Another One Bites the.............Porcupine!

Porcupines - Who would'a thought?

Getting ready to go for the morning walkies with the girls entails ritual. First, at this time of year, I dose up with bug juice. Secret usually either smells it or hears the spray applicator and starts "talking" to me to hurry up and hit the road. Then I gather their packs and my fanny pack (ok - "bum bag" for those of the British persuasion), put my camera in it and my cellphone. Grabbing my shades, keys and hat and I'm ready to go. Then I head out the door and... No Secret. Something's wrong.

Cindy's always slow - she isn't much of a morning person. But she's not coming out either. Finally, Cindy comes out from under a chair, with some new decorations in her nose. Three or four ivory-colored quills. Uh-oh. I know what happened.

Still no Secret. A quick call to Twyla to tell her we won't be going for walkies this morning and why. Then looking for Secret. Where is she? I start at the front gate, looking in and under everything, in their usual hidey-holes - nothing. Finally, I get back by the pool. Ah, there she is, in the guest house, and with a whole mouthful of quills! Oh Lordy, that must hurt a bunch.

So, she gets up and follows me to the house, stopping to try and dislodge quills every few feet. All to no avail, of course. It's painful just to look at her.

If I'd been thinking more clearly, I would have taken a photo of each of them, but I was more concerned with their safety than the blog... Imagine that!

Next, I make a call to Dr. Sheila, the vet, an hour before her normal office hours. Yes, it's ok to bring the girls in right now.

For once, there's no argument from the girls about getting in the Isuzu. They both bundle in and off we go. As soon as she can, Cindy comes up front, claiming shotgun as her seat. She's not in that much pain. In fact, she barks at a couple of neighborhood dogs over by Sheila's.

At Sheila's, she immediately gives the girls a combo pain killer/tranquillizer, and proceeds to pull quills from Secret. Turns out, she only has 30-40 quills, although it looked much worse. Cindy only had the three or four.

The trick is to use needle-nose pliers, jerk sharply, have a container to put them in, and when you're done, feel around with your fingers under their lips and tongue to make sure you got them all. Then wrap up the removed quills securely and toss into the trash. You don't want to leave any laying around as they can re-attach themselves to the dogs or you.

After that, Sheila gave them each an antidote to the tranquillizer. But it had hit both of them like a ton of bricks. Here's Secret and Cindy, after getting home from Dr. Sheila's. They are both totally zonked out. I left them in the rig, so they can sleep it off.

Secret In the Back Seat - Out of It

Cindy In the Front Seat - Also Out of It

And, here they are so you can see their faces - none the worse for wear.

Secret In La-La Land

Cindy's There Too

Hopefully, they will have learned from this experience to leave those critters alone. Sometimes, however, dogs do become repeat offenders with porcupines. Sheila says the thinking is that they get so much pain from the quills that the next time they see a porcupine they want to exact revenge. Sometimes, there's so much revenge that they end up with a few thousand quills in them, necessitating being completely knocked out and at least a half-hour to remove the quills.

Usually, their very quick learners... We'll see.

Army Ants, US Army - Working Together?

Is there a conspiracy? Let's examine the facts before us. First we had what appeared to be a minor army ant invasion this last Sunday. And then, yesterday morning, I heard there were a bunch of US Army troops that had arrived and were staying at the Las Palmas Hotel here in Corozal. Then, this morning it all began to come together.

I took Miss Blue to see Dr. Sheila. Sheila had sent me an email last evening saying she had been in communications with some other vets where Blue and her thyroid condition came up. She wanted to give Blue a vitamin B12 shot to see if that helped her metabolize the thyroid medicine.

When I got to Sheila's this morning with Miss Blue in tow, she mentioned the Army folks that're in town for some humanitarian assistance activities in the outlying villages around here. She said, in connection with that mission, there were a couple of veterinarians (yes, the Army has it's own Veterinarians) who had stopped by to see Sheila. During the course of their conversation, Miss Blue's condition came up and one of the vets mentioned some new research indicating the benefits of vitamin B12 injections. So that's why she emailed me.

Sheila said it was really good to be able to talk shop (veterinarian speak, that is) with some US trained veterinarians for a while.

So, the connection with the army ants? Well, first the reconn and invasion by the army ants, followed in short order by a district-wide visit (for humanitarian purposes, of course) by US Army regulars, and then our cat becomes the topic of discussion. Is there a link here? A suspicious mind would want to know. A paranoid mind would already know.

Has Miss Blue been spying on us? Those times when she appears to be staring off into space or gazing at something that we can't see - is that when she's in communication with her home base? Have these troops (both the ants and the humans) come in for some secretive and mysterious pupose that only she and the Army are aware?

Hmmm, I may have to retire to the sanctum sanctorum of the pool and think through this issue with the aid of Belikin or two, to try and ferret out the true nature of what's going on here. Of course, this may call for an extended session or three... Where is that beer truck?

Daylight "Savings" Time

I don't know where the savings is in that activity, but I'm just so glad we don't practice that down here. Looks like this Sunday most of the folks up north play the game and readjust all their clocks - internal and external.

Remember, "Spring forward... Fall Back"

Oh, it's so nice to not have to do anything about it other than consider it a mental gymnastics-type of exercise. Mainly trying to remember what time it is where you are at up north. It gets to be so confusing.

Life is so much simpler when you don't have to gyrate to some artificial machination about time.

On to real things... The doggies and I had a great walk this morning, our usual routes with a change up by D's Super Market and over to Dr. Sheila's. It was time for Secret and Cindy to get their 3-year Rabies and four other innoculations rolled into two shots apiece. Visiting Sheila made a nice interlude on the walk.

It was Secret's homecoming in a way. Before moving in with us, she lived at Sheila's for about two months. So, after the initial jitters, she just calmed down like no big deal. So did Cindy. I don't think there's much that rattles her. She maintains a calm air no matter what.

Today, I host the twice-monthly Corozal Men's Group meeting. So, I have to make sure to have some dip, chips and ice on hand. I think the pool will be ready for swimming. I've been fighting algae for a while. I think I'm finally getting the upper hand on it. So, even if it's slightly cloudy, I plan to go for a dip during the meeting.

Just before the meeting, I'll take Dianna downtown to Marisol's hair place. She has an appointment for a perm, so there won't be any women-folk at our meeting.

Well, I've got stuff to do, places to go, and people to see, so I'll catch you later.

Hush... It's A Secret

Over the past two or three weeks, we had been talking about the possibility of getting another dog. You know, to keep Cindy company.

Yesterday I had to go to Dr. Sheila's to pay for some meds I had gotten the day before for Blue. While there, she mentioned one of the six dogs she had was looking for a good home.

Sheila said her name was Secret, she was about 2-years old, spayed, and with current shots. She had brought Secret up here from SAGA Humane Society of Ambergris Caye (http://ambergriscaye.com/sagasociety/) in San Pedro.
Whoever was interested in her then decided they didn't want her after all. So Sheila added her to her menagerie.

For whatever reason, when Sheila told me her name was Secret, I called to Secret, saying her name. She perked up instantly and looked directly at me. What can I say, it was Kismet. There was definitely an attraction there.

Anyway, I finished my business at Sheila's and had some other running around to do, like taking Dianna's car to the car wash for detailing, and getting some groceries and stuff from D's Super Center, and then back home.

After unloading the stuff, we ate lunch. During lunch, I mentioned to Dianna that Sheila had a dog available. I told her Secret seemed nice and that she was about twice the size of Cindy. Dianna liked the idea of another pet, so I called Sheila. I asked her if Secret was still available and what the adoption process was. She told me she was and the process essentially was, we take Secret home. If things work out well, that's it. If they don't, bring her back. Couldn't be simpler.

So, we jumped in the car and headed to Sheila's. Where we introduced ourselves to Secret. Dianna said she was a BIG dog. As in huge.

Anyway, we put the leash on her and away we went. After we got home, there was the usual sniffing (exchanging business cards in the dog world), but no adverse reactions on either side. We even felt comfortable enough with the new arrival that we went out to dinner at Patty's Bistro with Doug and Twyla. When we came back, both Cindy and Secret greeted us at the gate. I think it's a done deal now.

Dianna Bonding With Secret

Cindy Relaxing

Secret Relaxing As Well

Secret Going For "Walkies"

Our Newest Family Member - Secret

We think Secret will be a good addition to the pack. A plus, Belizeans, as a rule, don't like large black dogs. They tend to be afraid of them. Secret is definitely large and black. She's pretty intimidating when you first meet her. That's good. She'll be a welcome addition to the Casa Rider security apparatus.

Cashing in One or Two of Nine

Over the past couple of days, Miss Blue, our intrepid kitty, having recently retired from State government service, having worked long and hard at the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) prior to moving down to Belize, had to have cashed in at least one of her nine lives.

"Nine Lives - Feelin' lucky
Nine Lives - Live again
Nine Lives - It ain't over
Nine Lives - Live for ten"

Nine Lives by Aerosmith

She came about as close as it's possible to dying as a kitty can without doing so. Close enough that Dianna and me had to force feed her (using a needle-less syringe) with special cat food from our super vet - Dr. Sheila. We did the same thing with water, doing both several times a day for about two days.

It started with what seemed to be epileptic seizures (we're not sure on that), then total loss of appetite for food and water, extreme stressing out, panting, rapid pulse and respiration, wide, vacant eyes, lack of balance, and probably a few other symptoms I've forgotten.

Anyway, we took her to Dr. Sheila, who, after examining her, sedated her and kept her for three or four hours to give her a drip to get water into her system and to draw some blood to do some tests.

Dianna managed to get a saucer under her to capture some urine for Sheila to do a test for sugar in the urine. All of the tests turned up negative or insignificant. Sheila did tell us while Blue was sedated, she took the opportunity to clean some of the plaque off of Blue's teeth (we've got to do a better job of keeping her teeth cleaned - at least annual trips to the vet).

After that, we took her home and began the force-feeding process. At that time, it just wasn't looking good at all. It was very upsetting for all of us. Midas even showed concern, coming around her much more than usual. Dianna even canceled going with Rosie (Cody, our grounds-keeper's wife) to a cousin of Rosie's wedding.

Well, little by little things began improving. Yesterday afternoon, we tried giving Blue some juice from a can of tuna. That sparked a definite reaction! That was the first time she tried to drink anything on her own for a couple of days. It was very encouraging. A bit later, we tried giving her some tuna to eat - she even managed that.

From that point till now, it has been a steady improvement. So much so, that this morning when I got up, Blue was sitting right near the food and water bowls and meowed at me that she was hungry. I tried giving her some of the soft kitty food Sheila had given us. Oh no, that wouldn't do. She wanted the good stuff - the tuna.

I gave her a couple of teaspoonfuls of tuna and a liberal helping of tuna juice (water, not oil). Right after that, she was at the water bowl,joggling the bowl to see the water level, and drinking quite a bit. Then, after a survey and tour of the whole house, it was time for a nap under Dianna's nightstand.

We may be out of the woods on this. It still seems like she's favoring her left front leg and her balance is still somewhat shaky at times. We're wondering if maybe she might have had a slight stroke. Who knows? We're still waiting till Monday for test results on blood count and thyroid, so there may be something yet.

Jenni suggested maybe she caught a gecko or spider or who knows what and reacted to it. All this could be in the mix.

We may never know for sure. All we do know right now, is that Miss Blue is on the mend, again, and appears to be well on the road to resuming her normal activities.

And we can relax.

We Met Dr. Sheila

One of Corozal's two veterinarians, Dr. Sheila Schmeling, DVM, Corozal Veterinary Clinic, is, like everyone else here, a character! She is straight forward, very easy to talk to, very caring about animals and people's interactions with them.

We took Tonya, Tony's dog that we're "babysitting" to her for examination for her lame left rear leg, and to get a dose of Frontline for ticks. Tonya, was actually much better riding in the car than I would have thought. She was reluctant to get into the rig - I had to lift her in. But, she rode like a trooper. Going into Dr. Sheila's, as everyone calls it, was intimidating for her, as Dr. Sheila has four large dogs that live there and of course, they had to come check Tonya out as she entered the compound.

The upshot of the visit was that her lameness may be caused by an infection that essentially causes arthritis. So, we have a course of pills to give her for the next few days. If we don't see any improvement soon, when we get back, we need to bring her back to Dr. Sheila's for an x-ray to see if there's another problem.

So, I know you're interested in costs... Initial office visit, flea and tick medicine application, exam, prescripted pills - what, about $75 - $100US for the whole thing? Guess again. Try $20BZ. That's $10US, folks!

For prices and care like that, our animals will be seeing Dr. Sheila regularly.