Is Herbie Trouble?
I must apologize to Alice. Yesterday when I posted about all the new pet arrivals of the Pet People, I forgot to mention Alice's new cat, Herbie, who she adopted from Cats Are Us. If you remember, Alice lost Trouble a few months back. Remember the great picture of Trouble trying to take care of the paper jam in the printer? Well, Alice sent me this photo of Herbie, top.
She says: "I see Trouble in Herbie a lot. Her spirit is definitely in there. Herbie comes running when the printer starts printing, just like Trouble used to do. Here is a pic of Herbie trying to find the gremlin that lives in my printer."
I love the picture, even though we don't see the face. It's like he's looking at a doorway, trying to make sure he can finish his task before Mommy comes into the room. The typical hand caught in the cookie jar. In Trouble's picture,below, he was caught in the act, and had that caught look in his face!
This got me to thinking. Dangerous, I know. Do you all have any supernatural stories about your pets or those of others? Ever see the show miracle pets? I'm a believer, as I had my own other-worldy experience with Yogi and the cookie I told you about a while back. Spirits abound in the universe I truly believe, a universe we know so little about, really.
Alice, tell us more about Herbie since you've adopted him. Anyone else plan to add to their pet family any time soon. I would love to get a little dog, but I know The Boss would have a fit. Sometimes I do let him get his way. One day though, when the three I have join Tramp, Yogi and Penny! I just hope Scooter never comes back in another pet body!
posted by Sandy at 7/12/2007 03:28:00 PM
Pet People
15 Comments:
Yikes!
I can't keep up with the blog lately. Softball is officially over at my house as of last night so maybe now I can play catch up.
Love the picture of Herbie Alice. And it is so neat that he has some of the same personality that Trouble had. I think now after getting our Rocky, that new pets do make the loss of another one easier. It doesn't make the grief go away, but I seem to laugh more now when I talk about my heavenly doggies instead of cry.
I wanted to also ask if anyone knows ANYTHING about sugar gliders? I have a friend who is a total non-animal person and her hubby brought one of these home without asking her. When I say non-animal person I mean one who knows she doesn't like animals as pets(but she would never be mean or cruel to an animal)and would have never gotten one herself. Long story short, she needs to find a home for this baby-a home with a person who will take care of it and love it.I am not familiar with these beauties and with me having a small cat farm...I don't think I could give it a safe home. If anyone hs any suggestions at all, please send them to me.
OK...I have to go clean up pee now. Rocky just spent an hour or so swimming with my daughters and he is a big goofy pee pot. He drinks a belly full of water everytime he swims and then runs around the house and pees at the same time. Gross, I know. Oh well, gotta love him
I think it is great how Herbie and Troubles are similar in traits! I see a lot of both my girls in Skeeter but especially Cheetah, Skeeter was skittish of strangers such as Cheetah and she likes to hide under the bed covers just like Skeeter did as well. Sheba and Cheetah showed up in the backyard about 4 months after our baby Skeeter left us. I was a walking zombie type basket case until those two showed up to sooth my aching needs. I truly think that God sent them to me! They will never replace my perfect Skeeter but they sure do fill the void of no longer having him….
Shannon, I have heard of the Sugar Glider and seen them in zoo's and also on TV programs. I had no idea they were animals that we keep as pets though. I love animals just as the next person but I am not all about taking from the wild and into our homes for entertainment, (although, Sheba was brought from the wild and entertains me daily) I think certain animals such as this little delightful Sugar Glider belong in the wild with it kind. After doing a quick research to help you out, this is what I found and it only insures that the animal needs to be with its own.... The part about “companionship” really does bother me….
I will do a search and see if I can find a Sugar Glider rescue for the little guy. If I can find it, I am up for a road trip to get it to a new home….
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So, is a sugar glider a good pet for you?
That is a question you certainly need to ask yourself. This article is targeted at disuading you from owning a sugar glider by simply presenting the facts. Ask any suggie owner and they will tell you these things from experience and the huge number of pets given up to rescues and adoption is testament that this is true.
Diet
Sugar gliders require a Captive Diet that is not simply bought like a dog or cat. They cannot survive on dry and/or pellet type foods. Sugar gliders are an exotic wild animal and they require an exotic diet that can get complicated. If you are squeamish around mealworms, [[grubs]], [[crickets]] and other bugs, you should not own a sugar glider.
Housing
Sugar gliders live in treetops and run and glide large distances every night to feed. Their cage requirements are far beyond what would be needed for a comparable sized domesticated pet such as a hamster, gerbil, ferret, or bird. A typical "healthy" cage is no less than an AVIARY. Australia's Department of Sustainability and Environment has various laws regarding keeping animals. The minimum cage size they require is much larger than what is easily found for sale in other countries, is not enough room and therefore not a healthy situation for the animals.
Smell
Sugar gliders are very scent-driven and are consequently smelly animals. Much like a ferret or skunk, they have glands on their bodies to emit scent and to mark. They also mark constantly with their urine as they are active inside and outside of the cage. After a few days, any cage situation will get messy and smelly and will need attention.
Verbalizations
Sugar gliders are noisy, and worse, they are noisy all night long. Being a NocturnalAnimal, they are awake when you are sleeping and sleeping when you are awake. So not only is it hard that you miss most of their awake time, but their barking and crabbing and hissing and various cage noises including clanks, bangs and constant exercise wheel's running, can keep you up and will ruin your day.
Messy
Sugar gliders are indeed very messy animals. When they wake, they will extricate their bowels as they move around. It is common for an animal to extricate while it is eating and when out for play and running on you. Poo and pee on your clothes, skin, hair, and furniture is to be expected with these animals. While in the cage, gliders spend a lot of time on the walls or high up and thusly they will pee, poo and even throw food and waste outside of the cage.
Reproduction
Sugar gliders in captivity have the capability to breed constantly. It is common to have a litter of 1 to 3 joeys up to 3 or 4 times a year. This is a strain on the female and certainly becomes a problem for the keeper when there are too many animals to care for and when a male is in the cage with multiple females, breeding more. Overpopulation has become a very big issue with many unwanted sugar gliders living in bad conditions.
Biting
Sugar gliders are an exotic wild animal and therefore have instincts to protect. If you look around the forums you will see that many people have problems with biters and many of them give up and hand the animals over to rescues thus adding to the number of homeless animals. Some people have needed to get stitches because of how deep a sugar glider can bite. In the wild they normally peel bark off of trees, human skin is much softer and easier for them to bite into.
Longevity
In captivity, sugar gliders can live up to 15 years, plus or minus some. Considering the amount of effort one has to put into the pet for feeding, playtime, cage space in the house, pet sitting while away, a majority of sugar glider owners are not prepared for the long haul and inevitably give up their pets for adoption.
Companionship
Sugar gliders are a social animal and were not meant to be alone. Human contact is absolutely not a replacement for family of their own kind. A minimum number of animals is two, do not ever plan to have just one. Single animals can "bond" to their owner in a way and is not as common as people say. Solitary animals are the ones who largely have health issues, self mutilate or bite due to depression. There is no replacement for sleeping with and interfacing with their own.
Health
Sugar glider health problems can be bizarre as well as emotionally and financially draining. Search the SugarGliderForums and you will see numerous issues. Finding veterinarians in your area can be difficult, as most vets have little to no experience with sugar gliders.
Abandon
A large percentage of sugar glider owners give them up within a year. They finally realize and accept that keeping the animal is not as rewarding as they had hoped for. All exotic animals require above and beyond any care that might be given for a standard domestic animal and most folks just do not accept that until they have experienced it. Consider this concept in your decision and please watch THIS VIDEO
Conclusion
These items by themselves can sometimes be enough to dissuade a prospective owner from investing into the sugar glider hobby, but please do consider them all. Owning gliders is not easy and it can be very time consuming while giving them attention in the early morning and late at night, while cleaning cages weekly or more often, while preparing meals nightly, and more. Give it some hard thought, take some time to see what it would be like in your life and above all, ask questions.
Shannon, I Google “sugar glider rescue tn “
And here were two sights that might be of interest to you….
www.crittervillerescue.com/health/vetlist.htm
www.altpet.net/Rescue/TN.html
Will the chemicals in the pool harm Rocky??? I once had a remote control boat. At the apartment complex where I lived was a frog by the pool. Then hubby (the now ex) put the frog on the boat in the Captains seat and drove him all over that pool. That really got a group of spectators gathered around the pool. Okay, we were young and dumb, (Stacy, dont go there) Anyway, after the ride was over, I carefully put the frog back where we had found it. The next day as I walked past the pool to go to the mailbox, I spotted the frog in the same spot as it had never moved an inch. The thing was totally dead and frozen in time! I think the chlorine dried out its skin or something. I cried for the little frog as I felt responsible for his death.... Anyway, just wondering if the stuff in your pool could harm Rocky since he drinks it....
We see a lot of the same things in Hunter that we saw in Copper,the Foremans first dog. He runs the same, with his butt tucked up under him, like he's trying to run and scoot at the same time. He doesn't like anything wet on his feet either. We used to call Copper Twinkle Toes b/c he wouldn't go outside when it was anything but dry out. Now Hunter is doing the same things. It rained the other night and the grass was wet, so Hunter stood on the pavers and refused to go in the grass. It was kinda funny to watch him. He walked right to the edge to pee. I believe in reincarnation!
Shannon, I'll send emails out to my rescue contacts and see if any of them have a contact with an exotic animal rescue or something like that. If I find anything out, I'll email you tomorrow. This could be the next Mrs Tuttle project for the Pet People!!!!
Well Alice, all I know to say is that when the Lord closes a door, he opens a window. Even though you miss your precious Trouble, you are seeing all those little cute things in Herbie. It's just another example of Man upstairs putting parent and furry babies together that belong together. Isn't it just amazing what turns out lives take, and how much we are all being watched over?+
Okay guys, the Pet People rescue group strikes again!!! Shannon, I just sent you an email. Mrs Tuttle's new mommy has a contact that rescues exotic animals and has specifically worked with sugar gliders, so if you will contact her with your friend's information and you can go from there.
Also, she said that it is illegal to privately own sugar gliders in TN, so I wonder how your friend's husband got this one???
Stacey, with a quick search last night on the Sugar Gliders, I was able to find more sights which sell these cute little critters then rescue agencies for them! I am sure a lot of those people are just in it to make money and don’t give a rats a$$ about the critters themselves! I am sure they cross state lines and sell them illegally. I personally think that exotics such as Sugar Gliders belong in the wild. I was not aware of them being pets until Shannon brought this to our attention. Wow, what next, Silver Back gorillas as every day pets?!!! Sorry if any of my postings on this topic sound harsh, but I just get angry at stuff like this....
Changing the subject but I read something in our paper yesterday which may be of interest to dog owners..... A concerned pet owner lost her healthy dog Walter and wanted to put out a caution to dog owners about this condition….
To quote what I read…
“We lost our Walter recently to an apparently common, but widely unheard of condition. Walter died of a condition called “Bloat”. He was running and leaping in Hitchcock woods at sunset; eight hours later he was dead. By some account, bloat kills dogs at a rate second only to cancer. It frequently strikes mature, deep-chested dogs such as Greyhound, Dobermans, Pointers, etc., but not exclusively. For some reason, the stomach fills with gas and flips inside the dog. Emergency surgery is the only remedy. If we had known about bloat, we could have saved Walter. We urge people to talk to their vets or look up bloat in dogs on the internet. In Walter’s memory, we hope to spare as many people as possible the anguish of thinking ‘If only I had known’…”
My name is Cynthia. I have been reading this blog and the comments for quite sometime, but never felt I had anything to add. Today, I feel that the comments were written just for me.
Yesterday, two of my best friends went to puppy heaven. Stabo was 14 and Rocky was 13. I am moving to Dallas the end of the month and had Dr. Markham check them over a couple of weeks ago. He said that in light of the cancer and arthritis they suffered from, they would not be able to handle that kind of trip. That left me with THE decision and yesterday was the day. They were not in any pain and it was very peaceful, but I miss my boys. My two dogs,
Kiowa and Janie, and the three cats, Maxx, Mister and Callie, are all missing them too.
It has made things much easier today to read the tales of others whose friends have moved on. My heartfelt thanks for your words that let me know, I am not the only one to have this type of grief. Thank you!
Cynthia
Welcome Cynthia,
I am so very sorry for your heartbreaking pain right now! I certainly do understand it and my heart goes out to you. All of us on here will be happy to be your new friends and any source of comfort we can be. Hang in there and enjoy all the comfort all your other kitty and doggie babies will give you. I will put you in my prayers for peace and comfort! God bless you!
Pam
Indeed Cynthia, our grief is deep! I have tears in my eyes just reading what you wrote because I have been there too. Yje rainbow bridge leads to peace and everlasting love. All my babies are there with yours. Know that I care and many many others here do as well. Welcome to our little part of the web. Please visit again and tell us about your fur children, those who remain and those who have moved on.
Cynthia,
I am so very sorry for your loss. Its hard making such a decision but I think you truly show your love by doing so..I think everyone here can relate to what you are going thru. My boxer Harley died very suddenly a few months ago and I know I would have rather had the choice to put her down than for her to die without me here to say goodbye. You did the right thing. Its so painful but it will get better. Tell us about your babies when you feel up to it.
Stacey, I did send an email to your friend and I am excited that this creature might be able to be helped. I spent some time with it last night and I guess I see why people are attracted to them. Its adorable. My neighbors are taking good care of it. My biggest concern is that they will give it to just anybody in order to get rid of it and then it could possibly not be cared for. And they got it at a flea market. I guess there are many people who sell them at flea markets-like someone said-to make money. Ignorant people like this make me sick. If they are illegal, who is in charge of monitoring illegal exotic animals? I would love to have all these people busted.
Skeeter I have heard of bloat only because I think boxers can be prone to it.It is a very serious, deadly condition. Def something to be familiar with. And you brought up a good point about the chemicals in my pool. I don't think they will hurt him but I am going to call my vet and ask them to be sure. I have a cute video of Rocky swimming with my daughters. I was going to email it to everyone but my piece of sh#@t computer has decided that my Word program is not going to work anymore so I can't open the phone roster. Arrgh...I am trying to hold out on buying a computer until they have the back to school no tax day in Aug. Anyone out there a computer genius??? I have no money but can pay with various alcoholic beverages. Haha...it is friday right?
Hello Cynthia! Yes, we do know how you feel. It has been over 5 years since we had to put our Skeeter down and it is still difficult for me to talk about it. I have never really given his story but maybe in time I will be able to put it into words again. Too sad for me now... but in looking back, like Shannon says, I am glad that we were able to do it on our terms and give a proper goodbye to our beloved baby of 16 years! Since we don’t have human children, I think that made it all the more worse on us as he WAS our child. Now we have two new furry babies which we adore, but they will never match up to my little perfect yellow man Skeeter.... Don’t be a stranger and post often as you like in order to feel better about the loss of your babies and to make new animal loving friends… I now live in GA but post often and it makes me feel not only close to animal lovers, but home as well… Hang in there and know our hearts are with you today…..
Shannon, the Saint is a computer Wizard but it would cost you more then a few cold ones to get us up there for a house call! Ha ha… Besides, we owe Pam and my mom a day of computer maintenance the next time we come north! Wow, did I just say north for Tennessee! Ouch, someone will get me for that one for sure! I would love to see Rocky in the pool with the kids. When you talk about it, I have my mind in visual mode and just get a chuckle thinking of how much fun they must all be having together! I have always wanted to swim with the dolphins but I am sure Rocky would be much more fun with giving wet slobbery kisses then an old dolphin…..
Oh my gosh, we have to get Rocky in the hot tub with us!!!
I would love to see Rocky and Dragon swatting tails!!!
Oh shoot, boxers have short tails. Do they make tail extensions for Boxers?
Does Rocky have a red thong??? LOL
I am glad to see there will be a happy ending to the Sugar Glider story! Upon first researching last night, I came across a refuge in Ohio and the Saint and I were ready to do the rescue traveling for him! We thought it would be a great way to help out and have a nice Road Trip too! (Oh, his job is now secure until April for sure! So we can continue to enjoy life as it was….Yippee…. ) Then my next hit was a rescue in Nashville area so I thought that was close enough for someone else to take over… Anyway, Great that the little critter will find a new home and yes, don’t let them give him/her to anyone else unless they are a rescue as they will be sure to be the best placement for a future home….
Skeeter, I'm pretty sure Dragon will call you on calling it North up here,ha. Sorry I didn't get time to call you but I will next week so we can catch up. When I checked my email after about a week of being off, there were 180 messages so still have to sort through. Don't have time today since we are getting ready to go to babysit the grand kids all day then staying there for dinner.
Shannon have you checked the PX for computers yet? Fly Boy says they sometimes have the best deals with no tax of course. Yyou just have ti hit it at the right time. keep checking there.
Well gang got to go get ready to hit the road. Went to a surprise birthday party last night and am trying to recover from all the smoke! We had to leave early because of it. Hope ya'all have a great weekend.
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