Dogs

To look at this photo, you'd think that all four dogs get along famously, all the time.

It's the power of a treat.

Rocky (husky) and Waldo (darker sable and white) think they need to be competing, constantly.  There are growls, dilated pupils, snaps and snarls.

Shadow (black lab mix) doesn't like other dogs near her tail or in her space.

Taffy sometimes snaps at the others if she thinks they are breaking the rules.  

But, enter Jake, Carrie and a jar of treats....

They focus.  They do what they're asked to do.  They try to anticipate what will be required next.  They try to manipulate the system.  They hit the floor so hard on a "down" command that their elbows resound on the wood...

Sometimes, they can all be good dogs.

 

Laura

Spring baby rush

Photos:  Violet, One of Fleur's babies, and Trilly

Babies born Monday morning in the rabbit room.
About an equal number alive....and dead. 

Mama Violet finally had a litter of babies.
Two of Violet's are dead.  

But she had a successful litter! More are squirming in the nest!
She won't need to go to the butcher after all.

First time mom Fleur is one of our larger bunnies, and had a bumper crop of babies.
Fleur lost 7 of her 13+ babies. 
She will be an amazing mother to future litters, I think. She pulled the most fur for the nest that I've ever seen.

Two more does are due to deliver within the next couple of days.
One of them has a problem with overgrown teeth, which I'll watch her offspring for...
But there will be more babies! 

So goes the drama in the barn, and especially with the fragile lives of rabbits. 

Miss Taffy was guarding the pan of warming little gray bodies in the oven yesterday morning, but there was no life in them... I had to try, just in case one gasped for life despite the odds...

On a positive note: This is the first batch of American Chinchilla rabbit kits AND I have good records on all of the parents, and that I can document pedigree info on. 
(Thanks to Erica Solis at Emancipation Acres for the beautiful breeding stock!)

And this morning....

Mama Trilly had her litter.  All are safely tucked in the back of the nest box, snuggled in a cloud of gray and white fur.  

Mama Violet has nursed and rearranged the bedding and fur in her own nest box.

Mama Fleur has done the same.  

One day this week I'll count all the babies and remove any that have died, but for now, they need to stay snug and warm.

 

Laura

Nighttime activity

Photos:  Brother and sister, born last spring, and mama cat.  New kittens are "coming right up".

By the yowling and meowing and crooning all night long....for the past 4 nights, I'd say we'll have kittens born to one or both of the female barn cats in about 8 weeks.  

I could have had them spayed before Christmas, and should have, but....  I thought the brother of one/son of the other had already done the deed and didn't want to end a pregnancy or two.  Silly me.  The brother/son was neutered soon after potentially fathering litters, but the females never had kittens.  And now they most certainly WILL.  

The noise level has been robbing us of sleep, not just the mating calls of lusty cats, but....every time they set off their sirens and unearthly yowling, the dogs in the house go crazy.  More reasons to jerk awake in the middle of the night and not be able to go back to sleep!

Two nights ago, the cat noises stopped, and all was peaceful.  Because a pair of Great Horned Owls were hooting back and forth in our stand of white pine trees.  Try sleeping through THAT when your brain fixes on whether the second one will answer the first one....THIS time.  Nope.  THIS time....  Yes, she answered him!  For hours.  

It was fascinating, even though I desperately wanted to just....drift....back....to....sleep.  But at least the cats stopped their racket.

I should have expected this, but it caught us by surprise.  Cats yowling last night after dinner.  Dogs barking like crazy in the yard.  Cats suddenly go silent, but it's not owls causing the break in the noise this time.  Because....coyotes started yipping and howling out in the bare corn field surrounding our property.  Cats in heat must sound like tasty morsels to hungry coyotes.  (I wonder if this is why we lost our favorite tom cat last spring)  If the dogs could have gone any crazier, they did.  The coyotes kept right on yipping, not too far outside the perimeter fence.  Yikes!

Poor Spartan the barn cat is the man in charge these days, with his brother Charlie and the intact tom out of the picture (one claimed by the traffic on the busy road, one just disappeared).  He's come in twice now, beaten, bloody, covered in mud.  I saw him fending off one intruder on our front porch, and the next morning he looked like he'd gone through a washing machine.  Poor guy.  He's over 5 years old, which is OLD for a barn cat, but he's still one of our favorites.  I don't imagine that he was looking to fight off hormone charged male cats, and owls, and coyotes at his age.  He's been getting extra cat food on the front porch, to keep his strength up.  

If anyone wants free kittens....Now you know where to ask for them.  Jeremy is looking forward to kittens to hold and play with again, and if this year's babies are anything like last year's, Jeremy will have them snuggly and cuddly before they are even a week old. 

 

Laura