• 4 Lamprologus Speciosus: These are shell-dwellers and I have about 20 empty escargot shells in the tank for them.
• 2 Eretmodus Cyanostictus “Blue Point”:  “Gobies”, they’re beautiful as adults, cute as juveniles, and have great behavior. Rock dwellers.

I want to add 3-4 Synodontis Lucipinnis,  3-4 Altolamprologus Calvus “Ink Fin” , and 8-12 Cypichromis, though I’m not sure what variety yet.  If I can get away with it, I’d like to add a julidochromis pair as well.

I wanted a Tang Eel, but they’d eat my my Lamprologus, so that’s out =)

I’m already enjoying this tank many times more than I ever enjoyed the reef tank.  And the Lamprologus are already showing some courting behavior, and setting up their hierachy.

I’m psyched, I missed my cichlids.  A 90 gallon is perfect for a Lake Tanganyikan tank.

She’s also constipated and hasn’t had a normal bathroom visited in 2 days; she is on medication to try to alleviate this.

I have other updates but I’m tired.  I mostly wanted to note the improvements.  She ate today though I’m not pushing her until she has a good bowel movement.

Things are looking up, which is a huge relief.  Her doctor thinks that she’s going to do very well on medication, so here’s hoping!

Along with her other symptoms and results we now believe she has Triaditis, or Feline Triad Disease.  Eventually, this will kill her, but with early diagnosis and treatment, she can live a healthy, happy life for years to come.

Here are some links about it:

PetCareLibrary.  Note the last two paragraphs from that article:

All three of the diseases that constitute Triad Disease - IBD, hepatitis and pancreatitis - can also exist independently or from other causes, so repeated diagnostic testing will be required to decide how to treat the symptoms and to monitor the course of the disease. Kidney disease, thyroid disease or cancer can all have similar signs but very different treatments. Multiple problems may be present at the same time or develop later on. IBD can also progress to intestinal cancer. Eventually Triad disease will become severe and advanced and treatment will no longer be effective, though this can take several years. The earlier it is diagnosed the better the outcome and longevity of the cat.

Although diagnosis and treatment of triad disease is difficult and often costly, treatment may also be very rewarding. In the early stages a simple change to a hypoallergenic diet and frequent monitoring may be all that’s required. The response to medication can be dramatic in some cases and most cats do very well in the early stages. For the best outcome a good, close working relationship with your cat’s veterinarian is required!

This explains why changing Mali to grain-free food early on had such a positive effect. 

Here is an interesting article about another person that has been facing these issues with two cats, one who has passed.  The medications are different but there are a lot of similarities.  This article advocates the use of raw food (Mali won’t eat a balanced raw diet, but she’ll eat chopped up turkey and chicken pieces) or canned food, but says not to use kibble.  Mali free feeds kibble (high quality grain free) and it’s often the only way she’s kept on weight, so I’m skeptical about that for Mali, but I’ll be reading more on this site for sure.

Right now Mali is on Clavamox to bring her ALT (liver) down, and is going on Ursodiol.  She’s also receiving 100ml of subcutaneous fluids a day.  She ate about 1oz of food and I can easily force-feed her dry food by simply placing it on her tongue.  She’s no longer going places she doesn’t normally go, and she’s no longer lethargic.  She slept with me, she’s been purring and kneading, but she’s not yet playful.  I think we’ll have full quality of life soon, but I don’t know how long.  Every moment…

And, of course, she has miniature kidneys, with one being pretty much non-functional.  Right now her BUN and Creatanin are within normal range.  But who knows when her kidneys will act up again?

I already knew these ongoing issues were going to be fatal in the long-term.  But can we stabilize her and get her healthy, and happy, with a good quality of life now?  I do believe we can and will.  At the point in time where Mali is suffering more, the I may have to face the decision to put her down.  But right now I’m keeping focused on the positive.  She’s already doing heaps better.  I know she’ll continue to improve, and if she needs medication for the rest of her life, that is what she’ll get.

Mali is very dehydrated, though she now has subq fluids.  The vet took her blood and will have the results to Dr. Huff in the morning. 

We suspect she’s anemic, her gums and inner mouth are very, very pale. 

She ate and played earlier today.

I’ve known for years that Mali wasn’t going to live her full potential lifespan.  Back in 2007 she was given 6 months to at most 2 years to live; and it’s now been 3 years.  I’ve treasured every moment with her, I believe she’s had a happy life and a high quality of life.  I can’t imagine life without her.  She holds a large part of my heart in her paws.  But I’m now facing a situation where I may have to decide on her life in the morning.

As long as she is playful and happy, she’ll get every penny I can give to keeping her alive and healthy. 

But right now, she doesn’t move from where I place her, even after receiving fluids.  Despite the vet’s assurances I am none to sure that she’ll make it through the night and I can feel my heart breaking into tiny little pieces.

Wish us luck, she has bounced back before, I hope dearly that she can bounce back again.  I need her to bounce back.

Update, 10:12am  Mali is doing better, more reactive to stimuli, more active in general.  Still hiding, not eating, and not drinking.  Vet follow up at 3pm.  Possible UTI.  Her liver ALT is 657 (should be under 130) and her white blood cell count is elevated.  Possible crystals in her urine, but her kidneys have within range BUN and Creatanin.  Red blood cell count is low-normal.  She’ll need subq fluids every day and she’s going on Clavamox.  Something about serum made the vet ask if she was jaundiced - no yellowing in her eyes, gums or mouth: no jaundice is a good sign.

Me?  I am still crying every few minutes.  I hope she pulls through this.  I know she can. 

I knew what I wanted in the fish tank, I put egg crate (light diffuser) down so the rock would be safe. I put the sand in after the rock.  I filled it up. I put in ammonia and started the process of fishless cyclng.

Less than a week ago it had plenty of water and marine life in it.  No problem.

This evening I was drinking a wine cooler and I get up to go look at the tank and see water on the floor.  No problem, I had done some maintenance and made a mess.  I cleaned up.

10 minutes later my towel had gone from a few patches of wet to drenched and water was dropping off the side of the tank.  I sat there with paper towels wiping down the tank, hoping it was leftover water from earlier maintenance.  Then I got to watch the water re-appear.  This was a slow-ish leak with no obvious source.  At least it was slow; I didn’t have 65 gallons of water on my floor.

I emptied the tank to 2/3rds full and walked away.  Came back and water was all over the place.  Still leaking.

So, at this point I’d had 2 wine cooler.  I turned off all the electronics, I hooked up the python and drained the tank.  Around 50% full the tank stopped leaking.  Awesome.

I guess that the reef tank was a ticking time-bomb; at least it had decided to let loose before I put in any livestock.  But it couldn’t do that before there was wet sand to pull out?  50lbs of it.

So, now this weekend I get to once again pull crap out of the tank.  Then I’ll post it cheap as a reptile tank (leaks don’t matter then) and/or just give the fucker away.

I still want a cichlid tank, I have the setup I want and I have all of the equipment minus a leak-free tank.  But I have no way to get one here, and delivery is expensive for heavy items.  So, I don’t know….

My frustration level is through the roof and I can feel the depression setting in.  Alistare had an aggression issue, JC had a virus issue, and now I can’t even seem to get a fish tank running successfully.

At least Mai was there to play fetch with me.  Elka was passed out under my bed during the whole adventure.

This week has plain out sucked; at least it’s almost over.  But there’s still a whole 24 hours and 15 minutes for shit to go wrong before Sunday. 

Tuesday his owner brought him over.  Tuesday afternoon I brought him to the vet.

FeLV Negative.  FIV Negative.

Today I got the Corona Virus titers back - positive.

Corona virus is harmless in and of itself. It likely will never become dangerous by mutating into FIV.

Mali is negative for Corona Virus -it can’t mutate in her because she doesn’t have it.

Now, it’s a small chance she’d get it from JC, and an even smaller chance it would mutate.  But Mali isn’t the healthiest of cats, and even with small chances, it just wasn’t worth the risk.  I can’t endanger her life, so JC went back home.

I’m very upset about this, he was an incredibly sweet, affection cat and I was really looking forward to having two cats snuggling and playing; but it was just not going to work out.

My quest to expand my family seems rather doomed.  :(

Then a hug, and a spinning, affectionate Elka.

Then things went downhill.

I took Elka to her daycare, and Elka did not go down the normal route to the yard.  So the lady that was trying to get her outside grabbed her by the collar and hurt her finger in the process.  That sucks, but I’ve done it grabbing dogs too - nail catches, ouchie.

She then proceeded to very roughly grab Elka’s collar and drag her to the yard - Elka’s front feet were off the ground unable to reach the ground and support her weight: very dangerous for her throat.  I was in so much shock I couldn’t even respond.  I’ve spent much of the day berating myself for failing Elka: I should have grabbed her and left.

In any case, I am waiting a call back from the owner as she investigates what happens.  I’ll be honest, I’m not expecting much from this - it’s one person’s word against another’s I have no reason to want to pull Elka out of daycare, after all, she loves it and I need to board her in March too.  I love that daycare and one of my foster programs uses it.  But I’m scared, now, to leave Elka there.

We’ll see.

On the “up” side I took my Prius in for a service and while there I test drove a Venza.  I loved that car.  I still need to test drive the Honda Element, Subaru Forester (test-driving a Subaru is almost not necessary, I love them always) and possibly a few others.  No decision for awhile but that’s ok too, I want to do these test drives while weather is slick and rainy.

Tomorrow at 10am I have a second cat coming over.  He sounds like an incredible cat He’s a year old, grey, grew up with a golden retriever and his best buddy is a boston terrier.  Hopefully Mali will take to him quite quickly, because we’re doing a trial and if it doesn’t work out, his owner has a backup plan for another family.  I really think that Mali could use a playmate and companion (especially on the few business trips I go on every year), and lord knows Elka could use a dog-friendly cat in the house.

I’m super psyched! 

In any case, today has been this humongous mental drain for me.  I’ve cried multiple times over the forlorn look on Elka’s face when I left her - normally she can’t wait to get out to the yard.  Something recently has changed there, and I trust Elka’s judgement more than my own in this case.

Wish us luck tomorrow with the second cat - his name is JC, short for Jean Claude.  I’d prefer Kayne had stuck around for another 15 years, I miss my little monster. :(

But JC sounds fantastic, so here’s hoping!

One of these was a side-by-side LG fridge/freezer. 

Every few months the ice-maker on this freezer would quit working and I would call the Geek Squad, they’d come out and replace a part. They replaced one part 4 times, then they replaced another part on the fifth try.  That last try broke after 2 days.

I have the Black Tie protection on these appliances, against this kind of shenanigans.  So the sales person said to talk to Geek Squad: after 4 repairs on the fridge, they replace the entire unit.

So I called Geek Squad.  Oh, look, the ice maker is the exception.

So I call the sales person and he’s in shock.  3 weeks later he comes back to me having gone through his managers and Geek Squad, and offers me a new fridge “at cost”, saying I could move my existing fridge to the garage.

I pushed again, after all, that’s not acceptable.  Finally the manager that was standing next to him ok’d the replacement.  I didn’t want the same model - and I didn’t want an LG: they all use the same ice makers - so they gave me a credit.

I used that opportunity to correct a regret I had in not spending a few more $$ to get a french door fridge/freezer.  Today the new beauty arrived.  It’s this Samsung, great reviews, and some geekery for me.  I already have a great photo slideshow uploaded to the fridge and have already used the nutritional information.

The moral of this story: be persistent, don’t take no for an answer.  The irony?  Neither myself nor the sales person could find the ice maker exception in the Black Tie agreement.  Do they make this shit up as they go along?!

Today I brought in a new foster from Tiny Paws Rescue.  He’s a 4 month old Australian Shepherd puppy named Corbyn (and his brother is Dallas….)

He has a potential adopter coming tomorrow so he’s only here for an overnight at this point.  Every time I have a new puppy I forget how hard they are!  And how rewarding and exciting and cute and cuddly.

And tiring.  He’s crate trained but I’ve been crating him and he already screams in there so I have a good idea of how that is going to go down later.  *yawns*

So far I’ve somewhat gotten his “jump into person’s arms” thing mostly under control teaching him a default sit.  He has played with Elka quite a bit after he got more confident about his surroundings, but he’s quite shy.  He is leashed to me in case Mali comes out as he has no cat exposure, but I’m curious how he’ll react.  I think he’ll be terrified of her.

Fun!  It’s a bit easier with a puppy when you know they’re yours, but this is still very much worthwhile.

I’m feeling refreshed and ready for work.  I’ve had some thought about some of my projects and some new ideas about how to approach them.  I feel invigorated and totally ready to jump back in.

Elka is doing great.  We went on a nice 35 minute walk for the first time in ages.  She has somehow magically become incredible on leash.  I’m not entirely sure how that happened.  She and I are working towards taking the dog park out of our routine.  It’s simply too unpredictable and too uncontrolled.  Her play is a bit too rough with some dogs as well.  I think we’ll go occasionally just not with the frequency we’ve been going.

That means walks 5x/week (daycare 2x/week) and that means exercise for me at minimum 5x/week.  That will reinforce her leash behavior for when I finally get a puppy that fits in here.

I really miss Alistare; it appears he got adopted on Saturday which is excellent.  I stepped up Elka’s “don’t chase the cat” training.  Essentially anytime Mali is on the floor, Elka is getting food stuffed into her mouth.  No commands, just food.  My hope is that Elka will have an aha moment that “Mali on floor means food, not chase”. 

I’ve decided to bring in a puppy of a dog breed known to be good with small animals, and have narrowed down that list to my two faves: Golden Retriever or Tamaskan.  Tamaskan is harder, they’re quite rare.  Goldens I’m being super picky on.  I found a breeder that I love but she can’t provide OFA hip certification so unfortunately that won’t work out.  I’m hoping the perfect foster comes along but I may go on a waiting list if I can find the perfect breeder.

Mali is also doing incredibly well. As Chris said, Mali looks like a cat now, instead of a bag of bones.

I’m looking forward to the coming months.  Good times ahead both professionally and individually.

I hope everyone else’s New Year is off to a great start!

• He was fantastic with Mali one on one
• He was fantastic with Elka one on one

Those were my requirements, along with being mellow and young.  Excellent with Elka and Mali were the must-haves, the other two were wants.

See those two points above?  Well, he met those.

Then Mali came out to survey the situation.

Alistare attacked Elka.

Not once, but twice.  It was the second time where I figured out the trigger for the attacks on Elka.  Mali was the trigger. 

Alistare was over-excited, he wanted to check out Mali and couldn’t, so he redirected that frustration on Elka.  I do not believe this was outright aggression but was instead redirection.  But it is still an attack, and one that came without warning in this case.

I did some serious soul-searching.  I could lay out the plan for handling this and re-training/managing it.  I knew, intellectually, how to approach it.

In the mean-time, all 3 would have to be kept separate, I’d have to worry all the time.  It would be an incredible amount of stress and uncertainty. If a 6 month old puppy had this issue, what would adolescence and adult-hood give us?

On the other hand, Alistare was 6 months old, incredibly sweet, absolutely one of the smarter dogs I’ve met, and gorgeous.

I contacted Family Dogs New Life about it and they allowed me to bring him back to them.  I spent most of yesterdays in a complete break-down until I finally went to sleep.  Chris has been incredibly supportive.

At this point I’m going back to considering a pure-bred.  A golden retriever or going on the waiting list for a Tamaskan, both which have a high success rate with cats and other small animals.  Or I may just go back on the foster list for Golden Bond Rescue.

I’m heartbroken over this; I feel like I failed Alistare.  I also feel like I failed Elka allowing her to get attacked twice like that.  Thank goodness he never attacked Mali - she would have been killed, and that was the ultimate reason I brought him back. 

There is always some unpredictability when you bring home a second dog, even a purebred.  But if I get an 8 week old from a breeder with cats, the puppy raised in home around those cats, then the chances of this working out skyrocket.

But still, I failed in so many ways here, and yes, bringing him back I include as a failure, though it was absolutely the right thing to protect Mali and Elka.

I miss him very much, but he’ll have a fantastic, more appropriate home, and quickly.  He’s that close to irresistible.

There is also stigma attached, and renting becomes harder.  When I sell this house - likely within the lifespan of this dog - I may need to rent and renting with a pit is nearly impossible in some areas.

So I didn’t go with Brooke.  We headed down to Family Dogs New Life to look at two dogs: Tarvin and Jacob.  Tarvin was in the process of being adopted so we decided to see Jacob.  Jacob is a chow mix, 5 months old, and completely gorgeous.

Well, about 15 minutes later we decided to walk Elka and Jacob together.  They walked fine together, though it was pure chaos. Elka needs a refresher on leash training and Jacob never learned.

About 30 minutes later I handed over a check and we left with Jacob.  On the way home we stopped at PetSmart for a new collar and an appropriately sized bed for his crate.  Then we came home and they spent about the next 30 minutes going flat out around my yard chasing.  Then they wrestled.  Then they cuddled.

I don’t like the name Jacob for my dog, so we spent a few hours discussing options and his new name is Alistare.  Yes, I deliberately mis-spelled it.  Alistair it the typical spelling but I prefer the cute joke of “All I Stare” though I dropped that extra “l” to make the pronunciation more obvious.

So right now Alistare is snuggled on the couch asleep and Elka is snuggled at my couch asleep.  He’s a pretty mellow puppy though he sure can play!  And he already barks at strangers.  Elka’s dream playmate and my dream dog, all in one.

Oh, and he appears to have no interest at all in Mali, for which I’m sure she’ll be eternally (un)grateful.

Happiness is a puppy.

Chris put together some shelving for me and helped me organize the garage, and we’re going to put up another shelving unit as well.  I got one for the attic as well.

We also spent a day visiting dog shelters.  We went and met a dog that I’d had my eyes on for awhile but he was just a bit rough for Elka and didn’t listen to her very well Unexpectedly I fell in love with Brooke, a 2 month old pit bull.  This poses some problems as far as daycare/boarding - daycares won’t take pits.  I’m taking Elka to meet Brooke tomorrow.  If that goes well I’ll have a hard decision to make.  She’s an awesome puppy though.

Either way I’m looking for a mellow puppy that is good with cats, and I’m trying not to worry about breed, gender, size with a focus on “the best personality”.  If pits didn’t have the lack of daycare/boarding options (or I was married! ha) then the “pit bull” portion wouldn’t be an issue.  But I do travel for work a few times a year and I need a place I trust where I can put the pooches.

We’ll see what happens tomorrow when Elka meets Brooke.

Other than that just relaxing, getting some house-stuff done and enjoying Chris’ visit and the time off.  Hopefully I’ll find that perfect second dog, whether that is Brooke or another dog.  We’ll see!

And Happy 2010 to everyone.

That was in 1976.  I’ll leave the math up to you.

Back in the day (when I was 13 or so) I imagined that by now I’d be married with kids.  I’m not married and I have Mali and Elka to keep me company.  I’m happy about where I am.  I had friends that had no family around for the holiday that were depressed they’d be alone on Christmas but for me, I was right where I wanted to be: at Hondo Dog Park with Elka.

In all seriousness being single agrees with me.  I don’t like sharing space and I get crabby about having to live on someone else’s schedule. I don’t share my bed well, especially, and I have very set ideas about how my animals should be treated, as well as how my house, and of course, how I should be treated.

Of course, I also don’t leave my house, so meeting someone to attempt to date would be a pretty difficult thing anyway.

Perhaps in the New Year I’ll try to expand my horizons and see if I can meet someone.  But I’m happy where I am and not particularly feeling any sort of “biological clock” ticking.  I do sometimes think it would be nice to have a partner, but most of the time I’m blissfully happy with just me and my girls.  And “sometimes” is not enough motivation to kick me into gear to get into the “dating” world.

But we’ll see.  What I can say is that this year has been an incredible year and I’m happy with where I am.  I’m hope the coming year will also shape up nicely.

Mali isn’t terribly impressed and also does not view it as an amusement park ride. She’s particularly annoyed by the robot when it’s cleaning under the couch, and therefore under us.

Elka was fleeing outside (her normal “vacuum cleaner behavior” but since the Roomba works on its own I was able to do some focused training with her and she’s no longer fleeing in panic.  She did choose to go outside when I put the treats away but only after sniffing at the robot and looking at it with what I swear was disdain.

As for me, I’m watching it with some fascination.  It does need to be empties more often than I’d like, but once I’ve run it a few times I expect that’ll be under control.  I did do a pre-vacuum with the Dyson but the Roomba is much more thorough.

I really love my first robot.