Rolling Dog Farm Blog

I was coming back from giving Snowball his morning Lasix injection — he’s in the isolation cottage right now — when Gloria saw me and called out, "I’ve got a blog moment for you!"  She was in the cat house, cleaning and feeding the gang there.  Gloria had opened the Rubbermaid tub to dish out some food when blind Herbie climbed into the tub to help himself.  And Herbie had absolutely no interest in leaving the feast.  (The ramp you see in the photo behind him is what the cats use to get up to the windows and the perching shelves on the walls.)

While I was taking photos, three-legged Honey Girl came over to see what Herbie was up to.  Fortunately she didn’t jump down into the tub to join him!

I drove three of our blind horses to the vet clinic in Missoula today to see Dr. Erin Taylor.  You may recall that a couple of weeks ago, our filly Nikki was suddenly wobbly on her feet.  After a further, more limited relapse last week, we had to to put her back on steroids.  Today Erin planned to take X-rays of her neck vertebrae to see if we could detect any areas of compression on her spinal cord.  That’s what Erin is doing in the photo above.  Vet tech Julia is holding the X-ray "platter" on the other side of Nikki’s neck, while vet tech Megan is holding Nikki’s head still.

Since we tapered Nikki off the second round of steroids late last week, she had been fine and not suffered a relapse.  The X-rays didn’t reveal any compression or ‘tweaks’ to the vertebrae (like a fragment that had chipped off, for example), so at this point we’ll take that as good news and fervently hope Nikki doesn’t have another episode.

Next up was blind Bo, our new arrival who came in December.  We noticed over the past two weeks that he is having periodic episodes of nystagmus, in which the eyes dart back and forth rapidly, and sometimes when this happens he becomes a bit ataxic, or uncoordinated.  Yet it’s inconsistent, so we can’t find a pattern that would help explain what’s happening.  Last Friday afternoon, during another episode, Erin had me draw blood from Bo, then told me how to separate out the serum and freeze it over the weekend until I could bring it into the clinic today.  Erin will send off the serum for various tests, which may tell us if there’s a viral component at work.  She wanted me to get a serum sample while he was having an active episode.

Yesterday morning, when I went out to take Bo from his stall to his corral, I saw him exhibiting the nystagmus again, so I dashed back to the house to get the videocamera to tape it for Erin.  When I returned three minutes later, he wasn’t doing it. 

In this next photo you see Erin examining Bo’s eyes.  Please note the highly sophisticated, miniaturized ophthalmic instrument she’s using called a "flashlight."  Erin went to get the clinic’s ophthalmoscope and came back with this 5-pound, foot-long flashlight.  (She will now probably want to whack me over the head with it for posting this photo.)  In truth, the behemoth flashlight was all Erin needed for the dazzle reflex she was testing for.

Erin was able to induce the nystagmus in Bo at the clinic by making him walk rapidly in tight circles.  When he stopped, sure enough, his eyes were darting back and forth.  This is called — ready? — the oculocephalic reflex, and it occurs independent of vision.  So Bo’s response to the circling was both predictable and normal.  Yet we haven’t seen him do much circling on his own, and when I find him in the stall doing this, he’s calm and it’s not evident he’s been spinning around.  More perplexing, we do have some blind horses who circle quite a bit, yet we have never seen this nystagmus in them.  Bo showed no ataxia today, and was very well aware of where his feet were. 

Oddly, after I got home this evening and let Bo out of the trailer, he walked off and down the ramp just fine … but less then 10 yards farther down the drive after a steady walk, he staggered, lost his bearings, and nearly fell over on me.  And it wasn’t a slip on the snow, because I was watching him as this happened and he didn’t slip at all.  It was just like he suddenly lost his balance and his legs buckled.  I called Erin with this bizarre update.  Erin is consulting with one of her internal medicine colleagues on Bo’s case, and we should have the serum test results in about 10 days.

Here’s another shot of her eye exam:

Yes, there in the stall behind Erin is horse No. 3 … blind Domino, in for another sheath cleaning and penile ‘spa treatment.’  I had taken Domino in to see Erin back in December because of an inflamed sheath.  (He is now known affectionately in some circles as "penis boy" rather than "pizza boy.")  Six weeks later, I had noticed the same tail-swishing/feet-kicking signs of discomfort again, hence today’s trip to the clinic.  And, as in December, I figured photos of his treatment were not necessarily in the public interest.

Our volunteer Laura W. from Helena picked up three cats for us at our vet clinic and brought them out to the ranch on Saturday.  From left, that’s Popeye the blind cat from Lebanon, who had surgery to remove an eye after blowing a hole in his cornea.  The eye socket became infected, the sutures fell apart, and he required follow-up surgery and a lengthy stay at the clinic.  He’s already back to being a scamp in the cat house.

In the middle is deaf Snowball, who we now know has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.  After three weeks in the hospital, he came back to the ranch a different, healthier, happier boy!  I have to give him a twice-daily injection of Lasix and a heart pill each evening to continue managing his heart problem. 

And on the right is our newest arrival, a three-legged cat — yes, another three-legged cat! — named Molly.  Molly is missing her right rear leg, unlike Bunny and Honey Girl, who are missing their left front legs.  Molly is a tabby who originally belonged to a college student in Bozeman.  This student gave her to another college student, who in turn gave Molly to her parents in Helena to keep.  Molly was getting beaten up by the family’s other cats, and the family didn’t want to take her to a shelter, so they called us instead.

Laura is one of our longest-serving volunteers with four years of providing wonderful service to our animals .. every season of the year, no matter what the weather!  Thank you, Laura!

A few weeks ago I had a post about some extensive diagnostic work  we were doing with our blind-and-deaf Cocker Spaniel, little Miss Ellie May.  She was having intestinal problems and hadn’t responded to antibiotics, so our internal medicine specialist in Missoula, Dr. Dave Bostwick, performed some tests to rule out cancers and other threats.  Well, we’re delighted to report that all of Ellie May’s results came back negative.  We still don’t know why she was having those intestinal problems — and fortunately they have pretty much cleared up — but we’re relieved to find she’s in really good shape. 

Alayne took this photo of me with my little minionette this evening.  Sometimes Ellie May looks more like a teddy bear than a Cocker Spaniel, and as long as I’m holding her, she completely melts.  I can drape her over my shoulder, hold her upside down in my arms, or prop her up on my knees.  She’ll stay absolutely motionless, like a stuffed toy.  You can do anything with her at that point.  Like put a ridiculous pair of sunglasses on her.

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Firedog contest update 2:  We learned today from Circuit City that the ranch will be getting a check for $3,641 for the animals — thanks again to everyone who voted!    

I was walking back from Beauty’s Barn this morning when I saw Stuart the deaf Beagle in our yard — looking very, very stuck.  He was only moving his head, first one way, then the other, with a mournful look on his adorable face.  Maybe he heard about Herbie’s post earlier this week and figured this would get him on the blog, too.  (Hmm.)

Upon further investigation, it was clear that Stuart had encountered his first ‘spatial reasoning’ test and flunked. 

Of course, he had wedged himself between the gate and the post we hang the gate on, not at the other end where the gate swings open.  That would have been too easy.

Here’s what he looked like from above:

Beagle-boy … what were you thinking?

Having taken Spatial Reasoning 101 myself and passed, I pointed out to Stuart that if he could somehow fit through the opening going in, then surely … surely! … he could fit through it going back out.  He wasn’t buying that argument.

So it took a two-person Beagle Extraction Team to free this boy.  Gloria helped me as we lifted his front end off the ground, then turned one shoulder up and in, making him just slim enough to squeeze through … and we pushed him back out.

Stuart has been here just a few weeks but he has completely stolen our hearts.  He is a perfect house dog, gets along with everyone, has excellent manners, and is a very affectionate, loving, and funny little guy.  Just like Widget except, yes, he’s got real legs.  We are thrilled to have him.  You can expect many more posts on this boy … just not like this one, I hope!

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Update on the Firedog contest:  We learned that the Grand Prize went to "Hank" and Neuse River Golden Retriever Rescue of Raleigh, NC.  However, the Rolling Dog Ranch will still receive a contribution of $1,000 … and $1 for each vote we received — we don’t know how many that is yet, but we will keep you posted.  We are so appreciative of Kim Taylor for selecting us to participate in this contest.  Thank you Kim and Summitt — and thanks to all of you who voted for Summitt!

Tyler our deaf English Pointer has always done things his own way … whether it’s sleeping on shelves, pointing at walls, or sleeping in custom-made gravel holes.  If it’s just a little different, you can be sure he’s done it … or soon will.  So it came as no particular surprise when we discovered in the past few weeks that he had decided to start sleeping in the portable doggie bathtub at Widget’s House.  This tub has hoses curled up inside it, so it’s not exactly a comfy spot to snooze, but it is different and that apparently was the appeal.

So Alayne got this shot of Tyler being rudely woken up when she walked into Widget’s House last night to let the dogs out, found him in the tub and started snapping photos.  Hence the look on Tyler’s face.  And it’s not like he’s embarrassed to be seen sleeping in a bathtub … just annoyed at having his slumber interrupted by a camera flash.

We’re just waiting to come in one day and find him asleep on the stove.

A few weeks ago, as we watched blind Callie groom yet another of our black or black-and-tan dogs, I told Alayne I was going to do a blog post on Callie’s single-minded focus on the black-coated dogs.  We had never seen her groom any other kind of dog.  And yet she’s blind, so it can’t be the color!  When Callie first began offering her grooming services, it seemed like she only did the big dogs … but then we realized it wasn’t related to size … it’s just that all the big dogs she selected for grooming were the black and black-and-tan ones.  We’d never see her grooming a Blanca or a Spinner, for instance. 

But then, just a few days ago, we discovered Callie giving little blind-and-deaf Ellie May a good grooming here in my office.  I have no idea why, after all this time, Callie suddenly decided to branch out, but she did … and I have the photo to prove it!  Maybe she just felt it was getting monotonous doing only the dark dogs … or maybe she felt unappreciated … who knows?  Whatever the reason, Ellie May sure enjoyed the spa session.

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When we went to bed last night, it was about 30 degrees and calm.  When we got up, it was 5 below zero (-20 C), the wind was blowing 15 miles an hour, and the snow was coming in sideways.  Alayne took some photos first thing this morning while I was out at the barns taking care of the horses.  This was the view of Widget’s House, our main dog building, taken from our front door … that’s not fog, that’s snow whipping around:

And this was the view towards Beauty’s Barn, taken a little while later after the sun had come up (well, not that we could see the sun!):

Alayne and I were heading over to Widget’s House this afternoon to medicate one of the dogs when we heard a cat wailing.  I turned around and looked back over my shoulder towards the cat house.  There, on top of a cat condo in the snowed-in outdoor enclosure, was blind Herbie.  And he was stuck.  He had heard us come outside and was calling for help. 

Today was bizarrely warm — we actually got to 40 degrees by midday after a week of sub-zero and single-digit temperatures — and we had opened the cat house window so some of the cats could go "snowshoeing" in their enclosure.  Well, this was the first time it’s been warm enough to leave the window open since Herbie arrived a few weeks ago … and he was adventuresome enough to go exploring.

Except that finding his way back from his perch on the cat condo was another story altogether.  So I had to go into the cat house, open the window wide, and reach through it to pluck him off the condo and bring him back inside.  The gate to the enclosure is buried in two feet of snow and wasn’t budging, which is why I couldn’t simply go into the enclosure to get him … and why I had to take this photo through the fence.

Herbie heard me opening the window and he knew I was coming for him, so he turned around and started reaching out towards me with a front paw … "I know you’re there somewhere!"

The February issue of Equus, one of the leading horse magazines in the U.S., has a very nice back page story about the sanctuary.  That’s what the cover of the February edition looks like above.  We did the interview for the article a few months ago, and sent the magazine photos they could choose from to illustrate the story.  They used one of Alayne and me with blind Nikki (it’s one of our favorite photos). 

Our biggest challenge is convincing the average "horse person" that blind horses can have a wonderful quality of life, so we are delighted to reach Equus readers with this message.

Ironically, the reporter first called to interview us about the subject of the cover story — ERU, or equine recurrent uveitis, which is the leading cause of blindness in horses.  After talking with us, the reporter decided to do the back page feature on the ranch instead of working us into the ERU story … which was the better deal!

Here’s what the story looks like:

You can find Equus at the usual book stores like Barnes & Noble and Borders, as well as at equine-related retail outfits.  Unfortunately Equus does not publish its content online.  But if you click on the photo of the article for the larger image, you may actually be able to read it okay.

A couple of weeks ago we posted the news about Circuit City’s online contest to choose a new mascot for their Firedog technology service and how it could benefit the ranch.  The contest ends this Saturday, so if you haven’t already voted, we hope you’ll head over to the the Firedog site now and cast your vote for Summitt, shown in the photo.

Here’s a recap of what we posted earlier on this contest:

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Sanctuary supporter Kim Taylor just informed us that her dog,
Summitt, has been selected as a finalist for the mascot of Firedog,
Circuit City’s technology support service.  The great news for us is
that if Summitt wins the contest, for every vote she receives, Circuit
City and Kodak will donate $1 to the animal sanctuary of Kim’s choice
— the Rolling Dog Ranch!       

The sanctuary could receive up to $100,000 AND if Summitt wins the
Grand Prize, an additional $50,000!  Please help the Rolling Dog Ranch
and Summitt in this fun way to support the sanctuary.       

You can vote for Summitt on the Firedog website — look for the
wonderful photo of Summitt swimming, shown above.  Follow the
instructions carefully — once you vote, you’ll receive a confirmation email and you will need to click on a link in the email to verify your vote.

If you don’t get the email — it will say "firedog photo contest" in
the ‘From’ line — then check your spam filter or junk mail folder.
It’s not unusual for these Web site-generated emails to be flagged as
spam.

Please note that we are not involved in running the contest and that
the voting takes place on the Circuit City Firedog Web site, so we
cannot help with any technical issues with the Web site or the voting
process.  Although having cast my own vote today, I can tell you it’s
very quick and simple!

Please also let your friends and family know about the contest.  You can help Summitt and the Rolling Dog Ranch win big!  Cast your vote for Summitt here.

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Thanks for voting for Summitt!