Conehead

Riley is a cone-head dog, at least for a little while. He's got some sort of nasty doggy rash in his nether regions and he's not allowed to lick that area until its gone. He's on antibiotics.

Mary Jane is photobombing the picture. :D

You Love Me Long Time

If you checked out my dance site, the Slinky Snake, you'll notice that I started teaching some bellylesque classes. I'm really excited about these classes. I'm really excited about teaching.

I'm thinking of trying to just pursue gigs that I love and hope that I get enough of them to make us some money. We'll see, of course. I'm most likely going to pick up a part-time job on the side, but that sort of can't be helped. And it would be just a job, not a career choice. So a lot less sentimental attachments I guess. Very opposite of my library jobs that I've tried to work out.

As for my critter update, here is what's going on with them:

MomoBella:
Momo is mostly fine. She is still taking prednisone twice a day. It's difficult to see if she is experiencing any discomfort from the cancers inside of her. Her behavior is mostly the same, except that her sleep schedule is extremely skewed. She's awake a lot of the time, and I think its because of the prednisone. Shes also losing her hair and has a rat-like tail.

Additionally, the scratch in her ear that I originally took her to the vet for (many moons ago) has never healed. Occasionally, she'll scratch the scab off by accident and we have a HUGE bleeding fest that involves me holding her down and applying pressure to her ear. It's difficult because every time she wiggles, it'll open up again. I know that prednisone dampens the immune system, but it also seems to make the blood thinner? I'm not sure about this. It could also be the cancer. I don't know.

We haven't gone back to the vet for a check-up, mostly because I think the doctor I dealt with last time will be the doctor I deal with next time and I DO NOT like her. I know that sounds ridiculous, that I should think of taking care of Momo first, but this woman infuriates me.

After the quarantine, she told me it was a good call that I got Momobella vaccinated with the rabies shot (this is the doctor that got bit and basically forced her into quarantine--I was told it was either quarantine or she was going to be put down) and then told me that I could solve the problem with the scratch on Momobella's ear by "letting it heal" (what do you think I'm doing--ripping it off all the time?).

She likes to sleep outside of her cage a lot. But again, she doesn't sleep much, so she'll rest for a few minutes, walk around, and then try again.  I can't tell if its insomnia or discomfort, but I heard prednisone kind of messes with your sleep schedule. So I'm hoping, if I had to choose, that it is the former.

Rudyard and Jack:
Rudyard and Jack are doing great. They are getting plump. In fact, Jack is on the verge of TOO plump. I think this is for his winter coat, but knowing him I'm not sure he'll stop eating his Winter Amount when Summer time rolls in. Which mean he's going to be a very fat and warm weasel.

Mr. Bingley and Link and the other Rats:
I realized I hadn't posted any updates on Mr. Bingley and Link. Both of these guys have some teeth issues and have to get their teeth regularly trimmed now.

Bingley's top teeth are skewed (my vet--who is NOT the UGA vet clinic--took some pictures. I'm going to see if I can get a hold of them, they are interesting), so he's bottom incisors grow infinitesimally. He can't chew on food to bring his teeth down, so basically he's on soft foods for life and every six weeks we have to trim his teeth down. BLEGH.

While Link's problem is not that extreme, his teeth are growing out awkwardly. So, while he CAN eat solid foods, he still can't grind his teeth down. So I have to bring him in to get trimmed every six weeks as well. Yowza.

As for all the rat babies, they have officially turned two years old! Happy birthday, ratties! You are all getting old!

Riley:
Riley is the puppy that jumped in my car, and he's still with us!
He's pretty adorable and Mary Jane frickin' loves him. He also drives us crazy. The vet says that he's probably about a year old, maybe a little under, so we have a frikin' baby in the house. We've been very bad about uploading pictures of him. So, I don't really have anything for you guys to see right now. I'll try and post some soon, especially since I have more time on my hands.


And that is your update! Glad you're still reading!