Winter Weather

            The wintertime can be a difficult time to take care of your animals. The cold weather causes there to be a lot of changes in routine. And for some it can cause issues. On a personal perspective, in the summer we left our dogs outside in our fenced yard. In the winter it is too cold for them to stay out all day, so Margo stays in her crate and Bella stays downstairs or in the garage. Harley is a good boy though so he gets to roam the house. With this set up I have to come home every few hours to let them all go to the bathroom.

            At my dad’s we have the goats and dogs that stay outside. Not by my choice. Anyway, for this there is a lot more changes for winter time. First of all, their normal water buckets would freeze so they need heated one. There is a fact that a lot of birds die from dehydration in the winter which seems weird because of all the snow but it is true.  Also, animals need a warm place to stay like a barn or a dog house. We have houses for ours and we have to make sure they stay full of straw so the animals will stay warm.

            Animals also tend to get winter coats that also keep them warm. It is amazing how bodies automatically do things, and also how every animal is different, just like humans. It also fascinates me the relationship with humans and animals. Everyone has a different opinion about them, and some animals are treated good, and others bad. Deer and small animals are used as meat. Other people have pet bunnies. What makes one species better than others?

Man's Best Friend

          Animals are truly amazing, especially dogs. There are so many different things that dogs do to help humans. I mean after all they are called “man’s best friend”. Service dogs and police dogs are so amazing. Police men treat these dogs just like any other officer that they work with. They help stop crime and also protect their partners. They are trained to do remarkable things. They are taught to take a bullet for their partner, they can track down drugs, and help save people. There are so many stories of police dogs that have done the unthinkable and even done things without command when their human was hurt. I think that they can be smart, if they are used and taught well, just like humans. Some use their brain more than others.

            Service dogs that help the blind are also so amazing. The things they can do to help humans is just crazy. Sometimes a human’s life is in the hands of a service dog, telling them when to cross the street and where to walk, and avoiding danger for them.

            One time I got to go to a training facility for police dogs. It was about eight years ago so it is a little foggy in my mind, but I remember getting to watch the officer hide narcotics, and then bring the dog in and he would find it. He also showed us commands that they used and other tricks the dogs knew. When we were there they told us that they had just lost one of their dogs, and you could tell how much of an impact it was on them. The dogs wore bullet proof vests and they explained how much they were, and how they were hard to get. Our 4H group raised money for a dog vest, and gave it to the department.

            I love being in 4H for the fact that we help people and animals, we often times will go to animal shelters and either donate food, toys, or just spend time with the animals. And as everyone knows, animals are my favorite. I wish I could help all the animals but I know I can’t, and my parents won’t let me. But the goal is to create a community and country that does, and realizes the importance of the other mammals that share this planet with us.  

Cats & Dogs

            So lately, my dog Margo has had a big change in behavior. When we first got her she was a puppy so of course she was hyper. We did a good job training her though and she behaved very well. When we got the other dogs she started to become unruly. We thought this was just because she wanted more attention.

            When Bella had her puppies, this bad behavior got worse. This time we knew it was because of the attention she wasn’t getting. Even though we got rid of all the puppies she still jumps on everyone and I’m not sure why. No matter what we do she doesn’t learn. No matter how much I try to punish her she never quits. When she’s left alone she will rip up everything, and she’s about a year old now or a little more. When she rips up my shoes I put her in her crate and yell at her, sometimes I’ll hit her with the broken part of the shoe. She never learns. I would never actually hurt her but I don’t know how she will learn. She has always been kind of a pansy. If you yell at her you can see it in her face she gets sad. It’s kind of funny. You can tell what she is feeling just by her eyes.

            A random change of topic, I think it is fascinating how animals clean themselves, especially cats. Dogs clean themselves too, but they only do the…important parts.  Cats are just cleanlier I guess. My cat Oreo cleans herself all the time.  I’m not sure what makes it that way. People are all completely different, some don’t shower at all and some do all the time. All cats clean themselves and dogs don’t really. Maybe it is because dogs can’t reach everywhere else. Cats are just more flexible. Oreo has some sort of skin disorder or issue. I already took her into the vet once. They gave her a shot, but now it is getting worse, it is like open wounds. They said it was just a staph infection, but I will have to see what it really is when I take her in on Tuesday.

My Worst Experience

On the same topic, about how pets can’t really choose what happens to them, I have a story that fits perfect with this. The other day when I was driving home with my boyfriend, I was going around the curvy road by my house. All of a sudden, I saw this dog walking on the road. This is not the first time I have seen this dog, it was walking at me in the middle of the road on my way home from school once. The first time it happened it freaked me out a lot, but this time was even worse.

            Last Christmas eve, my puppy that was part of the family got hit by a car. This was one of the worst experiences of my life. Every time I think about it I cry, it was like losing a family member. It was losing a family member. And I had to witness it too. I was curling my hair getting ready to go visit family. Nakita was her name, and she had a tendency of running around where she shouldn’t, so my mom had a shock collar that she monitored. That is why as soon as I heard the screeching of car tires, and a thud I knew exactly what happened, I ran outside and my mom was screaming. I started hyperventilating as I stared at her lifeless body, and to make things worse, the guy had a dog in his car.

            Seeing your mom break down is bad enough, but losing a member of the family was horrifying. On Christmas Eve too. My mom was screaming and crying kneeling by the road, I stood there crying and in shock. My dad tried to comfort her but it wasn’t happening, he took her off the road. The guy kept saying sorry, but that couldn’t bring her back. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. My mom kept saying it was her fault and that she should have been watching her closer. I couldn’t watch anymore, and I felt like I was going to puke. I ran in the bathroom and sat by the toilet. When my mom came in she started apologizing to us, which made me even madder.

            I lost one of my best friends, and it was so hard to keep it together when we went up to see my whole family. I honestly cried almost every day for a month. It just kept replaying in my head.  I miss her so much. R.I.P Nakita <3

Brain Flow of Random Thoughts

            My asthma lately has been super bad, these dang animals. I love them so much, but being around them makes my insides suck. I think that if I wasn’t allergic to them that I would definitely become a veterinarian. For 4-H I have to take care of all the animals we raise. I give our goats’ shots and dewormer; I shaved our sheep, trim hoofs and anything else you can think of.  

            Now that I have some medical experience, I like to try and diagnose what the dogs may have, based on human illnesses. Cleo, at my dad’s house has an infection on her eye. When I took her to the vet I could kind of tell what the vet was talking about, based on my knowledge of medical terminology.

            My cat Larson has been getting a little frisky lately, we seriously need to get him fixed. At first he started humping stuffed animals, which was nasty. Every time I turn around he is on it, I locked it up then it would stop. We had a vet appointment to get him fixed but nobody could take him so we had to cancel it. Now it has gotten so bad that he will literally hump anything that is fuzzy. Blankets, towels, shoes, you name it and he has probably tried. So nasty.

            Animals are just like humans, my dog Cleo is horrified of thunderstorms, but my other dogs don’t really care. They all have their own personalities, which is really awesome. My dog Margo got really sad when the puppies were gone and you could tell. Different things bother them just like us. That’s why I can’t believe that people would abuse and kill animals. I mean I guess people get murdered too.

            Today I was thinking really deeply about the anatomy of dogs. My sister even said,”who cares about that, why the heck does it matter.”  I was amazed how they learn things without even understanding what we say. How they can jump up and stand on only their back legs, and even dogs with 3 legs can still run like normal dogs. They are just amazing animals. And how they are treated and taken care of are just simply random, and luck. Unlike humans who can better themselves, dogs can’t choose, it just depends on who takes them in.

Ripped to Shreds

            This weekend I was in charge of watching the animals by myself. My mom and her boyfriend went to Chicago so I was left here to fend for myself. Dog sitting the weekend away, it is actually a lot to do. They get rowdy so I had to let them out like every other minute it seemed like. They are very needy, especially since there are so many of them, three dogs and a cat. Today was they day that they came home so I cleaned the house up, did the dishes, laundry, and tried to make everything look nice. They just got home actually and they called me and said, “You need to come out here right away, there is a huge mess and we are not happy.” I was really confused because I thought everything was in tip top shape. That was before I went in my room to sit on my computer for a little while. I walked out in the garage and their entire dog bet we=as ripped into shreds that almost covered the entire floor. Way to go dogs. They weren’t happy about that. It had to of happened in the last hour or so though.

            The dang dogs will rip up anything and everything, and then Larson, the cat, will toss around all the little shreds. It’s like a process. Their favorite is shoes though; I can’t tell you how many shoes I have seen them abduct. A few of the victims were mine too. Coming out to the living room with your shoes in pieces is a sinking feeling, especially for a girl. I try to scare them with my wrath but they don’t learn, I have resorted to putting all of my shoes in my room. One time they got Ron’s really expensive shoes, I wasn’t there to see the damage but I heard about it, Ron was not too happy. I saved my mom’s tennis shoes that had just been taken, only with a few bite marks.

            The last time I had to watch the rascals they ripped up an entire magazine while I was trying to sleep in. I found pieces of that everywhere for the next few days. I’m not even sure how they managed to do that, I guess they wanted my attention bad enough. As soon as they get a new toy it is like a race to see who can rip the squeaker out the fastest, dogs are crazy.

No Hunting For This Girl

I have loved animals since as early in my existence that I can remember. When I was a kid I always had cat and dog books, I had a backpack that was shaped as a tiger, I loved the animals I had, and basically everything to do with them. When I was in second or third grade I did a report on becoming a veterinarian. We made a poster board and presented it to the class.       

 I used to be able to kill like flies and moths, and even at one point decided I was going to be a hunter. I got my hunting license and everything and was all official. I went a few times with my dad but we never even saw anything. I was at that age that it was super cool to get a deer so you could impress all the boys, and show off. It must have been about middle school or freshmen year. Anyway, I was okay with the fact of killing a deer, I mean I have been around it many times when my dad got them and I watched and helped clean it out. As I got older, I started to less like the fact of killing an animal. At first I told my dad that I only wanted to shoot a buck, not a doe because she might have babies somewhere. Also being very impatient didn’t help, I absolutely HATED just sitting in the woods for hours, and the worst part was that you had to be quiet. Slowly my hunting career came to an end.

I even had my own gun, a 243 rifle that was black and had a silver scope. I think I stopped because it was more or less boring to me, and as I grew older, the thought of killing an innocent animal was not so appealing. I am fine with other people doing it, I just don’t think I want to. I would feel too guilty, so don’t expect me to be murdering anything anytime soon.

            The idea of hitting an animal on the road makes me want to cry. Every time I see a poor little baby, I feel so sad. I have said multiple times that if I ever hit a cat, I would never drive again. I’m not sure if that is true, but I would at least cry for probably a few days. The other day I even picked a moth up by its wing and put it outside, it’s getting bad. I must hang around my aunt too much. She won’t let us throw out gum out the window because she doesn’t want a bird to think its food and choke. I love my aunt.

Bye Bye Babies

            It really is a process selling your babies; baby puppies of course. There are still two left, and they are getting huge! My mom and Ron try to figure out the best families for each and every one of the precious little munchkins. Sissy and Sadie are the two of them that are left.

            We put an ad on craigslist and have had many, many calls. Some of the people that called were a little bit suspicious, one guy that called said he didn’t have enough money at the time but he had some “other stuff” that he could give us. I didn’t talk to him personally but Ron said he tried to trade him drugs for one of the puppies. Not only does this make it seem like they are a not the best people to have one of the dogs, but if they can’t pay for the puppy, then how would they afford to feed and take care of it. We also had a few families that were interested but once they heard how much the puppies were, they said thanks and hung up. I understand that 500 dollars is sort of a lot for a puppy, but they are purebred and I guess that’s what they are usually sold for. Plus, again, if they can afford to buy the puppy then they probably can take care of it well.

            All of the families that were interested or for sure wanted to buy a puppy came to our house and visited them. We got to kind of get a feel for what kind of people they were. One family were, not to be stereotypical, but a bunch of hillbillies. Even though they were a bit wacky, they were a really nice family and had other dogs already. They lived on a farm and really cared for animals. Most of the people who adopted puppies became friend with my mom on Facebook so we could watch them grow up. It is amazing how fast they grew up, it seems like just a week ago I was watching them be birthed. I am really surprised that I am not sad about them leaving, but honestly I don’t think I had time to be sad. I am so busy that taking care of them was just another thing to do. I don’t want that to sound bad I loved them a lot but I know that now they are with individual families that will love and spend time with them.

Rat Babies

            Every time I see a cute animal I want to take it home. I have been looking at this really cute breed of dog that particularly catches my eye but I have yet to figure out what the name of it exactly is; my mom thinks it’s ugly. I don’t think any animal is ugly, even the hairless cats are adorable in their own special way. This reminds me of when me and my boyfriend got rats together, everyone freaked out but we loved them. Plus they were feeder rats, like the ones you give to snakes, so we felt like rescuers. We would take turns keeping them at our houses. When I got home I would take them out of their cage and let them climb on me while I did my homework, or walked around. That was the part that especially freaked my parents out. They would just hang out in my shirt, and it tickled with their tiny claws. Even cuddles my special cat liked them.

           They were just babies when we got them, mine was light brown and white and my boyfriend’s was black and white. At first we were only going to get one but then we couldn’t pick so we got both.  When we broke up, I never got them back which makes me sad, especially because he gave them to his friend, even though his friend had other rats too it still made me mad. People would visit them, take pictures, and post them on twitter saying things like ”look at these cuties”, and I’m just like “Those are mine”. I only said something once, I guess I’m just bitter because I miss my little rat babies. They say writing things down kind of helps you vent and let it go, so that felt good.

             After all that ranting, I don’t even think I would want to get rats again. They were kind of a lot of work; they made lots of noise and were active at night. I also felt the need to take them out every time I saw them maybe that is just because they were in my room though. They never bit me though, they were sweet little animals. They just get a bad reputation. Everybody just needs a little love, even rats.

            A couple months after I had them, my mom had mice in her basement. The fact that she had rat traps just mortified me, and one that she caught was a mom with babies! Good thing I didn’t see it.

Another Day in the Life

          So far two puppies have been sold; they just turned six weeks so they are now old enough to be without their mom. I’m happy and surprised that I can let them go without crying or missing them terribly. They were awfully cute and all, but they were a TON of work. Waking up every four hours to six hungry babies is something I will not miss. The worst part is when you clean up all their pee and poop; they just do it all over again. I swear they are pooping machines! I am going to miss them though.

            One thing I wish people knew about Rottweiler is that they are good dogs. I hate how people stereotype animals. Bulldogs are good dogs too, but they have a bad reputation. People influence their animals; if they teach them to behave they most likely will, and if you neglect them and treat them badly they get mean. It isn’t the breed that makes them a bad dog, it’s the owners. I know I mentioned this before, but our dogs got out a few times before we got the fence fixed completely. People called the sheriff because of it, which is understandable I guess, but I feel like if they were a golden retriever or something that they would have just called the number on the collar…. When the sheriff came to warn us about the issue he told us to keep them penned up because this breed scares people. What is that supposed to mean? I just don’t think it is fair.

            One of the worst things ever is animal abuse. I don’t understand how anyone could hurt an innocent animal. Those dang commercials to end animal cruelty get me every time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gspElv1yvc There is nothing in this world that would ever make me even think about abusing an animal.

            On another subject, I had to take Oreo to the vet on Friday. Every time I go there it is so expensive. I had to take her there because she had scabs and almost like bite marks all over her skin under her fur. I was really concerned so my dad made an appointment at the vet. When I took her there it turns out it was like a staph-infection or she was allergic to something. I wasn’t really sure because the Dr. used a lot of terms that I didn’t understand, I tried to keep up but it was difficult. They just gave her two shots and said she should be fine in a few days. My dad always gives me money, and almost every single time I have to go back to the car and get more money. This time it was $87.00, and my dad only gave me $80.00, I wish it wasn’t so expensive because then maybe more sick animals would be able to get help. Most people don’t take their animals to the vet unless it is an emergency; Just a thought.  

Cats

            The puppies are continuing to grow, every time I see them they look like they doubled. Two of the puppies are spoken for, which makes me excited. Only because I get to have some of the money we earn which is going to be put toward a plane ticket to Hawaii.

            Although I love puppies and all animals of course, I think cats are my favorite. I have had 6 cats total in my lifetime. In order: George, Maggie, Oliver, Oreo, Cuddles, and Larson. I still have the last three, Oreo and Cuddles are at my dad’s house, and Larson is at my mom’s.

     

       Oreo was a full grown cat when she came to us. She sort of just showed up at our house and considered herself at home. Same with Cuddles, she was a baby though, and we think she got hit by something because the side of her head was a little dented in and her right eye was foggy looking. We all felt bad for her and decided after a few days to take her in as our own. My family told me I could call her mine. I call her my retarded little baby, she is so precious. Her favorite thing to do is roll around on shoes, such is a weirdo.

            When we took Cuddles and Oreo to get fixed at the vet, we dropped them off early in the morning and the vet office told us they would call us when they were done. A few hours later we got a call, but it wasn’t the news we were expecting. They told us that Oreo was already fixed. They found out once they cut her open, so we still had to pay of course. Cuddles, when they opened her up there were babies! This wasn’t good though because cuddles was only about 6 months old so she would of died giving birth, so they took the babies out. Not an average day at the vet I would say.

            Oliver was one of my cats that I miss the most. He was so fluffy, laid-back, and friendly. We let out cats go outside whenever they desire. Sometimes they will be gone for a day or so which worries me a lot, but they usually come back. Oliver never came back. I think why it bothers me so much is because I don’t have closure. All of my other animals died so I coped and tried to let it go. I don’t know if someone took Oliver, if he is living in the wilderness, or something bad happened to him. It’s also hard to decide when to stop trying and looking for them. I really hate talking about the sad things in my pet’s lives but it is almost something you have to go over. Maybe writing it out can help too.

Puppies, Puppies, and More Puppies

            My mother yelled for my name and I woke up and went down stairs. The first baby was popping its head out! I was still half a sleep, and usually things like that don’t make me feel nauseous but for some reason it did a little bit. She would pop a baby out like every half an hour but I didn’t stay and watch all of them. Bella ripped some of the sacs open, but the others my mom’s boyfriend Ron had to. Then, we used floss to cut the umbilical cords (all of this we were reading off the internet as we went). It was pretty heart wrenching, for me at least, when towards the end of the babies Bella would squeal in pain. I hate it when something is suffering and I can’t do anything to help.

            At about 7:00 she was all done and had 7 babies born. Six of them were healthy, and one of them was not so much. We thought it might get better, but usually when they are sick as babies it is harder for them to recover. We called him “little man” and he had repertory issues. His face almost looked a little retarded too, like he was squished in the womb or something. We all prayed that he would make it but 2 days later my mom found him dead. After my mom put him in a box I heard her shrieking from downstairs and then start sobbing. She thought Bella killed one of her babies because it looked drowned, but actually she had another baby that was still born. It was really mutated and horrible looking. It upsets me when things like that happen, but I know it’s a part of life.

            The first few days were really exciting, getting to watch the babies nurse. I was anxious to watch them grow because at this point they weren’t that cute yet, and you couldn’t see their personalities. I was waiting and waiting for them to open their eyes, and it took 2 whole weeks. They are just now getting to the point of wobbling around and their personalities are starting to stick out. They are so cute now I have to refrain from posting pictures of them on all the social media websites every day.

            There were only 2 boys to begin with and little man was one of them. We named the boy that is left “Brutus”, it suits him well. I named the runt “Rosie”, she is the smallest but is really feisty and though. It is funny to hear her growl. These two are defiantly the favorites, but we love all of them. Margo loves to try to play with them, but they aren’t quite old enough yet.   

 
 

Time for Babies!

So, my first pet story that I am going to tell you all is pretty recent, I’m only telling you this now because it is fresh in my memory.  We have this rottwelier named Bella that my mom’s boyfriend took in. Where she was living before, she was tied to a little chain outside all year round without even a doghouse for shelter. Since the family could not take care of her he brought her into the family. When he met my mom and started staying at our house more she just started to live here.

One day, Ron and I were conjuring up a plan to make some money and he mentioned how pure bred rotties were big bucks. After that day we never really thought of it again, that is until Bella was in heat. Ron knew a guy up north where he lives that has a male dog we could breed her with. He decided to take her to him. Well Bella has a history of breaking out of fences, she is such a huge dog that her, Margo (our little lab husky mix), and Harley (the most calm and easy going dog you will ever meet) also a rottie but neutered, would gang up and break out of our fenced in backyard. For the most part Bella and Margo, then Harley would just follow the leaders. Bella is in the front, Harley in the back , and Margo is the little one.

 When my parents got divorced we moved into a subdivision sort of thing off of posyville, and before we got a shock fence the dogs would break out all the time and roam the neighborhood. Our neighbors didn’t like it that much because these rottweiler’s are huge dogs and look scary. None of them would even hurt a fly though unless you tried to hurt one of us. So back to the story, Bella broke this guy’s fence because we didn’t think she wanted anything to do with this dog. Then like a week later we took her back again because we thought maybe she just wasn’t ready the first time, and she did it again. We thought just forget it and didn’t try to breed her anymore. Well about 4 or 5 weeks after that we noticed her getting a little fatter but we just thought that she maybe took it and didn’t really think anything of it. It really hit like a week before it happened and you could tell either something was wrong with her or she was about to have some babies. So the day finally happened, it was the night before the first time I had this English class so like September 5^th. She started leaking greenish black fluid and we knew something was about to happen. I went to bed because I had school the next day, but told them to wake me up when something exciting started to happen. About 2:30 in the morning is when it all began. 

Why I Chose this topic

Hello everyone,

My name is Katie Wisneski. I am 16 years old and am currently taking college classes and high school classes. My life has been pretty stressful lately but I almost feel like this blog might help with that. The reason why I chose “Katiespetadeventures” is because I love pets and animals so much. They are one of my passions, and although I don’t aspire to be a veterinarian or anything like that, I still love them. The main reason why I don’t think I will be a vet is because I have really bad allergies with animals
(ironic right?).

I have so many pets it’s hard to count, but I love every single one of them. I would have to say I favor cats a little more, mostly because cats are so chill and easy to take care of. All together I have three cats, 5 dogs, 2 goats, and 5 fish. Most of them split between my mom’s and dad’s house.

My pets are really an escape for me. If I am stressed out, happy, sad, angry, or just flat out moody, seeing one of my pets just makes my whole day better. They help me out and I help them out an excellent two way street.

I have been around pets and animals pretty much my whole life. The first pet that I got was when I was two and a half. He was a white, cuddly, cat and he was my best buddy for years. Being an obnoxious two year old (terrible twos) that poor cat went through a lot. He sat through many dress ups, story telling’s, and being smothered with love. I remember my mom would always tell me bed time stories and George was right there with me, and I would even read him a few too. I have a cute picture of it but I’m going to have to do some serious digging to find it.

Animals were so influential to me growing up that I can name off every pet I ever had, and let me tell you I’ve had a wide variety. I’ve had everything from hermit crabs, to hamsters, to rats, to sheep, turkeys, and pigs. Pretty much you name it and there’s a chance I’ve had it.

Pets have just been such a wonderful part of my life I figured they should get credit somewhere. Right now even, my little cat baby Larson is hanging out with me while I’m writing. I’m really glad I chose pets as my topic to write about, it is going to be fun to write about all of my experiences with them, the good and the bad.