HEllo, hello -- sorry it's been so long since I wrote -- it's been
another busy (though not unhappy) time, and this email has been
interrupted many times. I think I began it at least a month ago! It's
now too long for most of you to want to read the whole thing in one
sitting, so I'm going to break it up.
Thanks for your great replies!
DOES ANYONE WANT TO GET OFF THIS LIST?
WOULD ANY FMLers or members of other groups LIKE TO GET INDIVIDUAL
COPIES? Does anyone who's getting one NOT want an individual copy? Does
anyone have ANOTHER ADDRESS they'd rather that I use? Does anyone want
copies of "BACK ISSUES"?
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Well, well, WELL!
After a couple of months of dealing w paperwork, we now have a
vet-services license, which makes it legal to start our vet diagnostic
lab and clinic.
We also got an agric license -- the idea is to have a little nursery
for growing various ornamental trees, shrubs, vines, plants, and maybe
some fruit and/or other specialty crops to sell to the top hotels here.
I think I already told you that the government will GIVE me/us land
because we are investors -- I have to draw up a tentative plan for its
use, but before that I have to identify a suitable area for what we
want to grow. And before that I have to find out what plants are
allowed into the country, since I want to bring in things I haven't
seen here but which should grow well.
Our ferrets, Rico and Jonas, are in great shape -- each has glistening
fur, among other signs of health. Their bodies feel sturdy, and they
run around and play a lot, especially Jonas who is young and never got
the horrible GI illness.
Btw, we still don't have a solid diagnosis for that illness -- we
just think maybe we have the cure. Pretty much a full battery for GI
illnesses. Bayrtil, amoxy, sulfa, subQ dextrose, omeprozole, syringe
food-and-water feeding, with all except the Baytril given for almost
a month.
One sad suspicion I have is that the deaths were caused by contaminated
food.... A lot more rigor is now in place.
On a brighter related side, we have received our PINGFORD'S PORRIDGE.
They like it -- in fact Jonas broke into a package before we had a
chance to make it up.
Dr Dawit is still working on his possible visit to Israel. The first
connections aren't directly working out, but that vet, Dr Ady Y. Gancz,
is helping to locate other options. Dr Gancz has moved his practice --
or I should say has started a practice of his own there, and feels that
he doesn't have enough ferret clients to make it worth Dr D's time.
I myself have had to put off my visit to the US. First of all, a mild
case of typhus (now cured -- just a couple of weeks of tetracycline,
yuck), and second we are Still Waiting For the Customs Clearance of the
sewing machines, fert Rxs, and lots of other biz, animal, and personal
things..... {well, since I wrote that, we got the first shipment
cleared. A long story there, for another post. But we now have some
bags of Evo ferret food plus Diamond cat and dog food. We got delivery
Friday afternoon, and we've started to unpack all of the boxes, and
today we found the sewing machines. Lots of sewing books too and Sisay,
Saba, and I are getting new info and new ideas already.}
It's toward the end of winter here now -- the rainy season. Addis
weather is very similar to that of the SF Bay Area (but w the seasons
reversed in time), so it's not all that cold. The freshness of the rain
and the green are wonderful. I thought I'd dislike this season, but it
is great.
We have a monster volunteer squash vine in the front yard. It
completely covers an area of almost 50 square feet and spreads out to
about double that size in all. It got into the ferrets' outdoor pen,
through the double-entrance area, and is climbing up the walls on two
sides. On one side it is about to go out the top. Since there is no
frost here, I suppose it will grow till its life cycle is over. Maybe
it is immortal!
The ferrets look like something in a fairytale when they are under the
leaves that cluster and run along the ground. I've got some pix for the
FML's 2009 ferret calendar.
We thought the plant was a zuchini or something like one. Till the
rains it made lots of flowers bt no fruit. Now it's producing many, and
the one big one looks like a watermelon. Stay posted, you gardeners and
vegetable lovers!
We're already growing tomatoes, hot peppers (caria) and potatoes. I
think we'll have a good and active time with our agricultural projects.
Everyone here except for Saba and I comes from farming stock.
Fine-Ferret Jonas spent several hours in my room w me this AM when I
was taking a nap. After upsetting the wastebasket, getting in the
clothes hamper slot, etc etc {Hey, how about EIGHT-INCH FERRET DESTROYS
BEDROOM?}, he got under the covers and took a snooze himself.
Have any of you EVER HARMED A FERRET IN BED by rolling over on the
small creature or otherwise inflicting an injury?
Abt six weeks ago we rescued a little old (8-9 yrs) FEMALE dog off the
street who had a bad case of mange (sarcophogic I assume). We named her
Mulu. She looks like a corgi/golden/pomeranian mix, and I think she is
or was descended from a forenji (foreigner) dog. She also knows about
leashes and mostly walks on your left side.
I would think that she wasn't on the street for very long. She is
sturdy and bright. My friends point out, though, that lots of street
dogs are sturdy and bright. On the other hand, people are known to
ditch their dogs when they get a disease or get too old to serve as
guard dogs. On another hand, Mulu is no guard dog. Not one peep -- in
fact I don't think we have ever heard her bark. She is house-broken.
{We now see that Mulu is missing some teeth and that others are
broken.}
The usual case w dogs here is that they live outside, even when owned.
In fact, later I will tell you some very sad stories of some common
ways they are kept. Who knows Mulu's history, but she doesn't seem to
have been mistreated in those ways.
She's a sweet dog. She often seems sad. Maybe it is just having a hard
life, or perhaps she doesn't like being the lowest on the dog totem
pole, or at least the one given the fewest privileges by the humans.
Abeba and Tsige wish she weren't here and don't want her indoors. Since
she is used to being a free dog to wander where she likes, we let her
out to stroll the neighborhood.
She is in love with Sisay, who feeds her and all the other animals.
Also he was the one who took her for walks while she was isolated from
the other animals to keep the mites from spreading to them.
DO MANGE MITES POSE A THREAT TO FERRETS? If so, do regular Revolution
doses prevent the infections?
How about recurrences on Mulu? I hear that when the symptoms are all
gone, recurrences often recur when the weather turns warm. Is that eggs
under the surface? Will regular treatment of Frontline prevent it?
Here's part 2:
Mulu's sort of short-legged, Golden-R colored, some feathers on
haunches and tail, tucked-in belly, big round black-rimmed brown
eyes like a Pomeranian, black nose, gums, lips. She has some of the
mannerisms of our Chinese Cresteds -- the way she lies down w her back
legs extended out and back, and a way of standing on her hind legs and
waving her front paws in the air.
She's very afraid of injections (she's now had (or re-had her
first-year vaccinations), and took a while to get used to being touched
on her lower back and flanks, where the mange was advanced. She used to
shriek, snarl, and pretend she would bite, but she just butted you with
a canine. Usually she collapsed when she saw that did no good, but once
I nicked her with a scissors, and at my next attempt a moment later,
she hit hard and gave me a bruise. Next I got a good cut, so I gave her
the Alpha-Dog Rollover with some dominant posture and shouting, and
then I touched her slightly roughly on her flanks. Now she doesn't mind
our touching her anywhere. The other day she got a front claw caught
in my sweater and panicked briefly with a couple of shrieks, but then
waited while I disentangled her.
I once knew some people w a dog they loved who developed mange, and
they tried treating it in horrendous ways -- one was applying something
flammable (kerosene?) and setting the dog's back on fire. Dear God.
The dog wasn't cured, and they put it down. The remaining and serious
problem with Mulu is that she likes to chase cats and bite at them, and
also she jumps up and down trying to reach the ferrets when she sees
them passing overhead through their tunnels. We are training her, but
if we can't get her over it, we'll have to find another home for her.
It wont be easy here, since she isn't young and doesn't guard.
{She's much better abt bothering the cats now, but if one runs, she
runs after it and one ormore of the other dogs follow. Today I was
carrying little (female) Tsahai, and when she saw Mulu she struggled
free, gave me a good couple of scratches, tore my blouse in the
process, and ran. Off after her went Mulu, Julie, and Dante. Mulu got
her second Alpha-dog rollover w plenty of shouting and the others got
shouting barrages up close. M understood the rollover, but wasn't
terrified the way she was the first time.
We haven't done any training about the ferrets, but have to, since if
they make escapes, Mulu would be after them. If the training doesn't
work, Mrs. Mulu gets a new home.}
The cats have taken to crawling through the ferret-tunnel maze. They
started it to get into the ferret-only room -- presumably to get to the
luscious ferret food. Right now, all 5 of them and Jonas (the white
ferret) are in the computer/main-sewing/cat room. The cats have come in
via the tunnel that leads from the floor of their room up to the top of
the window there, across the top of the outside wall, to the top of the
window in this room, and then down to the floor here.
I had the tunels made abt 7" square, thinking to give the ferrets more
room than I had in California, and it turns out to be enough room for
the cats. It's pretty funny to see them worming their way up and down,
occasionally backwards. For example, sometimes they meet a ferret and
they have to back up.
Two of our cats had blood draws today, and the blood is being processed
by a human-diagnostic lab. I think Dr D has developed a more productive
relationship w someone there, but apparently it is still a matter of
practically begging for access.
The first cat is Hima, our Thai cat. I got him in the big Bankok market
last year when I was animal-starved. I began by looking for a ferret,
but the only one I saw was sick unto death...
btw, the name Hima is Thai for Snow, and derives from "Himalaya." I
brought Hima here to Ethiopia for a couple of months, and then to Calif
for several months, and finally back here. All the animals are now
world travellers, but Hima and Julie have the most on their records.
Julie is a Barbet from France. My cousin Lisa (Hi Lisa!) and I spent a
couple of weeks there and then brought her to Lisa's on the US E Coast.
Then I took Julie home to the West Coast. From there she went to Mexico
with me abt 6 weeks later, where we stayed w friends for abt another 6
weeks, and then home again to Calif. She did fine with all of those
trips, but the trip fr Calif to here was had on her and Dante, our
big yellow guy. Something bad seems to have happened on a runway or
elsewhere. Each is more nervous than before, even now a little bit,
and for a long time, Julie always barked and/or ran and hid when
airplanes passed.
Week before last, Hima was deadly sick. The likely cause is catching
and eating a rat that had been poisoned. Luckily the poison was one
that causes death by slow rather than immediate internal bleeding,
and we were able to bring Hima back, using charcoal, forced feeding
of condensed cream, and a day or two later starting Vitamin K-3
injections. That medication is only recently available here. Thank
God it now is.
The injections were terribly painful. For the first 3 of 5, Hima
screamed and fell down as though he were dead, and stayed there some
scary minutes. The last two he braved out with only the scream and
struggles. For the first two he had no ability to struggle.
Dr D gave the 1st injection, and Sisay and I gave the 2cnd. I just
couldn't do the 3rd, so Dr D did it and also the 4th when he had to
come to see Raoul (our dusty-orange, very American cat who had a bad
cold). Sisay and I did the 5th.
Yowzer, being an enforced vet tech is something else, not quite in my
line, believe you me. But here I am, and there it is. Still, something
that is bound to help -- this fall I am going to spend some time
volunteering at ZOO'S Ferret Sanctuary. I should get to observe and
learn a lot. I might be there on Sept 28.
So Hima had his blood drawn today to see what if any effects the
poisoning has left in his body. He gave almost no resistance to the
blood draw -- usually he would have been a real handful. He is a more
pliant beast now...
Raoul, on the other hand was wild and had to be partly sedated. Even
then, he clawed, got the needle jerked out, and sprayed blood around.
btw, Another difference between here and there (the US, that is) is
that Dr D comes to the house to do all of these services.
As a rule, Raoul is a gentle calm creature. A few months ago he came
down w a kidney infection. He is only 2 or 3 years old. It resolved
nicely, but a month or so ago he began again to complain sharply abt
sensitivity around where his kidneys are. Dr D found tight muscles,
no other sign of trauma, and no signs of infection.
It persisted, and Dr D took a blood draw that came up w no kidney
problems, but some elevated components that show signif inflammation
(wh I will get later; R is now on my lap). Because the latter were
counted by hand, Dr D decided to give Raoul prednisolone for a week,
then wait 1+ weeks, and redraw and re-count, which is what today's
draw was about. We'll get the results tonight (Sat) or Mon.
{OK, it's been at least three weeks since I wrote that -- Hima's blood
is great, and Raoul's is much improved, but still a little worrisome.
Hima is back to all of his old ways.}
[Posted in FML 6081]
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