my animals

ok next i think i'll introduce you to my zoo!

our oldest pet is Robbie. Robbie is a 14 year old German Shepherd X something.. we think possibly labrador or golden retriever. We adopted Robbie from the NCDL (Dogs Trust) when he was 5- we are his 5th owners. Now, while Robbie is a big dog, he's the biggest load of sap ever and would be more likely to lick you to death than anything else, and despite his age, he still likes to bounce about like a puppy.
Robbie's not been too well of late. 4 months ago he was diagosed with Laryngeal Paralysis (the vocals cords are paralysed) which basically means that while at rest he's fine, but when excited and he tries to take a deep breath, his larynx doesn't open up to accomodate it, so he gets out of breath really easily.
over the colder weather he's been OK, but now that the warmer weather is coming in he's finding it increasingly hard to go on his walks during the day.
So we've got him booked in at the vet school up in Glasgow to see about getting him an operation to aleviate the condition. Bascially what they do is they go in and tie one side of the vocal cords to the side, helping to keep the airway more open. For him, it's very minor surgery, but because it's not a common condition and because really only to vet colleges will do the op because it's quite fiddly, it's pretty expensive...
he's got his consultation appointment on weds, so we'll see from there...

next we have Sophie. Sophie is a 4 year old Jack Russell Terrier whose favourite past-time is eating! she also LOVES her little stuffed toys (like the ones in the mcdonalds kids meals). We got Sophie about 2 years ago from my mother-in-law who couldn't care for her anymore. Sophie was a god-send. Our Robbie was 12 then and really starting to go downhill, then Sophie came into our lives and he picked right back up and seemed to take on a new lease of life :)

ok... next is the tarantula, Stevie.
Stevie is actually Kieren's pet, though you wouldn't think that most of the time lol we don't know if Stevie is a boy or a girl, hence the unisex name! Stevie is a Mexican Red-Knee, they're very docile and reluctant to bite, and generally if you see a tarantula on a movie or on TV, it will be a red-knee.

then we have the snake.
Boysnake is Caelan's pet, he's a Carolina Corn and he's quite a wee character! and if you're wondering about the name, well- Caelan was only 4 when he got him, and he called him this because "he's a boy and he's a snake" - can't argue with the logic can you?

then we've got the snails!
I love my snails!
unfortunately we've had quite a reduction in numbers over the winter. when we went down to my parents over the new year the snails SHOULD have been fine at home at room temp, however we came back to find someone had fiddled with the boiler and the heating hadn't actually kicked in at all while we'd been away, and it bearly got above zero even during the day this past winter... my 4 adults became 1, my 30-odd large babies became 9 and my many dozen babies ended up being a small handful. at present I have 16.

last but not least we have the newest addition to the family - Sammy the Ferret!
I adopted Sammy from the SSPCA last summer, I had actually planned on getting some rats but while browsing the SSPCA website I clapped eyes on this poor wee ferret called "limpy" and that was it! obvs i changed his name, as i refuse to have a pet with a silly name (boysnake is Caelan's pet, remember!). we've no idea how old Sammy is, other than that he's an adult. his favourite past-times are nipping your toes and trying to eat your shoes!

ok... well that's my zoo for now! I do still plan to get another hamster at some point after losing our dear wee Gilbert 3 days before Christmas....