bought a cat house. No – not a whore house. An actual cat house that you build – they supply all the pieces. He brought it home and had it built in the backyard over a weekend.  We put 2 cat trees in as well as various levels of beds in there. And moved the cats out there.

It made me sad. And I still feel like a cat mom failure.   Jack died 2 years ago. This left Gypsy alone and this made me feel even worse. She really belongs inside with someone who will let her cuddle and luxuriate around the house. Maybe even in bed.

I try and visit and spend time with her every day. Sometimes it’s just to check her food and water and a quick pet. Sometimes I hang out and just pet her. Still not the same though.  She needs a new Mom.

But she has always been on Advantage. And the dogs have always been on Frontline. I have literally NEVER seen a flea inside the house or on any of my animals EVER. Not ever.

Then, last Sunday, I went outside to spend more time with Gypsy than a quick pet and food check. I swept her floor and cleaned her water fountain (we ran power down there from under the house and she has a running-water fountain.)

I usually let the dogs out in the backyard while I do this, as they like to sniff around. Especially Angelus who likes to sniff around for critter scents.  We all went inside and upstairs. I went outside to the top deck to pet Storm and saw like 10 fleas all around his face. ARGH! ARGH! I was thinking it was the beach or something weird as we had just returned from Mavericks before I went out and saw Gyspy. I took a pot of water and a brush out on the deck and brushed and picked every flea off Storm – drowning them in the water. Since he is white and half naked, this was fairly easy.

I still was thinking this was beach related and went back outside to put the freshly washed and dried blankets back into Gypsy’s beds and then I saw my pants were covered in fleas. ARGH!!!!! ARGH TIMES 100000000!!!!!

I dropped everything. I tore all of Gypsy’s beds and blankets out and threw them onto the deck.  I ran inside, ripped my clothes off and threw them all into the shower and closed the bathroom door. I changed and wrapped everything into a large towel and then started a laundry cycle of my clothes, then the dog beds in the bedroom (that I had to run by) and then rewash all of Gypsy’s stuff in hot water, double rinse and then hot dryer.

Meanwhile, went upstairs and checked the dates on the dogs Frontline and Gypsy’s Advantage. The dogs had just gotten their Frontline applied about 2 weeks ago so if any fleas bit them, they would definitely die. But Gypsy’s Advantage was due in a few days so I went ahead and did it early. Same thing – they had to bite her to die. These things aren’t repellant. They are supposed to actually work longer than a month though so there was NO reason they wouldn’t be working.

I researched stuff online as I did not want super poisonous stuff around any of them but wanted some kind of spray to use outside. White vinegar supposedly repels/kills them but otherwise, you needed to buy stuff. I used some white vinegar in the laundry but pretty sure the hot water and laundry detergent was probably fine.

I then had to brush and pick off fleas from Angelus. Angelus has 2 thick coats. He is the fluffiest beast I know.   Excellent. I was wiping a cloth with white/vinegar and water on him as well as picking the fleas off and drowning them. They were concentrated on his face and paws. Same as Storm.   I know they were poking around behind our shed while we were down there and I think the fleas have come from critters in the yard. We have a family of either raccoons or skunks living under the house. I hear them sometimes and Angelus knows there is something under the deck as he tries to dig under there if left alone in the backyard. Which is why he is not allowed.

So off I went in search of a natural flea repellant and killer. It uses peppermint oil and other oils that apparently fleas hate. Turns out Pet Club had it. As I was looking at the various products they had (a whole aisle) I overheard the worker telling 2 women about flea control. He is describing the benefits of Frontline and other topical stuff for dogs. But then he is adding how the fleas need to bite the dog to die. So you need a repellant in addition to the topical. I have never had to use this. I guess the coastside has fewer fleas because it’s never really warm enough for them to thrive. And Tahoe has no fleas. Another reason to live there.

Anyway, he says to them “the stock market has been down almost 1000 points lately. Do you know what this means? It means people lost a lot of money. Then you have people who have lost their jobs. This means they have no money. You know what they give up? Pet care. And not food – but flea control.”  I think to myself “Ok, CNBC market commentator/Pet Club guy? Really?” But Ok…he’s not wrong either.

He goes on to say we might put topical control on your pets, but others may not. And then think of all the dogs your dogs meet and play with at the beach or in the park, or the cats that go through your yard, or the wild animals that do, and all those animals could carry fleas. And the fleas will be there until they bite your pet. ARGH!

So I bought the carpet powder, the spray for the beds and the dogs and then the spray for outside.  I HATE bugs. HATE. And fleas and ticks are on the top of that list.  So I wanted to use everything I could to get rid of them. It smells a bit but the dogs didn’t seem to care when I put the spray on my hands and them rubbed in into their fur.

So then this morning, I went out and sprayed all of Gypsy’s trees and then all around her house. I get inside and see about 5 fleas on me. ARGH!!!!!!!!! Because let’s be real here – all of the animals are flea protected and I just sprayed repellant on everything so if you were a plea – where would YOU jump? ARGH!!  I freak out once again (please be aware how much I truly I HATE bugs. Hate them. In a kinda sorta completely irrational kinda way hate. I would rather a bear was in my house eating all the food in my fridge.)

So I tear all my clothes off and throw them in the washer and turn on the hot water cycle and then go change. And then realize my iPhone was in my pocket. I yell out loud NOOOOO! And run to the washer. It was full. With hot water. And I stuck my hands in the hot water searching for the phone. Found it. On the bottom of the washer. And my right hand/lower arm seem a bit scalded. Phone is done. So I need to go buy one on Monday. Driving over the hill and getting annoyed by tourist traffic to do it over the weekend will just be rubbing salt in the wound.

So the fleas have cost me $80 worth of flea products. $400+ for the new phone on Monday and a ton of stress and time. The money is an annoyance. The stock market took far, far more of my money this week. But the stress pissed me off.  And the feeling of ARGH upsets me. I will now go through another day thinking bugs are on me and mentally freaking out.

This could have been an episode of I Love Lucy. This seems like a ridiculous Lucy and Ethel kind of situation. So Happy Birthday Lucy. You wear 100 well.

And yes, fleas, and the people that might not use flea control, are the scourge of the Earth to me today. Fuckers. Obviously wild critters who just happen to get fleas can’t be blamed. And I can’t go around buying them all Frontline. THAT would be a good Lucy episode though. Or maybe more Laverne & Shirley.

Sigh. Is it too early to open a bottle of wine?

Comic Con Day 4! Oh wait…I didn’t go. I was sad when I left the hotel. Kinda like when football season is over. Mopey-face.

When I first saw the schedule for this year’s SDCC I saw that, as usual, there wasn’t much on Sunday in terms of panels that I cared about. I would have loved to see the SyFy Merlin panel but if there was a day to take off, this was it. Normally Sunday is my “floor day” after using the other days for mostly panels. Of course, I also used to go to Preview Night for floor time before it became a frackin’ nightmare to try and get a pass. #dontgetmestarted

So instead of staying around SDCC, I made a reservation at the California Wolf Sanctuary. I have been donating to this organization for a number of years but have never actually visited. So since the Monday tours were all booked, I booked a tour for Sunday. Had to be there at 9:30 and they are about 1.5 hours away so it was another early morning of getting ready, packing, checking out and sitting. But instead of in line or in panels, it was in a car.

Got up there on time. And wow. I can not think of enough good things to say about this experience. Was pure awesome sauce. The tour was for about 30 people-ish? A short in-room presentation about the history of wolves, hunting and their endangered status and where the packs are now that have been re-introduced. The guide was much, much more politically correct than I would have been. Basically – humans suck. We almost obliterated this species because man didn’t want first tier predators around. I hate most humans. Oh…and humans still hunt them. And still want them obliterated. And spend a lot of lobby money to get them off the endangered species list so they can hunt them. Even after there is scientific proof that with the wolves back in the eco system, all of nature actually thrives. But hunters don’t want to hear that. Yeah…humans generally suck.

Another thing we learned: a grey wolf has 1500 lbs (psi i believe is the measurement) of bite pressure. A pit bull or German Shepherd has 700. So…that wolf is ripping your arm out of your socket when they lose wookiee-style!

OH! And there was actually a species of direwolves back in the day! And they were HUGE! So they are not just a fantasy creature made up by George R. Martin in the Game of Thrones. Team Direwolf!!!

Anyway – after that short in room presentation, we went out to the Alaskan Grey Wolf area. But none were out. Sleepy time in the hot weather I guess. So they took us over to the Mexican wolf area. This sanctuary is a big part of the Federal project to re-introduce Mexican wolves to the wild. So they have some that are not part of the tour so that they don’t get used to humans. But they have 3 that will probably not be re-introduced to the wild and that are on occasion shown on tour.

They are 3 girls. So pretty. Because of their coloring and their smaller size (compared to the Alaskan Grey wolf) they are sometimes mistaken for coyotes. They really just look like brown Storms!

They were walking around a lot, marking the fence (which they do my rubbing on it or chewing at it), or rolling around in the dirt. So husky like! The guide was telling us a story about how because they might still be reintroduced , they don’t get the same food as the Alaskan wolves. They get more kibble than meat unless it’s meat they would hunt in the wild such as deer or rabbit. Someone asked about squirrel. He said the wolves generally don’t eat the ground squirrels or crows but they will catch them and play with them to “get their squeaker out” and then they are done with them. O.M.G. – HOW HUSKY-LIKE!!!

He said one of the other females is older and has medical (renal) issues. So she is on a very low-protein diet. But apparently she gets sick of the kibble so she takes it and spreads it out so the crows come and try and eat it and then grabs one and eats it! What a smart buddy ☺

He had funny stories about the wolves and we got some good pics. I wished I had a good camera and not just my iPhone. But oh well. Then we saw that the Alaskan wolves come out so we got to go back to see them. Wow – the first male we saw is HUGE. Huge like Angelus looks like a baby compared to him. (Angelus strongly disagrees with this comparison.) In this area they had 2 females and 2 males. They had other fenced off sections with other packs, a mom and pups, another female who kept getting into fights to try and be alpha. But they were not on tour.

We hung out and waited for the Alaskans and then the 2 females came out. They feed them raw chickens and turkey (but like the kind you get at the store, not feathered or anything), and other stuff I won’t go into because while I understand the Circle of Life, I never like seeing it.

We got to see 1 of the females really close and she was pretty funny – she would stretch for us, yawn, try and catch flies. She seemed very bored by us all ☺ The male went over and found a shady spot and stretched and then laid down like Angelus does when he is done with me and wants to lie down and not be bothered.

We got to hang out for a long time watching them, taking pictures, asking questions. The guide was great. Never felt rushed at all. And it really became clear that wolves are just feral huskies ;)

Oh! And they have the bumper sticker that I saw a long time ago and want so badly! “Little Red Riding Hood Lied” It was stuck to something and not for sale (it was made by Defenders of Wildlife years ago and they told me it was sold out and they never remade them.) I am SO getting back to my project of making this for me ☺

Basically, this tour strengthened my resolve to keep sending my donations to them and this cause. For years and years and years I have only donated to animal /wildlife causes. Mostly to Defenders of Wildlife, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and here. My only human donation in forever was for 9/11. I will continue this and increase it. The damage humans have done and continue to do to this planet and its animal life is disgusting.

Without the ecosystem they help maintain and keep in good health, all of the starving children in Africa, landmine victims in Bosnia, the fight for gay marriage, the fight against gay marriage, human tsunami/earthquake/volcano victims in Haiti/Japan/Chili/Indonesia/Philippines/wherever and the many walks, runs, trots and bracelets to find cures for every disease under the sun, moon and stars will mean nothing in the end unless you want a gray, sterile Blade Runner world. Not to say I won’t donate elsewhere too, but it will always 100% to animals. Period.

If you have a chance to ever visit, I strongly recommend it. Private tours book up well in advance (that’s my next trip!!!) and winter tours book up early too because many people like to see the wolves in the snow (it snows up there a few times a winter.)

www.californiawolfcenter.org

We drove back through the town of Julian which is an old gold mining town. Very cute. Saw 2 coyotes and 1 wild turkey on the drive back! Stopped at a vista in the National Forest (you drive through it) and you look out over a canyon named Storm! Canyon (ok, I added that exclamation point!) Stormy wants to know why he wasn’t there too!

Then got back into civilization and saw Captain America which was GREAT. Plus got trailers for John Carter (of Mars) staring Taylor Kitsch (who looks delicious in it) and the new Mission Impossible movie which looks AWESOME! Oh – and if you have not seen Captain America yet but plan to – stay till the credits are OVER. I have friends who didn’t – doh! Avengers Assemble…in July 2012!!! So even though I didn’t spend anytime at Comic Con today, I kept the Con spirit alive by geeking out anyway on both wolves and superheroes.

☺

He came in and stared at me. This meant “give me dinner!” So I went and made the huskies their dinners and gave them to them. Angelus started eating his right away. Storm sniffed his. I told him that he had to eat it or no after dinner treat and I walked away.

I went back and checked on them and Angelus had finished his. Storm still had not touched his. So I gave Angelus his after dinner cookie as Storm watched.

About 5 minutes later, Storm ran up the family room where I was watching TV. He stared at me again. I asked him if he ate his dinner yet. He didn’t answer so I went and checked. He ran down and followed me. Nope – dinner still untouched. I looked at him and told you need to eat your dinner or no cookie. Then I went back upstairs.

About 2 minutes later Storm ran back upstairs and started at me again. This time standing closer to me so I could really see his stare up close and personal. I asked him if he ate his dinner yet. Still no answer from him so down I went to check…and he ran right behind me. Yay – this time about 2/3 of his dinner was done (most importantly the part with his medicine in it.) So I told Storm to follow me. And he ran right behind me to the kitchen. And then grabbed his cookie and ran outside.

That’s how cute he is. :)

Stormy had me worried a bit. He’s been fussy with his food/eating over the past couple weeks which is not a good thing. He gets his medicine in his food so he has to eat. So I decided to try just giving him chicken with no dog food. Ate it right up. Very excited about it too. So then I gradually gave him less chicken and more dry food (they both get some chicken or tuna in every meal) to get him back on his regular diet.

Then he started getting fussy again. So I tried more chicken again and he didn’t want that. Wha?? So I made some ground turkey. Ate it right up. Then I mixed that in with his food and he ate it. But then the following day ate a bit less. Then he ate some of the turkey but no nuggets. So then I scooped the turkey out and put it in a separate bowl and he ate all of turkey. But still no nuggets. So I gave him extra turkey to make sure he was getting enough to eat.

Meanwhile, Angelus thinks it is great to sneak in and get all the extra food, nuggets or meat, that Stormy leaves lying around.

I used all the turkey that I made for their dinner last night so I made them some chicken this AM. Storm ate a little but then left it. So I scooped the chicken out into a different bowl and gave him that. He didn’t want. But then he went and ate all of the dog food nuggets in his main bowl. No chicken, just nuggets.

OK, who has trained who here?

I gave the huskies dingo bones tonight. Angelus took his to the front yard and Storm just sat in the kitchen with his. Then I went upstairs but could watch him walking around trying to figure out a place to stash it.

It’s funny because Angelus is usually the treat hider. He moves his treats around quite a bit. He can remember hidden treats from weeks and months back. So those that dogs have no real memory have obviously just never had a dog.

And now that Storm’s Cushings is under control and he is no longer feels like he is starving every second of the day, he has taken to hiding his larger treats sometimes. I watched him take it to the billiards room but then pick it up, take it out on the upstairs deck but then pick it up and bring it back in and now he put it on his bed in the living room and is trying to “bury it” with his nose/move the bed around.

The buds are so this guy:

I love this ad :)

I give Storm one of his medications every other day. I put the pill between 2 small pieces of cheese so he will just inhale it. It’s a medication women are not supposed to ever touch so I don’t want him fussing over a pill and spitting it out! they both LOVE to do that! Plus he loves cheese!

So now he knows his schedule. He knows when it’s the “every other day”. So he will stand there and look at me like “Umm…Mom…forgetting something?”.

And he now knows the sound of the ziploc bag opening. (I keep his cheese in a ziploc bag.) He can be anywhere in the house and, if hears that, he will come running! Even if I am opening something completely unrelated in another ziploc bag.

At work, a couple people have said that he has come running when they open their sandwiches or cut up vegetables…in ziploc bags.

And over the past few days with me being injured, I’ve been leaving the door open so the dogs have in-out access while we hang out. Angelus is ALWAYS outside if given the choice. But he was inside 1 time when I doled out some cheese to Storm with his medicine. And I think he was like “Hey! What’s going on in here when I’m outside!??”

So now, when he hears the ziploc bag, he runs inside too. From the front yard he hears it and runs in. These boys have some good hearing.

They both picked up on this pattern after 1 time. So whoever says dogs aren’t smart (or that only certain breeds are smart) hasn’t met the right ones.