It's pretty hard to say what actually killed off populations which were
never well documented.  In some areas prairie dogs have been decimated; in
some areas they haven't.  If you want a clue how much the prairie dog
population was impacted by humans just look at the various criteria for
finding possible reintroduction sites for BFFs and note how much area just
doesn't have the food available.  Other possible causes of the destruction
of BFFs include poisons, habitat destruction, severe habitat changes,
diseases BFFs get brought in or more easily spread by there being more
carriers, disease which prairie dogs get brought in and more easily spread,
prairie dogs losing food sources and other essentials to imported
competitors, ditto for BFFs.  If you want it in a nut shell: what killed off
BFFs were the massive incursions by humans who didn't know how to get along
with that environment.  Unfortunately, we don't have time in our lives for
evolutionary radiation to smooth out the damage we cause in very few years
by killing the normal inhabitants off.  Hey, are you having second thoughts
about asking for a tid-bit on E&E?
 
Would you like some good news from our home?  On the combination of
Metronidiazole, Amoxi, Pepto Bismol, and Viokase with supplementary AD
thinned with rice water, yogurt with live cultures a couple of times a week,
etc.  'Chopper has gained almost 6 ounces!!!  She's now 1# 11 and 3/4
ounces!  There will be one more week (total of 4 weeks) of the antibiotics
and pepto given in case she was having a helicobacter flare-up.  Then things
stay stable for a while.  After that if all remains well we will try
dropping the Viokase.  I've been assured that if she actually needed to
Viokase then dropping it will cause her to start wasting again, so the trial
will answer that question.  If she does start losing again then she will be
on that medicine for life.  It's hard to believe that as a kit she was the
helicopter who climbed everywhere and was even found playing
ferret-on-the-flying-trapeze from the light over the dining room table, but
she's doing better every day -- climbs the bed now and steals my sleeping
(neck) brace regularly again... Yipee!!!!
 
Oh, and the ties Linda Gaylord made for Hanan Caine (our vet) have arrived
and EVERYONE at the hospital said that they are WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Sukie
 
Oh, I almost forgot -- I promised Alpha Chi that I'd let you know that Path
Valley also adopts out their handicapped kits to capable homes.  We've had
two over the years.  Any establishment with enough births is going to have
some kits who were too crowded in the uterus, or were mangled by a novice
mother, or... (MANY possible etc's)
[Posted in FML issue 2244]