The Saga of the Bunnies

About a month ago, Ginger (my large puppy) was scrambling around in the ferns up close to the house.  Well, it turns out there were a couple of baby bunnies nesting in them and she flushed them out.  Since it was dusk, I brought her in and figured the situation would resolve itself overnight.

Nope.  The next morning one bunny was “hiding out” in plain sight on the driveway.  It didn’t move as I approached it; so, I thought it was dead, scooped it up and put it in the trash can.

The other bunny was hiding in a clump of mondo grass and didn’t even move when I went to pick it up.  I brought it in and put it in shoebox until I could figure out what to do with it.   I started thinking about the first bunny … the one in the trash … and thought that maybe it was alive and just very scared.   Yup!  I pulled that bunny from the trash, wiped it off a bit and put it in the shoebox too.

After I posted a picture of the bunnies on Facebook, a friend recommended a wildlife rescue group and I called the phone number listed.  The volunteer who returned my call recommended a couple of people who could foster the bunnies; one was more than happy to take them it.  Hooray!!

So the bunnies in the shoebox got loaded into the car for the trip across town.  I left the shoebox on her front porch and, a while later, she sent me this picture of them settling in.  They were chowing down on alfalfa and drinking goat’s milk.   She lives near White Rock Lake and said that eventually she would probably release them near the lake.

Sure enough, when I contacted her a couple weeks later, she said that they had been released and sent me pictures of them, thus ending the saga.

 

If the dog won’t eat it, should I?

This is Charlie. He’s a rescue dog who was running the streets for quite a while. He had absolutely no manners when we got him and, though he’s improved a lot, he still has a street dog attitude, especially when it comes to food.

If it’s on a plate or napkin or the floor, it’s food and it’s edible. If you’re dumb enough to go off and leave it within his reach, consider it his.

Today he discovered that not everything  I eat is delicious … or even tolerable.  I was enjoying(?) a gluten-free chocolate muffin. It was semi-frozen so I was just taking small nibbles off it.  Then, I had to leave it on the end table and go in the other room.

Muffin Thief just had to have it.  And, to top it off, he brought it into the other room so I could see him enjoy it.  Except that he didn’t enjoy it.  But he wasn’t about to let it go.  He carried it around in his mouth, following me from room to room.  He growled at me when I tried to retrieve it (not that I was going to eat it).

Finally resolved the situation when I offered him a large piece of a cooked hamburger.  He dropped the muffin in favor of real food.

Lesson learned: don’t leave even awful food within his reach.

Oh my, Charlie … what a mix!

A few years ago, we adopted a small two-year-old poodle-mix dog from a city shelter near San Antonio. He had curly hair like a poodle and a curly tail.  But, his nose and his chest were broad.  We thought he might be part Schnauzer because he seemed a bit headstrong.

We attributed quirks to his being a “street dog” for most of his life and having to protect himself from dangers seen and unseen. He settled down quite a bit after he was neutered and went to a month of boot camp.

Then, I learned about a DNA kit for dogs. Hmmmmm … it would be nice to know exactly what breed(s) are in Charlie. So, I ordered the kit and, when it came, took a cheek swab and sent the kit off to be analyzed.

Well … the results are in! And guess what!!  Charlie is mostly poodle but he’s also American Staffordshire Terrier and Lhasa Apso.   His genetics make-up estimates his age to be 42 (human) years and his adult weight to be 28 pounds.  Last time he was weighed, he was 26 pounds.

The good part is that he is not at risk for any canine genetic diseases or defects.

 

By lizzieb42 Posted in Pets

Bon Voyage, Chloe

A week after the tornadoes roared through Garland and Rowlett, we took some needed supplies to the Red Cross donation center.  While there, we saw a couple of boys with a small dog that had been wandering the area.

We wanted to reunite the dog with the owner; so, we took her over to the Garland Animal Shelter and had them check for a micro-chip.  So, we left our info, along with a photo of the dog, with the animal shelter, and hoped the owner would see it and contact us. In the interim, we named her Chloe.

We created flyers with Chloe’s photo and posted them on several Lost/Found sites, contacted vets in the area.  Several people inquired about her but the owner didn’t turn up.  To complicate matters, the dog had a lot of fleas and was in heat.

So, after several weeks with no luck finding the owner, we had her spayed, micro-chipped and vaccinated.  Then, even though we really liked her and would have loved to be able to keep her, we decided that Chloe was too high-energy for a couple of old codgers and re-homed her to a rescue organization.

She’s adjusting well to her new foster home, learning new manners and is awaiting her forever home.

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By lizzieb42 Posted in Pets