I have been walking Rex for almost 2 weeks.  Every time I see him and say his name, I just think of Empire Records.   Not that I find the dog sexy (let me be clear and say that I do not!)  I have just watched this movie hundreds of times and when I hear the name Rex, I think of Rex Manning.

       

I have a new client with birds.  I am going over about once a week to hang out with the birds and get them used to me.  Of course I want them to immediately love me and fly onto my shoulder, but that takes time.  I went to visit with them a few days ago and was waiting for the elevator.  The front desk guy that I have blogged about before (who instilled the kiss hello out of nowhere 2 years ago) was hurrying out of the elevator as I was getting in.  He said, "Hey Deb!  How are you?" and kissed me hello.  Upon entering the elevator, I see 2 little girls and a baby sitter.  The younger girl (maybe 7 yrs old?) immediately says, "Ew!  He's old!  Is he your boyfriend? Because you just kissed him."  I said, "No, we are just friends." She replied, "But then why did you two kiss??"  I told her what I have told everyone else and treated her like an adult.  I said, "Ya know, I really don't know.  He instilled this a long time ago, and I just went with it.  I honestly don't have a good reason why."  Her reply to that was, "You're freaky."  I smiled and said thank you (as I got a kick out of it) and when they exited the elevator the baby sitter turns to me and apologizes.  She said, "I don't know where they come up with this stuff, I'm just the baby sitter.  I'm so sorry." She was mortified for the both of us.  It was a pleasant change.  The elevators used to be filled with elderly Jews bickering (which was also amusing as it reminds me of my childhood), but now younger families are moving into that building.  Delightful.

This is not THE bird, but A bird

Ah the Story of a puppy...   A nervous puppy who has brave days, and not so brave days.  He seems to be growing by the hour.  We rounded a corner and ran into a lady, literally.  She was startled, Sammy was startled, and it resulted in a very trepidatious walk around the neighborhood that ended with me just picking him up and hugging him because he seemed to need it.  Although he is still a puppy, he has grown quite a bit since I first met him.




 

I was walking a dog on a beautiful day.  It is not uncommon for passers by to say hello to whatever dog I have with me.  There was a couple across the street headed to their car.  They were young (mid-late 20's?)  She was skipping actually...  and she looked at Peyton and said, "Hi dog!"  Peyton stops dead in her tracks and perks up giving this girl her full attention.  They weren't coming over, so I said, "Apparently she responds to Hi Dog!...  "  Then the girl laughed and said, "Ha, so do I!"  

I am in the midst of watching 2 cats that I watch ALL THE TIME.  I know them as well as my own cats.  For the first 3 days Billy was not eating well.  This is a cat who eats like a starving dog.  He actually hisses at me if I don't get the canned food into his bowl fast enough, so when he didn't come running for breakfast I was concerned.  I found a big pile of vomit on the first floor and he was hiding on the 3rd floor.  The owner and I kept in close touch and she wanted me to take him in to the vet after the 3rd day if inappetence.  I made the appointment and went to the house an hour beforehand to ensure that I got him IN the carrier.  He can be quite grumpy!  First I get the carrier and this is what I find.

A giant Halloween spider attached to it.  I have to admit, it startled me.  I then had him cornered in the cat room with the cat door blocked off (so I thought).  He started with his growling and hissing and his behind the water heater.  I left to get a towel to make my life easier and when I got back from the bathroom he was in the kitchen!  Ugh!!!  So The chase began. He ended up under the bed (a king) and was a raving lunatic.  Hissing, swatting, spitting.... he was a nightmare.  Needless to say, I did not make the appointment.  I left the carrier in the kitchen and took off incredible frustrated.  With the appointment rescheduled for the next morning, my afternoon was spent trying to locate the gloves we used at the vet.  I should have them anyway, but now just seemed like prime time to get them.  I called Lowes and they said they had what I needed.  The "Tools Guy" described them exactly.  We went over there later that afternoon, they were the opposite of what I needed!  Ugh again!!  I ended up ordering them online, but they were not going to come in time.

My night was spent preparing for a battle in the morning.  I recruited Terry to come help as I couldn't do it alone the day before.  We walk into the house, Billy greets us at the door and is being super sweet!  We walk into the kitchen and he is rubbing against my ankles. In my head I think, "What the hell? " and I pick him up, put him  into the carrier, and shut the door in ten seconds.  Yeah....

He was good at the vet, nothing terribly wrong.  He got some fluids and a shot of pepcid and we were on our way.  Sigh.... and the $100 gloves are en route to my house.

I don't know if you remember my Shayne Memorial blog a little while ago.  He was the golden who died suddenly leaving me (and his family of course) heartbroken.  They were not ready for a while, but their house soon seemed empty without a dog.  They called me and told me to keep an ear out for a golden/lab type rescue.  Well.... one day on facebook I saw an 8 month old Golden Retriever puppy was at Morris Animal Refuge!  I called them immediately to see if he was still available.  Then I sent out emails, a pic, and called every number I had to get my clients over there ASAP.  Long story short, it worked out and they adopted this energetic kid.  His name is Bailey and he is WONDERFUL!  He loves people, animals, plants, chairs...dirt....   well, he's a puppy!  I'm so happy that they were able to adopt him.  He is a ball of energy and love that hugs (and humps...) and just makes you smile. :)

So I watch 2 cats - Amber and Zoe.  Zoe has some kidney problems and needs subcutaneous fluids.  She was getting them twice a week, then daily, now every other day.  Throughout this time she does her best to hide from me.  Sometimes she just tucks her head under things and she is easy to spot.  Other times... not so much.  Here are the some of the places that I have found her...

Zoe getting her fluids

In the bathroom closet (we still can't figure out how she managed to get up there....

Lower in the closet

Behind the toilet

Under the dresser

 

Today was interesting.  My first visit of the day ended up being tougher than I thought.  It is a house of 2 cats.  I have watched them many, many times.  The one cat takes 3 pills plus a liquid medication.  The other cat isn't on anything.  I went about my business as usual and noticed the "healthy" cat breathing funny.  This was at about 8:30 am, so I called the owners hoping that they were awake. We played a bit of phone tag, realize that this was new, and decided that she should be seen. Of course it is a Sunday and most vets aren't open.  Luckily her vet is her neighbor and she was nice enough to come over with a stethoscope and take a listen to her chest.  Her recommendation was to go to VSEC (thank god they opened another emergency facility right in the neighborhood) and get a chest x-ray.  We were both on the same page, not life or death, but very concerning.  I know this cat well, and she was not herself.  Terry picked us up, we went over to VSEC and they took her in for triage right away.  They brought us back to discuss diagnostics and history.  I started to tell them what I thought was going on, and the vet (who turned out to be a surgical resident) was a bit belittling.  He was trying to get a medical history from a pet sitter.  I told him that it wasn't my cat, and I could only tell him the age and what was going on this morning.  He then insinuated that she could be trying to get a hairball up.  Really??!!  After being in this business since 1998, do you think I would bring a cat to an ER on a Sunday morning if I thought she had a hairball??? Ugh!  He said she was hypersalivating (sign of nausea).  Um, how about the car ride causing that?  I get defensive, I know.  But come on!  So we left her to continue morning rounds so that they could do a work up. 

It turns out that she has severe asthma and that was the odd breathing I saw.  I have seen many asthma attacks, none looked like this.  Apparently her liver values were elevated, her lungs were scarred from said asthma, and she was underweight.  She is now home and stable with her family.  This morning was enough stress to tire me out for the whole day!  I'm so glad I listened to my instincts and took her in.  Much thanks to the vet (who may want to remain nameless) for helping out as well and coming to the house on her day off to listen to a cat chest.