Now that the snow has finally melted, we’ve started taking some of the horses out to pasture this week.  It’s not so they can graze, since the grass hasn’t come up yet, but for exercise and to get them out of their corrals so we can get in with the tractors to clean out a…

The test results on our blind cat Turtle — bloodwork, ultrasound, and X-rays — so far had shown only one sign of something amiss.  The X-rays revealed some gas-filled loops of bowel, suggesting possible obstruction.  Thus our primary care vet, Dr. Brenda Culver in Helena, did exploratory surgery today.  Sure enough, she found two sections…

This afternoon we posted on our main Web site the sanctuary’s 2006 annual report.  Regular blog readers will probably recognize many of the photos in the 4-page report, since it’s a snapshot of what happened last year.  The financial information is on the final page.  Because the sanctuary runs 100% on donations, our annual report…

Barbara Edwards, the quiltmaker from Seeley Lake, Montana, who is raffling off a beautiful quilt she made to benefit the ranch, asked me to post a reminder that the deadline for raffle ticket sales is this Saturday, March 31.  For more info on how to purchase tickets from Barbara, please see the original post here.

I took our new arrival blind Brody and blind Turtle the cat to our vets in Helena this morning.  This is a photo I took of Brody after I lifted him into the truck before we left.  Brody was going in to the clinic to be neutered, have a heartworm test, a complete blood count…

Sometimes our hearts break for animals we never even meet.  Our friends at Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Services in Washington contacted us last week about an old, blind German Shepherd they named Sweetie.  She was dumped at the shelter by her owners earlier this month.  This is the photo the shelter staff took of…

On Friday afternoon our equine vet, Dr. Bill Brown of Missoula, came out to the ranch to work on several of our horses, all of them old, blind ones … with one exception — 6-week old Cash! Bill did a complete health exam on our youngster, and found Cash has a hernia that will need…

Alayne took these photos yesterday afternoon of Bailey making nice with the giant caterpillar.  It was just last week that we posted photos of Bailey giving the caterpillar a solid thrashing.  That was then, this is now. Having shown the caterpillar who’s boss, Bailey has now decided he likes Mr. Caterpillar after all.  In fact,…

I forgot to mention earlier that we recently posted the Today Show video on YouTube to make it easier for folks to share it.  The video quality isn’t as good as the Windows Media and QuickTime versions we have posted on our Web site, but you can’t beat YouTube for ease of use in sharing…

This afternoon I was walking past the cats’ outdoor enclosure when I heard this very loud "meow-meow- meow!"  It was the kind of insistent meow that’s designed to get your attention.  I looked over and saw blind Cinder happily perched inside the cat condo.  It’s like she wanted me to notice her in there.  I…