The first release!

Well 11 of the gang are on their way! The ARL 5, the 4 fosters, Chanel #5 and one of the Fast 5 were released this past Sunday. Although the cage is there and set up, we only put them in their initially to let them get acquainted where the den boxes were in case they needed them. The door was left wide open and once they inspected all the den boxes.....they wasted no time venturing out!

As usual it was tons of fun watching them climb and play until they all eventually ventured deeper into the woods.

Gimpy, Fitchy and 4 of the Fast 5 have a little more breathing room in their pen now!

 

On a darker note...Monday night I discovered Scritch huddled on one of the den boxes, not doing well at all. We have no idea what is wrong with her, however it appears she may have fallen and has severe head trauma. She is very neurologic, with nystagmus and seizures. I can not find any wounds or injuries and to be honest feel pretty helpless. All I can do is give her supportive care and hope for improvement soon, or I may have to make a decision I dread making. Fluids and prednisone and really hoping the symptoms are due to a concussion......and that they improve! The rest of the gang are perfectly fine....it all just points to head trauma.



Slow progress on some renovations!

Lets just say it started in October and it's getting there slowly but surely! Mostly because it's just been me and my dad doing it all! Such measures are required when one is counting every penny!

The two rooms off the kitchen (the "dining" room and my "office") are being transformed into rooms more compatible to a multi animal household. The off white carpet (that at one point was wall to wall throughout the whole house....who in their right mind!?!...) is slowly getting eradicated! Yayyyyy!

Room one....originally a dining room,(although never used for such a purpose!), gets a new floor with dad's help after I happily ripped up the crappy carpet!

It looks awesome, it's easy to clean and it's Pit bull approved too I might add!

It is now my office/dog room. Not that the dogs don't have the run of the house when I'm there, but a couple trouble makers need to be crated when I'm gone! Like Bernard who decides to chew and eat his blankets....narrowly missing an obstruction surgery, and Boo the counter surfer, because no matter how hard I try, I never remember to push anything edible out of his reach before I leave! With a new puppy in the house....it's a busy room sometimes! LOL

On to the next room.....slated to be the cat room! Ripped up the gross rugs....and that was about as far as we got before I got sick that time in the beginning of November when I was in bed for a week! I had furniture, boxes, new flooring and just crap everywhere! On top of not being able to get out of bed for a week and do any general cleaning.....it looked like a hoarders paradise! I was totally horrified when Brian from the Animal Rescue League brought Boston over the night he caught him......and OMG! had to use my bathroom and witness the hideous nightmare! Forget about the fact that I looked something like a cross between Medusa and Sasquatch! That bothered ME far less than the condition of my home, however probably had him wondering why he wandered into the dark woods without backup! Anyway I'm pretty sure Boston is quite happy things worked out the way they did! See Brian....I'm not really a crazy lady in the woods, living in squalor, that doesn't interact with people......(or make the ones that visit mysteriously disappear! LOL)!

So feeling better, onward I go. Got the floor cleaned up....and we still have not managed to get the new flooring down (the same as in the dog room) but it's all neatened up in there.

Doors have been added......

.....and the fun things cats love are in there...as well as 3 of the 5 cats who, despite something like a hundred litter boxes all over the house, insisted in peeing all over. Yesssss.....instead of getting rid of some of my kids, I built a cat room for them instead! So maybe I am the crazy cat lady after all......but I don't care, once you adopt them they are not just disposable if things don't work out perfectly!!! Problem solved anyway.....not a single mess outside the boxes since they've been in there!

Thanks to a wonderful co-worker of mine, there is also an outdoor section for them as well! Thank you Ted!!!! He built it off one of the windows (you can see the frame of it outside the window behind Lucy, the grey and white kitty) so all I have to do is open the window and they can go in and out all they want. I'll get pics of that on here eventually! For now it is closed. It's winter and they have been indoor cats all their lives. Come spring the window can open and they can get used to it! I still have to decorate it out there too. Gotta find stuff to put out there that can handle the elements......any suggestions welcome!!

So, it's far from finished but it's getting there!

Helping the local coyotes.

John, the Belmont ACO, is on a mission! This coyote family is obviously in desperate need of help! They have mange and it's so bad at this point the wounds they are inflicting on themselves is horrible as you can see in the pictures John got. Not to mention the fur loss. We have been pleasantly blessed with a very mild fall....it's December 6 and we have been in the 60's more often than not! If not for that these guys may have suffered even more.

First sightings were of this male, a welcome visitor to the golf course due to his rodent control skills. (Imagine that...someone who appreciates and is willing to coexist with this totally misunderstood animal! You guys rock!) Tuft's was contacted and willing to take him if captured. Game on! These guys are NOT easy to catch!

Thanks to John's patience and traps from the ARL.....success! But wait a minute.....this is a female! John was pretty sure he had identified the "proper equipment" on a MALE while tracking the original coyote. (And I'm pretty sure that, his coyote expertise aside, he knew what he was looking at! LOL)

So as it turns out, this female is safely tucked away at Tuft's. She's doing well, eating fine and being treated for heartworm, mange and her wounds. Further sightings have been of a pair traveling together, one being the original male spotted. Uncanny that his large wounds are almost identical to this girls in size and location, tricking us into thinking it was one and the same! He's thinking that this female is possibly one of the kids to the pair still on the loose...

And so the wait continues as John regularly checks the traps hoping to get the male before it's too late! The traps have remained frustratingly empty, although the report from last night was that one of the traps had been sprung and the bait was gone. But I know John and he's determined to help them....if anyone can catch them he can!!

Update on Boston the ARL rescue.

Here is the lucky boy. Is he handsome or what! He's pretty relaxed and tolerant of me...as long as I'm not poking, prodding or trying to spray smelly granulex on his leg!

Here is the result of having you leg stuck and hanging from it with all of your body weight for a long period of time! Aside from the nerve damage, the major swelling after having the limb unstuck leads to wounds like this. I know it looks pretty bad, but in all actuality they look good for this type of wound! The tissue is nice and pink and alive and there is a healthy blood supply to the area.

And...if you look closely in this picture you can see his other rear leg as he proceeds to step out of the den box. Why is that so exciting you may ask? Well because while he's lifting that leg to step out, he's using his injured one to stand on, and it's in the proper position with no toes knuckling under! He's using the foot and leg! Wooohooooo!

The full extent of it's use will not be known for sure until a lot of healing has occurred and nerve damage takes time and patience.....so for now I am optimistic that Boston will continue to recover after a long layover here in the safety of his pen. Lucky for him also,  Brian from the ARL realized he needed more than just getting unstuck and sent on his way. Nice job Brian and thanks for getting him here!

The squirrels & the new boy gets a name.

How could I forget to update you on the squirrels! *Sigh*....my aging mind is not as sharp as it used to be! My gang of 12.....including little Acorn and a slew of JoAnn's babies, are romping the woods and loving it! It's going to be a bad year food-wise for rodents, and these guys were a little later getting released than I would like due to so many babies and waiting their turn in a release pen. But fear not! The release pens are remaining open for them to utilize as needed through the winter and unlike the releases before them that eventually ventured off to make their own nests in the woods, these guys do not seem to be in a big hurry to do so! Many are still returning at night to sleep. And as you can see below, they have also figured out where they can find a good meal every day too!

Some of the gang will still grab a nut or two from my hands also. Walnut especially still loves his Momma!

The funny thing is when I'm out by the release pen they won't come up to me to get their nuts....they go run into the release pen and wait for me inside by the door. Why you may ask? Well, when they were being formula fed, I would feed each one then put them into a different cage to wait until everyone was done. With such a large group it was the only way to know who was fed already and who wasn't. Plus as they get older they are a little more jumpy and harder to catch. So when they were all fed in the other cage I needed to make it easier to get them back into the main pen without them all getting loose in the room and impossible to catch! I would then get one nut, and one at a time hand them a nut which they would take then scoot back into the main pen. Now they are sort of trained! They think to get their nut they have to go to the door! So instead of just coming up to me outside....they run inside to the door! LOL! Don't let anyone ever tell you they are not smart and can not be trained!

Pretty soon my gang will start filling out and look like the wild gang out there....big, fat, porkers! Look how round he is! The picture does not do the portliness of this guy justice. Putting it bluntly....I have some fat ass squirrels out there! As you can see the acorn shortage will not be a problem for the squirrels of my acquaintance.

A check this morning of the island release site revealed no coonies....and no food! They're coming back for regular visits to eat but they have apparently found new homes elsewhere. Our babies are all growed' up!

The rest of the overwinters are fine. The new boy the ARL had rescued that was stuck in the notch of a tree is doing well. It is still unsure how well he will recover or if he'll get the use of his leg back. The swelling and nerve damage have caused some sores and sloughing of skin on the top of his foot and on the inside of his knee. He's on antibiotics and although the wounds look pretty bad, they are actually doing well. The tissue is pink and healthy and bleeds occasionally which means it is not necrotic ( or dead), meaning it the tissue is alive and healthy and there is good circulation to it. It is just going to take some time to heal. Then the issue will be the extent of the nerve damage....will he be able to use the leg again. It's going to be a long haul for this guy, but he's eating well, his spirits are good, and he's got a safe place to take as long as he needs to recover! I am hoping for the best...something only time will tell.

I had put off naming him, not knowing his fate. However as it seems he may be around for a while...a friend has taken to calling him Boston for lack of a better name from me....so Boston it is V! :)

Update on the new kid.

The new kid brought in by the ARL Boston has settled in pretty well. A big, fat juvenile, in great shape and pretty calm and laid back considering the changes that have occurred in his life these past couple days! No problem getting around the cage and eating well (always a good sign). Right now the lower leg is too swollen to ascertain the damage, so at this time he's just getting meloxicam for the pain and inflammation. Once the swelling has gone down enough it will allow for a better exam of the leg and foot so we can proceed accordingly with treatment. For now, he's living the high life while he has me waiting on him hand and foot!

What a week!

Well it's been a long, horrible week! We had a pretty destructive nor'easter snowstorm last Saturday. My power (thus my heat etc.) was out from Saturday night until Tuesday afternoon, at which time I ended up in bed sick as a dog. After a trip to the ER Friday morning, (thanks sooooo much to my wonderful brother who wasted his morning taking me there!), I finally only feel like shit as opposed to wishing someone would put me out of my misery! Thanks to Mom and Dad for special deliveries of chicken soup and medicine and I can't thank JoAnn enough for coming over to take care of the hoard (and me!)when I was definitely in no shape to.....it was no small undertaking for sure!!

Being sick this weekend meant I had to miss our annual trip to the New York wildlife conference! I am so bummed I missed a fun weekend with the gang! I hope you had some extra fun for me while you were there.

Before all hell broke loose last weekend, Laurie and I took a trip over to the island Saturday morning to check on the gang. To our surprise there were a few there! Trooper, Doc and Sis were very happy to have a visit from mom! I think Doc and Sis have decided to make this their hangout, seems like we always run into them and an occasional sleepover with some of the others.

One of the boat babies and Sammy were a little less thrilled to see us, but it was good to see them! They all look great.

And finally, last night I got out of bed long enough to settle this poor coonie in. It's leg was stuck in the crook of the tree in Worcester and it was hanging there all day, poor thing! ARL to the rescue again! Nice job getting him out Brian! Once we get that leg checked out we'll see whats in store for this one.

An interesting ride home.

So I'm at work yesterday and via the power of Twitter, another baby coon in need of help that I can't say no to....because of course now I know about it and won't sleep unless I know it's OK. So the ARL rescued him then met up with me when I got out of work and delivered the sweetest little guy! I'm thinking a little too sweet for what should be a wild coonie this age! Should have been at least a little huffing and spitting as we hovered over the box, but what we got instead was a more than eager bundle of fur hopping into my arms and loving it!

Anyway, I'm driving home when something moving at my feet scares the crap out of me! My little friend managed to get out of the cardboard carrier and was happily exploring under my feet...and the break and gas pedals! I managed to pull him out of there without driving off the road and he quite happily spent the rest of the ride co-piloting from my center console!

It's a miracle we even made it home between him under my feet and my laughing so hard, and of course I just HAD to call Laurie and tell her! It's pretty obvious my driving was the last thing I was paying attention too! Shame on me!

So my little escape artist is appropriately named Houdini. The box (one of those cardboard carriers)was secure in the back seat when I got home. I can only guess if it rolled on it's side, the bottom may have gaped open just enough to provide an escape?

He is doing fine and eating solids so easy enough to add to the mix. Although the bottom of his back feet are injured. The sensitive outer layer of skin peeled off somehow. Most of one foot is skinned off and just a little of the other. May have skinned it off sliding down a tree or something.....not a major injury, but a very ouchy one! Doesn't seem to phase him too much though....walks a little funny, but does walk and climb his cage.

On other matters....The Boat Babies are back and bigger than ever. Petey has also joined the crew. I had him for a night. He was extremely emaciated and needed round the clock critical care that I just didn't have time for, so JoAnn took him on and what an incredible job she did...no surprise! He survived thanks to her care and has now become best buds with Spencer and Pinner. I'll have pics of them all soon!