This is the most adorable photo of Oscar when we first adopted him. He’s a pain in the neck as a cat, but he sure was cute when he was little.
Archive for "Babies"
Jan Met Our Babies
Posted on January 27, 2006 by Ching under Babies.
I hate waking up thirsty in the middle of the night. Why? Because I can never just drink and go back to sleep. I end up staying up for at almost an hour before I can get relaxed enough to go back to bed. That’s why I’m here blogging right now. I had to get a drink and now I’m up. Grrr. Don’t you just hate that? By the way, since Brian will not let me bring our suggies to work I asked him to bring them at lunch the other day so Jan could meet them. Jan is so funny when the baby-talks to the suggies. She’s really good, though. She got them to be relaxed and everything. I think in the time she spent with our babies she has gotten further along with them than we ever have. I’m kind of jealous. It’s just really hard to devote the amount of time that we need to the suggies because we are so busy. Keeping up with cage cleaning is challenging enough. About the only time we are able to spend with them is at night and it’s hard to really bond with them then because they’re fully awake and all they want to do is play. Anyway, I’m hoping that when summer comes we will be able to spend more time bonding.
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Close Call on Wednesday
Posted on January 15, 2006 by Ching under Babies.
We just got back from PETCO where we had to exchange a couple of items. The tee pee that you see in the picture above is actually pretty dangerous. It had worked for a few weeks and the suggies seemed to love it so we got two other similar items from PETCO. We got the zebra print this time. However, after the close call we had on Wednesday we’ve resolved to throw the ones we have used away and then return the two unopened items. Thankfully, we hadn’t opened or used them yet so they were still in the original packaging and in brand new condition. They were nice enough to exchange them for other items at PETCO. We got something for the cats and then a hammock for the suggies and, with our returned items, we only had to pay $10.
We still lost some money though because we had to throw away the two leopard print items (a tee pee and a small pouch). There is nothing that we could do, though. We can’t keep them in the cage because they’re unsafe and we couldn’t really give them away. So the trash is the only place for them to go.
So what happened on Wednesday? Well, on Wednesday morning I was up early because I had to be at work early all week for training. I checked on the suggies per usual before getting on with getting ready for work. I just glanced in their cage briefly and didn’t even notice anything.
Then as Brian was saying goodbye to them before he left for work, he started yelling for me to come and help him. I thought they had accidentally escaped the cage or something. When I got to the room Brian explained that Ginger and Star were stuck together. They were tangled with a thread from the tee pee.
Brian and I quickly worked to remove the tee pee from the cage. At this point, Ginger and Star were both really panicky and they were totally freaking out. I had to put gloves on to keep them from biting me as I tried to detach the clip that hooks the tee pee to the top of the cage.
After we got the cage out, we had to find the thread and cut it. We had to cut it in a couple of places before we finally got Ginger and Star detached from the tee pee. Then came the really hard part.
Ginger and Star had struggled so much to try to get away from each other and the tee pee that they’d tangled the thread very tightly around their feet. The thread had dug in so deep that we couldn’t even see it. They wouldn’t quit moving either. We tried to get an exacto knife to cut the thread but the little slivers of it we could see were so tight against their feet and because they kept trying to get away there was no way to cut in places and not stab them.
Brian and I figured we would just have to take them to the vet. So I called Cimarron across the street. They were closed until eight o’clock. They did give me an emergency phone number to call. I called that number and they told me that since it’s after midnight (this was all happening about seven in the morning on Wednesday; I think it was quarter till seven when we discovered them because that’s when Brian usually leaves for work) it’s $80 per animal. Since the two of them are stuck together, they would charge $80 for the first animal and then $40 for the second animal and then any procedures that would need to be done are extra.
I told Brian this and he said he wanted to take them to El Paso Animal Clinic in Derby because he thought they opened at six. I argued that no one opens at six but I called El Paso anyway just to pacify Brian. I got the same we are closed and won’t open until eight message.
I looked at Brian and we both looked at the suggies. We couldn’t leave them in that condition for another hour. We were scared of what damage had already been done and terrified that it may yet get worse. We didn’t want our babies to be permanently disfigured.
“We’re just going to have to take them to the emergency vet,” I concluded.
“Alright,” he said. “Give me the credit card.”
As he was leaving Brian called his work to let them know that he would be coming in late because of an emergency. I called the emergency vet back and told her that my husband was on his way with our sugargliders and he’ll be there in a few minutes. I had to still go to work because of training so I couldn’t go with them.
All morning I was worried about our babies. I was relieved when I finally got a voice mail message from Brian telling me that Ginger and Star are both fine. They thread was successfully untangled and they’re separated. They seemed to be unharmed. He also told me some good news about the cost.
Since the emergency vet was unfamiliar with sugargliders they said they would not charge us for the emergency visit as long as we took both girls to Cimarron that same day. Brian went straight from the emergency vet to Cimarron. I think he was the first customer there that day.
Anyway, the vet inspected Ginger and Star. She said that their feet were still warm so she didn’t think there was any loss of circulation on their limbs. Ginger and Star had several cuts and scratches from trying to get away from each other so she gave Brian an antibiotic to give to the girls once a day for seven days. She said their feet are swollen so they would be sore for a couple of days but they’d be just fine.
The total vet bill came to $47 and change. That total includes the medicine. Brian and I feel really blessed that our pets didn’t suffer any permanent damage and the total cost was a lot less than we expected. We were thinking that we would have to pay $200 to $250 bucks easy. Someone up there must be really watching over us.
Anyway, I noticed that Ginger and Star were not very active that night. I got up at around two in the morning to check on them and they were sleeping. There was still lots of food left so they hardly ate. They spent most of the night sleeping instead of playing. I was kind of worried but I knew that as long as we kept giving them their antibiotics they’d soon be well. The next night they were almost back to normal. They were playing with their toys and running in the wheels. Last night I even heard barking. So I think they’re almost back to feeling a hundred percent.
Brian said that we probably don’t have to give them any more medicine after today but I told him that we probably should until the medicine is all used up. It hasn’t been seven days and I think we should continue. I think he’s just tired of having to chase them around the cage and getting scratched up when we give them their meds at five or six in the morning.
The first day was pretty easy. I caught them pretty easily. Now they have wised up, though. Each day it’s been more of a task to catch them and pull them out of the cage because they are so fast and will not let go. That medicine must taste really nasty! LOL!
It will help them get better, though. And that’s our main concern right now. We want Ginger and Star to be healthy again.
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Oscar as a Kitten
Posted on January 5, 2006 by Ching under Babies.
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Our Next Family Member
Posted on January 2, 2006 by Ching under Babies.
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I’ve managed to convince Brian that the next addtion to our family should be a black maltipoo (maltese poodle mix). At under ten pounds they’re guaranteed to stay cute and cuddly forever. I actually found some in the classifieds section of the Wichita Eagle but they’re apricot and cream colored. I really want a black one. Anyway, we don’t have $1000 right now to spend on a new puppy so we will have to wait. The next addition to our crazy family will be a maltipoo for sure, though. Brian originally wanted a long-haired chihuahua but I told him that we couldn’t get one until the cats are gone. Probably never considering all of our cats are still pretty young. Felix, Oscar and Jesus are all about three years old and with nine lives, cats virtually live forever. Seriously though, Brian has been wanting to get a dog for a while. I think the maltipoo is a good compromise for us. I wasn’t completely sold on the chihuahua idea but I would consider getting a maltipoo even while we still have all three cats. A maltipoo would be a great addition to our little menagerie. Â 🙂 Speaking of new animals, Brian’s coworker Jeremy (Sara’s husband) wants a lemur. To top that off, Brian saw a picture of Tito Ope’s pet monkey Nobi. So now he wants a monkey too. The little monkey will have to wait until much, much later, though. I’m not even sure if it’s legal to own one in Kansas. I know you can marry one, but adopting one might be a different story altogether. Just kidding. What a zoo our household is turning into!
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Meet Rockie
Posted on December 25, 2005 by Ching under Babies.
He is the newest addition our family.
I have been begging and pleading with Brian to get a boy sugarglider. Brian kept saying to wait until next year. When he says next year, he doesn’t mean the first part of the year either. He means toward the end of the year. I kept pleading and begging anyway.
I finally talk him into going to Exotic Pets in Andover on Friday. Brian felt so sorry for Rockie and his sisters he wanted to buy all of them. We could only take one home, though. Even that was already stretching our budget.
So anyway, this is Rockie. I named him on the drive home.
Incidentally, he almost got named Fred — for Fred and Ginger, which I thought would be funny. Brian vetoed it because he thought it would be creepy to name him after my biological father.
I explained that I wasn’t naming him after my biological father. I just thought it would be funny.
Brian said he’d always think of my biological father if we named our little boy Fred. I kind of liked Rockie, anyway. So we agreed to name him that instead.
By the way, I have an uncle (my mom’s older brother) named Rocky (I think he spells his name with a “Y” instead of an “IE” at the end). It’s kind of hard to pick out names because the name you pick out inevitably turns out to be the name of someone you know.
Like Ginger and Star for example. Ginger happens to be the name of my boss and then Star is the name of one of the APL reps that we know. We didn’t get to name them, though. Sara had already named them before she put them up for adoption.
I think it’s easier to get sugargliders that already have names, especially if you’re indecisive. Naming your pet is kind of fun, though. So I’m glad we got to experience it both ways.
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