The Bat-Eared Fox

...because that's what she looks like

(I have decided to no longer count days in the names of the posts. Makes me feel less guilty when i don't post for a while. I have been so busy i could cry.)

Katya is good, all in all. I cant help but marvel at how much better she looks with a bit of weight on her bones.

Still no home, which is starting to worry me. What if i don't find one?

Anyway... stitches out on Wednesday. Will let you know more

One thing i did notice is that there is a whole bunch of things this dog is petrified of - loud sounds, leashes, all sorts of things. The other day i bought her the cutest tartan jersey - she gets very colds. I tried to put it on, but the moment i brought it over her head, she let out this bone-chilling scream.. I wonder what trauma she's been through. I'll never know



I am completely used to the eye now, I think she looks cute.

Playing...



Katya the squatter, taking over my dogs' house


Katya and the ghost dog

Skinny dog - day 10

Sorry i haven't posted in a while. First off here are some pics








As you can see above, she is still adorable. She is on 2 antibiotics and one painkiller a day. She doesn't seem to be complaining anymore. It's amazing how strong this street dog is. I think she dealt with everything amazingly.

She is adapting to the house. She now spends her days outside when it's not cold and has kidnapped the dog house. My dogs are total wimps and wont do anything about it. I have increased her food portions, so she now only eats about 3 - 4 times a day.

Cora Bailey called to say she will take her to her shelter if need be, but i think i should keep her here as long as possible. She needs individual attention

Please don't forget to spread the word to everyone, so we can find a home soon

More tomorrow

Donors

This post is to thank all the people wo helped me with the operation for the eye.

First of - dear friend Nikki Botha from Cape Town - some of you may know her from all her amazing Animal Rights work, who without me asking offered to pay for the operation up front, as a loan on whenever bases. She deposited the money directly into the Vet's account, and thus i was able to have the op there and then and not have to wait, causing the dog pain. I told her i would pay her back, as Nikki does such good work that i know the money will go to a good cause.

(Nikki's Cat Mary, the love of her life)


A donation of R 200 was made by a gentelmen who would like to be listed as ''“from Cassie, Scooby and in memory of Midgey”, his much beloved furry family. Only thing i will say about this guy is that this is not the first time he helps me in terms of not only a personal case like this, but large scale Animal rights work, like my Uncaged event

Cassie

Scooby

And Midgey, who lived to be 16.

Second HUGE donation of R1000 was given to me by a lady called Marelise Jackobs, aka Hex, who wouldn't take no for an answer, saying that it was for Katya, so i had no right to say yes or no. She assured me that she will come meet Katya soon - she lives in Pretoria. Hex is an incredible person, and Katya is very lucky to have crawled into her heart.

Third donation of R200 came from a very talented Alison Wright, a lady who lives upstairs from my shop and always helps when i need her. I will get a picture of her kitty soon.

R200 came from Andrew Makkink, a man who works as a paramedic and helps people on daily bases, so kindness is a part of the package. He is simply lovely



Mia


Hila and Jack in Cape Town gave R250. Hila's online name is Golden Angel, and that's exactly what she is - an angel. She is always charitable, just as an example, when she couldn't attend Uncaged (a charity event we threw) she donated an equivalent of what a person would spend at Uncaged on a night.


Her money takes us up to 1850, a quater of that is about 460 for CLAW, leaving us 1390, which means we are SORTED!!!! :-)


I always tell people that i feel working with animals, or in animal rights can be very tough because of how much human ugliness and cruelty you see... but than come times like this, where you are lucky enough to see such human kindness

Thank you all.

Skinny dog - day 6 and 7

I am sorry but i am doing a joint entry for 2 days. Reason being:

I woke up Tuesday and barely managed to get out of bed, when i collapsed again, feeling so faint, nauseous and weak that i actually ended up sleeping most of the day. I did however managed to get some pics of our little friend


Aragorn took this one. It surprises me how much prettier she's looking then when i found her

The hooligans
Not much to say about Tuesday, because Wednesday was a lot more action packed


Woke up early to get our little friend to the vet, for the eye op. She rode all the way sitting on my lap and looking out the window. With a heavy heart i handed her over and left, worrying she wasn't going to make it, not knowing how difficult the operation would be or how much it would cost.

Minutes dragged like hours... hours dragged.. well, even slower... Eventually about 1pm the vet called telling me that the operation was a success, and that i was to pick her up any time after 3.

This is by the way a good time to tell you what happened. Not only did a kind person loan me money (without me even asking), but also the operation was fully sponsored by kind members of the public, who independently came forward and gave me money towards the little dog, wanting nothing in return. This is very special news so I will have to dedicate a full entry to it

I rushed to the vet at 3. I was very scared of what i was about to see, and with good reason. her little face was covered in blood, and the swollen eye socket was stitched over, which obviously looked rather bad, but the way she looked up at me from her little cage made her beautiful. Apparently she had been very talkative, demanding food for the last hour. I picked her up, and was given painkillers and antibiotics, as well as a pile of free food.

I took her home. I think she was a bit pissed off with me at first for taking her there and leaving her, but we made up. She was very tired and cold, slept all day. Kept bumping her eye on things and whimpering. She was a lot stronger then i expected though. I guess life in the street has made her tough :-)

Here is the only pic i took of her last night. I didn't want to bother her too much with the camera. Even if u turn the flash off - it still has that focus light. More to come.


I must say, the eye will take some getting used to. She just looks... sore, which kills me. But hey, I am just glad to have her home and safe.

Oh and we reckon we will call her Kate, after Kate Moss, the beautiful skinny model. This is Nikki's idea. Or hey! maybe Katya - Russian Kate?... I might give her a pirate surname, now that she's lost an eye. Any suggestions?

Off facebook

Shame, this is a high school kid i am picking on. I shouldn't be so unkind. this is from a group dedicated to stopping the artist btw

Mike Majic (Lewis - Palmer High School) wrote on Apr 13, 2008 at 12:52 PM.

i am not one to want to kill or starve animals. i actually love dogs, but this group leaves out a large portion of what was really behind this act.
if the creator of this group had actually researched this, they would have been able to tell you that the reason it was allowed to be passed by as art is because the dog would not eat and was going to die anyways. they took it off the street as an already starved dog and kept it for a week. during that week they tried to feed the dog.
it did not accept the food.
the period that it was actually on display before it died was no more than 3 hours.
why did they call this art?
take a look at how many people reacted to this and how many people joined this group and left comments about what needs to be done to stop this ONE dog from dying.
everyday all around the world dogs die just like this, strayed and starved. but its not untill its put right infront of your face and you see it first hand that you act.
the man was trying to make a point

me: erm.. there is hardly ever such thing as a dog you can't revive. I have recently found a skinny dog in a street. Had i fed it wrong it would have died. Luckily there are such things as vets in the modern world, so don't tell me he did it because he had no choice. If your grandmother is ill - do you take her to a place of care, or make her into a public spectacle, making her live out her last dying days on a cold gallery floor, frightened...

Most importantly it is not about what could have been and what would have been. It's about the principle. Putting an animal up at an exhibition to die is not cool, point or no point. Another's life is not your to play with as your little ''statement'' so this isn't about saving one dog, but more about banning a cruel culture, where one specie is entertained by the suffering of another. Not the kind of world i want to live in

Worst part is, the artwork isn't even clever. it's nothing but w*nker shock value stunt.

Skinny dog - day 5

Monday. Worked from home again today. I am a freelancer, doing work for a company and have been negotiating with the boss to take work home for a while now. This is a perfect opportunity.

First thing this morning we're off to the vet again. She got de-wormed and front-lined, and the vet ladies went ooh and aah about how good she was looking (yay).

I do have a bit of a situation on my hands. That bad eye has to be cut out promto. In fact I was asked to come back on Wednesday. The very rock bottom price that the nice lady is offering is still rather high right now, at least until I get paid. Not to be stingy but i just don't have the money in my account. Serves me right for not getting a credit card. I am going to chat to the vet tomorrow, to see how long I can hold this off for, but if anyone can recommend a place that would do it cheaper, that would be awesome. I am thinking of maybe approaching the SPCA, with this dog being a stray and all. Any thoughts? I feel really bad taking resources away from other dogs who don't have a ''sponsor'', but I am really worried about holding off the op. She doesn't seem to be in pain, but I know it's hard to tell and the eye is leaking... aaargh. I will let you guys know once i speak to the vet and make my decision. I am not asking for money by the way. I will make a plan.

I must say, the whole thing is giving me a heavy heart. I am less keen to talk to anyone and just generally feel disillusioned. At least the dog is always entertaining and makes me feel better. She cleans her face like a cat - licks her paw and rubs her face. Its awesome :-)

Oh and she may have been fixed, as there seems to be a scar on her belly. A bit more to the right then i usually find them, but the right kind of scar. That means that she may have had an owner once, which would explain why she takes to people. I will call the SPCA's tomorrow to see if there is any record of her going missing.

Today miss skinny spent the whole day out of the confines of her room. First she just hung around the house. Then came the big introduction to my dogs. I was super worried, but Candy advised me to get them in the same room and give them all treats, thus making them associate seeing each other with getting treats.

Interestingly enough my dogs didnt view her as a threat. They seemed very ok with her. Alice - the little black dog - growled a bit, but not in a particularly threatening manner.

And there was much bum sniffing to be had

usually Alice doesn't take well to anything small and cute

And Greesha just wants to love everyone

And how could you not love this little thing :-)

She spent most of the day following me around, making me follow her to the kitchen where she would do this little dance to convince me to give her more food, or sleeping on the cushion I put down for her under my desk. I had to take my dogs for an extra long walk to not cause jealousy issues.

At night all 3 of them lay on the couch together watching a video.

Even the cat seems ok with her.
I guess that's good news.

It's easier to home a dog like that. I think if someone already has dogs it will be good for her to have friends

Skinny dog - day 4

So today i went on a hike with my family and asked Susan to babysit the dog for a few hours. While on a hike i kept trying to call her to make sure she didn't forget to give her the serving of food i left, thus convincing myself i may be a control freak :-(

Upon returning i found the dog up and about, and looking really strong in general so i gave her the grand tour of the house and the small garden. Unlike yesterday she actually explored a bit, not just sniffed around for food.

She claims my carpets need a clean

everyone hates crocks :-)

Out in the yard.

In the evening my friend Candy Moon popped by, bringing some treats for the dog. She studied T-touch and practiced on my little dog, who absolutely loved it. She got a little body wrap and all. Her whole mood just became more confident and cheery. Candy really dedicates allot of time learning how to understand dogs and speak their language. She hopes to do T-touch professionally one day soon