Bernese Mountain Dog

I appreciate all of the input and name suggestions for this wonderful addition to our family. I liked so many of your names and tried many of them out. He has been called a multitude of names over the past few weeks, and I continue to hear Amy calling him the most bizarre things. She really is not too fond of dogs, she is definitely a 'cat person', but she seems to really like this guy.

He fits in well here and is feeling so much better than when he arrived. Improved health and an increased energy level has brought out his true personality. Still rather dignified, he plays like a puppy and can be quite the goof-ball. He is quietly affectionate and has won our hearts.

Cort is active, rambunctious and in constant play mode. They balance one another well. I still feed them separately to monitor food intake and prevent any falling out over meals. Above, shows how well they get along even when one has something quite yummy to chew on; such as horse hoof chunks, pine cones, logs, you know...dog stuff.

They communicate well, sniff noses, clean one another's ears, snuggle together to nap, wrestle like maniacs, and have become good buddies. The one negative that has occurred with this, is that Cort has become infected with some sort of upper respiratory crud carried from the Animal Shelter jail time mountain dog served, prior to our adoption.

And yes, Cort has been well vaccinated, but the infectious agent still invaded. I didn't send samples to the laboratory to identify his specific infection, but he is responding to treatment and sleeping better at night. He is eating, drinking, playing, but less active and continues to nap a lot, sneeze, cough and is typically worse at night. Last night he was sent out of our bedroom, banished to the kitchen to sleep, so we wouldn't have to hear dog snorts, snores and snuffles all night. We needed sleep!

It makes me feel bad when any critter is not well. Well, I guess that explains why I am in this profession, hmmm.

Speaking of not-well critters, Wrangler is doing great. His massive chest injuries barely left any scars. My next post, I'll show how well he is coming along with his training. He also has won our hearts and the rest of the horse herd has finally accepted him and spend hours playing silly horse games with him, really.

OH! I need to mention the dog's name! Again thanks for all of the suggestions. We called him Carson for just too long so the name Carson stuck. But I loved so many of your ideas. I do find myself referring to him as the Big Dawg, the Skinny Dawg, Stinky, or Hey Buddy. To test his acceptance of the name Carson, I have called out to him any of the above and he comes to me no matter what I call him. Good Dawg!

Surgery Part 2 : Shoulders

This will be quick. I am working out of town, in my hotel room and about to fall asleep. I want to continue sharing Wrangler's surgical pictures while I'm in 'the big city' and am enjoying amazingly rapid image uploads on my computer! Plus, I am certain everyone is sitting on the edge of their computer chairs, anxiously awaiting the rest of the story......

Right shoulder initial appearance.

Same area as first photo, minus dirt and discharges. I love soap and water. The skin margins look good, nice healthy bed of granulation tissue with no sign of infection.

This picture gives you an idea of how large the wound was. His previous owner thought he had caught it on something. A large, deep flap was ripped away, hanging by a small section of skin. She trimmed it off and had been cleaning the wound and applying antibiotics. It was too large an area to suture and was actually doing quite well. Horse anatomy prevents successful bandaging of injuries on shoulders.

Left shoulder appearance after scrubbing. This colt doesn't always look so dopey, and he wasn't even enjoying the benefits of drugs yet.

This laceration/puncture wound was several days old. An ugly deep gash through skin and muscle layers creating a deep pocket, perfect for collecting pus and dirt, inviting colonies of bacteria to come live and reproduce.

See the plastic piece below the laceration? I had to create an exit and insert the drain to allow continual drainage of the unwanted fluids produced by the body. This was followed by liberal flushing, scrubbing and cleaning out debris. I discovered the cause of this injury.... my probing exposed the end of a branch embedded deep in the muscle. Looks like he impaled himself on a tree, at high speed I am guessing.

The next step was to trim away the dead and damaged skin and muscle. Blood is good, it lets you know you have reached tissue with adequate blood supply.

Remember blood is good.... I closed this in several layers. The deep muscle was sutured with suture material (we don't call it thread) that will be absorbed by the body over time. The skin layer was closed with suture material that doesn't dissolve.

Surgery complete. Finally.

There was more tension on the sutures than I liked, but that's the way it goes. The drain stays in for several days, the area will be hot compressed and flushed at least twice daily. There are medications to give and flies to repel. After washing twice daily, the entire chest is covered with a light film of Bag Balm or Vaseline to protect Wrangler from the draining body fluids, which will irritate the skin, cause hair to fall out and promote skin infection. I refer to this as serum scald.

Wrangler behaved wonderfully and cooperated more than I expected through the entire ordeal of twice daily treatments over the next month.

The next installment will document the healing process. Are you yawning yet? I am, good night and sweet dreams.

Baby Fawn - Baby Kittens

It was quite a stressful day at the hospital. Two more days at this clinic and then I head home. I enjoy this practice because it is busy, with challenging and interesting cases. I've known the staff since I moved to California and I call them friends.

This day was ugly, inside and out. I have never experienced more mean, angry, difficult people in one day, ever. I try to be understanding, I try to be a good listener, I try to help the critters.

Today I have definately decided that I want a new career; a trail guide perhaps, for a select small group, traveling to exotic places. Tom Seleck can be my first client.... *sigh* I am probably not really going to be a trail guide for Tom.

I have thought about it tonight, I don't want to be the one creating the grumpy clients. I don't think I was, but by the end of the day I was fed up and grumpy myself. I have a theory though. My guess is, that it is the weather. It is very hot and still. The fires in the foothills and mountains are still burning (hundreds of them from the freaky lightning strikes) The air is palpable. The setting sun is a dull red orb straining to be seen through the murky grey atmosphere. There is no relief. We have to shut ourselves away inside our homes and work places.

I decided to share some sweetness from a few weeks ago.

Not all that begins badly, ends that wasy.


Did you know that new baby fawns were so tiny? The gentle hands belong to a wildlife rescue fella, his heart is with the injured wild animals.





He brought her in a little dog kennel. The fawns struggle less if kept in a confined area, kind of like swaddling a baby. Her little rump had been shaved for surgery a few days before, to repair dog bite wounds. She was found after dogs got her and her momma didn't come back. Wild life rescue picked her up and the doc at this place fixed her up. I just looked at her for a recheck.



Remembering my severe allergic reactions to handling fawns over the winter, I just 'looked' at this one. No hands-on exam needed. After her injuries heal, she will be placed with other orphans and bottle fed in a manner that restricts any human contact with them. The goal is to release them back to the wild, with the ability to fend for themselves and have a healthy distrust of humans.

This story begins with a country home owner hearing pitiful cries coming from a small wooded area on her land. Deciding that the cries were not birds as she originally thought, she investigated. She found these three kittens...... duct taped to a tree trunk..... the tape binding their little bodies and heads tightly to the tree. Over 100 degrees that day, if she hadn't found them as early as she did, well, things would not have ended well for this trio.

I saw little Moe on Friday, he was the weakest of them, and sent him home with his rescuer with a few medications. Monday all three came in for exams, blood tests, wormings, and vaccinations. They are sweet and in general good health. Kitty rescuer says she will keep them, she is not about to trust them to any one else.

Big hugs to all of you animal lovers.

I'd love to read your favorite rescue story in comments.

Squirrel: The rest of the story

As a follow up on yesterday's dog vs/ little grey squirrel chapter. I am pleased to offer evidence that LGS is alive and well. I question his judgement in his choice of living quarters. He has obviously decided to live in an oak tree, sharing a front yard with my dog.








Most folks have birds living in their trees.

So far, I am sharing my trees with a family of racoons, a bunch of big bats and a mentally challenged, but cute, little grey squirrel.

And for those of you who suggested otherwise, how could I just let the dog snack on this little cutie?

Critters: Domestic and Wild

I hope that the 'cuteness' of the following picture makes up for the 'grossness' of yesterday's pictures.



I brought the two kittens home tonight. The orange and white is "Billy (the kid)" and the calico is "Annie (Oakley)". This picture was the last one with their litter mates. They are settling in well here at home. Billy is an adventurer and quite cuddly. Annie is more shy and skittish. Cort met them briefly. I'll keep him away from the kittens until they are more confident and can put up with his excitement.

Today's main subject concerns this tree. It is an old Oak tree next to our house. It has boughs missing and some interesting knots, holes and bumps. I just love the character of this tree. With the cooler nights, we leave our bedroom door to the outside open. Cort, very clever dog that he is, can open and close the screen doors to let himself in and out. We don't mind, it saves us getting out of bed to let him in or out. Yes.... the dog sleeps in our bedroom, but he has his own bed, on the floor. Recently, nightly, the dog raises a fuss at this tree. Jerry claims to have seen a big raccoon run up the tree.

Last night, Jerry was all excited, he was listening at the tree and heard all kinds of mewing and scratching sounds in the trunk of this old tree. I am not sure what inspired him to put his ear against the trunk to listen in the first place. But hey, he does stuff like that. So of course, I had to listen too. At about 4 feet above the ground, the trunk sounded hollow and you could hear baby critters in there. We're guessing coon babies. Jerry wants to look. Hmmm, maybe not a good idea, momma coons can be cranky. But we get out the ladder.....

Jerry climbs up, I don't really like heights and that was pretty high, plus I don't wanna mess with any wild momma critter. Bats were circling him too, we have some big bats. I was worried that if a critter jumped out at him, he would slip, grab the branch and pop out that danged shoulder again. Someone around here has to worry about stuff like that.

Can you see what is down in that hollow trunk? Click on the picture to enlarge it. A big momma raccoon and 2 - 3 baby raccoons. I love that tree, what a perfect nursery. I hope the coon family moves on when they can, that they get tired of the dog harassing them, and I hope that THE EXTERMINATOR doesn't hurt those masked babies.

Our Critters

Cheyenne , our dark bay, gelding. Rock, our sorrel 9 year old mare.

Cort, our 1 1/2 year old male Queensland Blue Heeler cross.

Remington, aged sorrel Quarter Horse gelding.

Not much to say today. A day of fine weather, unpacking more boxes, sorting through stuff, and a bit of yard work.

Veterinary Rodeo

......Or maybe I should call this 'Bird Wrestling'.

It pays off to carry my camera around, even at work.

This is one of the lighter moments in Veterinary Medicine. The participants shall remain anonymous, for my protection!




"Yes sir, I have examined your bird and have found that his wings function perfectly."

Cats

"Every life needs nine cats." author unknown

It was a slow day at the office today.

This guy looks like he behaves. Mr Grumpy!

This kitty in his tuxedo, calm and quite the gentlecat.

and... Ms Just leave me alone, would ya?

Puppies Revisited

It was a quiet day at the Clinic today. Rainy, winter weather,kids off school, pre-holidays; a slower time in most vet clinics. The staff scheduled 2 hours for a lunch pizza party and Christmas gift exchange. All enjoyed.
I decided to share my last appointment of the day.



Remember these puppies from my post on November 1st? They were the cute results of an emergency C-section. Delivered eight pups and eight pups survived.


This lovely family came in tonight with the puppies for their exams and first vaccinations. What a room full of fun and energy.





These two little guys were just adorable! And more than willing to pose for pictures. A very good way to end my work day.....

Sunday Peace

Home from the hospital for just over a week, and it has been a busy but good week. Another calm, peaceful Sunday here. The following pictures were taken last Sunday, today was much the same.




Remington leisurely lopes in to get his grain.

The hay seed in the field is just starting to grow. The 'Live Oaks' stay green all year. Snow capped mountains in the background. (ski tease)

My horse adores Jerry, all critters like him. This was 9 days post open-heart surgery.

Rock and Cheyenne madly race in at the breakfast call. (if I crop this picture, appears as wolf attack)

Most of the calves have been sold, a few small ones remain with their mommies. This one is the fuzziest. And he likes to taste his nasal discharges......

Sunday, at home.

One of the things I love about California, fresh picked strawberries, on November 25th, NOT hot-house!