SAINTS

the vet was here by 7 am so that was good because i got to talk with him about gilbert. he is much improved today..he is able to swallow when syringed water. i spent an hour tonight with him teaching him to eat and drink from a bowl again. he is still not all that great at it but at least he is trying. he can stand up and lay down on his own. he is more aware of what is going on around him and his temperature is finally down.
the really bad thing right now is…gilbert is totally blind. this is a result of the hundreds of seizures he had yesterday. there is some real profound brain deficits…some of it will come back to him, including maybe his vision…we just have to wait out this post seizure period (it could be several weeks) to see how much, if any, permanent damage there was.

in the meantime…he needs very frequent hand or syringed food and water, monitering to ensure he gets enough of both and lots of gentle emotional, social and tactile stimulation to prevent hopelessness and depression because he is so isolated and vulnerable.

it is a tough go for gilbert right now.

spritely’s leg crapped out tonight. she is in pain and will not eat. i hosed the leg down for quite awhile and forced her anti-inflamatory pain meds into her. hopefully they will kick in enough so she can eat cuz i have more meds in her food which she really needs.

i will check her and gilbert both before dark  and really hope they both have a decent night.

jewel and phoebe just got into really big trouble. i am not in the mood for their stupid prima donna shit while they pretend to try to kill each other.

i told them both they better shut up, knock it off and go to bed right now…so they did..it is the tone of voice (the one that clearly spells dead dog) that makes them both occasionally listen so well.

the good dogs all went to bed too…they do not like that very angry tone of voice as they are not sure if they are included so better safe than sorry and they went to bed too.

bed sounds like a good idea for me too once i am sure spritely and gilbert are good for the night.

Hi I am going to drive you regular readers nuts… but since the posts fall off the page so quickly I am going to peroidically announce this fundraiser so it stays at the forefront.  We will be sending out our invitations in the next week – so if anyone on this board would like one so that they can email to the next person who emails to the next person and so and so on please post or email me that you would like one.  We are looking for donations for the silent and live auction items and I am looking for volunteers early, early, early so if you would like to volunteer on the day of the event helping to set up, being at a registration table, being a runner for the silent auction, are an experienced bartender or would like take in the “cash” at the end of the night please email me at sheilakullar@citylumbersales.com with the subject line Volunteer for SAINTS fundraiser.

And for anyone who missed the first announcement

Wishes for Whiskers 3rd Annual Dinner and Auction

Where: Shadbolt Center for the Arts, Burnaby, BC (located on the grounds of Deer Lake Park)

Time: Doors open at 5:30 PM

Tickets Price: $60.00

Buffet Dinner: Designed specifically for SAINTS by Critics Choice (meaning it is vegetarian)

Cash Bar

 

 

can get into trouble if left in a shop all alone.

he broke out of the gate (don’t ask me how he found it under all of the yoga mats) and knocked a bunch of crap over before he was too tired to cause more trouble.

mo is stronger than me (at least at 6 o’clock in the morning and brand new awake.) for the life of me, i could not pick that goat up to put him back in the pen. i finally got him to his feet and then just shoved him across the slippery lino floor thru the pen door.
anyway…gilbert if he is recovering…cannot stay in there. even fried brains now know where that gate is and that gate is just wire…good for dogs but useless for goats on a mission.

so now i am stumped…where to put a toddering, out to lunch, frankenstien goat who is not yet really thinking but still capable of causing havoc wherever he can get himself to go.

hmmm…hey laura..too early to call you.

can you call randy? (steve is away) and ask him if he can come up today and unscrew the upper plywood back wall from the riding ring barn (it was built for the upper plywood to be removable with a screw driver to let the breezes blow thru in the hot weather)…that will let the cooler air in from between the 2 shady buildings to keep gilbert cool and is easier to keep a busy in slow motion recovering goat safely contained? then gilbert can recover in the small stall and stay relatively cool…at least, that’s the current plan, its the best i can come up with at 6 am.

does anyone else have any bright ideas?….it is too early to try to outsmart a sick goat.

he has been seizuring since mo got here this morning. the vet has come and gone and will be back but since he is seizuring every 3-5 minutes despite the meds, it doesn’t look good. could be meningitis, we are wrapping him in cold wet clothes and trying to get his temperature down.

i will stay with him, work kindly said they can get by without me this afternoon.

update 4:30 pm
the vet has gone again…he will phone me at 8 pm and then check gil in the morning..he gave him more valium IM and told me to give him 2 more doses of IM ABX’s tonight. he went down with that valium but he kept seizuring so i just gave him a dose per rectum which has totally knocked him out and now he is sleeping and snoring. i have a few more doses so my plan is to keep him knocked out and break that seizuring cycle. we moved him into the pen in the shop which is much cooler and laid straw on the floor and lined the wire with yoga pads so his horns don’t get caught in the wire if he starts seizuring again.

and now we wait. he will either not recover or he will. the bloodwork won’t be back in time to give us the answers we need so we wait and hope for as long as we reasonably can.

hope still floats at saints tonight.

we all love you gil…get better please.

9pm update

he is still quite sedated but has moved to the other side of the pen. i haven’t seen any further seizure activity, and the vet said at 8 that this is good news.

he is not eating or drinking and this is worrisome but he is still pretty out of it so maybe when the valium wears off he will.

if not, i will run some sc fluids thru him in the morning before i leave for work.

come on gilbert, you are a very strong and special goat!

midnight update

gilbert is holding his own…no seizures for more than 6 hours. he is awake but totally out to lunch and unaware of his surroundings (i hope this is just the post-seizure/valium recovery period and not a permanent brain damage from too many seizures)

i think he is ok to leave for the night now and i will catch some sleep and check him at 6 am when i get up for work.

rest well gilbert and please be able to say hello, i’m hungry in the morning.

the year end financials are done..i will drop the year end off at the lawyers for filing on monday..we beat the end of june deadline but just barely.. i got my air care, car insurance, winter tires off, an oil change and some groceries. i picked up the new meds and specialty medical diets. i had a long sleep last night and a nap this afternoon.

the barn guys are to bed, 4 of the 6 ellie proof new gates are installed and jeremiah is doing alright today. there are clean sheets on my bed, i am off for a quick bath and to run one personal load of laundry thru, i hung the windchimes for betsy, asia, tony, butch, les and lexi in the memorial garden..and now i am ready to go back to work tomorrow morning…oh yay…not. i would like one more day off for sure.

chester, the little 14 yr old toothless pom with seizures, blindness and incontinence issues, arrives next thursday, as does BJ, the one who arrived last week and went home again. so i have a week to get jeremiah settled before i upset the saints apple cart yet again.

we have one week til the spectra project crew arrives, two weeks before the doggy dinner in coquitlam (june 11th… still need volunteers????), three weeks til the work clean up party and four weeks til the saints annual open house…time is flying quickly around here.

ok then, i am starting to feel stressed now..off for that calming hot bath.

he and trish came from the interior facilitated by rae..senior yorkies from elderly owners. trish, died within a few months of advanced cancer. caro (who became jack)went to live as a permanent foster with tammy’s parents.

he had his health issues with chronic liver disease but he was in a home of his own and dearly loved.

caro became saints “little son”  he just had that utterly endearing sweetness about him like a very small child.

i have just been too busy and distracted to “feel” and  post jack’s story this week, and for this i apologise because his passing really does mean something to all of us here.

our dogs who pass away in foster care are the lucky ones…they are the ones that someone was willing to give a happy middle and ending to…they leave here as they were meant to be…well loved and part of a family.

rest in peace little jack, and to tammy’s parents..thank you for loving saints littlest son and we are so sorry for your loss.

new dog in..jeremiah is here. he is the senior poodle with kidney stones from several homes in the past couple of weeks who spent 6-10 hours a day in too small of a crate in the trunk of a car. that had to suck.

he has expanded his horizons and is now on my lap at the computer desk. he is a bit overwhelmed right now but will soon get the hang of all of this.

his rescuers brought him out yesterday and had a tour of the place…really nice folks! he is post op recovering from the kidney stone surgery but i took his cone off him cuz that just seemed really unfair. bad enough to be fresh post op with the chaos of saints to deal with but add a cone and a bunch of curious dogs to try NOT to connect with…not fair.

since i was stuck with him anyway, the cone came off…better for me just to watch him and make sure he leaves his sutures alone.
another sweet dog begins his journey here. we will see where it takes him.
i got up at 5am but went back to bed for a couple of hours..i am tired today. but i better get moving, i have stuff to do.

this weekend, saints is at the vancouver fashion week event at the Roundhouse (in Yaletown), Sunday May 31st, from noon until 6pm. Drop by and say hello. Zoe and I will be there along with Sandy (former SAINT) and possibly Madeline (also a former SAINT).

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Silverdale Hall garage sale is June 13th. There are two tables booked. Maggie (the organizer) will be at the hall the night before between 6 and 8pm to receive your goodies, please do not drop them off at SAINTS.

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M&M Barbeque, June 13th, 2009 10-3pm @ Mission Hills Shopping Centre, 32530 Lougheed Hwy, Mission. Veggie Burgers available.

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Tour of the Mission Gardens June 20th, 2009 10-4pm
Volunteers needed for 3hr shifts. Complimentary tickets for volunteers before or after their shifts. Partial proceeds to Saints. Call Julie or Moneca @ 604 826-3290 or email junmo@shaw.ca

copper likes to go for outings and sleepovers to one of our volunteers. her dogs picked up kennel cough on the dykes.

copper is virtually immune to most strains of kennel cough..he has been exposed to them all. but he can still carry the particular virus or bacteria (kennel cough is a loose term for many of both) and fight off the bugs cuz his immune system already has a literal army of well prepared Tcells.

so while copper’s body fights off what he is well prepared for, he still sheds the specific virus or bacteria where ever he goes…like back home.

dogs get kennel cough everywhere…they get it at shelters, they get it at kennels, they get it at vet clinics, they get it out for a walk. it is airborne..so where ever an affected dog goes, others pick it up.

the vaccines are relatively useless because they only cover a minimal numbers of pathogens and “kennel cough” is just a catch all term for a ton of them…exposure is probably the best immune builder.

sigh…we are going to be immune building around here again.

lucy coughed all night. suzie started coughing this morning..copper the little walking super-bug immune bastard beagle..is not coughing at all.

this is so going to suck….again.

it was a good thing i had a fairly light shift because the phone calls and emails about animals just came raining in.

first the little fart who was due to arrive late tonight after i got home from work…he needed another day to recover from his surgery so i don’t expect him now til  some time tomorrow.

then there is BJ who came out last week, went home with some suggestions without being admitted and now needs back in…i am worried about this dog coming here..i am not sure it is a good thing for him. and unfortunately i don’t know how much of his dementia is due to stress and pain because his family didn’t give the suggestions enough time to work…if it’s the main reason..ok…maybe we can do something about that. but if it is an untreatable aging or other physiological cognitive disorder..it does not bode all that well for his happiness here.

then there is the little 14 yr old toothless pom with a mild seizure disorder, who while still perky is now visually impaired and incontinent and is booked for euth on sunday. it was a call from another rescue group that doesn’t have space.
and the old lab whose owners finally took him to the vet as suggested and got a less than ideal treatment plan and advice for his painful arthritis and resulting incontinence. i said to bring him up so i can meet  and see what he tells me but if he needs to be put down soon, i am not taking him here.
AND apache…a senior lame horse i was contacted about four years years ago who once again is in crises right now.

how i do not just lose my mind and just start screaming at the entire world is way beyond even my understanding.

all of these poor, unfortunate animals…it boggles my brain.

like i don’t have enough to worry about.
….i might just start screaming yet.

anyway…my one good and productive deed for the day…i have asked the staff to start a half hour earlier each morning. that way dusty and lucky can get a morning run in the upper field (which is really safe for very blind dogs) before the barn guys are set loose.

we tried them out for a run this morning…they both LOVED it. lucky stayed with us, ate poop, toddled along and rolled in the dew wet grass. dusty charged around like an utter maniac but whenever we screamed “FENCE” to stop a head long collision, she stopped right away.

good dogs..i am glad that morning run made their day better.

all of the other animal’s problems who aren’t here and are not yet my responsibility (BJ and the little fart are already my problem)..i will have to think about some more.