Clooney's Chair

When Clooney came to live with us I bought him and easy chair:

http://grantzoo.blogspot.com/2011/10/clooneys-easy-chair.html

Over the years that little chair has had many a critter in it.  I like to think that in some way that makes my Clooney happy....

The little girls seem to like it most - Madison and Fiona can be found in there often.  I happened to catch Violet in there yesterday:

I love that his chair continues to get used... miss that little squirt!

My Theo

My Theo - this boy absolutely loves to get his picture taken.  He is by far the easiest of the ferrets to photograph and as a result I have lots of photos of him.  I promise I am not playing favorites but I just can't resist that sweet face and that little notch in his ear.  To top it off he is so stinking sweet and gentle - ugh - can you tell he (and the rest of them) have me wrapped around their tiny ferret/kitty/pup/pig paws/hooves?

New Pics

Okay - this month has just been crazy - too much going on - events, trips, life in general.  I have done a terrible job of blogging this month.  I did spend some time with the camera out today and I got most everyone....

First - let's start with a few additional pictures of sweet Esther the Wonder Pig - our visit there last weekend was so awesome!

Here are some critter shots from today:

The Divine Miss Em

Phoebe

Violet

Tabitha

Fiona

Aggie - love that she has flower petals in her fur from outside

Theo

Madison

Phoebe

Phoebe - those eyes!!

Bashy way at the end of the box - its his favorite sleeping spot

Oliver

Aggie

Emma

Love those piggy teeth

Look at that smile

Sitting like a good boy

That face - of course you can have another cookie

Travel is Hard

So - I survived the weekend.  The critters survived the weekend.  I am so glad to be home with them!

We have a fantastic pet sitter who comes to the house 4 times a day while we are gone.  She bravely takes care of the pig even though he is a total pink turd at times, she spends lots of time with Emma and she cares for and picks up after the kitties and the ferrets.  It's a big job.

We left pretty early on Friday morning with cameras set up in Winston's room and in critter land.  It's quite comforting to be able to check in on them whenever I want and the cameras we set up write to a server so if someone were to oh say fall in the pool or something - we could check out the instant replay.  Yes folks - Emma fell into the pool on Sunday.  She hates it but she is a good swimmer.  I think the thunder startled her - poor little neurotic dog.  Here is what one view from the camera looked like:

Look at that cute little bubby snug in his bed.!!  The cameras worked great until the piglet decided that he was bored on Sunday afternoon and chewed through both cords....pink turd.  Thankfully it was on the last day and not at the start of the trip.  The cameras in critter land worked great - of course the ferrets and the cats did note feel the need to eat the wires.  The Pawbo (did you see my post on that?)  did pretty well on it's inaugural run.  The ability to connect to it and chat with the pig worked like a charm.  It did get jammed on the cookie dispenser but the pet sitter was able to fix it. Winston enjoyed getting cookies and I think he liked his virtual tuck ins - I always spend time with him each night so I would connect and chat with him while he laid in his bed.  Realistically - it probably didn't mean much to him but it made me feel better about being gone.  I suppose there is some value in that.

I came home to spotless critter areas which was delightful - feeling quite spoiled.  Today was spent getting back into the routine.  Winston spent almost all day outside rooting, playing and napping. Emma was in and out.  The little critters were in and out as well - happy that their outside space was opened up after being on lockdown while I was gone.  I am so glad to be home.  I miss them so much when I travel and I worry (unnecessarily I know).

I guess that's it for now - critters have been tucked in early because the critter mom is exhausted - heading to bed early tonight!

Pawbo - I think I am in Love!!

I broke down and ordered a Pawbo a few days ago and have been working with Winston to get him used to it.  What is a Pawbo you might ask??  Well - it looks like this:

It connects to your wifi  and the dot is a camera.  Below the camera is a laser that you can control (I don't think Winston has good enough eyesight to see it) and right below the logo is a drawer that you can open and fill up with cookies.  You download the app to you phone and you can talk to, photo, video and give cookies to your critter from anywhere with a wifi connection.  How awesome is that? It also has noises that you can choose from to get your pets attention - I chose the crinkling bag noise.

For us this serves two purposes.  First - it lets me interact with Winston when we travel.  Second - and I used it this morning - when he gets up at the freaking crack of dawn in the mornings wanting cookies all I have to do is grab my phone and push the button a couple of times.  He gets his cookies and heads back to bed until breakfast and I don't have to get up.  He is a spoiled pig and I am a spoiled piggy momma.....

I got it on Amazon....

And the Eyes Have It

8% of our critter eyes are busted....  that sounds like a lot - really its not - its two eye on two different critters.

First - I noticed that Winston (pig) had a red and swollen eye.  He has allergies so its not out of the realm of possibility for him.  I asked him to lay down for me and thankfully he is a pig who loves maintenance so he happily let me clean around his eye and flush his eye out with colloidal silver.  Upon further inspection his eye is good - not gunky and the eye itself does not look angry at all.  He has some sort of scratch or bite just below his eye.  So - tonight when I tucked him in he let me clean it again and put some Benedryl gel on it (being very careful not to get any too close to the eye itself).  The great thing about pig anatomy is that you can put topical medications on them - pretty much anywhere - and they are not built to lick or scratch it off.  Winston appears to be feeling super and the thing under his eye is purely superficial I am certain.  I will keep a close eye on him - no pun intended.

The second eye issue belongs to Oliver (kitty).  He has what we have affectionately named squinty eye.  Ollie was a stray who found his way into our world.  Since the beginning he has had one eye that seems to bug him at times.  The vet has repeatedly checked it and nothing ever shows up.  Every once in awhile when he is wrestling with Phoebe (kitty) or one of the ferrets he gets poked in the eye and then its really squinty.  It makes a bunch of gunk and he squints for a couple of days and then voila he is fine once again.  I have flushed it with colloidal silver to get rid of any foreign bodies and then I dosed him with a soothing feline eye ointment that I have from the vet.  Since this has happened several times over the years I expect that by early next week he will be back to 100% but of course I will keep a close watch.  He does make me laugh - over the course of the day I have gone down to critter land to check on him several times.  If he doesn't hear me come in I can watch him and he is still squinting but he is keeping his eye about 3/4 open.  When he sees me he holds it all the way shut - 'Oh, my eye.  I am so pathetic.  Love on me.'  Little stinker....

Other than the two eyes - the rest of the critter parts seem to be doing just great.

As always - I am not a vet and any treatment that you read about on my blog should be discussed with your own veterinary professional prior to trying on your critters.  I do what works for me but am not trying to give any sort of medical advice....

Theo, Violet and Emma

Theo and Violet came down to our room for a visit last night.  Violet got her toe stepped on so I wanted to make sure she was okay.  She was fine - she told the hubs off when it happened but she is no worse for the wear.  Theo came with her because it was his turn.  Emma was hanging out with us as well:

Violet playing under the rug

Handsome boy Theo

Emma in denial that I have the camera out

Beautiful Bugs

Yesterday we were visited by 2 beautiful bugs.  Okay - maybe one beautiful and one cute....

The cute one first:

This little dude will turn into the American Dagger Moth - its a rather ordinary moth for coming from such a colorful and fuzzy little guy (photo from Google):

And then there was this stunning guy!  Wow - what a beautiful creature - the pictures don't do him justice.  He is a Polyphemus Moth.  So amazing:...

August Pics

I captured a few snaps while I was hanging out with the gang today.  I didn't get good ones of everyone but I did get some fun pics of half the bunch.  I will work on getting the rest over the weekend:

Violet towards the back, Kai in the middle and Bash

 

Kai and Bash

Kai, Violet and Bash

Madison

Love this one of Tabby

Another of Tabby

What a ham!

Smiley Pig