Baby’s Vet Visit and a Visitor to our Yard

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Baby fell in the back seat of the truck on the way to the vet and couldn’t get up. I couldn’t reach her, so she had to stay put till we got there. She was a little tipsy, but was smiling when we got there. Baby loves traveling and visiting exotic locations, especially ones with foreign lizards and frogs to hunt. On a side note, as wobbly as she is in her walking, she managed to get a frog last night in the yard!

We were at the vet’s for 3.5 hours on Saturday! That was just too long. We got there on time for our appointment, but due to Baby’s skin problem, which the vet diagnosed as a hot spot (?), there was no acupuncture.

Instead, Baby got an x-ray of her chest because she’d been coughing. She had two x-rays actually. Here’s one.

The first thing I flipped out about were the black lumps on the film. Then I found out it was fecal matter making its way down the canal. Baby does have borderline pneumonia. So we started with a neck problem, which seems to mirror Wobblers in my opinion, but the vet says no because Baby would have had symptoms when she was around a year old (?), and we’ve added hot spot and borderline pneumonia. (The vet mentioned Baby’s heart was large, but we couldn’t tell much more than that from the x-ray. It’s not heartworms, that’s for sure.)
Baby is on prednisone, Tramadol, and Methocarbamol for her neck issue. She’s on Cephalexin for her hot spot and borderline penumonia, and taking cough tablets for the latter, as well.

Phew!

Well, no matter what is going on in Baby’s life, she lives it to the fullest. She also attracts friends wherever she goes. At the vet’s office, the office dog, Reggie, was attracted to Baby’s aura. She came over to join us.

We finally made it home, then on Sunday, I went outside to water.

I figure this is a corn snake. I found an ID close to it here. The reason I have these pictures is when I was watering, the snake came out to visit with me. It wasn’t afraid of me, though I couldn’t return the sentiment. Even though I heard it’s (supposedly) harmless. Though how anything that can cause a person to have a heart attack may be termed harmless is beyond my comprehension. I just hope it doesn’t get into the house.

Helen

P.S.  Sandy from our local extension office wrote the following:  “It is a baby Southern Black Racer.  It is marked like this to protect it from predators. It is a good snake and will take care of a lot of bugs in your yard. I have a few adults that I play hide and seek with in my neighbors and my yard.”

Autumn approaches and so does Ike

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It’s been a few days since I’ve written. and those days have been hard since my last post. My one and only Baby, DoberDiva and Mother Superior, has had ill health. She and Regis both. Their bodies are wearing out and failing them. Walking has become difficult, and it’s very sad around Fort Doberdale. Baby’s gone to an acupuncture session/laser massage last Saturday, then by Tuesday, her fur began falling out! I’m going back with Baby tomorrow for another session, and to get medicine for this.

The girl (17-year-old) who did the laser massage, didn’t wash the head of the machine when she brought it out to use on Baby or when she put it back, so I have to assume it does not get cleaned. I called the vet, and of course, it’s not their fault. Baby’s skin was fine till this appointment. Let’s see how much more revenue this brings in for them. Argh!

Please keep Baby and Regis in your prayers.

My new computer, which was 87 days old, died on Sunday, which is a lucky thing because Costco has a 90-day return policy on computers. I returned it on Tuesday, and ordered a new one. It hasn’t been sent yet, so I haven’t got a computer at home, which sucks!

Ike, a hurricane, is coming. This doesn’t seem like a warm and fuzzy weather system. The NE side of the storm is the worst side, which is what is currently coming towards Fort Doberdale. We are worried!

Then there’s Raven. She is a comical PITA. She has gone into a new stage in life. That is she sees things on the ground and thinks they are going to attack her, so she barks at them until she can eat them. Here she is after overcoming a threat from a red hibiscus which laid on the ground.

Next we have her with a blade a grass dangling from her front teeth. She pranced around the back yard with that thing hanging out of her snout tip for some time. Shaking didn’t remove it. Nothing she did removed it. It took Bunny Butt to remove it, and what did Bunny do with it? She ate it!

Today, I took newspapers to the Wildlife Center and met this peacock.
Helen

Raven’s Dinnertime Temper Tantrum

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Tonight’s temper tantrum was a doosie. Raven was doing fairly well with my sitting there with her, asking her to stay while I held the bowl of food. Then I made the mistake of getting up, and taking her bowl of food with me to get the camera. When I sat back down with the bowl, she couldn’t calm back down. Instead she just flew off the handle throwing a tantrum for her food and snorted foam everywhere. I waited several minutes before she calmed enough to for just a couple seconds before I gave her the bowl.

Then she shoveled in the food. Eeegads!

Thank Mother Earth that we all had a beautiful sunset to wind down with. We sat outside amongst that beautiful skyscape and wondered about the sweet potato vines. Are those things going to eventually creep into the house at night and take over Fort Doberdale? They seem a bit excessive for a potato or two. Some are even outgrowing the weeds!