Ah, such a very short break.

For a couple of days there, my phone wasn't going crazy with email notifications.  No one was calling me.  No facebook tags on puppy dog faces or posts about cats.  It was just so lovingly quiet.

The kittens are doing wonderfully and progressing just perfect.  Their momma couldn't love them more - I doubt they're going to be adopted so much as four fuzzy little foster fails.


Ahhh...and then the emails started rolling back in.

And my boss made me increase the number of days I work, so that now I only have one night off.  My husband has no nights off.  I have a foster app to process, one to encourage, a foster who needs a new pet, BOATLOADS of paperwork to do both for IAF and my own pets, a house that will now never get cleaned, and a ton of pets to follow up on.

Oh, and I think a fundraising event this weekend?

And yardwork for pay in the morning.

And pulling pretty much all of the money out of our savings that I had been hoping to use on a functioning car and you know, a family...

I just called the only orthopedic vet in our area for a quote to repair Penny's luxating patella, and for the love of fuck, we're looking at about $2,000-2,500 all said and done.  To fix a knee popping out of place, that's only popping out of place because of her FIRST incredibly expensive surgery.  And she's about 4 years old, best guess, and could really use a dental cleaning.  Which would be about $500.

Fuck.  Me.

There may need to be a chip-in if I can't find a cheaper vet.  I wish my normal guy did weird surgeries...I adore him.  Maybe he can at least do the dental stuff cheaper.  We tried to give her pain meds for the knee, since she is favoring it every time she goes outside now and hopping around like she can't even use it, but it just made her dopey and SO unhappy.  So I guess it's we-go-broke or dog-goes-dopey...and I hate both of those options.


So we're working more and hoping the money will help us NOT miss rent anymore... hoping for coupons, donations, some kind of aid...and having zero time to really handle anything even if it came our way.

So anyways.  Busy, REALLY busy, but at least no current crises.  Just...not nearly enough hours in the day for all the commitments and everything we're doing to try to make a little extra cash.

That's really it for now.  Gonna maybe put up a new pet of the day for ya, too.


-(stressed out and very broke) Mouse

Rodent Dentistry!

It's no surprise that I have dentistry on the brain - I had two weeks of lessons on it recently.  Not that two weeks is a tremendously long time to spend on teeth, in fact, I feel like I barely scratched the surface!

Just today, though, another cool questioner happened to ask me about mouse teeth.  I know some basics - like how the molars don't grow more once they are formed but the front teeth continue to grow for the rest of rodent lives.  I know some of the basic things that can go wrong, like overgrowth, abscesses, malocclusion, etc.  I don't know when baby mice get their teeth, though, and the question that's really driving me crazy is whether or not rodents get milk teeth (deciduous teeth).  I hate when not only do I not know, but I also can't find.  I'm sure if I keep hunting I'll uncover the answer eventually.

I did find the answer to when infant mice get their teeth, though, even if I don't know if they're permanent or not.  This paper mentions that lab mice showed dentin (the bony layer beneath the enamel) formation at 1-2 days after birth and enamel formation 3 or more days after birth.  The rest of the toothy development seems to have taken place in utero.  That's interesting!!  If you've ever seen a day old mouse pup you probably weren't particularly worried about getting bit (except by mom!), but early mouse development was always something that struck me as very interesting.  Well, mice in general, actually.

(Lorena Cupcake)

Anyhoo, still don't know about the milk teeth.  I'll find it sooner or later.  I should definitely be cramming for my finals, though!

In other news, my fiance and I thought we were getting a buncha land this summer but it fell through, so we're still looking for a new house with some acreage.  As soon as we achieve that we can hopefully get started on some meat/egg chickens and then...*drumroll please*...DAIRY GOATS!  And fiber goats!  I like goats.  Then I will have even more cool animal stuff to talk about!  :)

There's more other-news about that tripawd I posted up a little while back, but it's fairly unpleasant (she's fine, don't worry) so I'll save that for another day.  :)

Later gators!
-Mouse

Cat Teeth!

You know, there are all kinds of products targeted toward cleaning dog teeth.  To my knowledge, none of them work.  It does, on the other hand show that the general public is quite aware that dogs do experience problems with their chompers.  Most people have heard of gingivitis in dogs, letting the vet do a little dentistry/teeth cleaning, and even brushing your dog's teeth.

You don't hear much about cat teeth, though.

Cats absolutely get problems with plaque, their gums, and their teeth.  Infections from too much built up plaque and a swollen/irritated gumline can become extreme, cause tooth loss, and even spread via bloodstream to other areas of the body.

So what do you do?  Have your cat put under anesthesia every few months for a good cleaning?  Well...you could do that, or you could brush your cat's teeth.

If you own a cat, you're probably putting on heavy duty gloves right now.  I adore kitties, but if there's one thing they don't like by default, it's having your fingers in their mouths!  Never fear, though, for I have found this nifty video that has a slight resemblance to the one I actually wanted to show you, but couldn't, because my class uploaded it directly.




Voila!

Cat teeth.


-Mouse