No Cowardly Lions Here!

Caroline the Lion

We have been having an issue with Caroline being very aggressive towards strangers and displaying tell tale signs that she would bite a child - absolutely not acceptable.

Can't chalk her behavior up to bad raising, she was rescued at 5 weeks and has been with us every since. True, our neighbors in Greenville, SC had two children that would tease her and cause her to bark and eventually 'go - after' them. When I caught sight of this-  it nearly blew the top of my head off, I had words with the kids and their parents - maybe not the best solution to the situation... still myself a 'work in progress'. It only made the children very sneaky in their meanness. The children liked our other two dogs but something went down that I'm not aware of and Caroline did not trust or like them.

Caroline is a brat, I know it, she is spoiled rotten and gets to go places and do things the other animals don't. All the animals in the house know that, including her. I don't know to what degree they understand us or each other, some of the crew seem to be fine with my judgement and don't balk a bit, some have serious issues with the 'C' dog getting to do so much.

They will just have to get over it, Caroline is a Service Dog in Training and has to be exposed to all kinds of stimuli - Especially - since she has already shown fear-aggression responses. My theory when addressing this type of situation is to go All Out crazy. I've done some really, really crazy things in order to correct a behavior issue in an animal. (saving those for the book) lol

For Caroline, I had noticed what I thought at first was true aggression - no fear, but I was wrong and it has everything to do with fear. She doesn't know, she doesn't understand, she gets scared and you just can't read that 'poker' face.

'Poker' face is not just the physical area of the face, it actually means the whole stance of the animal. Their tail, their leg placement, how are they carrying their head, their nose - what do they have their eyes focused on... it is the whole package. Caroline just doesn't read like known breeds do, which is why I still do believe in breeding by professionals who will actually contribute to the breed standards and NOT just make money. There is something (a lot), to be said about knowing what to expect when tailoring a working relationship between human and animal. Caroline is part Shepherd, that I have no doubt - but there is at least one other breed in her genetic makeup and I don't know what that is. Given the area she was rescued I would say most likely her other breed is Pit, but I'm not 100% convinced and if I had the extra funds I sure would have her tested - I believe it would be easier for me to determine her best training regimen by knowing her ancestry.

My *strongest experience is with GSDs, Dobies, Rottweilers, and most recently JRTs and Bulldog\Boxers. There is something completely different in Caroline than any of those breeds and the Bulldog\Boxer mix has very 'Pit' attitude because if you look back into they're heritage(s) they are one and the same. (The Bullenbeisser, an extinct breed was the originator to the Pit and the Boxer Wikipedia information).

No, we have something completely different and new to me, my hypothesis is:
1).  Akita
2).  Shar Pei 
3).  Husky
4).  very slim chance of being some type of hound.

To say "Terrier" is too wide based and she does possess a terrier type attitude.

Whatever her heritage I have to 'get on' with her training and ensure she doesn't bite a child (#1 priority), or any other creature. She has to be a model citizen for her up coming job, she has to be a shining example for All Service Dogs because I say so. She will be accompanying me everywhere I go one day, she will be put into situations that could be very dangerous for herself and others - she will have to think - she will have to respond - she must be correct in her actions - That is MY job!

So I'm taking a cue from Hollywood and The Wizard of Oz, Caroline was gifted a 'mane' that fits her to a T from a very theatrical presences and I just went with the whole 

'Cowardly Lion Gets Her Courage On'!

She loves to do these 'role playing' themes we engage in and for this instance it seems to be working. The girls from next door were out and about the yard yesterday while I had the girls out for some play time. Caroline's whole posture when she seen the girls changed (from previous encounters), - she had her ears up and her tail relaxed (not tucked or pointed down or up). Even her shoulders didn't tense up - so I call that a win and she continues to wear her 'mane' so long as she is with me. (In the other room Paca was trying to eat her 'mane').

*strongest - as 'raised in home'.

Couldn't of made a better match to her coat.

she gets a little nervous - stage fright - we are working on that too

Such a noble beast.

Setting her gaze across the savannah...

Family

See that crease down the forehead - I look for that in a dog - I call it a working brain.

nope not submission - exhaustion - so hard being a model.

That's my happy friend, Caroline the Lion!

When told to stay in our yard after her first real good experience with the children next door - didn't capture that digitally - oh well - had to supervise the situation - more important!

Yawning is a sign of uncomfortable situations for a dog. When I see this I change the energy around. This is usually where I get silly.

See the difference a stupid face and funny sound can do...

When your pets have... er... critters...

While working on pictures in the Corel one of the kitties - Adorable, jumped up on my desk and proceeded to roll around to get my attention - more than likely for treats, or food. Well while he was flipped over I seen a well known and despised critter crawling around his private parts. Grabbed a napkin and removed it from him, identified the critter as a tapeworm and a rather healthy looking one - sigh - the animals here are fed so well that parasites often live in the lap of luxury as well.

Now a couple of things just fell into place - Texas screaming for food, as well as the throwing up from many members of the rescue - trying to keep up with everyone gets difficult, no extra funds makes times like this a huge nightmare.

Tapeworms are nasty creatures that take nourishment away from your furry friends - why in the hell people would opt to have one inside of them baffles me - really!!! Just so you can eat anything and everything you want - if that isn't a sure as hell sign that you have some mental problems and issues with wastefulness - I just don't know!

Not an expert on Tapeworms by any means but know enough about them to suit up for war when they make their presence known.

The tapeworm lives in stages and can be combated at any one of these stages, and can enter your pet at most anywhere - so there really isn't too much you can do to prevent them but here are some good measures to employee:

• Keep fleas away from your pet. Hardly an easy task, but one that must be addressed constantly - especially in warmer climates where fleas don't have an outdoor 'kill' season.
• Keep fleas off of your property, out of your home, and not a one in your vehicle.
• Don't let your pet around other animal's waste.
• Be selective in your pet's encounters with other animals and non-home environments.

Basically and I can't emphasis this enough - Fleas are your culprit - keep them blood sucking creeps away and you have most of your battle licked. (pun)

There are Rx available for keeping away fleas and we employee them here on the dogs, way too expensive to treat all the cats and one cat - Lil' Man has severe allergic reactions to the chemical in these products - so very hesitant on putting him through that.

Last year I purchased a large quantity of Diatomaceous Earth and still have most of it, just recently transferred the remainder into totes as the bag had a bad smoke smell from the fire and it (the bag), had to go.

Diatomaceous Earth is a natural ORGANIC means of parasite control, that when administered properly is an effective and safe means to internal worms (excluding heartworms), and exterior pests.

Have to admit that I have failed to get the animals back into a regular dosing of the Diatomaceous Earth since the beginning of the whole moving (2 houses and maybe counting), adventure. So like about 6 months... so have to get everything back on a schedule.

As soon as the worm was discovered a plan was put into motion. This is how it started and continuing as this is being typed.

Withhold all food for as long as I can get away with, the cats - especially those who are affected by the worms more so than others (Texas), will get real mean and actually start hurting the other cats when the tapeworm tells him it is hungry.

(side note here - when we lived in Greenville, SC - not long after moving from Houston, TX - Our Texas was almost exclusively an outside cat - he was feral when I put him in a cage and drove 1000 miles to our new home - and he had tapeworms - I had seen them, but also his behavior was aggressive - I witnessed this cat drunk on tapeworm appetite attack, kill, and completely devour an adult squirrel - Texas was still a juvenile at the time. For me it always spoke what the chemical make-up of the parasite can do to it's host)

So not able to withhold food for too long but they need to be hungry - real hungry to get them to take the medicine - the Diatomaceous Earth.

When my experience tells me I've pushed it just about as far as I can - to the feeding station I go - with cats jumping here and there - you would think they were part of the flying circus - as you catch a glimpse of furry tail gliding through the air from one flat surface to another - vertically. At this stage of frenzy the dogs stand a good distance back - they know all too well that the cats will slice and dice anything they view as a threat to them being fed. In a large bowl I add one 3.5 ounce can of wet cat food - the wetter - the better - the stinkier - the best! To that I add apx 1\4 cup of Diatomaceous Earth and mix throughly, then I add another 3.5 ounce can to the bowl and stir this well, depending on what I have in my cupboards... this time it was a shot of Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil - not much - just enough to make it oily (slightly oily). I prefer Hemp Oil - one of the single best ingredients to have in your home - for all kinds of uses - which is exactly why I am out - I use it for cooking, for the pets, for health and beauty aids... Mineral oil is another good additive, but it is from crude oil - out of the ground - which in this form isn't harmful to humans or animals but it isn't a renewable source so therefore I frown upon such uses - Hemp - renewable!

This formula makes up a batch that allows me to give the cats one Tablespoon each, when everyone is smacking away I give the bigger cats and\or known infected cats just a bit more. Everybody is so hungry they don't balk at the gritty texture of the Diatomaceous Earth in their food. The bowls are licked clean. 

The above feeding will take place many times over the next few days. Small amounts heavily mixed with Diatomaceous Earth. When I see a break in their behaviors, that will start the taper down of my regimen and then we will get on a schedule for administering the DE on a regular basis.

Even though it was on a cat that I seen the worm - every animal in this rescue will be treated, every square inch of this dwelling will be treated, a good portion of the main walk ways of the yard will be treated.

Diatomaceous Earth will kill without mercy, it doesn't care if the insect is friendly or not - so it is my responsibility to make sure I am careful when applying this around my home\ rescue.

Diatomaceous Earth kills two ways:

It is a natural silica property that slices and dices everything that it comes into contact with - why caution must be used - for self too - do not breath this stuff into your lungs, do not apply haphazardly onto your animals. (I wear protective apparel when administering, utilizing extreme caution around pet's nose, mouth, and eyes).

It dries up mucous membranes and basically dehydrates it's victims to death - think of the flea or tapeworm (or anything of like substance), being mortally wounded in battle - then this fog rolls over and removes all moisture from them - it is like "Wham", "Bam"!!

Just for the sake of knowing I checked the current prices on the only drug I have found available to me that combats the nasty arse tapeworm and for dogs you get 5 tablets per bottle and the cheapest I found was $26.89 per bottle - it would take 10 tablets to treat the canines here and that is 2 bottles = $53.78, the cats can't take the same strength - so their bottle houses 3 tablets and cost $12.45. It would take 3 bottles to treat all the cats = $37.35 for a whopping grand total of $91.13 (plus shipping).

That $91.13 is a good average price to rid ourselves of tapeworms every time they invade us, which can happen many times a year. The purchase of Diatomaceous Earth has already paid for itself twice so far and now we are working on it paying for itself a few more times - now that is what successful means to me. These nasty parasitic pests are something you can't get away from without a lot of money and harmful chemicals - OR you can employee Natural remedies that pay for themselves time and time again.

Normally I have Diatomaceous Earth available for sale from our website and after I get a handle on the issue here at the rescue will offer again.

 

 

Cruelty-free Guinea feathers - Resemble Raptor feathers

New & Improved Pet Room!

Since we moved into the 'Doll House', the flow in the pet's room has been lacking good energy + Georgia has been able to sneak in to clean up the cat's food dishes. Which has been very destructive to an extremely tight food budget. Yesterday was a big day of cleaning items from the fire + household chores + cleaning and rearranging the pet room + getting in a few gemstone photos + accomplishing some kitty cat claw trimmings.

The way the pet room flows now seems to work - we'll see, it isn't only my flow in the room that matters. After securing donated food bags in a kennel and inventorying our supplies I do believe we are set for the rest of this month - which is a huge help. We are trying to raise money for a fence (desperately needed).

Our girls are pretty good - not perfect - after all, dogs are roamers, but the main reason we must have a fence is to keep the neighbor's dog from our yard. He is a Corgi and not trained well at all, rather a nuisance to be honest. So instead of having words with the caretakers of said dog, there is an old saying - "fences build good neighbors", or something like that.

Once a fence is installed and everyone is comfortable with our property lines and I feel as if all is safe - the kitty cats will get to come outside. The residence is too small for them to have to stay cooped up for a long period of time. Here it is all about the animals, a fence is our #1 priority!

Roll around utility cart serves as gate.

Open SaysMe

We Have Feed & Treats!

Locked up the bags of food in the crate\kennel.

Yep, yep!

Each of the hard plastic containers (previous litter), are full to the brim with food. We had just purchased our own staple foodstuff, adding the new to make a good mix that won't cause any dietary upsets.

Have items up on eBay to raise money, have a donation box at our favorite pet store Canines & Felines Marketplace in Greenville, SC. Our goal is by the end of February to have a fence in place, and the kitties get to roll around in the (frozen), dirt.




Our eBay Items 4 Sale

Thank you, Thanks, THANX to Everyone!!!

Debbie of the Community Pet Project and I have been playing telephone tag for the past several days and finally 'hooked up' (so to say), I stopped by her home this evening on my way home and boy o' boy did she load us up with all kinds of goodies. We received a couple of really nice cat beds, food, treats, blankets, disposable dishes (excellent for transporting), and some toothbrushes!!! (Please check out the pictures below)

Everything is appreciated and will be put to good use, but let me tell you the toothbrushes are the real treasure for me. Had purchased the toothbrush kit ($14.00), for the animals as a holiday gift and haven't seen it since the fire - haven't a clue as to what happened to it. So heck yes, can get everyone back on schedule with getting rid of plaque and stopping it from forming in the first place.

All 9 animals took to having their teeth brushed within the first attempt and have 

made this chore - not so bad.

Dennis of Canines & Felines Marketplace in Greenville, SC donated some of the animals' staple diet foodstuff - the honest kitchen, along with some Kosher Beef in a can for dogs, and a whole box of Taste of the Wild samples that the crew around here absolutely love. A couple of weeks ago Dennis donated some Stella & Chewy's, and the honest kitchen Perfect Form & Goat's Milk (which was Johnny-on-the-spot when a virus hit the rescue). Dennis has always helped out our rescue - wouldn't be able to do what we do for the animals if it wasn't for him - greatly appreciate Dennis!

Elisa wrote an article about our plight and we received a box of blankets from Chris in Texas - greatly appreciated - been using them everyday!

Dana in Chicago donated $$ to help get Paca to the vet for a bad dew claw before the fire and deserves a fair mention here.

 Thank you everyone, the animals had a blast checking everything out - like little kids - "what did we get", as they look up at me with big bright eyes - thank you everyone for giving me that. The crew has played hard on investigating their treasures and are all laying down on the new blankets and new beds - happy and content.

Mewen says "we gots stuff".

Adorable

Mewen looking over some donations from Dennis of Canines & Felines Marketplace in Greenville, SC.

Phoebe Peppercorn checking out a bed donated to us by Debbie of the Community Pet Project in Simpsonville, SC

Adorable checking the comfort level - it passed!

Items donated by Debbie of the Community Pet  Project

Phoebe (background), was first on the scene checking everything out.

A big Thank You to Canines & Felines Marketplace!

Kosher Beef in a can from Chicago - the dogs LOVE it!

Do people care...

I don't know the answer to that question, I know some do, I know the lady that I barely met a year ago donated cash to me yesterday, she asked me what WE needed, as in the humans - I told her - all I care about is getting the animals back into a comfortable place. She said "I know", that is why I am offering you my dining room table, if you would like...

Accepted, and looking for more pieces of furniture, my only issue for furniture is man power. All items have to be collected, transported, and set up. I'm a 47 year old Poisoned Patriot, not a lot of power in these muscles - the boyfriend is worse off than me, which makes me the strong member of our pack - boy are we in trouble... We have a refrigerator and dining room table in Greenville, we have items in Spartanburg and we are located in Landrum.

We are in the position to hire a truck, but we can't hire people, we don't have funds like that.

The animals are finally starting to settle down and then I go and move things around, changed the cat's room. Not one of my wisest decisions and a indicator to my mind's lack of clarity. (So have to get back on my organic diet).

Phoebe Peppercorn is still on her meds, and acting like the condition has settled into a upper respiratory issue - so long as she is sneezing that nasty stuff out we are going to be okay, if she stops sneezing and doesn't show immediate signs of progress - back to the vet she will go.

Tried a new treat this morning, a gift: Simply Nourish Freeze Dried Shrimp Cat Treats - some of the cats loved them, especially Phoebe - little girl likes the tiny shrimp - check!

Phoebe Peppercorn

Adorable playing with a string

Caroline and Mewen

Texas watching Phoebe ripping the box for amusement.

The dogs finish their meds in the morning, no more episodes of bloody loose stool shooting across the room covering everything in sight. As bad as that was for me, they felt horrible, not only were they stressed to the point of being physically sick, they absolutely hated causing such a mess and me having to clean it all up - all the time, which just endures them to me even more - ya know!

So need some items for the animals to play with, they call themselves attacking a string they found, it is really silly but harmless so they can 'kill' the string all the want.

Stress is hell on animals too

Two days ago Georgia started getting diarrhea, yesterday it turned bloody, this morning she was at the vet's office getting checked out. Caroline started getting diarrhea yesterday and last night it started getting bloody so while I had Georgia at the vet I told him of Caroline duplicating Georgia's symptoms.

My hypothesis was either 1). Stress,  2). Water (contaminated), or 3). Change in diet

Out of 9 animals, one cat was already on meds for smoke inhalation, now two dogs were going down due to something and the rest of our crew (humans included), look really, really rough.

Dr. A. Thomas Maiolo was the vet we seen today and he concurred to the theory of stress after a couple of tests and his many years of experience. He gave me some valuable information that I knew a long time ago and forgot - when anyone is suffering from diarrhea remove food for 24 hrs. By doing this you give the intestines a chance to heal itself, but if food keeps coming in - it keeps everything irritated.

The tests on Georgia came back clean on parasites, and no virus, she weighs 25#, doc gave her an injection of Vetalog and put her and Caroline on Sulfasalazine for 5 days. Though this was my first time meeting this gentleman he knew of my rescue and the fire (probably because of Phoebe Peppercorn), he was very helpful and put me at ease, he actually made me feel good about my diagnoses on Georgia, and on how well the animals are cared for.*

*Each of the animals in our rescue have a file and everything that needs to be recorded is and kept in their file, when we go to the vet office the file for that animal accompanies us.  Though my memory is one of the better parts of my brain it is still hard to keep up with 9 animals and their individual medical issues.

Having a bit of an issue with the cold snap, no working plumbing and now badly soiled laundry. All of the towels I was using as beds for the dogs are covered in bloody diarrhea so need to go to the laundry mat.

 

 

Little Georgia not feeling so good.