Clover soup

So, the story goes:

It's late afternoon, and the puppies are put in their crates to rest (and for safe storage while yard work is being done). Dogs all look great getting into their respective crates. There is no food/water in crate. And the puppies are only in their crate about 90 minutes.

As we approach Clover's crate to let her out, we noticed that she had two loose stools and she was covered in thick, foamy/stringy mucous (?vomit) with profuse discharge from her eyes (thick, stringy discharge) and long white/foamy saliva/mucous discharge from her mouth.

Clover didn't appear post-ictal (in the human sense) but was hesitant/shy (all of a sudden) with ears back, tail down. And when we called her to us, she came...but was 'cautious' and gently liked our outstretched hands.

We did not see her seize.

Of note, when we FIRST got her, we fed her formula. While eating, she DID seem to have muscular spasm of her legs, then had violent chills (but, to be fair, the formula was cold)!! After warming her up (and warming the formula) all the symptoms went away. And with dry food...there are NO issues.

Finally, you know about the whole "deworming" thing. She had episodes of coughing/gagging whereby her entire body would shake and she would just lie down. Her belly was distended (in normal 'puppy fashion'). I gave her the D-worm...twice...and all of that went away!!

After online consultation with a vet friend, it was offered that perhaps the puppy had a seizure due to a portosystemic shunt. She suggested we should get baseline labs and bile acids.

Well, if it happened again, (or we had have actually witnessed the seizure) then possibly. But, for all we know, the puppy just ate something "wrong" and had a bout of gastroenteritis.

So observation continues....

Lucky Clover

During a visit to our family's house, we met a dog.

As we exited our car, a medium sized black dog sauntered up to our car.  "Oh, LOOK!  You guys have a dog!"

Our cousin was quick to *correct* us:  "I do NOT have a dog!"

"Okay.  So whose dog is it?!" we inquired.

"I don't know, it just showed up about a few weeks ago.  She was obviously pregnant, and we felt bad for her...so we've been giving her food scraps and water.  Now, she won't leave...and she's living under our house.  And it appears she's had her puppies...but we haven't seen them.  They could be anywhere..." as she trailed off, looking out into the vast acreage they live on.

Exactly 5 minutes later, the kids FOUND the puppies...under a car.  FIVE of them, (initially...and a single puppy was found (later the next day) in the forest framing their land).

As we pull the puppies from under a little red car, the Mama dog comes over...and the puppies scrambled over to her for some nutrition.  Mama's teats were engorged, so I'm sure the puppies were ravenous.

"Looks like you have a dog now...AND some puppies!!"


Our cousin was beside herself, as this was the first time any of them had seen the puppies.  The Mama was last seen pregnant by her son 2 weeks prior, but her fiance' insisted it had at least been 3 weeks.  We were surprised that none of them seemed to CARE that there were puppies out there that needed to be found and cared for.

"I guess I'll go ahead and buy some anti-freeze for them to drink to 'deal with' this 'problem,'" she mumbled.

WHAT?!  You can't DO that, we insisted.

But she was convinced that killing the puppies was the only 'solution' for her.  "We can't afford all these dogs, and I certainly don't want 7 dogs hanging out on our property...pooping and attracting flies," she shared.
 

So (like suckers) we took one, 'saved one.'  We chose a girl (since we had 2 female dogs at home already).  It was St. Patrick's day, so we named her Clover.

Clover was approximated to be about 3-4 weeks old (according to my cousin and her family about the last time the dog was seen pregnant).  So we decided to formula feed Clover once home. 

Clover has adjusted to life in our household nicely.  There was an episode of cough/gagging...where she was looking very weak and appeared to be quite sick.  After a quick Google search, her symptoms appeared consistent with worm infestation.  And considering her 'background', that was not an unreasonable possibly.

So we went up to the feed store and purchased some D-worm.  Gave it to her.  And after a day or two, she was all better.   A week later, she seemed to have a mild recurrence of gagging/coughing - so she got a second dose of D-worm.   We also treated all the other dogs.  Following these two administrations of D-worm Clover's abdomen immediately went from being distended to normal.  And our previously "fat" puppy was all skin and bones.  Evenso, she appears healthy and happy.

And a week after her recovery, she received her first set of shots - administered by Ian.

Today, she is doing great.  Much bigger, shiny coat, playful, healthy, and friendly.   

She appears to be mixed with lab and pit to me.  Both are great family dogs, so we're hopeful that Clover and the family are in for a long great relationship.

Coffee - good to the last drop.

We are sad to say, that our beloved bunny Coffee, has died.  But her last day was spent roaming free in the grass, sunshine, and fresh air.

Yesterday, as we were cleaning the cages, Coffee was "restless."  She has always been a bit skittish and difficult to "deal with."  So much so, in fact, that the kiddos had trouble getting her out of her cage to play or what-not.  But this day, she was impossible!  So, we put the cage on the ground and opened the gate.  As she started to come out, we had a dog crate waiting.  She hopped from her cage, into the dog crate. 

Our plan was to just leave her there, clean the cages, and then move her back. 

Popcorn was already in the crate, so we thought this would be a great opportunity for mom and daughter to spend some 'quality time' together on Mother's day. 

Took us about 30 minutes to clean the cages.  And during that time, we noticed that Coffee appeared to be fighting with Popcorn.  She was mounting her, and "growling" at her.  So much so that I thought "OH NO!!  Did we mistakenly put the male black Rabbit (Pepper) in the cage INSTEAD of Coffee?!"

So I immediately went to investigate.  I opened the crate, and reached in.  And Coffee bit me!!

This time, she's not pregnant.  Nor is she unfamiliar with us.  We've hand fed this bunny for months (almost a year).

So we decided to let her roam our safe, enclosed yard.  Maybe she's frustrated being in the cage so much?  After all, the kids don't take her out as much as the others....

I took the crate to the backyard, opened the door...and she immediately hopped out.  Popcorn, on the other hand, did NOT.  So we moved Popcorn back into her (now clean) cage.  And everything seemed okay.

Later in the day, Ian went out to feed Coffee fresh veggies.  Coffee wanted no part...stomped her hind legs, "growled", and ran away. 

So we left the food in our outdoor rabbit hutch, with water, and an open door so she could come and go as she pleased.  The outside temperature was perfect in the 70s, and overnight lows in the high 60s.  Plenty of shade, shelters, and cool dirt available.  No predators present.  So we felt okay giving her a bit more space to move about. 

Towards the evening, we noticed that she barely moved from one spot.  BUT...maybe, she was afraid of the wide-open space that she wasn't accustomed to? 

***
This morning, we went out to check on her, and she was still in the place were we last saw her about 12 hours prior.  Stiff.  Dead. 

In retrospect, maybe she was ill?  I tend to think that she was actually older than we anticipated (with her cataract, perhaps she was elderly even?)  Nonetheless, Coffee is gone.

And then there were TWO.