Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary

Homecoming!

This was a very happy day for us.  It started out with our specialist in Missoula, Dr. Dave Bostwick, calling first thing this morning to say Wobbles had made a dramatic turn-around overnight and could come home.  Wow.  Even Dave was amazed at the change.  The emergency vet said that about 3 a.m. last night, Wobs coughed up some "green goo" ... and almost immediately his fever subsided, his breathing returned to normal, and he perked up.  Alayne took this photo of me holding Wobbles this evening.

We don't know what the "green goo" was -- Dave suspects it was related to aspiratory pneumonia from ingesting food into his lungs -- but whatever it was, getting rid of it made an enormous difference.  By the time Dave arrived at the clinic this morning, Wobbles was back to his old self.

In the meantime, we had heard from our vets in Helena, Drs. Britt and Brenda Culver, that diabetic Sammy could finally come home.  Britt, who is also an internal medicine specialist like Dave, had been working on finding the right insulin protocol for Sammy.  This little dog was all over the map, with wild and inexplicable insulin swings.  He would respond at first to one type of insulin, then stop responding; for a while one particular dosage would work, then it wouldn't. 

For a full month -- with only one weekend spent at the ranch -- Sammy has been at Britt and Brenda's clinic while they tried to get him stabilized.  Sammy has now been stable for a solid week on a protocol that requires two different types of insulin, two different dosages, two different syringes (U-40 and U-100), given twice a day.  Whew. 

So I drove to Missoula this morning to pick up Wobbles, and found a completely different cat than the one I left at the clinic last night.  He was snuggling, purring, and rubbing his head on my beard.  I got back to the ranch around noon, ate a quick lunch, then changed trucks and drove to the clinic in Helena.  It was 120 miles round-trip to Missoula, 140 miles round-trip to Helena.

When the vet tech brought Sammy out to me in the waiting room, he was so excited he jumped up and down on me, his little tail bobbing back and forth, a big smile on his face.  He was one happy boy.  We finally got home around 5:30 p.m.  I took the photo of Alayne with Sammy this evening, right after Alayne took the photo of me with Wobs.

We're glad to have these two home again -- and so are they!

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Wobbles Is In The Hospital Tonight

I was getting ready to feed the cats this evening when I noticed Wobbles, our remarkable little cat with cerebellar hypoplasia, hiding in the back of a crate.  He usually comes right up to greet me at the door, so this was odd.  I got down and looked inside the crate, and I could tell right away something was wrong.  He looked unhappy, and he made no effort to come out to see me. 

I pulled him out and realized he felt warm to the touch.  Uh oh.  He was doing open-mouth breathing and it seemed labored.  I brought him into the house, took his temperature, and got 105 degrees.  With that, I called our specialist in Missoula, Dr. Dave Bostwick, who has treated Wobs before for pneumonia.  Dave was still at his clinic, which becomes Missoula's small animal emergency hospital at night and on weekends.  (Very convenient!)  I hopped in the truck and rushed Wobs to town.  It's an hour-long drive, and during it Wobs sat peacefully on the front seat, wrapped in a towel. 

At the clinic the emergency vet examined Wobbles and shot chest X-rays, and then we put Wobs in the oxygen cage.  Dave came in to read the X-rays and consult with the vet.  Wobs appears to have pneumonia again, something he gets about twice a year.  Why we don't know.  The emergency vet started Wobs on IV fluids, gave him two injectable antibiotics (Ampillicin and Baytril), and drew blood for a full CBC and chem panel.  In addition, Dave did an ultrasound of Wobbles' chest to determine whether any fluid was building up (only a little so far).  They'll continue the oxygen therapy overnight, and Dave will examine him again in the morning.

The bill just for tonight came to $395.75, and will undoubtedly grow over the weekend.  But this little wobbly cat is worth every penny.  He's really special to us, and we just need him to pull through.

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Blind Nikki: Now Cantering!

Our two-year old blind filly, Nikki, is now cantering after just two months of training by our talented horse trainer, Nichole Zupan.  It's hard to believe Nikki's very first training session was at the end of April, and here she is, not only being ridden but cantering at a good clip!

I shot this video yesterday evening during Nichole's latest session with Nikki.  This was Nikki's second round of cantering, and she's still getting used to it.  This is why she breaks back to a trot sometimes, then resumes cantering.  But canter she does!

The Sleeping Diva

Regular blog readers probably remember some classic Widget sleeping photos in months past.  Well, Alayne and I were eating lunch yesterday when I looked over and saw this sight in the living room:  Blind Widget sound asleep on the cot in her own unique "Widget style" position. 

I quietly sneaked off to my office to get the camera and then took some photos.  There was no need to be quiet.  Widget was totally sacked out.  I clicked and clicked, she never stirred.

Intrigued by just how deep a sleep she was in, I picked up a nearby squeaky toy and placed it on her tummy.  Still no reaction.  When she'd breathe, the toy would start tumbling off her belly, so I'd have to grab it quickly and set it up again.  Widget slept through the whole thing.  I took the second photo as evidence.

Widget will sleep like this all day long, finally springing to life about 5 p.m.  "Just in time for cocktails!", she's thinking.  (No cocktails served here, especially to someone with such short legs.)

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The Eyes Have It

I noticed this morning when we were preparing to take horses out to pasture that one of our blind horses, Domino, had a puffy left eye.  The surrounding tissue was all red and swollen, although the eyeball itself looked normal.  And no, he certainly didn't want me poking around in there! 

Beth took this photo of me putting Voltaren, an eye drop, in Domino's eye a few minutes later.  Alayne is holding him.  I'm convinced the strongest muscle on a horse is not in the legs but ... the eyelid!  I swear, they can really keep those eyelids closed, no matter how much you try and pry them apart.  (Eventually I win, but never easily.)  So although this photo makes it look effortless, believe me, there's a lot of head tossing, eyelid shutting, and bobbing and weaving that goes on whenever we need to treat a horse eye.  Oh yes, and sometimes they'll rear up on you, too!

Since I'm the "eye guy," we moved on to treat Crazy Horse, our little old arthritic sighted Appaloosa.  (Did I get enough adjectives in that sentence?)  When we brought him in from pasture yesterday, I saw he had a "cloud" in his right eye and what looked like the beginning of a corneal ulcer. 

I called our equine vet, Dr. Bill Brown, yesterday to discuss it.  Crazy Horse is not squinting or tearing, and there's no other discharge, so it doesn't seem painful.  He might have just poked his eye on something, even a blade of grass ... it's hard to say.  But we're treating him with the Voltaren in the meantime and monitoring it.  The veterinary assistant on the right is Copper Kid, our "wobbler." 

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The Lone Sentinel

I headed out this evening with the camera to see if I could find a "blog moment."  (With 75 animals, someone is bound to be doing something!)  But I was barely past our back door when I turned around and saw this scene:  Blind Goldie, patiently waiting by the front of the house for Alayne to come in from the pasture.  (Alayne was working with our horse trainer, Nichole.)

Goldie is one of our original "Seattle six-pack" of dogs who moved with us to Montana in 2000.  She is always acutely aware when either Alayne or I am away from the house.  She considers us "missing in action," like her pack is not complete.  And she will sit outside until the missing person comes home, no matter how long it takes.  Goldie would sit like this in the broiling sun for hours or in a driving snowstorm, if we let her.  When one of us is out of town on a trip, Goldie will sit outside in this spot until one of us picks her up and carries her inside. 

Bear in mind Goldie can't see a thing, so it's not like she's looking at Alayne in the far-off pasture.  It's just her sentinel position, where she can be the first to hear a vehicle coming into our gate 1/4 mile away, or footsteps coming from one of the barns.  She does this when one of us is in town at the vet clinic, leading horses out to pasture, or on the tractor doing chores.  If we're not both together, she's not herself ... and this is where you can find her.

She also won't eat, and no amount of coaxing will convince her to focus on food rather than on which of us is missing at the moment.  But once the missing person comes home, look out!  She jumps and dances and barks with joy, then plunges into her food bowl.

(An aside:  Notice the metal conduit running along the wall?  That holds the cable from the satellite dish.  Last year someone -- we never did identify the guilty party, although we have our suspicions -- chewed through the cable.  Now it's in metal conduit.  Lesson learned!)

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Tiny, Deaf, And Old: That's Little Ricky

That funny looking little thing in Alayne's arms is Ricky, an old deaf guy who came to us just recently from a woman in Lincoln, Montana.  (Lincoln is about 20 miles east of us.)  He's actually quite a bit smaller than he looks in this photo I took this evening ... he weighs in at about 10 pounds, and has a frame to match -- he's only 8 inches high.

The lady who called us about Ricky had gotten him from the Lewis & Clark County Sheriff's Department.  One of the sheriff's deputies had rescued him from a ghastly situation in Lincoln.  He weighed only 5 pounds and was all bones, with a matted coat, overgrown nails, and a mouth full of rotten teeth.  There are no shelters anywhere near rural Lincoln, so the sheriff's deputy dropped the dog off with this lady, who runs a boarding kennel.

She took him in, patched him up over the past several months, got his remaining teeth removed, had him shaved, and doubled his weight.  Then her own living situation changed, and she felt she could no longer provide a safe environment for Ricky.  (I won't go into details to protect her privacy, but suffice to say she had very good reasons.)  That's when she contacted us.  We're at our limit on dogs at the moment but we also try to remain flexible and help folks in our local area, so we agreed to take him. 

At first Ricky seemed distant and remote -- yes, he always looks a bit grumpy! -- and he appeared to be in his own world.  But a few days after he arrived, I picked him up one evening to take him into the house for dinner and lo and behold, he reached over and licked me on the face.  It was very tentative, very brief, but a real sign of affection.  Well, now he's a kissing fool, this little old guy.  Whenever we pick him up, out comes that tiny tongue and -- slurp! -- here comes a little kiss.

In the small dog tradition, he's also a bossy character.  He barks when he wants his breakfast or dinner and won't stop until he's fed.  He barks to be let out, to be let in, or when he's looking for us.

We're kind of used to being bossed around by small dogs, so there's nothing new in that department!

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A Little Heart With A Hole In It

I took our blind foal Brynn into Missoula today for an echocardiogram of her heart.  Our small animal internal medicine specialist, Dr. Dave Bostwick, had offered to use his state-of-the-art ultrasound equipment to do the echocardiogram.  (His machine even does cool stuff like color Doppler imaging to trace blood flow.)  So I trailered Brynn to Dave's clinic, where our equine vet, Dr. Bill Brown, and his vet tech Linda, met us. 

In the photo Bill is on the left reading the images on the screen, Dave is in the center using the ultrasound probe on Brynn's heart, and Linda is holding Brynn.  The echocardiogram revealed that Brynn has something called a Ventricular Septal Defect, a fancy term for "hole in the wall."  Specifically, she has a hole in the muscular wall that separates the left and right sides of her heart.  When her heart beats, instead of all the blood on the left side going out the aorta and into the body, some blood gets squirted back into the right side of the heart.  That's what is causing the murmur Bill detected last week. 

The bad news is that Brynn is at risk of right-sided heart failure as she ages.  The good news -- and this really was good news -- is that this kind of defect does NOT put her at risk for anesthesia.  So we still might be able to surgically correct her ectopic ureter problem, where her kidney is bypassing the bladder.  This is why we wanted to do the echocardiogram, to find out exactly what is going on with her heart and what that might mean for future treatment options.

While Brynn was in the clinic Dave also ultrasounded her bladder, which we found actually had urine in it.  This means that she may only have one kidney that is bypassing the bladder, rather than both kidneys.  That is also good news.

After finishing the ultrasound at Dave's practice, I drove Brynn over to Bill's clinic.  There we gave her a plasma infusion to boost her antibody levels.  While she was sedated for the plasma infusion, Bill inserted an endoscope (a lighted scope) up her urethra to try and see where the ureter from the kidney was coming out.  Surprisingly, he found her uterus full of urine, which may answer at least part of the question. 

(Confused by all the "u" words that sound alike?  Me, too.  The ureter is the tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder; in Brynn's case at least one ureter doesn't connect to the bladder but is dumping the urine elsewhere, apparently in her uterus.  The urethra is the tube that carries urine from the bladder and excretes it outside the body.)

Bill also did an ultrasound of Brynn's kidneys and found one was pretty normal looking and the other was not, with a big hole in the middle.  (Uh oh, another hole.)  He couldn't tell what might have caused it. 

Our next step at this point is for Bill to consult with an equine kidney specialist at Michigan State University.  Meanwhile, Brynn was a wonderful patient throughout all the diagnostic procedures today, but she was ready to head back home when it was all over!

(Click on photos for larger image.)

Blind Ashley Comes Back To Camp Rolling Dog

This is blind Ashley, who came to us as an 8-week old puppy from a shelter in California in October of 2005. You can see what she originally looked like here.  When she was still a small puppy, we adopted her out to a friend and volunteer, Liz S. of Missoula.

Liz is leaving on an out-of-town trip tomorrow, so she dropped Ashley off at the ranch this afternoon to stay with us while she's gone.  When the dogs we've adopted out come back for temporary visits like this, we say they're coming to "Camp Rolling Dog." 

I took the photo of Alayne holding Ashley tonight around 9 p.m., as we were enjoying the summer solstice.  (Okay, the truth is we were celebrating the solstice with a couple of margaritas, which we conveniently stashed out of sight behind Alayne!)  We were watching the sun slowly sink behind the peaks of the Swan Range, about 30 miles northwest of us.  As the sun went down, so did the margaritas.

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That's 1,000 Pounds of Dog and Cat Food

Our pet food distributor delivered our latest order of dog and cat food this afternoon.  In this photo we've just opened the back of their trailer, and our employee Beth is doing her best Vanna White imitation to show you the pallet marked "Rolling Dog Ranch."

On that pallet were twenty 36 lb bags of California Natural chicken and rice dry dog food, twenty cases of the canned California Natural dog food, three cases of the canned California Natural cat food, and five 16.5 lb bags of the California Natural dry cat food.  Total weight: 1,022 pounds.  Total cost: $957.51.

Beth took this photo of me hauling some of the cases of the canned dog food into Birdie's Cottage.  This is where we store the food Alayne and I use for the dogs who stay with us in the house.  Birdie's Cottage, along with Kelly's Cottage next to it, are the two buildings where we put many of those dogs up for the night.

(Click on photos for larger image.)