A Very Close Call

We are having the perfect tick season here in Far North Queensland, to the point where vets here warned of a shortage of anti tick medication and that pet owners need to be very diligent indeed and check their animals daily.



  

Female paralysis ticks one fully engorged



  These tiny dangerous parasites can be very hard to find on an animal sometimes, as happened to our poor Cavalier, Tobi.  After a brushing and searching session last Thursday afternoon we noticed he had an ever so slight waiver in his gait so we immediately took him off to the vet. After intense examination by two vets, a vet nurse and myself nothing was found so home we went. 

 By Friday morning though he was clearly having difficulty and we rushed him back to the vet surgery.  While giving him a tick wash a young vet nurse found the tick implanted in the very top edge of his ear.  He started to go down very fast and we were warned he might not pull through.  Our vet said it would probably take up to 72 hours before we would know for sure that he would survive. 

 After 2 days of worrying and feeling very sad that we might loose the little fellow, on Sunday, mid-day, we had a call from our vet to say Tobi had turned the corner and was definitely rallying ...what a relief !!!.

 Tobi was allowed to come home yesterday afternoon, so it was with great joy that we went and picked him up from the vet, he is rather weak of course but clearly happy to be home again!!! 



Tobi this morning, Tuesday, and looking a lot better !



All is well that ends well as the saying goes and it will indeed be a very Happy Christmas here in the Roe household!!! Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday time and a very good New Year,

with beary hugs and  best wishes,

Robyn. 



Charming Fellows

Thanks to Sandi Smith for organising our TBACA 2010 Christmas Swap and to my delight my swap partner was Linda Benson from Benson Bears, so when the postie delivered a package from Tasmania last week I knew it was from Linda!!!. What a lovely surprise to find inside Rollo and Dink !  Rollo is made from a dense short alpaca and he has beautifully detailed paw pads and a little leather nose.  He is 10cm (4") high in a sitting position.  Rollo's friend Dink is a great little penguin standing at just 7cm (2 3/4") with wonderful webbed leather feet and a leather beak.  He has a fine white detail around his little eyes which gives him a most charming expression.  Both are wearing a red leather hat, Dink's at a very rakish angle, complete with a rusty bell on the end. They are just the cutest pair!

My swap to Linda was a little bear called Greentwinky Jnr. who is pulling along his Christmas tree cart.  He's made from silk plush and has handpainted eyes.  I had a lot of fun creating him and his little cart especially for Linda B.