NOT BORED YET......!!

Well the last few days have been........interesting to say the least.  Got a call from Ed at the local feed store and he said he had a man standing by him that was looking for his 2 dogs...!!  Talked to Kyle and he came out that afternoon and picked up Roo and Lennie the 2 wanderers.  They actually had been on the other side of the San Pedro river bed when they disappeared, so they went quite aways in about 1 1/2 hours in the timeline of them disappearing and Lynn and Linda picking them up on this side.  He said Lennie is the problem child, as cattle dogs they are suppose to work cattle.  I guess Lennie is more of the lay on the bed type of guy, so Kyle said he's looking for a home for him.  Lynn's ears perked up even though they have 3 medium size dogs traveling with them in the RV.  We discouraged him until Kyle had left, and we don't have a phone number for him.  But Lynn went to the feed store to see if Ed did, so this story hasn't ended yet.  Ed didn't have a phone number, BUT we'll see how determined Lynn is.  Actually Linda is the one with the problem.....!!  LOL

 Headed for the truck to go home

Penny of colic surgery fame last summer, started not eating very well, a few days ago.  She usually really enjoys her mush and eats her hay pretty good, but she was just picking and yesterday morning wasn't interested in eating at all.  

She is a problem to work with in the field, and rather than call out Dr. Jeremy when the only help he would have would be us, we decided to just cut to the chase and take her up to the Equine Surgical Center in Gilbert, up by Phoenix  Called and they said bring her up, so we loaded her and headed out.  We always get a 1pm appointment because it takes 3 hours plus to get there.  

She has had a broken jaw so her teeth are wonky and don't match like they should.  Blood work was perfect, no temp, everything looked good, so they zeroed in on the mouth.  Had to almost knock her out on her feet, poor Jennifer the tech was literally holding her up.  Jennifer has been there 18 years and loves donkeys, so we've gotten to know her over the years.  She now does mostly desk work, her back is giving out.  So she's in there holding up a drunk donkey......!!  

Dr. Voss found 2 loose teeth and probably because of her jaw teeth that are to the gum on one side and horribly overgrown on the other.  Two teeth in the back have no teeth above them to grind, so they are way too long and are hitting the roof of her mouth.  

Going back to working on her in the field, she has had regular dental care for years, BUT, she's difficult, donkeys have small mouths, etc, in other words she hasn't had a real good "look and fix".  So today they are going to gas her, put her on her back and do a good job.  Pull the 2 loose ones, cut the 2 long ones down to size and try to straighten up the ones that are angled from gum to high on the other side.  She's not going to have many teeth left in the back at this rate.  But she does like her mush, so it probably won't be much of a problem for her. We also think she might be older than our guesstimate of 20, it's really hard to tell when the teeth are such a mess.  And even then you can ask 5 experts about older equine's age by teeth and get 5 different answers.  We'll probably pick her up tomorrow.

Night before last at feeding time, Linda came in with news, that there was a bobcat in the feed room.  She said she opened the door and he went in.  Thank goodness the dogs weren't in there too.  John got a crate and set it up at the doggy door.  Doug got a trash can lid and headed into the feed room, with his "shield".  It actually went really well, considering.  It seemed to have a hurt rear leg, so it wasn't in 100% bobcat mode I guess.  

Here's John with his little buddy

I called the Tucson Wildlife Center, and was told they can't take in wildlife without notifying Fish and Game.  Of course it was after hours, so after waiting for a couple of hours, the Wildlife center called back and said bring him in, they'd deal with Fish and Game later.  

He wasn't very happy and let us know it.  Linda, John and I made the trip, and he snarled and lunged at the cage the whole time.  They have a very deep growl that will raise hair on your neck, especially if they are in a crate behind the seat, and are clawing at the cage. 

The woman that took him in said he didn't look right to her and that he smelled like a skunk.  I thought he smelled like a tomcat.  Hopefully the day crew people know about bobcats.

John asked if I was going to call, I told him I'm afraid they will tell me they euthanized him, so I haven't called yet.  Of course if he had rabies, euthanizing him would be the best thing for him, that is a horrible death from what I have read.  Unfortunately there is no test for rabies, except quarantine and I don't know if they would make that effort. 

So yesterday morning before we left for Gilbert with Penny, a guy from Fish and Game called and asked if we still had the bobcat.  I commented on the fact that we had tried to get in touch with them, but they didn't return our calls and the Wildlife Center decided to have us bring him in and deal with the bureaucracy later.

I'm getting to the point of, if it's a government organization with bureaucrats, I don't even want to deal with them.  In their zeal to keep their job and retirement, they have to justify the job and more and more it seems they just get more and more rules and regulations to push paper.  The plight of the mustangs/burro program under the BLM is absolutely destroying the wild herds, as they round them up and put them in holding pens.  Don't know how I jumped to BLM from Fish and Game, but a bureaucrat is a bureaucrat as far as I am concerned..........LOL