Rescue Journal

can someone please remind me to go shopping....every freaking day i forget and there are no good cookies around here right now.

Carol · Aug. 4, 2010

i had a hard time sleeping last night...every time something (or someone!) brushed my knee, it hurt and woke me up. when the alarm went off at 5 am..i thought shit man, i am bagged and my freaking knee hurts..i can take a sick day because my knee was injured by a god damn donkey kick. i got up and discovered the knee only hurt when something (or someone) touched it..it did not hurt at all to walk on it so i had to go to work. if amos had at least kicked me just a little bit harder, i could have had a bed day.

and i ended up working an hour late too....when duty calls and all that shit.

the spca kids camp was up here for a field trip today..nicole said they had a good time. another group is coming next week too. i think animal welfare camps are good for kids, they can learn some great things about animals and have fun at the same time. it is the best way to learn about anything.

barn bed time went well...ellie was a bit slow coming in but i could see she was pretty sore tonight. her pain meds are in her dinner with her apples so hopefully she will have a comfortable night.

laura is putting to bed for the next couple of evenings because i am on afternoon shifts...i hope they are good then too.

harold is doing a little bit better in the incontinent department...not a great deal better but a bit. he can go outside more frequently now because he and bibi can now walk past each other....that is always a good thing.

ryan "rescued" a baby rat today and put him in the feed room...he was drowning in a water bucket. since he was up and moving, i told him to put him back outside in one of the rat burrows leading under the feed shed...i do not wish the poor little guy ill and hope he stays away from the poison...but if we start actively saving rats around here and getting to know them personally... we are totally screwed.
he was a cute little bugger, sigh...such a terrible conflict in this.

Comments

Amy Dalgliesh

My problem was with mice and I used the catch and release type (Mice Cubes). Glad to hear the poison you use is not a problem for any predators that may happen upon them. Seems to me that if they can bait and sterilize deer and racoons, they could do it for rats also, but as you say, it's going to take changing peoples' opinions of rats before that happens.

Carol

the poisons we use have no secondary kill..which means it cannot harm anything that eats them. what kind of humane traps did you find?...all i can find is the ones that keep catching their feet and their tails or their noses..it is beyond horrible to see them caught and suffering in terror like that.
i know of the catch and release live traps but i have no where to release them within 100 miles of here where people do not live and be pissed if i was releasing live rats near their homes. and there is no way i could sink them and drown then in the live traps either....takes too long and they are afraid.

someone suggested dry beet pulp or antifreeze to me... but i think that would be a such painful death as it swelled up inside or as it made them feel so sick from the kidney shut down.

if wishes could be reality..i would wish for a tasty rat treat that simply sterilizes...i think that would be an effective and humane way for us to be able to let them live here and not over run us. sadly, nothing exists like that, at least not yet...maybe some day when humans start looking at rats and the problems they present, more respectfully.

but..if anyone does ever hear of anything..please let me know right away!!!!!!

Carol

i actually thought about that marisa but the vets said no( while looking at me in absolute horror like i had finally totally lost my mind) to me bringing wild rats into their clinics for altering.

sigh...i was just asking.

Amy Dalgliesh

Carol, thank you for struggling over what to do about the rats. No matter what your decision, I appreciate that you are respectful of all living creatures and do not take this lightly. I know being overrun by anything is difficult. I have had the same problem with mice the past two winters, luckily dry oatmeal or corn chips in humane traps worked everytime for me. While sometimes it can't be helped, I ask that everyone, please be careful about releasing anything that has been poisoned. Weakened animals are easy prey and thus become the hunter's poison.

Marisa

Easy solution. Just set up a spay neuter program for the rats! :-)

And, not to burst anyone's species divide bubble but rats are probably far smarter than either cats or dogs. Certainly the rats I've known.

Marla

Thank you for the morning smile! Your heart is just so big it has to be overflowing. You're struggling over a rat, and yet there are people out there who have no problem throwing away a dog or a cat or any other animal! Wouldn't it be nice if they had just one iota of your compassion?

amy

Carol, nice reminder to go GROCERY SHOPPING for yourself!

amy

I too chuckled about the drowning rat and how she/he was saved. I would have done the same, all the while plotting how to get rid of them.

Last winter we had mice in the house. Cute little things but stinky and not appreciated unwelcomed. Not to mention the few times they scurried about they freaked the hell out of me.

(Bought my kids mice years back, OMG do mice stink! Cleaned the cage daily and still.. back to the pet shop they went.)

Hubby set out all sorts of humane traps for them. No go, then the internet not so humane ways (drowning and the like). Still no go. Finally took some mice poison to kill the suckers but you know what? It was heartbreaking pulling out the fridge and using tongs to remove them and release them to the back alley (poisoned and soon to die :(. They were just babies... Ugh.

Thinking we need to get a cat for future outbreaks. At least then it is nature vs poisoning :(

Carol

lol...you are such an openly honest blood thirsty redneck!

SteveO

I had bigger hopes for Ryan.....I thought finally someone around to snuff out those little buggers......Ya let me down Ryan.... :mad: :mad:

SteveO

YOU SAVED a RAT... :shock: :shock:....now she'll grow up to be big Moma breeder......Remember Animal rescue....does not include Rats.....Killum ALL

Meghann

The kids did have a really great time - Nicole was an awesome tour guide. :) Thanks for letting us come by!