allumiwallet

[allumiwallet]

So... Preschool is fun an interesting.

I never knew how upset someone could be over not being allowed to eat rocks

Or dirt

Or playdoh

Or orbeez.

[allumiwallet]

Behold, my favorite picture of Kevin

[allumiwallet]

Ducky enjoying her box :) I decided to make her her own little safe space in my room. Ducky is a pretty skittish cat, and has some anxiety. She does seem to like the box and the stuffed animal I bought for her too!!

Currently, she's not being medicated for her anxiety as it doesn't affect her quality of life. We do keep some gabapentin in the cupboard for when she goes to the vet or has to go in the car for whatever reason (for example, when mom accidently set the stove on fire two months ago so I moved all the pets to the car while she dealt with the stove)

She's my super cute snuggle girl 🥺🥺

[allumiwallet]

I've taken a bit of a hiatus. I've been diagnosed with a minor, but inconvenient heart condition and my anxiety has been incredibly bad the past two weeks.

I've also started a new job at an elementary school, and I think that's fantastic! But I still have needed to focus on my mental health.

I plan on going adventuring again soon, but in the meantime, I'll be mostly posting pictures of my pets and what I'm doing while I'm recovering :)

[allumiwallet]

Loki!

She was originally Panqueque, the Spanish word for pancake, because my sister loves pancakes.

Then we got her.

Night one, she escaped my sisters room and swam in the toilet, then decided it was snuggle time.

Next morning she knocks all the cat food out of her dish, and the knocks the dish off the table. She then discovers she can CLIMB THE DOOR FRAMES LIKE SPIDERMAN.

Later in the evening she ate too fast and threw up in my work shoes.

She steals socks, tries to climb in the dryer when I moving laundry, and doesn't take no for an answer.

My sister, mom and I were watching the avengers when Liv goes "Huh, Panqueque is kind of like Loki"

And so she was renamed. And it just got worse from there.

We love her tho lol

And while I don't believe in tortitude, she's definitely got attitude of some kind

Since roomba and yardstick both have name stories, would you like to know why Loki is named Loki as opposed to her original name of Panqueque? I'll even include the cat tax

i am indeed curious! (also greedy for cat tax)

[allumiwallet]

Panther Lake Loop, Federal Way, Washington, USA

I loved this little trail. A little under a mile, I walked it in a little under 20 minutes. Although it was rainy, it's so worth it if you're looking for an easy, close to home urban trail. I even saw a salamander!!

[allumiwallet]

Panther Lake Loop, Federal Way, Washington, USA

I loved this little trail. A little under a mile, I walked it in a little under 20 minutes. Although it was rainy, it's so worth it if you're looking for an easy, close to home urban trail. I even saw a salamander!!

[allumiwallet]

Coleman instant tent review coming soon...

[allumiwallet]

I've had horrible experiences with vets and lovely ones. Example: Luna.

Luna was a rescued BP with a rodent bite on her face. The first vet I went to told me she'd be fine, that the swelling would go down within a month and that reptiles just heal slow. I asked about her not eating and she said that's normal for ball pythons. Which, yes, they do go on hunger strikes, they always eat eventually.

I brought her back in a month and she was no better, hadn't eaten, and I had offered her f/t large mice three times a week in that period. At that point, I was told to give her an antibiotic shot three times a week for a year. This was a 22 year old snake that was pissy on a good day. That vet then charged me 2k because she decided it was an emergency, despite the fact that I had an appointment. The antibiotics themselves only cost me 150$. The rest was appointment fees.

It's worth mentioning at this point, this clinic is small, one vet and one tech, and the tech does the paperwork. I paid my bill and I'm still paying the care credit off. I followed that for about two months before Luna just started to get so much worse.

I took her to a different vet.

I explained to that vet what had happened and she told me that quite frankly, Luna should have been PTS from the start. She had a systemic infection and was in respiratory distress at this point. Luna was put to rest that day. She didn't beat around the bush, but she was kind. I brought back my dog when it was his time to go and she cried with me. I recently brought my baby leopard gecko and my ball python, Bingo, in for their wellcare exams. My chihuahua has seizures. My vet helps us manage those with medication, exercise and also pointed out that Lefty was obese. We didn't know! Lefty gets fed a healthy amount of food now and gets walked every day.

This vet is wonderful. This vet is kind. This vet is like *most vets*. She even offered to bring the other vet who works with her to examine Lefty when she started having her seizures if it would bring me more comfort to get a second opinion.

Oh, and when my 12-week old kitten decided to eat a fish hook? (we have no idea where she got it, we don't fish and she's inside only) she performed emergency surgery on her and saved her life. And it was affordable. She didn't judge, she was curious for sure, but not judgemental. She even let me sit in the lobby (with my mask, several feet away from anyone else) while ducky was in surgery. We were her only patients for several hours, so she didn't charge us the emergency fee.

When she neutered my older cat, she offered him the best care she could and had one of her vet techs refold the blankie in his crate for him. We put a note on it saying "Hi! I'm Frito and I'm very sweet!" and they wrote back, "Hi Frito and family, we agree he's very sweet! He purred the whole time he was in recovery. Love, (vet clinic team)"

Good vets are out there, and they far out number the bad ones. Read the reviews on anything before you commit to it.

Something I’ve noticed….. 

The veterinary community is VERY tightknit and VERY adverse to criticism. Vets will band together and defend each other almost blindly. The idea that we, pet parents, know more about our animals and their specific conditions more than some random vet does is seen as ridiculous. Asking questions and demanding a second opinion… Or even just a reason and explanation for an existing opinion… is deemed “wrong,” “bad,” “annoying,” “rude.” 

A few weeks ago, a vet told me to put my cat down when she came in for an emergency visit. She implied I was selfish for saying no. Two hours later, my cat’s condition had improved ON HER OWN so much that she was comfortable discharging her to come home. She was sent home with dewormer. When I asked “do we have any reason to think she has worms?” I was met with frustration at the question and I was told “this will help.” I asked “How?” I was met with more frustration and again told “this will help.” 

I was asking because this particular cat had gone through MANY rounds of dewormer when I first got her this past August and she is an indoor only cat. Her having worms would be a) very concerning and b) I would like to know what I need to do to ensure that we ACTUALLY kill the worms this time. The vet, however, didn’t care. She didn’t want to answer my questions. She wanted me to be a good little pet owner and take the meds home and do what she said. 

I was just reading on @ask-a-vetblr and their rules state that they will not “engage in vet-bashing,” whatever the hell that means, in their FIRST FAQ point which is about questioning a vet or wanting a second opinion. I have had a vet I feel was actually and fully medically neglectful to my cat – which resulted in the death of that cat. A pet parent dealing with that is terrified and doesn’t know what to do. They need guidance and compassion. Not anger and defensiveness.

I think we need to understand that vets are doctors. And doctors are not immune to mistakes. It is healthy and should be encouraged to ask your doctor questions. You are prescribed a medication and you SHOULDN’T be shamed or made to feel bad for asking basic questions like “What is this medication for?” “How does this medication work?” “What can I do to change my diet/behavior/environment/life to ensure this health problem doesn’t reoccur?” Most people will agree these questions shouldn’t be responded to defensively or negatively and a doctor responding to these negatively is a HUGE redflag of a potentially abusive or neglectful doctor. All of these are questions I’ve seen, personally, vets get very angry and upset hearing. And by that I mean most vets I’ve seen asked these questions have reacted poorly enough that if they were my own human doctor, I’d have left the appointment without paying and called my insurance company to block payment immediately.

Blogs like ask-a-vetblr should be teaching people how to navigate disagreeing or questioning their vets. Vets online should be providing us with resources to advocate best for our non-human loved ones. Instead, there’s a power play of dismissiveness and defensiveness that I feel really needs to be addressed. This imagined “war” between “pet parents” and “vets” shouldn’t exist! 

And you can see vet resentment of pet parents in other places too. When covid first started, I saw so many vets online posting about how happy they were they got to do their jobs with the sick pets while the “annoying people” waited outside. I’ve known people in vet school who said their classmates frequently talk about how they are becoming vets because they “hate people” or “animals are so much better than people.” I heard one vet student a few years ago say she was becoming a vet because she wanted to “protect animals from their owners.” 

Pet parents want what’s best for their pets too. We’re all out here doing our best. And yeah, there’s shitty pet parents who don’t care. And yeah, there’s a lot of excuses about non-human animal neglect. And yeah, there’s very little consensus on what IS neglect of our non-human animals. But none of that excuses this power play abusive dynamic between vets and pet parents. We SHOULD be able to challenge you and you SHOULD welcome that. A pet parent who is observant and attentive enough to their pets and their needs to ask you questions and challenge you on certain things should be WELCOME and ENCOURAGED! You should WANT to explain everything to us so we can better understand. The goal is “fewer sick pets.” We, also, share that goal!!! We are not your enemy! 

I just find this dynamic truly abusive and awful and almost no one speaks about it. Medical abuse isn’t just a human problem. It is not socially acceptable for human doctors to act like this anymore and it shouldn’t be socially acceptable for vets either. NO medical professional should behave this way. No matter what species they serve. 

*NOTE: I tagged ask-a-vetblr for a quick easy link to an example of what I’m talking about NOT because I want to fight anyone. That blog is not the only place I’ve seen it – its just the post that inspired me to make this post and, therefore, a quick and easy link. 

[allumiwallet]

I have three chihuahuas, each a rescue.

One of them is my travel buddy. He goes camping with me, on road trips, and he doesn't like people. He doesn't bite, or snarl, but he will tuck his tail between his legs and hide by me. He was abused by his previous owners.

He has a backpack for when we hike in the summer, so he doesn't burn his feet or overheat, and little boots and a jacket in the winter. Both say in loud letter "NERVOUS DOG". His harness also says that.

I've had so many people ask to pet him and when I say sorry, he's not cool with people, they almost always come back with "oh, cause he's a chihuahua!"

But my Lefty is a chihuahua and she's a therapy dog. Pre-covid, she went to schools and old folks homes to provide comfort. She loves people! Because she was trained!

Respect dogs and their boundaries. Poncho may not bite you, but he will be very upset and may not ever like people. One day he might be comfortable if people respect his space!

Here's a picture of me and poncho :)

hey bluebell! I was wondering if you'd seen that video of the chihuahua, the "can I get an owa owa" tiktok video. I dunno if you can answer this but is that dog like. Good. Is that just what chihuahuas are like. I'm bewildered and a little afraid

i hadn’t seen it before and now that i have, i’m a little sad.  pudgy looks like a very elderly chihuahua who’s boundaries have been pushed again and again, so now he feels like his ONLY option is to bite with his gummy almost toothless mouth.  he appears to be blind, or very nearly so.  i’m not too worried about his weird bark.  weird barks are allowed.  the behavior worries me a lot more.

0/10, not a fan of needlessly stressing out an old pup. 

chihuahuas are, in fact, very good dogs when they’re allowed to BE dogs.  i think a lot of us have made jokes about yippy little purse dogs who are way too puntable to really COUNT as dogs, but we should be kinder to them and recognize their doghood.  It’s easy to think of them as ‘less than dogs’, when we don’t really... let them BE dogs.  We treat them like things.  We laugh when they bite.  We laugh at their tinny little barks, and pick them up regardless of whether or not they want to be picked up.  we don’t let them gain confidence. 

i’ve only met like... three chihuahuas that were actually good dogs, tbh.  the others were frightened, wretched creatures who’ve had their dogness ripped from them. 

the recipe for a good chihuahua:

Socialize the little guy

Curb resource guarding

Let the pup walk on their own; don’t carry them everywhere.

Listen to their boundaries.  if the dog doesn’t want to be picked up, don’t pick them up

treat it like a dog.  it’s a small dog.  please let it be one.

If you wouldn’t tolerate a behavior in a larger dog, don’t encourage it in a small one.

[allumiwallet]

My photos from my first two walks of the year, the West Hylebos Wetlands (Federal Way, WA, USA) and the BPA trail (Federal Way, WA, USA)