What we do when it rains!! :) COW EARS!!!

So what do you do when you have 14 dogs (five boarders for Thanksgiving) and it rains? Bring out the cow ears!!!! COW EARS?? I know, many of you give your dogs pig ears and didn't even know you could buy cow ears. Well, let me tell you what- after giving my dogs cow ears, I won't ever give them pig ears again. I also order "sweet cheeks" from Christi's Canine Cafe and those are the cheeks of cows- they smell like vanilla and the dogs LOVE EM!!!! Cow ears are thin, not greasy at all, low in fat and calories and an average dog like Gracie can take 30 minutes to chew through 1/2 of them. Yes, I buy them and then use loppers to cut them in half. They are so much cheaper than Bully Stix and other chewy treats. Since I am waiting on a shipment from Christi of sweet cheeks and beef tendons, we are happily chewing away this rainy day with our cow ears. There's a link to Christi's Canine Cafe on the first page of my blog on the left- go visit her- she is THE BEST and she inpects everything she ships before it goes out. She does not carry cow ears, but everything she carries is AWESOME. It's less expensive than Petco or Pet Supermarket and I can feed the treats to my dogs without fearing that they'll be dead in the morning b/c something was REALLY made in China and is laden with some bizarre toxin. Gracie and Quinn are shown below, somewhat blurry, I am sorry to say, munching away while it pours.

You can comment as anonymous!

Hey everyone- my sister in law said she couldn't leave a comment b/c she didn't have an account with yahoo. You can always leave a comment!!! Click on the bottom option which says, "Anonymous" and then leave your comment and your name if you want. AND WOW- I see visitors from GREECE ( I love Greece, would love to go back!), China- have friend adopting there as I type, and so many other places- I am thrilled that so many people are reading my blog. I have alot of advice in here about health issues in dogs, so look around or you can email me if you have any questions at JonAnne@aol.com.

It's either feast or famine around here!!

Here is Emily, our oldest daughter on the night of her induction to the National Junior Honor Society. I am biased, but I am telling you, she was the most gorgeous girl there!!! :)

This is Janie, Jane Jane guwl, or just precious to me. She is one of our owner surrenders, who has advanced breast cancer. She is my heart dog. She loves to snuggle up where ever it is warmest and stay there. She is probably 12 by now and has just been the greatest dog.

Yes that is a cat, named Jackie, lying down on Gizmo's back while Cavallino looks on with interest. Wonder why we call it Pharaoh's HAVEN??? They are best buddies!!!
The picture to the right shows Julianna giving Gizmo a bit of sweet tea- yes, he IS a SOUTHERN HORSE!!! Julianna is such a responsible horse owner and we are so proud of how well she takes care of Gizmo.

There's an old saying, " It's either feast or famine." That means, things are either really great or really awful. I am telling you that is the case here at the zoo. We will go months where no one gets sick or dies and then BOOM, out of nowhere, we have weeks that seem they will never end. The past three or four weeks have been "famine" weeks. We had two cats with abcesses, one that I treated and it healed up in 24 hours, and the other that took three vet visits, two surgeries and 10 days of round the clock treatment ( hot wet compresses, eye drops, and antibiotics by mouth- ever pill a cat? NOT EASY AND NOT FUN!) and an Elizabethan collar. I am usually a pretty stoic person but after dealing with blood and pus for 10 days, I literally lost it- physically and emotionally. I don't throw up unless I am pregnant, period. Well that 10 days with the cat's face did me in. Happily, Truffles is all better now and I am getting some sleep. He was such a good baby.

So now is feast time- literally and figuratively. My oldest daughter was inducted into the National Honor Society last night and I am getting some of those kids as volunteers here. HOORAY. The kids will be on a cruise for Thanksgiving week so I will have a week of rest and working with the animals. HOORAY. I will miss them terribly but am so grateful they will have a nice memorable week with their grandparents. Here are some random pics of things here- I am still too tired to match subjects up with names and stories. But I should be able to come up with some good stuff next week while I am having a lighter week! HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!

The Minis are coming the Minis are coming!

Well this is one excited family. Around October 19th, we will be the proud owners of two miniature horses. They are both males, and the buckskin paint's name is Gizmo and the bay's name is Cavallino. We purchased them from a lovely couple named Debbie and John Driggers at Delta Shamrock Farms. Gizmo is around four months old and Cavallino is six months old.
Why you may ask are we getting two miniature horses? Well, there are lots of reasons. We have always loved horses and once owned a quarter horse named Chap. Julianna and Emily spent a year riding at a friend's ranch and were both good riders and very much loved it, but Julianna in particular LOVED IT. Last October she broke her ankle (not related to the horses) and it healed and she did rehab, but several months later she began to have weakness, sharp shooting pains, and discoloration in that foot. After x-rays, MRI's and several doctor visits of all sorts, we got two diagnoses of CRPS. CRPS stands for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, which is a nerve illness and it used to be called RSD (Reflexive Sympathetic Dystrophy). We have two friends with this illness and it is capable of rendering someone wheelchair bound or in horrible pain for life. The good news is that many times it goes into complete remission in children. It's a hard syndrome to understand but the basic way it works is that when a part of the body is injured, the CRPS can travel to that part of the body and tells the nerves there to continually fire. This causes the sharp shooting pains, sensitivity to cool air, or even a fan blowing on that part of the body, severe pain, and weakness. The solution for this is to desensitize the affected nerve by using that part of the body and trying to get the nerves to "shut off"- not completely but to stop "overfiring".
Jules has had the episode in her left ankle which lasted for four weeks and a couple episodes in her right hand causing pain from her ring finger up to the wrist and weakness in that hand and wrist. Riding horses is not permitted, due to the risk of severe injury if she were to fall off the horse. We can't put her in a bubble but we have to limit the chances of her getting severely injured. So that means for the time being that riding horses is off the menu. So we prayed and talked and started thinking about ways that she and our family could still enjoy horses without the risk and my dear friend Laurel suggested getting a couple of miniature horses. They cannot be ridden due to their size but are horses in every other sense of the word. They are about 30 inches tall at the shoulder when full grown and are very easy to keep. So for Julianna's 12th birthday we took her to the Driggers' farm and told each girl to pick out a horse. I thought she was going to faint. So Jules picked Gizmo (the girls named the horses) and Em picked out Cavallino. This is very much a family project and this will be another way for us to spend time with our children at home, outside, and all helping with the care, feeding, grooming, and loving of these tiny treasures. The hand exercise in grooming and training them will be just what the doctor ordered for Julianna's hands and will be great for both of the girls. They can be walked like dogs (funny, huh?) and taught to do tricks, but mainly they are going to be here to be loved, trained to be handled, and to be another great way our family can bond. As the girls get older there are alot of things competing for their attention- good and bad. We encourage the good things such as youth group, good friends from school and things like that. This will be another good activity that they can share with those friends and family. We'll keep you posted on the babies' progress. Right now we have a run in shed to build and a pasture to get ready. YIPPEE!!!

Gracie and her grief!

Gracie as a pup- below and Gracie now

Our little boxer mix, Gracie Rose is in mourning. She had a best friend named Abbey, who was a lab/pit mix. They were best friends. They played for hours on end and chased each other in the yard constantly. Abbey was young- and started showing her "pit" side little by little. First there was food agression- no problem, we feed all of our dogs in their crates. Then came toy agression- problem- she and Grace would growl and "play fight". Then one day all hell broke loose. Abbey had a toy and Grace went up as usual to grab it and Abbey went INSANE and we were lucky to get her off Grace. Mind you, she was a year younger and smaller than Grace. We called a hundred people, from pit experts to pet psychologists and got the same answer- " It is only going to get worse, rehome Abbey." Well, we did and Grace has not been the same since. She mopes under our bed and still grabs a toy and runs outside and looks around like, " Where is she??" So we are asking God whether we can fill that spot or whether another needy dog (we would only do a rescue puppy with no pit bull in it) needs to come here to have a home. This is Gracie's puppy picture, and another of her now. We're trying, Gracie Rose!!!