if someone has a question....go ahead and ask me... no formal rules...it can be about one of the animals or about saints or me...pretty much anything within reason. so...tonight is question and answer night (in between barn bedtime, meds, dog walks, laundry, pee mops ups and american idol.) if you haven't yet posted on the blog before, it might take a few minutes for your question to be approved.
nursing humans is not much different than nursing animals...bodies are bodies and most of the things that can go wrong in one species body, can go wrong in another species too...cardiac, renal, hepatic, reproductive, gastro-intestinal, respiratory, neuro, cancers, infectons, virus'...specifics might be slightly different...ie heart rates, body temperatures, chemistry values... but in general, we are more alike than we think. even in species specific diseases like distemper in cats (same disease as parvo in dogs, slightly similar to cholera in humans)...the symptoms, the damage to the GI tract is universal even if the underlying causitive organism is totally different.....so while actual medications might be different, supportive therapies (re-hydration, temp and pain control, rest, protection from opportunistic secondary infections, blood loss replacement etc ) is the same.
and this is not just physically either...emotionally we are similar too. actual thought processes and behaviors can be similar but they are different also because of perceptions and experience and hereditary/instinct...like... you will never convince a sheep that they are not in actual danger during herding trials and practice...they are prey animals, if something is stalking or chasing or cutting them off...their adrenalin starts flowing, flight or fight kicks in and they are afraid. a human can understand that this is just a game and not real...a sheep will never believe that....the same is true of the greased pig contests...no one chasing and grabbing the piglets wants to hurt them, but if the pigs actually believed that...THEY WOULD NOT RUN....they really think someone is trying to kill them and they too are very afraid.
living with dogs brings in the whole body language thing, dogs communicate with their bodies...therefore they try to read ours too and we send them all kinds of messages that we think we are not sending when we really are.
knowledge is accumulative, and it is expandable from one thing to another with general principals to guide you.
i believe we learn and understand more when we keep our minds open and search for possibilities. but like dogs, we as rescuers are sometimes more comfortable with one level thinking...this is what we do, it has worked before so we do it over and over again...ie... lots of rescues crate and rotate, that is how they manage multi-fosters, that is how they manage behavioral issues like destruction or separation anxiety or house training...it works for alot of dogs. but if it is used on say a dog with SA, house soiling AND confinement fears, crating them can very well blow up their minds.
i will tell you lynne, this is why i actually love rescue (besides being an animal freak)...it is so varied in some ways, so interconnected in others, and so interestingly challenging because of both.
i have a question for you carol, if your still reading this blog. just wondering how you got all your knowledge of different medications, treatments, behaviors of animals etc. i guess it is one thing to rescue animals but you seem to have a lot of knowledge about the health problems. maybe from you being a nurse or just dealing a lot with vets i can always ask you this when i come up. no big deal. lynne
lol susan...let's ask nicole to create an "ask carol (and embarrass her) page!
ahh julie, i don't know the answer to that. i have 2 plans in my head and both of them involve my eventual retirement from rescue.
plan A (which is my preferred plan) is that SAINTS will be independent financially by the time i reach 55. and we will have enough knowledgeable and experienced and dedicated and committed people to take over for me and saints will carry on.
if this does not happen, by age 55... i start to implement plan B which is to let saints slowly wind down and get smaller by not replacing animals as they leave. hopefully by the time i reach 60, there will just be a few of them and me. we call it a day, i care for them until they pass away....and then i will take a permanent holiday to best friends in utah and call it retirement and play with their animals instead but with out the responsibility.
Carol, you can't blame members of the tribe for trying to lure you over to the dark side....there's the flannel thing, the sensible shoe thing, the wash and wear hair thing, the animal thing (the BIG) animal thing, and to top it all off, you don't look half bad in rubber boots.
You may not be one of *us*, but we love you just the same. We understand that you didn't get to choose your sexuality, and that you are str8.....not that there's anything wrong with that. :)
mugsy and cleo belonged to a gentleman in powell river...when he died, he made saints mugsy and cleo's guardians (it actually wasn't that simple, but it was what he wanted) anyway, i sent gregg over to powell river to get them. their owner had been sick for a long time, the dogs needed several hundred dollars in vet care plus they had rarely been off the property and needed sedation to move them. they did not have very good social skills with others...lets be honest, they were a little bit scary...but, now they are here, now they are social, now they feel better and both of them adore me. they have the funniest ears i have ever seen on a dog, and i think it is even funnier that they both came from the same home and they both have funny ears. mugsy is going on 14 and cleo is going on 12.
they are great dogs and their dad "al" if he is looking down, knows they are happy and safe too.
Thanks for the info regarding open house - Lisa and I will be there (she says you guys know each other).
Can you stand one more question?
I searched but couldn't find Mugsy's and Cleo's stories..my favorites - they have the identical faces of my ole boy who turned 19 in January.
I love all of your furkids but am drawn to those two.
Marianne
hi robbin!
jesse is the dog i picked up from the local dump. we never were able to find her owners, probably because for whatever reason, they didn't want to be found.
she is a 12 yr old with arthritis in her spine and hips, she has a great sense of humour and is not great with the other animals.
nola is like a perfect dog except she has a few fatty lumps and bumps. she is probably around 10 or 11 and was an unclaimed stray in kamloops, she was sent down to a shelter in the lower mainland when she wasn't adopted up there...she still did not get adopted despite the change in venue. she began to self mutilate in kennel frustration cuz she is quite an active, perky dog and she needed more freedom and space...and that is how she came to saints.
sigh...in case anyone is wondering why chris and deb are rattling my chain....it is because apparently my wearing flannel shirts all the time, is not ok. i did not know that flannel on females could mean they are gay. since i am not, they and nicole seem to think if i publically post the picture of me looking like a pouffy little bo peep, that might end any misconceptions that my dressing in flannel has put out.
i do not know if any of you have noticed, but i get picked on alot! and i am not giving up my flannel shirts, they work well for rescue so i might have to post the pic....but i will have to think about it because i will never live that picture down....AND i might prefer to be occasionally mistaken for a lesbian more than everyone knowing for sure i was once a fluffy electric blue freak with a parasol.
Hi Carol,
I absolutely love your blog. I read it every morning before i start my boringggggggggggggg job.
my question is, could you please tell me about Jesse? he has the most intense face.
and could you also tell me about Nola? i think she is the cutest dog.
keep up the great work.........robbin
annie, kissy and grammy are all great colleen...kissy is getting a bit too fat and the shearer is going to give me heck...she is like a little butter ball with feet.
sheep are such gentle and timid little creatures, sadly, this makes them the perfect victim for just about anything.....plus they just do not ever complain.
i love them and i am glad too that there are at least a few sheep in this world who just get to be.
I learned of your site when it was posted on a pit bull forum I am on. Since then I am constantly reading your blogs. I feel like I know the animals just by your blogs. Carly is a beautiful girl and I am so glad she found a friend in Jed. I am really drawn to Raymond because he reminds me alot of my girl I had to pts this past Sept due to health problems.
I think you (Carol) and your volunteers are awesome for the amazing work you do with these seniors and those in need.
oh and for the open house.
i'm going to guess it will be a saturday in july (or early august at the latest).
In June we will have a spring cleaning day which is needed.
i have to check Carol's schedule to make sure she is around and then make sure I have that day off too.
We are going to work on it once the fundraiser is over with and I will post it as soon as I know.
I'm wondering how Annie, Kissy and Grammy are doing....
I did my first shoot of a herding event a few weeks back and was a pussy...I voluntarily take myself out of any future events.
I found myself thinking of them, and their life of leisure. Lucky loved sheep.
A sweet sweet misunderstood animal.
yikes...another question i don't know the answer to! MO and NICOLE!!!????...we were just talking about this last weekend... did we end up deciding a date for the open house?...i can't remember.
i probably won't remember in the morning before work jean, but i will be home for lunch...around 1230 or 1pm?
Great Idea Carol.
As far as the Americats---go to www.bestfriends.org.
or directly to the Nye County Cat Rescue blogs at
http://network.bestfriends.org/nyecounty/news/.
It is certainly worth checking out. It truly is
heartbreaking with lots of highs and lows, good
endings and amazing people. Have time and lots of
tissues. (I took 4 of them, 3 still very feral. But it is so sad how afraid they are. Mine are coming around and they can have all the time they need.)
Thank you to Carol for taking some of these cats in.
holy shit you guys! geeze laura and lana, you are only getting quicky answers for that many questions.
i was born in johnson city new york and i permanently moved to canada when i was 17 and married a long haired canadian hippy who played the guitar (we stayed married for almost 30 years and had 3 kids)
i want david archeleto to win...i always did, i just really truly liked brooke alot...she had a good heart, a great face and smile.
i LOVE baked garlic and cheese prawns, caesar salad and a cold corona beer.
saints was originally going to be "hope's house" in honour of wee hopeful bug who was the catalyst to propel me into finding hope for the hopeless. god i miss her....anyway, when i went to register the name, it was already taken..so the second choice was Senior Animals in Need and when i started to play around with the letters for an acronym, by adding "todays society" the acronym became SAINTS and these guys are all saints.
stripe, toby and missy came from the same family...they were 17,18 and 19 yrs old. there were substance abuse issues and their owner was struggling thru relapses and treatment...the family decided the cats would be better off somewhere else. missy has since died, she was a great little cat...just sweet, sweet, sweet and very, very beautiful.
hi jana..i will give the basics on the americats and then hillvi, susan, jenine and some of the other americans on here can fill in the gaps.
the americats originally came from a "rescue shelter" in the Nevada(?)desert called "FLOCK"....the place was a horror...more than 800 cats starving, baking, and dying in the desert. Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and tons of volunteers from all over the states (and even some canadians) went in to save these cats. some of them were feline leukemia cats (i have a soft spot for these guys, they bring such joy and heartbreak) so i offered to build a feline leukemia area and to take a dozen of the cats...Best Friends flew them up in one of their staff persons plane and the very nicest and sweetest cats in the world, came to live at saints.
raymond...i am guessing at his story but i think i am pretty close to right on. he was picked up by the pound as a stray and he was starving to death. he was weak and hugely incontinent suffering from renal insufficency, he had a massive anal glad infection, he is visually impaired (probably from a head trauma, his teeth are all shattered and broken from chewing away for years on a chain.
he is no longer incontinent of urine, that sorted itself out once his kidneys recovered from starvation. he has had his anal glands removed after the antibiotics failed to clear the infection...he does have frequent boats of diarrhea, he is probably suffering from a mild case of irritable bowel.
raymond is a lovely sweet and gentle dog but his mind has been affected from years of frustrated neglect and want. he has a hard time focusing on things or people and sometimes wanders in a bit in a fog. if you go to him or call him to you (he is a bit deaf so he has to be looking your way) he enjoys a brief cuddle and face rub but he usually wanders off before too long.
it is quite sad really that he is a bit disconnected and odd. he doesn't show well to perspective adopters because he loses interest and doesn't try to bond.
out of all of the animals here, raymond's life hurts me the most.
Fun idea, i'll go easy on you...1. we know when you were born but where exactly & when & why did you come to Canada? 2. i know your favorite Brooke is gone off American Idol who do you want to win now? 3. if you could have any dream meal possible what would it be from appy to main course to dessert to beverage of choice? 4. SAINTS is an awesome name was it your brain child or does the credit go elsewhere? 5. Lana loves little Stripe & wants to know when and why she came to Saints? OK THAT'S ENOUGH FOR NOW!
Carol,
Love reading your blog - have been reading it for the last 4 or 5 months. I have 2 questions for you (hope that's not too much!!)
What is the story with the "Americats"? I can take a guess that they came from another shelter somewhere in the U.S. but I have not been able to piece together the story from the bits that get posted about them. (I fear it is a sad tale).
Secondly, how is Raymond? What is his story? - he is one of my favorites - I would like to know how he came to be at Saints (and does he still pee alot?!?)
thanks for your time - enjoy the lovely spring evening!
andy...he is still a little freak. everything is on his terms. he will run right up and put his feet on your leg or anyone elses to get a treat and will come back over and over again to get some more. but if you are not handing out treats, he is distrustful and suspicious and is just waiting for you to do something wrong.
he ran up behind phoebe the other day and bit her in the back of the leg when she was being walked to the fields on a leash (he hates her, he hates clyde too...but he likes everyone else so he has good taste)...anyway...phobe whipped around and bit him on the face and then she wouldn't let go...neither one sustained any damage but they both pissed me off...andy because that was a sucker bite and phoebe because she was a hag not to let go.
sigh....but...he is so freaking cute that i often forget that he can be a real toad sometimes.
ahh crap...a hard question requiring an honest answer.
saints started because i got into a bloody political and personal battle with the BOD of another rescue i helped found (we were all at fault) and i walked away...my home was stuffed with 30 aged and critically ill fosters and they were not going back into shelter living so i took them off their books and founded saints which was for senior and special needs animals only.
getting and finding our own place was easy...i was renting a place with someone who was driving me nutz and whom i was driving equally insane...so i decided the best way to gracefully set us both free was to buy my own place. so i went to the bank to see how much in debt they would let me go (ALOT!!!!) and the first place i looked at was saints.
it was a filthy, garbage strewn, run down ex-grow up with several good solid, well built buildings and a huge pond.
i saw it on nov 18th 2005, my offer was accepted on nov 20th, the subjects came off on the 28th, we got possession on dec the first and we moved the animals in on dec the 12th. that whole freaking month and the next one just about killed me.
Count me among the many in the U.S. who never knew you existed until you took in the Americats, and are now thoroughly addicted to your blog. I'm in awe of what you're able to handle on a day to day basis, as I struggle with my aging population of only Six. You *must* find a way to consolidate this stuff into a book! Someone else mentioned James Herriott, and that's the first thing I thought of as well - All Creatures Wild & Dribbling, or some such.
And finally my question - how did you come to start Saints in the first place, and how were you able to find your current location?
jed is good again...he is back on the baytril. the cardiologist report showed tachycardia and arrythymia and suggests cardiomylopathy. i do wonder because he bounced so quickly back if he has an infectious pericarditis, the vet said it is a possibilty but he is just too fragile to look further yet so i am happy that he is better for now. time will tell but for now he is stable again, and omg jane he is such a gentle and sweet giant dog, i adore the big oaf.
just wanr to say thankyou for explaining that to me. i appreciate the time you took. seeing as you are on afternoon shift. i still think that it is a wonder what you do and i am in awe of that. lynne