Finally Ready

So time has passed and I feel I am ready to write again. A lot has happened over the past year – some good and some not-so-good… But overall, things have been moving along. Not as quickly as I would have liked, but being by myself, everything takes longer to get done.

At the beginning of the year, I lost one of my llamas – Harry. The thing that makes me angry is that if I had more information, the whole situation could have been avoided.

The one thing that is deadly to llamas if contracted, is meningeal worm. The worm is spread by white-tail deer and affects the nervous system. The only known protection is regular injections of Dectomax or Ivermectin. I knew that and was OK with that maintenance. I got the Boys from Pennsylvania – near the Allegheny Forest, which to say contains some white-tail deer is a gross understatement.

The people I bought the Boys from showed me how to give the injections and I received their medical record sheets that listed when they got their shots and anything else they had done. I went home with the Boys happily confident that I would be a good owner.

Looking at the medical charts, the Boys were getting their shots approximately every six months. Twice a year? As Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear would say: “How hard can it be?” That was the schedule they were on, so that was the schedule I was going to keep – easy peasy.

Sometime around Christmas, I noticed that Harry was having trouble with his back legs and was struggling to stand sometimes. Once he was up however, he seemed to be fine. After a couple of days, he was still having trouble, so I called the vet.

To make a long story short, it turned out that the Boys were supposed to be receiving shots every month, not every six months. Harry had meningeal worm and they were in his spine. We gave Harry a blast of meds in the hope that we could prevent any further damage and could still have a mostly-normal life, but it was not meant to be. There was a time over the following weeks that it looked like he was going to beat the odds, but in February I made the very hard decision to have him euthanized.

 

 

Fortunately, Indiana and Dalai were not affected.

My next door neighbors were absolute saints in helping me through that hard time – for which I will forever be grateful.

Every time I think about the situation, I get soooo angry. The Boys grew up with gazillions of white-tail deer around them – why were they OK there and not by me? I wish so much that I had known to give the injections more frequently and that Harry was still with me. He was so sweet and would have been a great packer.

I miss you Harry.

At Least…

So tell me – what’s the first thing that pops into your mind when I tell you that I hit a bunny rabbit on the way into work?

I know… I feel horrible about it.  Poor thing 

So what did my co-worker say when I mentioned it?

“…At least it was after Easter.”

Was I wrong to laugh?

R.I.P.

No Wordless Wednesday today.

This evening, on my way to lock up The Ladies for the evening, I wanted to check the trap in the garden to see if by chance I managed to catch Baby Bunny #3.  I was stopped short in my tracks when I saw Banana lying on the ground.  Dead.

My stomach dropped to the ground.

I was just watching her running around the yard with the others only an hour or two earlier.

I picked her up and looked her over – she was whole.  There were no signs of chewing or cuts or other signs of mauling.

The only conclusion I can come to is that possibly she ate something poisonous and it killed her.

I wrapped her in a tarp.  Tomorrow I will bury her.

Rest in Peace Banana – you were a good chicken.

Wordless Wednesday

Rainbow Bridge

I first heard about Rainbow Bridge from a friend I used to go Geocaching with.  He has a cache called Rainbow Bridge, which is dedicated to loved pets that people have lost (great cache!).

 

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.

There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.  There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.  All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.  The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together...

Author unknown

 

The BBC had an article about pet loss and mentioned the Rainbow Bridge, which got me thinking about Mittsy.  She’s been gone a few years now, but I still miss her – she really was a great dog.

 

I think that I am finally ready to get another dog, but there’s no way it will happen until I have extra $$$ and a schedule that would work so that she (yes – if I get another dog, it’s going to be a ‘she’) won’t be home alone all the time.  So realistically, it probably won’t be happening for a while.

I cry when I think of Mittsy waiting at the Rainbow Bridge and really do hope to see her again.  I hope she is happy.  I hope she visits my Dad while waiting.