Skeeter

Skeeter came into my life October 27, 2015 through New Rattitude and left my life in October 15, 2019 shortly after her 14th birthday. Because of her cancer diagnosis earlier this year, I knew our time was going to be short and I was thankful and appreciative for each and every day. I feel like she fought for me to be here for as long as she could.  She knew how badly I wanted her to stay and be here.   I was actually just holding her, petting her and talking to her about just normal things when I felt her just leave this earth. I take comfort in that I was able to be there for her in those final moments. 

 I will miss my little desk buddy. The thought of working at the desk without her to the left of me feels unbearable. She came into my life during a period of big transitions - and she helped me through it being there and being her little sassy self. We will miss her and her little nub of a tail that wagged constantly. Her kisses and how amped she would get when Cassie would just let her lick her face and hands or feisty she became when you would play with her and get her mad. Her chasing and barking at any red light and windshield wipers. Her overreaction to things sometimes. Her love of pupcups. Her barking at dogs and babies but how she tolerated all my foster dogs (and the Coltrane cats) even allowing them to snuggle with her and playing with a select few. Her snuggles at night and all her naps right by my side. The list is too long. She was my velcro dog and I loved her so very much.

I adopted her in January 2016

Rest in Peace little Skeeter - we will never forget you and will always love you.  

Skeeter and Sasha - sisters

Updates

I've been busy and my updates got a way from me  - so I thought I should get out the ones I've been hoarding for while... sorry if I missed anyone... 

Little Frankie has settled in great with his new mom and fur sister, Koko.   As you can see, he loves her so much and of course he loves his mom too.  So happy for this little guy.  How freaking cute are they?!!!   This is just what I wanted for him.

Millie - (formerly Skye) was a puppy I fostered many years ago.  Now all grown up.  Unfortunately, she was recently diagnoses with Addison's disease, but quick action from her mom and family wiht the right medication got her back on track and feeling better.  Best Wishes and stay healthy!  

Just a cute picture of Lola (formerly Scully) and  Silas, enjoying some good beach time. 

This is Pippa, who at 5 years old - won't let a puppy win a tug a war battle since she's the boss!   

Slater with his fur brother Ruger at Christmas.  Both such good boys!

And an updated on my Skeeter... some people saw it on Facebook - but we took Skeeter to see the neurologist for her back... we found out that while she does have problems in 3 places in her spine, two luxating patellas in the back of the knees - what was worse - was the lung cancer with involvement in the lymph nodes that they found that make any other surgery impossible.  Cancer is most likely metastatic from one of her previous mammary tumors.  I have taken her in 3 times to have them removed after her primary surgery and still as the WSU - they found 2 that I hadn't spotted yet.   Devastating and uncurable.  However, we opted to do some chemotherapy and on her last treatment - her xray showed no progression of the cancer, even a possible bit of a reducement.    Also - good news... medication for her back has been working and she isn't dependent on her wheel chair; those she still has some motility issues. Very little symptoms from either her cancer or the treatment which is great.   As long as her quality of life is good - we will fight this.  She's still barking at the neighbors, licking faces and being the best desk dog-  Go Skeeter!

Happy Halloween!!!!

What a bunch of bananas I have!!! haha - Couldn't resist them all being bananas - luckily they don't mind an outfit and  of course lots of treats helped to get these pictures.  Seraphina is a good sitter!

Sunny days

Sunny is here and what an adventure we had!   First I got stuck on Saturday in Yakima due to weather conditions.  Luckily Skittles mom, Angela helped me out and picked up Sunny and kept her overnight.

Happily I was able to pick her up on Sunday, but I stayed too long and I didn’t want to drive in the dark while it was snowing - so we ALL (did I not mention I brought Sasha and Skeeter for a fun road trip) at my friends house.  It was a crazy busy night, but we all got to know each other and everyone were great troopers.  Thanks Chelle and Isa for letting the crazy group of us stay the night!   Isa, took some great pictures and we headed home at 5 in the morning Monday!  That was eventless and we were all happy to be home’.

Such a sweet smile for this little girl

Skeeter can nap anywhere...

Sasha just loves car rides so much

More news about her later  as we get to know her more- but she was called Booboo by her previous foster home - so I’ve taken to calling her Sunny BooBoo - keeps the S and it's fun to say and is super cute!

Fostering Life

So I will be taking an extended break from fostering for New Rattitude.  I will still stay active in New Rattitude and will always be on the look out for updates of any and all my foster pups - I will not be taking on any new fosters for awhile.

The reason is cause of these two sweet little kitties - George and Pinkie; they are siblings and 16 years old.  They were my dad's cats and he passed away last month.  I'm happy to have them and am working on acclimating them to their new home... It's scary to them and they have not be exposed to dogs before - so we are doing a slow transition to the full house and the crew  They are a hoot though. They stay in my work office and George demands pets and drools while you pet him (and we incidentally found that he also loves to be vacuumed!).  Pinkie is the shyer of the two - she hides a lot but we have been getting short visits from her and she lets us hold her.  She has a bit of sneer due to missing a canine.    And we micro chipped them too since George likes to go outside from time to time and we want to build up to short visits outside like he was use to if possible for George especially who likes to go outside for daily walk abouts.

How I ended up with 5 animals probably isn't surprising to anyone; but I am surprised that the cats outnumber the dogs!  That's not how I thought it would go.  I am now a senior animal home with Skeeter coming in at the youngest at 11 years.

Sarah is doing good, at 18; she's still fighting her kidney disease but has rebounded from being sick like she was in December.  She gets weekly sub-q fluids at home and that has seemed to slow down the progression and she is comfortable and happy.   

 Sasha at 14 isn't sure about these new cats she's having to deal with.  She likes to bark at them at first; but now she's not and she gets that they live here now.   We are working on getting her and Pinkie/George used to each other in small increments.

And Skeeter is just happy to be sleeping back on my work desk after being booted for a week. George and Pinkie are currently staying in my office for the most part and for the first week they were here; I kept her out while they acclimated a bit.   She doesn't care about the cats; but she would like to test taste their food!  They don't seem to mind her either; though I think they don't know quite what to make of her either.

so I will still pop up from time to time and one day come back to fostering - I really love it so much - I love meeting and getting know to know all my foster dogs and their personalities.  They've taught me a lot and in a variety of ways.  But for now; these five will get to settled into this new pack and routine which so far has been off to a very good start.

Much love  :)

Updates!!!!

Scotty is doing wonderfully with his new family.  They are keeping his name too! 

He is wonderful.  We all love him.  No, we like the name Scotty.  We have no plans on changing it. He also gets to go to the vet practice where his parent so and hang out in the office, which is great!  

They say:  He is so active and happy.  I think we have kept him tired enough that he hasn't been interested in shoes or being destructive. He even has a life vest and has gone kayaking.   He is really good at fetch in the house.  He and the younger cat play so well.  They like to chase each other and they are clearly playing.  

I am so happy for the good life that Scotty has in front of him.  He is a lucky little dog!  

Millie (who was puppy Skye) is doing great.  She is 4 years old now and no longer a puppy!   All grown up.  She is a love bug and quite the snuggler.  She loves to be outside as much as possible and play in the outdoors.

I can't believe that little 2 lb puppy who wore an xs kitty collar is all grown up.  Love seeing her happy and loved!

And last but not least - Lola (formally Scully) and Teddy (Silas) - are doing great.  Getting to hang out; go on vacations and Lola got to be famous in her dad's shoe companies catalog.  It's great seeing two New Rattitude fosters get to be siblings to such a great family.   Though her mom says their new favorite game is tug of war - of squeeky toys, which is great, but hard on the ears!  

I'm Adopted

Of course Mr. Scotty was adopted and before I could do a "Beam me Up" Scotty post!  Lovely family from Western Washington with two boys - the parents are both vets - so he really has it made and is in for a great active healthy life.  He will also have 3 kitty cat siblings that I'm sure he will try to be buddies with.  He will charm them under his spell in no time.

They came and picked him up in Yakima but first he got to know them and give them kisses and LOVED chasing after the boys.  We will miss this sweet little cuddler; but good times ahead for him!

All By Myself

Another visit to the dog park on a sunny day and we were all alone... Scotty was happy to play by himself for a bit, but soon, he was watching and waiting for friends to plays with.  We tried to keep him entertained but he kept watching the parking lot for new buddies.  He did get some another about 1/2 hour, but until then, it was photo shoot time and i think we got some great pictures!

The Life of Scotty

Scotty was not impressed with us havinng him wear a hat.. He figured it would be better to just take a nap and hope it was over when he woke... He was cute though.  But he's not really a hat kind of dude.

He continues to do well... Very much housetrained with the doggie door and the help of my dogs who have the schedule down pat.  He is super good with my cranky girls - neither of them care for the puppy antics, but he keeps trying to get them to play with him and they tolerate his sillyness pretty well.  He also mimics them; if Sasha is out eating some grass; he'll join her... Skeeter barking at an unknown enemy; he will go and check it out - trying to figure out the fuss. 

 He also loves Cassie and very much misses her when she leaves... He's figured out how to jump up on the ledge to watch her car leave... Sad; but cute.. He kind of is a perfect fit!