Author: PetMomma

Foster puppy was adorable, but I decided I couldn’t keep up. I’m dealing with a pinched nerve, and not sleeping well. Maybe it’s me and I’m just not cut out to foster. It’s hard to say since I haven’t been feeling well.

I took her to an adoption event last Thursday night. She was great! She greeted all the strange people and other dogs with enthusiasm. She ate all the treats everyone offered her and even posed for pictures.

Keeping her through her adoption was really my goal, but I found my patience was thin. I enjoyed all the daily walks for the most part, but the early morning and late night walks got old when I wasn’t feeling well. I reached out to our foster network and thankfully another family was willing to take her on. I delivered her to them last Saturday, and I feel like it was the right decision for me. I hope she gets adopted soon!

I am definitely not giving up on volunteering. I have another shift scheduled to help out at the rescue next week, but I think fostering is a bit too much of a full time job for me right now. My plan will be to try fostering again when I’m feeling better, but maybe a short term foster to see how it goes.

Our son was home with his two cats last weekend. I love how bonded these two cats are! We joke that the new kitten was a birthday present for his cat Martin, but it really seems like Martin appreciates the gift! It has worked out beautifully! The cats entertain each other and my son doesn’t get woken up in the middle of the night.

They sleep snuggled like this all the time. Martin grooms her and takes great care of her! I’m so glad it has worked out well for my son, and also very thankful that our two cats are fine with the new addition and all four cats get along great when they come to visit.

Happy Summer everyone! Stay cool and enjoy your pets!

I brought home a foster puppy on Sunday. So far so good! Yes, I almost sent her back yesterday when I woke up really sore and cranky, didn’t want to get out of bed, and then was greeted with a crate of puppy and poop, but I stuck it out.

Her name is Venus. I’m fostering through Mary’s Dogs in Northwood, NH. She’s about 4 months old, and a typical Southern Mutt Mix. She mostly keeps her crate clean, and she asks to go out. Knocking on some wood, but so far no accidents other than her crate, and only first thing in the morning. She sleeps through the night without making a peep. She’s really a model puppy.

She does well on a leash, she loves everyone she has met human and canine, and she especially seems to love kids. She’s learning “sit,” “off” and “no,” and she mostly comes when she is called. She will probably grow up to be a medium size dog. I don’t think she she will be huge. She’s interested in our cats, but not aggressive so I think with some training she could live with cats just fine.

The ears are too cute!

She loves being outside.

She’s learning to be a pretty good work at home buddy. She does get a little antsy after an hour or so of self play, but she is a baby.

Puck and Cali aren’t impressed. Hector likes to laugh at her. I forgot how much work puppies are, but I’m enjoying the required multiple walks per day!

We took her to an outdoor food truck park last night and she was amazing! She sat quietly while we chatted with friends. She was great greeting humans and canines and especially loved all the kids that wanted to pat her. I hope someone scoops her up soon. 

She is a little timid about new things. She shook the first time we turned on TV, and she didn’t like walking on our wood floors. Stairs were scary, but she is figuring them out. 

Anyone else ever foster? It’s a lot of work, but so rewarding!

As the nice weather finally approaches here in New England, I find myself wanting to add a puppy to the family more and more.

When is the right time? Do I want a second dog? I liked having two dogs when I’ve done it in the past, but right now, dealing with two dogs sometimes seems a bit overwhelming.

The other day I ordered flea, tick, and heart worm preventative from my vet. Granted, I ordered six months worth, but it cost me almost $200. Maybe I don’t want a second dog?

I was pouring over Facebook pictures looking at all the cute adoptable puppies in the world, and then Cali started peeing in the house. The vet wanted to do a urine test. Another $100 on testing an antibiotics, do I want a second dog?

As Cali gets older, I think about how fun it would be to train a new puppy, then I got injured. Now I’m not even volunteering currently. It’s taking everything I’ve got to keep up with what I have to do, and there isn’t room for anything extra. Maybe a second dog isn’t a good idea.

I was chatting with my daughter, and mentioned wanting a second dog. She suggested maybe this Fall would be a good time, once all the crazy summer happenings are over, but then I realized that I’m out of the house a ton in October.

Today I was talking to my Dad and he mentioned how his puppy is driving his older dog a little crazy. Maybe Cali would hate having a puppy in the house?

Cali is pretty high maintenance right now. She’s got kidney disease and has daily medication along with special food needs. It feels like she ends up at the vet almost monthly with something. She’s still recovering from the torn ligament in her hind leg and needs monitoring when she exercises, so playing with a puppy might be too much for her even if she wants to play with it. 

It feels like the universe is telling me that now isn’t the time. Will I stop looking at adoptable dogs online? Never? I think for now I stick with fostering, volunteering, and enjoy Cali’s senior years with her.

With all the time I spend volunteering, maybe the right dog will fall into my arms at the right time and I won’t have to look too hard.

How do you decide when it is the right time to add a new pet to your family? Let me know in the comments.

Puck wanted to make sure he wasn’t forgotten when I blogged today! He’s such a thoughtful boy!

Cali is still really enjoying this cat bed! She’s had three laser treatments now and I really think they are helping. She’s starting to use her injured leg much more regularly. I’ve noticed her using it quite a bit when she is walking, but she still holds it up when she runs. She is going to have her 4th laser treatment tomorrow, and then we will go to once a week treatments for a couple of weeks to see how she does. I happened to notice on Amazon yesterday that it is possible to buy a cold laser treatment tool to use at home. I’m thinking this might be a good thing to invest in, not just for Cali, but also for me! Does anyone own a home laser tool? If so, let me know how you like it.

Hector seems to be developing a little curiosity about Kanga. I keep a dog pen around the two bird cages to keep the cats from getting too close to my feathered friends. Yesterday, Hector climbed onto the top of the pen and climbed her way over by Kanga’s cage. Neither bird has shown any signs of aggression towards each other’s but obviously I haven’t allowed them to touch. Hector just “walked” the entire length of the fence, checked out Kanga and headed back to her own side. She did that back and forth a few times, never trying to climb onto Kanga’s cage, just looking curiously.

Hector has never been a super destructive bird. Her favorite is really cardboard. She loves to chew up boxes. She chews on soft wood toys, but she nibbles, and doesn’t destroy things like Kanga. Kanga is a machine when it comes to destroying toys! Give him a wood block and I’m lucky it if entertains him for 10 minutes.

I have noticed some really interesting behavior in Kanga over the last couple of days. I’ve learned Kanga doesn’t really like men. He gets nervous and aggressive when my son or husband are around. Last week my son was back at his place and my husband was traveling so it was just me. Kanga was great, no screaming issues, he played and did his thing. As soon as my husband got home on Sunday, the screaming started again. I had to close him in his cage a couple of times because the screaming just wouldn’t stop. Yesterday, my husband started feeding Kanga his favorite Nutriberri treats. The screaming was better last night. I’m hoping if my husband keeps offering treats that maybe K will learn he’s OK and he isn’t going to hurt him.

I volunteered at Mary’s Dogs in Northwood, New Hampshire again this past weekend. They just got in a new batch of puppies from the South and they are all so cute! What could be a better volunteer job than snuggling and playing with puppies! I love it!

Enjoy the puppy pictures and have a pet-friendly day!

Life has been busy! I’m on my own this week, so my time and my schedule. I signed up for lots of volunteering, and it has been great! I started the week volunteering as an usher at my local theater. I get to see a great show for free, and I get to hang out and chat with lots of nice people!

Of course most of my volunteering is centered on animals!

Foster bird Kanga is still at my house, but on Monday I also volunteered at the shelter to help take care of the birds that are still there. Lots of macaws! They are big and beautiful, and their beaks are more than a little scary, but I love them. I cleaned them up, topped off their food and rinsed out their water. I talked to them, played music for them, played Peek-a-boo with some, and did Knock-Knock jokes with another. He likes to bang his beak on the top of his cage when you say “Knock Knock” and then he laughs when you ask “Who’s there?”

Speaking of birds, Kanga is doing great! He’s really a sweet boy. He has new feathers growing in under his wing, and I think they are itchy because he loves to lift his wing and ask for scratches. I know you aren’t supposed to pat birds anywhere but their  heads, but he is hard to resist! I’m very careful to just give him a couple of quick rubs under his wing. For anyone new to birds, some birds get a little “lovey” when you pat their bodies, so it usually isn’t recommended.

Love to see all these new feathers!

This morning was a little bit traumatic for K. He really needed his nails trimmed, so we took a visit back to the shelter. He flew when he saw me pull out a towel this morning, but once he landed he stepped right up on my hand and let me put him right into the carrier. I filled the carrier with wood blocks for him to destroy, and Nutriberries, his favorite treat! He was a little nervous in the car, but not too bad. He was happy enough to munch on his Nutriberries as long as I kept chatting with him. He got noticeably nervous when we got the shelter and he heard all the other birds screaming, but he did great for his nail trim, and he was very calm on the way home.

After a quick couple of bites of breakfast when we got home, he was ready for a nap!

I find it fascinating that even with Kanga and Hector D. Byrd having cages right next to each other, they haven’t been interested in each other at all. They could easily hop onto each other’s cages if they wanted to, but they don’t seem to even acknowledge each other.

Last night I volunteered at another shelter to help take care of some puppies. The weather was beautiful and we played outside in the yard and even attempted going for a walk. One little puppy in particular really stole my heart. It was very hard not bringing her home to foster, but I kinda have my hands full with Kanga.

This is Hope, available for adoption from Mary’s Dogs. She’s got adorable stubby legs, and she is so sweet!

I also got to spend time with these adorable “cow” girls. Nothing like spending time with cuddly, soft, warm, puppies! These two are also available for adoption from Mary’s, and they have a whole new batch of puppies coming in on Friday!

Unfortunately, Cali doesn’t really like riding in the car anymore. I don’t know why. She used to ride everywhere with me, now she gets super nervous. She won’t get in the car anymore. I have to pick her up and put her on the seat.

Maybe with all the trips to the vet for her laser treatments she will get used to it again. She started laser on Monday and had another appointment today. It’s a little hard to tell how she is doing since she can’t tell me, but I do feel like the treatments are helping. She has been using her back leg a bit more. I plan to do 7 treatments total, their recommended starter series, and we’ll see how she does. She went twice this week and will go twice again next week, and then once a week for the remainder of the visits. Hopefully by the end of that she will be using her leg more.

The new Dr. Harvey’s food mix is still something Cali has been enjoying! Amazing considering how tough it has been to find a low protein/kidney friendly diet for her. I’m waiting for their customer service people to call me. They offer a free telephone consultation to help me create the best diet for Cali using their food mix. They actually tried to call me today, but I was at the vet and couldn’t take the call. Hopefully I can talk to them soon.

I had to cancel volunteering with the birds this afternoon so I can get some work done since I had to bring Kanga for the nail trim this morning. Saturday night I’ll be heading back to Mary’s Dogs to help out and meet all the new puppies that come in on Friday! Of course I love my own pets, but I also love getting the chance to work with other animals as much as I can.

Puck wasn’t happy about being in the car, but he and Bean had their annual check ups last week.

Both cats did great, no problems. The vet had trouble finding skin to give Bean his rabies shot, so much hair!

Who else volunteers with animals? What kind of animals do you like to work with? Leave a message in the comments and let me know.

Good night Puck! Have a nice nap!

Just realizing that K is really changing since he has been here. I think he is starting to feel a bit more confident. He is less excited about me patting him, he’s stopped flying all over the place, and he is spending more time in his cage even with his door open.

He is super destructive. He is already working on the replacement perch I put on his door. He chewed through his rope perch that was in the middle of his cage, and he has destroyed several toys.

Unlike Hector who prefers to destroy cardboard, K loves to chew up wood. He could definitely get a job manufacturing toothpicks!

Considering how much he seems to be changing every day, I’m not pushing him right now. I talk to him all the time, hand feed him treats, and pat him here and there when he seems open to it. I’m also providing an endless supply of wood for him to chew up.

I’ve added a ceramic heat lamp for him at night, and he really seems to like that. He was right under it the morning when I uncovered his cage. Although he doesn’t look like a feather plucker at first glance, his back and under his wings are pretty bald. I’m hoping to see some new growth as he settles in here.

Diet is something we are working on. He doesn’t love the fresh chop I make, or really any fresh fruits or veggies. He does eat his pellets really well. I’m doing what I did with Hector when I got her, and feeding them both chop in the morning, and then refilling pellets in the afternoon. He has been checking out the chop each morning and usually throws a bunch of it out of the bowl. I actually just looked over now and I think he is eating some chop, so that’s great! He always has some pellets in his bowl, but not a fresh bowl until later in the day. I’m trying to encourage him to check out the chop, and offering snacks of fresh fruits and veggies throughout the day.

My husband has been able to hand feed him treats which is progress. I still can’t believe when my son tried to give him a treat a few days ago that he put up his little foot like he wanted to step up, then grabbed my son’s finger and tried to bite him!

The cats were very curious about the new roommate at first, but no longer seem at all interested. Cali only cares about him when he flies and thankfully that hasn’t been happening as often.

Speaking of Cali, she was still not using her hurt leg very much when I got home from vacation a few days ago. I called the vet and they suggested she might need more pain medicine. We added a new medicine in the evening on top of the med she was already taking in the mornings and it seems to be helping. She isn’t using her leg all the time, but she is doing much better getting around, and she just in general seems happier. She’ll go back for a check up in a couple of weeks.