Rolling Dog Farm Blog

When Liz and I left Seattle this morning, the truck thermometer read 40 degrees.  When I arrived at the ranch in Montana tonight, it was 32 degrees BELOW zero.  It was rather brisk unloading the truck!

On the way back today, we stopped in Ellensburg, Washington to pick up a young cat with cerebellar hypoplasia.  Like our cat Wobbles, this little girl is a wobbler too.  She was in the womb when her mother had feline distemper, so she was born with an underdeveloped cerebellum.  This affects fine motor skills and balance.  These cats (and dogs, like our Allie) can get anywhere they want to go, it just takes them longer and they wobble and flop along the way.  They are happy, healthy and typically live normal lifespans. 

Michael Andersen, who runs her own private rescue at the Crooked Creek Ranch near Ellensburg, had e-mailed us yesterday while we were at the vet convention in Seattle.  She asked if we had room for this wobbler she had rescued and named Claire.  I had just heard from Alayne about Champagne Bob’s death.  Somehow it seemed fitting that we would learn about Claire on the same day and could offer her a spot at the sanctuary.

We took this photo of Michael and Claire when we met them at a truckstop just off I-90 in Ellensburg.  I was tickled to see that Claire looks just like Wobbles … in fact, they’re so similar in appearance they could have been from the same litter.  They also, it turns out, have exactly the same degree of ‘wobbliness.’  Wobbles was so excited to have a new friend tonight!  (Claire was, uh, a bit more reserved about the whole thing.)

Speaking of new friends, here are the ladies from the Cowgirl Spirit Rescue Drill Team who were at the vet convention as well.  They have a blind horse named Spirit who was featured in the Seattle Times article about us last Sunday.  If you didn’t see the article from our post that day, you can read it here.  From the left, that’s Juliane, Susan and Kathryn.  These gals rescue horses from slaughter, train them for their drill team, and then adopt them out.  We really enjoyed their company at the convention.

Finally, I just wanted to say ‘thank you’ to everyone who has written in with such sweet and wonderful messages about Champagne Bob.  Alayne and I really appreciate all the kind thoughts.  He was a special little guy and clearly touched a lot of people.

(Click on photos for larger images.)