Ripley's buddy, Loki

Ripley's buddy, Loki, is an old, old cat. I figured out that he is now 13 years old AND he was already a year old when we adopted him! He'd been in another home and they were moving and couldn't take him with them, and I found him at PETCO, on one of their "adopt an animal" days! He trained both of our German Shepherds~ our previous one and Rommel. Ripley? He hasn't exactly trained her yet, and she often tries to take a nip at him, but he simply walks away! Hmmppfffff~~~he can't be bothered! Here he is walking on my husband's car, doing nothing (his favorite pasttime!) Camera Critters for March 29, 2009.

Bones disappear!

My half-full box of dog bones almost completely disappeared last night. I like to keep a box of "Meaty Bones" around to reward good behavior. Hmmm.....it seems that the pack decided to reward itself last night! A real crime occurred. I stumbled out of bed at 4:00 a.m. today, only to discover 1 bone left in their box! I followed the trail of trash through the living room, only to find the result and wonder what went on in my living room last night!!!

Rommel

Ripley's companion and pal is our dog, Rommel, and our son's Weimeraner, Atticus, whom we "inherited" because our son lives in a condo. Ripley gets along with both of her "uncles", but especially with Atticus. He's a year younger than Rommel. Rommel is our third German Shepherd, who is now 6 years old, and it has been painful for us to watch him deteriorate with an auto-immune "deformity" that causes him to itch and scratch until he is bleeding! He has been under our vet's care since last Thanksgiving. He's been on a steroid for the itching and also anti-histimines to control it, but last month he had a very serious outbreak and he was just covered with "hot spots". He lost a lot of hair and he also lost 5 pounds. The vet read up on his condition, which is like lupus in humans, and, while there is no cure for it, he feels like he CAN help to control it. I've also switched Rommel's food to a no-grains/salmon one (Taste of the Wild salmon) and I'm also giving him raw veggies. He's now starting to look better...his eyes are clearer, his muzzle is better looking, but he is still thin. His energy level is coming back up, too! We take him back to the vet for another medicated bath this weekend. I have some old pics of Rommel when he was about a year old. I don't wish to post any of him now, since he is such a wreck, but here he is before his own body turned on him and began to destroy it. We aren't sure how much longer we will have Rommel, and I choose to remember him like he was. I know Doc will do everything he can to save him and we will continue to pay for his medicines and his baths as long as there is hope for him. I figure a good diet should help and I love to cook for him and make him "special food". Here he is relaxing on a friend's lawn when he was about one year old. He is a purebred German Shepherd, from a breeder in Riverside, CA. He's the most mellow shepherd we've had and he's never growled at ANYONE (he's our third one) and we can't imagine life without him, so we will continue to treat his symptoms as long as we can. He loves to go out and play with Ripley and Atticus and this afternoon the three of them were out front playing and raising dust all over the place! I'm so glad he is starting to feel better again! These immune "attacks" seem to happen about 4x a year.

My friend and her dogs!

I have a good friend, a fellow teacher, Barb, that I've known now for over 15 years. She and I taught together at the same school 15 years ago, then I left and she went to another school, too. But we've always kept in touch. Last summer she came over and helped me with one of my mustangs, Scout! She has a small ranch herself with 4 horses, 2 turkeys, chickens, goats, dogs, and a bearded lizard! She's quite a character and I dearly love her! Anyway, here she is with her dogs, feeding them their breakfast. Her goat, Davey, tried to grab some leftovers, too! He's quite a character!