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Parvo is a horrible, horrible, potentially lethal, and 100% preventable disease. Parvo causes an animal (primarily dogs, although can be caught by ferrets) to slough off its intestinal lining quite painfully -- in my experience, anything that involves the word "slough" is rarely good. Parvo is caused by stupid, lazy puppy owners who put off getting their vaccinations, and moreso by stupider, lazier puppy owners who don't pick up their dog's poo. The virus grows in the poo, and moves into the ground where it can live happily for up to 20 years, infecting unsuspecting puppies owned by stupid, lazy people. About the only good thing to be said about Parvo is that it's like chickenpox; if your dog gets it, it will be immune for the rest of its life. Assuming it survives the infection.
I mention this only because we've been having a rash of Parvo puppies all month. This past weekend I had two, one of which was "Lucky" -- I don't know if plans are in the works for a name change. Lucky is an adorable little poodle/American Eskimo mix who was actually doing pretty well Friday night. Saturday was a different story, however, with hourly bouts of bloody diarrhea and much whimpering, the poor little thing.
*WARNING: FAIRLY GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION TO FOLLOW. PROBABLY NOT FOR THE WEAK OF HEART OR STOMACH*
I was supposed to temp Lucky at 11, but found I couldn't because he had some sort of solid, bloody material hanging out of his bum. Attempts to remove it were so painful for the dog that he actually vomited and practically jumped out of the cage, so I was afraid it might be still-attached intestine for all I knew. I called the doctor (again Dr. E, whose lethargic instructions may or may not have cost little Sally her life) and told her what was happening. Her thoroughly unhelpful response was, "Well, I don't understand. He was fine all day." As if I was just making it up to get out of temping the dog. When I insisted that no, the material was not my imagination, she said, "Well, just pull it out. It will be fine." I repeated the part about him vomiting, but she assured me it would be fine. Well, I tried again with similar results, and made a command decision that this really should be handled by a doctor personally, in the morning. I felt ineffectual, but I'm not at all comfortable with ripping out things that might still be attached based on the best guess of a doctor who sounded 3/4 asleep anyway.
By morning the diarrhea seemed to have slowed somewhat and Lucky was resting easier. I really hope the little guy pulls through.
~*~
Directly across the street from the hospital is a HUGE fast food Mexican restaurant named (again ironically) Taco Junior. It's neon green, stretches half a city block, and when the bars close at 2 a.m. is a mob scene, but the way sound carries it sounds like people are right outside my window. Saturday night (Sunday morning) it sounded especially rowdy, so I went upstairs to have a look. I wish I had taken a picture -- there had to be 50 freakin' people in that place. Bathed in that eerie green light, it looked like a taco joint from the afterlife in Beetlejuice.
About 10 of the patrons were a group of Mexicans that were currently shouting at each other angrily by the front door. It seemed to be escalating rapidly from my vantage point, and I was seconds from calling the police when a little senorita broke them up and they went their separate ways. Fortunate, because of all the things I don't enjoy hearing outside my window in the middle of the night, angry yelling people is probably in my Top Ten -- aww, hell, I'll put them in my Top Three, right behind 1) angry yelling people with guns and 2) angry Sasquatches. Thank god Sasquatch season is almost over. I'm sure no one is more relieved than me.
Saturday night was also especially windy. Fall is my favorite season, but standing out in that exercise yard, with the trees whipped into a frenzy and dry leaves skittering noisily, the night seems exceptionally sinister to me. I much prefer spending such a night at home.
Before we leave the kennels, here's my favorite dog from this weekend:
This is Patches. Normally I prefer large dogs, but lacking any of those I chose this little girl. This I think is what the phrase "So ugly she's cute" means. Awwwwwwww : )
~*~
Speaking of sinister, against the advice of movie reviewers and MyFriendGerry alike, I accompanied![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dopshoppe to see the vampire flick 30 Days of Night. ( ::click if you dare!! Muahahahahahaha:: )
The good: The music was atmospheric, creepy, suspense building. The setting was effectively bleak -- 10 minutes in, I literally had to snuggle under my coat because the cold was palpably radiating off the screen. The vampires, despite their flaws, were pretty scary. Most of what happens is generally believable.
The bad: Not as much as the critics would have you believe. My biggest complaint is the use of that awful, half-frame per second or whatever technique during action scenes that I first saw in Gladiator, you know the one that looks very, very exciting but impossible to see anything at all that's going on? Directors, have more faith in your stuntmen please. Also it makes no sense at all for an Alaskan town, which experiences regular and no doubt destructive blizzards, to have their power lines above ground. Unless the ground never thaws enough to bury them? I honestly don't know, can someone tell me?
And speaking of "Good to Know" information, there's no explanation given as to why vampires haven't taken advantage of Alaska's sunless season sooner (just a comment "We should have come here ages ago." Yes, you should have. Try reading a damn geography book once in awhile).
The best vampire movie ever made? Don't know about that. One of the goriest? Most certainly. 3 out of 5 for effort. If you want a movie that's really taut and guaranteed to make you squirm and leave you feeling morally ambiguous, rent instead this director's other movie, Hard Candy, about one teen girl's solution to pedophilia.
I might be jaded, but not a single moment of 30 Days matched the spike of fear that slid down my spine at the hospital Saturday night when I was certain, I mean absolutely sure, someone was crunching around in the leaves just on the other side of the fence, watching me. Guess I can save my movie ticket money and just go to work for a thrill, eh?
Today I plan to watch a movie of far more dubious quality, Sometimes they come back...for more!!
I mention this only because we've been having a rash of Parvo puppies all month. This past weekend I had two, one of which was "Lucky" -- I don't know if plans are in the works for a name change. Lucky is an adorable little poodle/American Eskimo mix who was actually doing pretty well Friday night. Saturday was a different story, however, with hourly bouts of bloody diarrhea and much whimpering, the poor little thing.
*WARNING: FAIRLY GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION TO FOLLOW. PROBABLY NOT FOR THE WEAK OF HEART OR STOMACH*
I was supposed to temp Lucky at 11, but found I couldn't because he had some sort of solid, bloody material hanging out of his bum. Attempts to remove it were so painful for the dog that he actually vomited and practically jumped out of the cage, so I was afraid it might be still-attached intestine for all I knew. I called the doctor (again Dr. E, whose lethargic instructions may or may not have cost little Sally her life) and told her what was happening. Her thoroughly unhelpful response was, "Well, I don't understand. He was fine all day." As if I was just making it up to get out of temping the dog. When I insisted that no, the material was not my imagination, she said, "Well, just pull it out. It will be fine." I repeated the part about him vomiting, but she assured me it would be fine. Well, I tried again with similar results, and made a command decision that this really should be handled by a doctor personally, in the morning. I felt ineffectual, but I'm not at all comfortable with ripping out things that might still be attached based on the best guess of a doctor who sounded 3/4 asleep anyway.
By morning the diarrhea seemed to have slowed somewhat and Lucky was resting easier. I really hope the little guy pulls through.
~*~
Directly across the street from the hospital is a HUGE fast food Mexican restaurant named (again ironically) Taco Junior. It's neon green, stretches half a city block, and when the bars close at 2 a.m. is a mob scene, but the way sound carries it sounds like people are right outside my window. Saturday night (Sunday morning) it sounded especially rowdy, so I went upstairs to have a look. I wish I had taken a picture -- there had to be 50 freakin' people in that place. Bathed in that eerie green light, it looked like a taco joint from the afterlife in Beetlejuice.
About 10 of the patrons were a group of Mexicans that were currently shouting at each other angrily by the front door. It seemed to be escalating rapidly from my vantage point, and I was seconds from calling the police when a little senorita broke them up and they went their separate ways. Fortunate, because of all the things I don't enjoy hearing outside my window in the middle of the night, angry yelling people is probably in my Top Ten -- aww, hell, I'll put them in my Top Three, right behind 1) angry yelling people with guns and 2) angry Sasquatches. Thank god Sasquatch season is almost over. I'm sure no one is more relieved than me.
Saturday night was also especially windy. Fall is my favorite season, but standing out in that exercise yard, with the trees whipped into a frenzy and dry leaves skittering noisily, the night seems exceptionally sinister to me. I much prefer spending such a night at home.
Before we leave the kennels, here's my favorite dog from this weekend:
This is Patches. Normally I prefer large dogs, but lacking any of those I chose this little girl. This I think is what the phrase "So ugly she's cute" means. Awwwwwwww : )
~*~
Speaking of sinister, against the advice of movie reviewers and MyFriendGerry alike, I accompanied
dopshoppe to see the vampire flick 30 Days of Night. ( ::click if you dare!! Muahahahahahaha:: )The good: The music was atmospheric, creepy, suspense building. The setting was effectively bleak -- 10 minutes in, I literally had to snuggle under my coat because the cold was palpably radiating off the screen. The vampires, despite their flaws, were pretty scary. Most of what happens is generally believable.
The bad: Not as much as the critics would have you believe. My biggest complaint is the use of that awful, half-frame per second or whatever technique during action scenes that I first saw in Gladiator, you know the one that looks very, very exciting but impossible to see anything at all that's going on? Directors, have more faith in your stuntmen please. Also it makes no sense at all for an Alaskan town, which experiences regular and no doubt destructive blizzards, to have their power lines above ground. Unless the ground never thaws enough to bury them? I honestly don't know, can someone tell me?
And speaking of "Good to Know" information, there's no explanation given as to why vampires haven't taken advantage of Alaska's sunless season sooner (just a comment "We should have come here ages ago." Yes, you should have. Try reading a damn geography book once in awhile).
The best vampire movie ever made? Don't know about that. One of the goriest? Most certainly. 3 out of 5 for effort. If you want a movie that's really taut and guaranteed to make you squirm and leave you feeling morally ambiguous, rent instead this director's other movie, Hard Candy, about one teen girl's solution to pedophilia.
I might be jaded, but not a single moment of 30 Days matched the spike of fear that slid down my spine at the hospital Saturday night when I was certain, I mean absolutely sure, someone was crunching around in the leaves just on the other side of the fence, watching me. Guess I can save my movie ticket money and just go to work for a thrill, eh?
Today I plan to watch a movie of far more dubious quality, Sometimes they come back...for more!!
