Wednesday, May 03, 2017

Tuesday, May 02, 2017

Not Cats...Bats

Friend BG and I visited Stage Nature Center in Troy, Michigan this weekend, to visit with some bats! The lecture, called "Bats of the World", was presented by members of Organization for Bat Conservation.
Big Brown Bat (native to Michigan)

Female Fruit Bat

Another type of fruit bat, male
Then we walked around the 100-acre area, and I snapped a few photos:
Shelf fungus on tree stump

Interesting tree and plant life
Someone spied this screech owl just hanging out, waiting for us to take his picture!
Screech owl in a wood-duck box!
Bats are our friends; they pollinate and spread seeds.  They need flowers, water, and places to sleep and raise their young. Unfortunately, cats can be predators of baby bats testing their wings, or if they find a nest up in a tree.  We have bats flying around our yard, but Patty O'Malley and Sweetie do not seem to be in the mood to chase them down, not with bowls of kibble and food at their noses!

Monday, May 01, 2017

Looks Like A Spaceship!




These are images of Chuck's PM pill allotment.  The brown stuff is pill masker.  There are five pill pieces, plus one capsule in that glob.  I could try to get photos or even a video of The Hubby dropping that wad down Chuck's throat, but it all happens much too fast to really see anything.  He's learned to a) wait until Chuck has found a place to rest, b) he drops to his knees, tilts the cat's head back, and down the hatch it goes!, c) he rubs Chuck's throat to make sure that lump goes down, then, d) there is at least a full minute of hugging and cooing.  The AM pill allotment is smaller.

I believe that The Hubby's ability to pill Chuck so definitively twice a day, has made all the difference in Chuck's health.  The Hubby has a bowl full of medicine bottles and daily pill envelopes, and when we get close to the bottom of any of the pills, I am informed so refills can be obtained.  At this point, we get three meds from the vet's office, two from a compounding pharmacy, and one more from an online pet pharmacy.  The cost isn't too bad; it's more the organizational factor of phone calls, confirming phone calls, then pick up or delivery.  I, of course, am the buyer and stock clerk.

Which one of us has the more difficult job?  The way we see it, if it keeps Chuck around for a while, then it's worth every cent, and every moment spent.

(But that glob of pills really does look like a spaceship, or a UFO!)