I'm never going to remember who arrived and who got adopted since my last update, but I'll try. Frannie found a wonderful home in Toronto. Pinky the beagle was adopted the end of March. Bertie the Chihuahua and Tanner the JRT arrived the end of March and were both adopted in April. Taffy the cocker was also adopted in April, and Honey the cocker may be adopted this week. Dear Sydney the beagle/fox terrier was adopted, he was here almost a year and I'm thrilled that he's finally found a forever home. Scooter the poodle was adopted last week, and we have a good application for Pearl the poodle/bichon mix so I expect she'll be leaving soon, too. Little Tokala, a Chihuahua/Shiba Inu mix arrived in early April and went to his new home last week, too. He's going to be a psychological service dog for his new mom, and they're attending my current obedience class. Minnie was also adopted; she's having a few adjustment issues (living in the city is a little scary, apparently), but I'm hoping her adopters will be able to help her work through them.
Along with Bertie and Tanner, we got two other mill dogs the end of March. One is a middle-aged Chiweenie named Flora. She has horrible teeth and will probably lose most of them, plus she has a mammary mass. Our regular vet says that cancerous mammary masses are usually hard; Flora's is soft and symmetrical so I'm hoping it's benign. I don't even want to know what her total vet bill is going to be, but she's a sweet, funny, affectionate little thing and she's worth every penny.
The other dog we got is a little black and grey cockapoo I named Baby. Baby is still extremely shy, though she makes progress on a daily basis. When she was still in isolation in my bathroom, she'd scoot between the toilet and the wall every time I entered the room so, once her quarantine was done, I moved her out into the living room into a Great Dane-sized wire crate. I put it up on a table so she could see everything going on in the room, could see the other dogs interacting with me, and could start getting used to the everyday sounds and sights of living in a house. After about a week of that she looked like she was ready to start exploring, so I put a leash on her and let her loose in the house. She did well enough on her own, and with the other dogs, that I put her into a regular crate on the floor and disassembled the big crate. After a day or two, I took her outside on the patio with the other little dogs and she loved it. She came right back in with them, too, and though I had to "herd" her up into the main part of the house the first day, she started following the other little dogs after that. I had to catch her to take her out the first couple of days, then I had to "herd" her for a couple of days after that, but she finally got comfortable going out with the little dogs, too, and now she's even brave enough to run past me or run through my legs on her way out or in. She doesn't much like being shut up in the crate so I don't force her. I put her food dish in her crate and she goes in to eat, but if she thinks I'm going to shut the door on her she flies back out in a flash. She likes to hang out on the dog sofa, and seems to enjoy when other dogs snuggle with her. She's still very wary of me, but that'll come. I think there's a very sweet little dog under all that fear, and I think she's still just a youngster (maybe a year or a year and a half) so I have high hopes for being able to turn her around.
We took in an owner-surrender black Lab a week ago. He's a wonderful dog - 3 years old, house trained, became crate trained in 48 hours, gets along well with dogs of any size (and he and Sinatra have become best pals and playmates), ignores cats, and I was told he loves children. He's also got nice conformation, he looks like a Lab is supposed to look. He'll be an awesome family pet for someone!
Poor Geraldine the Bassett/Beagle is not doing well. She's much older than we thought when she first came in, she has severe IBD (currently under semi-control), she has a couple of probably-cancerous mammary tumors (which I think have likely metastasized), and bad teeth. She's still enjoying trips out to the yard, and she's still eagerly attacking her dinner, but no matter how much she eats she gets thinner by the day and I don't think she's got long. I'm doing what I can to keep her comfortable (antibiotics, pain meds), but I'm not going to go to any extraordinary measures to extend her life. When she stops enjoying her small pleasures I'll take her to the vet and let her go.
Ursula the brown tabby has proven herself to be a very skilled and relaxed mother. Her babies were born April 3; there were 3, but one only survived an hour. The other two are robust and healthy, and growing like weeds. There's a beautiful brown tabby boy, and a pretty little black tabby (black with dark grey tabby swirls) that I think is a girl. Some kittens are easy to sex early on, others are almost impossible to sex until they get a little older. The little black kitten is one of the latter. They've just started using a litterbox - well, they don't always make it into the box, sometimes they go just outside it, but they've got the right idea. They're starting to root around in Ursula's dish of kibble, and they've been licking at the canned food, too. They're getting around pretty well, and are very curious about their surroundings. They both enjoy being snuggled, too. I'm hoping to place them together, as they're very bonded.
A couple of weeks ago we took in another Bassett/Beagle, this one's named Matilda. When she first came in she was extra pudgy. I thought she was pregnant, especially since her belly seemed to be expanding, but now I'm starting to think it might be a false pregnancy that's resolving. She's not getting any bigger, she's not producing any milk, and I can't feel anything moving. I'll give her another couple of weeks and, if there's still nothing happening, I'll schedule her to be spayed. I'm actually wondering if she might not already be spayed - I think she's 2-3 years old, but she has maiden nipples that have never nursed a litter and I can't imagine she wouldn't have gotten pregnant before if she was still intact. But if she's spayed, then I wonder why she was running loose for a month and nobody claimed her. Sure wish I could ask her.
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