Blood, Poop, and Tears

I've spent the last few days trying to keep everything together and all I want to do is cry. Tuesday night Nick started straining to poop, I didn't think much of it and made sure his water dish was full. Then Wednesday morning came and it got worse he got me up around 5 which is 3-4 hours to early for him to go out. Came down to a couple spots of pee and a small bit of diarrhea . Let him out and cleaned up the mess, went back to bed. He awoke me again at 6 to the same joy at which point I gave up on sleep and looked up cures for constipation. Gave him some of the canned food I keep around for the cats mixed with water to help him get some more fluids and took him for a walk around the yard. Not a lot of progress was made and I had to go to work.

I left my roomates' with both my cell and work number and picked up wet food actually meant for a dog. I unfortunately had to run to my dad's house to pick up his mail and I finally got to head home. Still no luck on the pooping front. More wet food and walks were provided with no real luck. He got a little bit out so I decided to hold off on a vet visit, until I saw how he was in the morning. Well morning came early at 5:45 and my floor covered with a mix of diarrhea, pee, and vomit. Also with some more straining and a new symptom: no desire to eat. And if you have ever meet a beagle, let alone Nick you know this is not a good sign. But the vet clinic doesn't open till 8 so we both fell asleep on the couch. He seemed more comfortable then he had been but the no eating thing was worrying. So we made a call to the vets office which was having issues of their own with their computer system being down, but they got as an appointment at 3.

Got to the vets and got an exam and an x-ray. No blockage, the bones he got into the other night weren't stuck, in fact he really wasn't constipated the straining was a symptom of his diarrhea. But we had to add to the bad news they did a urine sample and unlike all the pee I've cleaned up (he has had some issues since a UTI last summer) there was blood and bits of gunk all through it indicating an infection. But we had more great news the mass on his side which I've been concerned about shows up on his x-ray possibly indicating  that it is cancerous, which they would like to do a ultrasound on to get a better look at at some point. 

But to add to my lovely day he has two medications he must take to knock out this infection and help with everything. The only problem is Nick hates medicine with a passion and he knows when you are trying to hide it in food. So we are now trying to get 3 pills a day into him without him catching on or me getting bit (again) in the process.

But to add to all the tears from this, because of some issues with my insurance I've been off my antidepressant for about 2 weeks, so I'm in withdrawal from that which is messing with my mood and and ability to cope with things. I also need to get the insurance figured out to get up to date on vaccines so I can meet my cousin's new baby. I still haven't had luck finding a full time job and everything I try to figure out from a job to getting a new phone to projects in the house seems to go wrong. Oh and with the vets computers down I get to wait to see how much this visit cost me (x-ray alone was $95) and I still need to make an appointment with them to get his shots, check on the infection after the meds are done, and possibly an ultrasound. So this week sucked and I just want it to be done.

College, Ducks, and Rats

So this past Saturday I graduated from college with a degree in Biology with a concentration in Ecology and Evolutionary biology. Which is cool, now to find a full time job to help pay for everything. So if you know any jobs working with animals or in the biology field in Western part of PA let me now.

Well in other news there is now 6 ducks running around. They belong to a friend of mine who should be moving in soon. They kind of scare the chickens, but the ducks are starting to bond to the flock and follow them around. But they love the stream behind the house, they are still getting conformable getting down there without guidance. They are also a little young still (bought as chicks in February I believe) so we don't know sexes yet, but hopefully mostly girls. They are suppose to be Khaki Campbells.

And Luke is home from college and is settling in well. He is in an old hamster tank at the moment but should be upgrading to a bigger tank soon.

Flu

Ended up leaving work Sunday night with a fever. Then spent all of Monday in bed with fever, aches, and hives. So I did not go to my classes, canceled my therapy appointment, and called off work. Having a fever of 102.5 F was no fun, hopefully the ibuprofen will keep the fever down for my Organic Chemistry lab and my Ecological Applications class tonight.  

Blue Desk and Paint

I redid a desk for storage in the bathroom. Before:

 And after as a pretty, pale blue desk for bathroom storage:

 Sanding, paint, and new handles do wonders. But inside the draws I found that the wood had originally some sort of sign.

Ignore every bit of disaster area in the back ground. And remember paint on top of plastic not newspaper and latex based paint comes of floor fairly easy.

Lucus is Targeting

Luke as I call him is now targeting the ball, plus here is the basketball court we are using. This is the video I'm emailing the professor to show progress and that I did it.

Tricks, Chickens, Rats, and Deer

So in my Ornithology class this fall we taught chickens to do tricks. My little chick Clarice:

 She learned to peck the red dot (shown in picture), follow it around, climb steps, cross a balance beam, ring a bell, fly between tables, and we were working on flying down from the balance beam when we ended training at the end of the semester. She is an absolute sweetheart who was perfectly happy to chill on my shoulder and cuddle during training.

 I ended up bring her, another Silver Laced Wyandotte but a rooster named Bodie who is an asshole who likes to bit people, and Zazu a little Easter Egger hen who was Clarice's roommate while they where at the lab who was very attached to her.

They are doing pretty well with the big flock besides, Red beating up on Bodie when he is being an asshole. But Bodie tried to play with one of the twin fawns from last year the other day. The touched noses and then jerked away. And then the fawn tried to do that head bump, jump fawns do in play and then ran to her mom and sibling. But I only managed to get pictures right as she started to jump away. But the Ornithology 3 are the 3 closest to the fawn. And then Red and his daughter (3/4 EE, 1/4 BA) next to him, the red hen is the Rhode Island Red cross hen from my grandmother and the little Buff Orpington on the side is also from my grandmother. So far no eggs from the new girls.

In Animal Behavior this semester the same professor that had us train chickens last semester is having us train rats. This time around we have to work in groups to train them to play basketball. So this is little baby Lucus, who I'm calling Luke and who may be coming home with me at the end of the semster.

That's a classmate's hand containing him

But I'm working on the house cleaning, remodeling, having friends move in to help pay bills, and all sorts of stuff that I'll hopefully be updating you on soon.