February « 2014 « Capybara Madness

In Memoriam: Garibaldi Rous

Love on Four Feet

It is with the greatest sadness and pain that I am writting this short post to let you know that Garibaldi Rous died on Sunday, Feb. 16th, just shy of his fourth birthday.

As many of you know, Gari had been fighting a long battle with an infection in his teeth and jaw. When we last took him to the vet, on Thursday, Feb. 13th, he seemed healthy and we had every expectation that in spite of the traumatic removal of his first molar on the lower right, he would recover, at least temporarily. However, he had trouble coming out of the anesthesia and was still a bit groggy when we headed home from A&M. About a half hour into the drive, I called Dr. Hoppes to let her know that I was worried about him and hat his condition seemed to be deteriorating. She told me that the preliminary blood tests had come back and Gari had elevated levels of a kidney enzyme, something we had not seen before. However, she believed that this, while not good, was not serious, and that it explained why he was having some much trouble recovering from the anesthesia. She believed he would probably feel better in the morning. Continue reading “In Memoriam: Garibaldi Rous” »

Garibaldi is Sick: Vet Visit 8

Melly’s Blog:

Yesterday was another terrible day at the vet and today is one of our worst recovery days ever.

Gari had the first molar on his lower right removed. The tooth was dead and decaying inside the bone. In fact, there was a tunnel through the bone from the first molar to the incisor he had taken out last time. This kept the incisor hole from healing up correctly. Instead the whole thing is full of old food and debris. They couldn’t close it this time because in order to clean it out completely, he would need to be intubated, which is a procedure we have not yet faced.

The second molar is also dead and will need to be extraced. That wasn’t done this time because he was already under for a long time and had enough trauma to his mouth for a lifetime, let alone a single vet visit.

The worst thing is that he is unable to stand or walk or even sit up today. Yesterday when we left the vet, he was able to walk fairly well, but he deteriorated during the car drive home. We basically had to lift and drag him into the house. He sat in his sphinx position all night and is still in it now. This is similar to what happened to Caplin Rous when he got neutered. He is not eating, but at least he is drinking. This is especially good since we learned that he has elevated levels of kidney enzymes, which is something new. Drinking lots of water is important for that.

Right now we don’t know exactly why he is having this bad reaction. It could be because of his kidneys or it could be something else. Because of my experience with Caplin, I am hopeful this will pass in a few days. In the meantime I am trying to keep him as comfortable as possible.

I’ll try to get some video and photos later but right now I’m busy just dealing with this, and the fact that we got into a small accident on our drive to the vet’s. No one was hurt but Gari was thrown into the front seat, like he needed more drama.

Please, no prayers or religious references. If they help you, feel free to say them silently or whatever, but they don’t help us and I’d rather not deal with that now.

I Just Met A Girl Named Mariia

Me and Mariia

Last weekend I had a wonderful visit with one of my stalkers…er, I mean “fans.” Her name is Maria and she took most of the photos in this blog post. You can see me with her in the image above. We hit it off right away and I think we both had a good time. This post is a photographic story of her visit. Continue reading “I Just Met A Girl Named Mariia” »

Celeste and the Adorable Kitten

How would you like to win a copy of Melly’s new book, Celeste and the Adorable Kitten? (I even have a bit part in it and Flopsy the Killer Cat is one of the main characters!) All you have to do is comment on this post and agree to write a review of the book on amazon.com. It doesn’t even have to be a nice review.

Ten lucky people will be selected at random and notified via email.

Capybara Agility

Meet Stinky!

Melly’s blog:

Earlier this week I got the most interesting email from a man who works at a zoo in Slovenia. I’m including the email here so you can enjoy it as much as I did. ( I have made a few minor corrections to make it easier to read.)

My name is Simon and I love capybaras. I would really love to have capybara as a pet but I can´t, because I live in a block of flats. But I am currently employed in ZOO Ljubljana (Slovenia (Europe)) and somehow my dream fulfilled in a way.

There is one very special being, called Stinky.

I love Stinky so much that I am with him every and each day. It´s not my capybara, it´s ZOO ljubljana capybara but he is mine in my heart.

And if I tell you that we train agility, I´m sure you sure won´t believe me. We train approximately 1,6 year (in my free time) I started training him when he was basically adult animal (not juvenile).

I couldn’t publish anything earlier because he is not my capybara.

The part with Stinky starts at 15:28.