An Outing and a Cat

Last month when our friends Gord and Donna were visiting, we took them out to Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Farm but it was closed.  We really like that place so we went again.  We took lots of pictures to share with Gord and Donna.

We don't like the ostriches much.  They are super aggressive and dangerous.  Silly looking too.  But there are lots of other animals to entertain.

Doug feeds an ostrich with the mountain he climbed just a few weeks ago in the background.

The donkeys are adorable.

I always thought these were budgies, apparently they are parakeets

Dozens of bunnies.

But our favourites are the lorikeets.  Wiki says "Lories and lorikeets (tribe Loriini) are small to medium-sized arboreal parrots characterized by their specialized brush-tipped tongues for feeding on nectar of various blossoms and soft fruits, preferably berries. 

The lorikeets can even remove the lid on the little cups of nectar

Look how many this young lady has on her.  I had one on my head too but it flew before we could get the shot.

Ain't I pruddy.

They have something new at Rooster Cogburn's.  They have also doubled the price $20.00 now.  

They have stingrays!  Stingrays do not have teeth.  They have suction cups.  You are able to touch them and feed them.  I let Doug have that privilege.

There are a lot

Doug feeds the stingrays.

*****************************************************
We have been "pet-less" for more than 3 years.  We have debated over the years, cat? dog? neither?   Life on the road without a pet is much simpler.  Dogs have to be walked at least twice a day and are difficult when we have to go out for the day.  Doug has been voluteering at Valley Humane Society, walking the dogs once a week.  I went with him the first time and saw all the cats.

Paige was quite shy at first.

This is a no kill shelter.  Some of the animals have been there for more than a year.

There was a cat up for adoption that they called "Toni".  Well was it meant to be or what? She is just six months old and had been there for 4 months.

 She took to us immediately.  We bought a ton of cat paraphernalia  and food.  We brought her home last Wednesday and changed her name to "Paige". She is calm and lovable.  She has a tiny "meow" and is able to be left alone in our living room overnight just by closing the bathroom door.

The shelter provides a free vet visit.  We took her yesterday.  What a shock!  The vet was surprised that she was alive.  At first he thought feline leukemia which is fatal.  He did a test and it was negative, thank goodness.  Paige is seriously anemic.  We knew that a pet would be an expensive, but so soon. 

She likes to sit on the "shoe box" right next to Doug when he is on his laptop

We have medication that is supposed to work quite quickly.  She has taken two doses and seems more active.

Brings us to our next problem.  We are going to daughter Charlette and family's house in Manitoba for Christmas.  We had arranged to have a neighbour check on her and refill her food dishes a few times while we were away.  We can't ask that neighbour to come give her her medicine twice a day.  

We feel the shelter should bear some of the responsibility.  We were told that the cat was checked and was in good health.  We are going to ask them to board the cat and give her medicine while we are away.  Hopefully they will do that.  We will find out today.