IRISH ELK

I haven't told you about any extinct animals for a while, but today I am going to tell you about the Irish Elk.  And the reason I picked this particular animal is because St. Patrick's Day will be here on Saturday, and I liked the idea of writing about an extinct animal that was Irish.  Except that when I started doing my in-depth research on the Irish Elk, I found out that somebody really goofed when they gave it that name, because (1) it isn't an elk, and (2) it isn't even Irish!

The scientific name for the so-called Irish Elk is Megaloceros giganteus, and what it really is is a humongous deer.  In fact, it was the biggest deer that ever lived!  Mostly, it was around during the Pleistocene Epoch, which started 2.6 million years ago and ended 11,700 years ago.  Other names for the Irish Elk are Irish Deer or Giant Deer.  Their range was from Ireland on the west, through Europe and  western Asia, to Lake Baikal on the east.  And the reason that people started calling them "Irish" was because lots of really good skeletons of these animals have been found in Irish bogs.

Etching by Will Simmons, 1925

The Irish Elk is really and truly and completely extinct.  It is not related to any extant animal, such as moose or American elk.  It was 7 feet tall at the shoulder, which made it about the same size as a modern moose, but the antlers were way bigger.  The antlers of an Irish Elk could be as wide as 12 feet and weigh up to 88 pounds.  It seems to me like you would get a headache and a sore neck from carrying all this weight around on your head, but nobody ever heard the Irish Elk complain about it, so maybe it didn't bother them.

You might be wondering why the Irish Elk went extinct.  Well, scientists have been wondering the same thing, and nobody knows for sure, but of course scientists always have theories.  For once, the end of  the Irish Elk can't be blamed on too much hunting or habitat destruction by people.  Instead, it seems like maybe when the last Ice Age ended, the type of vegetation available for the giant deer to eat had changed, and they couldn't get enough calcium and phosphate to make their big antlers.  Or else they gradually starved to death.  Or something like that.

Cave painting in Lascaux

The last of the Irish Elk died out in Ireland about 11,000 years ago, but the ones in places like Siberia didn't go extinct until 8,000 years ago.  The best place to see a big collection of Irish Elk skeletons is the Natural History Museum in Dublin.

I kind of wish that the Irish Elk were still around because I think if you put one in a St. Patrick's Day parade and decorated his antlers with a whole bunch of sparkly green streamers, it would look totally cool.  And you could probably win First Prize in the parade, too!

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ALL THE LATEST NEWSY STUFF

I got hold of a couple more pictures from the Snake Parade, and I'm going to show them to you because I think there are some people who read my other entry about the parade and didn't understand what the giant dachshund really looked like.  Which is not their fault, since Mom couldn't take any very good pictures of it while being inside of it.  So here's a picture of the whole thing put together and walking along in the parade.

This is an especially good picture because you can clearly see Mom's feet, which are the 3rd pair of feet under the dog.

And here's a photo of the birthday cake, and of the cat coming out of the top of the cake.

But that's enough about the parade.  Now I will show you a photo of Mel sleeping in a funny way that he likes to sleep in sometimes.  We don't know why he sleeps with his leg up over his neck.  It makes him look like he has a neck ache, but he probably doesn't.  He's probably just being his usual weird self.  Mel has done this every once in a while for years, but Mom never had her camera around when he was doing it -- until now!

In other news, Jason is feeling lots better.  He has been eating all his food and has been jumping up on things with no problem.   He plays with the kittens sometimes, but mostly they just play with each other.

But speaking of the kittens, on Sunday Mom noticed that Janey's nipples were kind of swollen and felt like they had lumps under them.  And a couple of Jilly's nipples were the same way.  At first Mom thought maybe Janey and Jilly had breast cancer, but it seemed strange that they would get it at such a young age and in several nipples at once.

Janey and Jilly

After that, Mom thought that maybe they were starting to be in heat, but they are not acting all crazy and yowly like cats do when they are in heat.  Later on, Mom talked to Aunt Tania and told her about the girls' nipples.  Aunt Tania said maybe the kitties were either coming into season or were already pregnant!

Jilly

We were shocked to think that these little floozies might already be knocked up, but it is possible, since they are 6 or 7 months old, and cats usually get started early in life, when it comes to having kittens.  Janey and Jilly also have fat bellies, which might have kittens inside them.  But Jeeves also has a fat belly, and we know that he does not have any kittens inside him!

Janey

Anyway, yesterday when Mom went to the shelter, she talked to Aunt Lorna and to Dr. Beth, and they said the kittens need to get spayed right away, before then even finish the last of their antibiotics, which won't be until March 27.  So Mom made an appointment for them to get spayed on Wednesday.  It will be interesting to see if they really have kittens inside them or not.  Because Mom could be totally wrong in her diagnosis.  But even if she's right, we don't think these kittens would be very healthy because Jilly and Janey have been taking lots of medicine ever since they came here, and that might have hurt the kittens.  Which means they might end up being like our poor little Carson, who was blind and could only walk around in circles.  And we don't want that because it would be too sad.

Okay, well, that's all the newsy stuff I can think of right now, so I'm going to quit writing.

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THE SNAKE PARADE

Baxter the pitbull

Yesterday Mom was in a St. Patrick's Day parade, even though it's still a whole week until St. Patrick's Day.  This parade is called the Snake Parade, but there weren't any real snakes in it, or at least none that Mom could see.  Mom was in the Snake Parade with the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City.  Usually, the Humane Society goes to the Brookside parade, which is always on the same day as the Snake Parade.  But this year, the theme of the Snake Parade was about how it was the 100th anniversary of North Kansas City, which is where the Snake Parade is held.  And it's also the 100th anniversary of the Humane Society.  And there were Big Cash Prizes for the best entries in the parade.  So that's why the Humane Society decided to do the Snake Parade.

Mom volunteered to help carry the float this year, which is that big, long dachshund that the Humane Society has used for several years.  But this year there was also a birthday cake, with a cat that popped out of it.  And there was a new banner, and a woman who played the bagpipes.

A puppy named Salvador

And of course, there were some poor, homeless dogs from the shelter, and they looked really cute because they were wearing green bandanas that said ADOPT ME on them.  Mom said that I would not have liked to be at the parade because it was very noisy, with lots of drums and motorcycles and sirens and loud music.

This year the dachshund
wore a party hat.

Mom took a bunch of photos before the parade started, but then while it was going on, she didn't take any because she was inside the giant dachshund.  Mom said it was really weird being inside there because she could hear all the noise, but she couldn't see much of anything.  But here's what she did see during the parade:

1.  The street pavement
2.  Yellow lines on the pavement
3.  White lines on the pavement
4.  Candy that got dropped on the pavement
5.  Candy that got run over and smashed on the pavement
6.  Horse turds
7.  The two people walking in front of her inside the dachshund

Mom's view of the parade

It was sort of windy, so that made it hard to hold the dachshund sometimes, but it could have been much worse.  Mom got hot because she couldn't feel the wind blowing on her inside the dachshund body.  But it was all mostly worth it because guess what!  The Humane Society won 3rd place, and that meant they got $2,500.  The first-place prize was $7,000, but the 3rd-place prize was nice, too.  Just not as much money.










So here are some of the other pictures Mom took:

This is Roscoe, who is a Jack Russell terrier.  He walked the whole parade on 3 legs, because that's all the legs he has!

Here are a bunch of people putting the tail of the dachshund into his read end.  After it is in there, it can be wagged.  Those hoop things are what the people inside the dog use to hold it up.

These are some members of the North Kansas City High School marching band, waiting for the parade to start.  I think maybe that boy and girl like each other quite a bit.  Anyway, Mom did not see her own high school band, but she thinks they probably were there someplace.  Mom went to Oak Park High School, and NKC High School was their biggest rival.

Aunt Jana, who is on the left, bought a new hat just for the parade, and also some new hair.  Aunt Silvia wore some funny St. Patrick's Day stuff, too.

Buttons is a very cute dog with a curly, spitz-type tail.  Mom didn't get a very good picture of him because he kept jumping up on her instead of posing nicely for a picture.

Clowns wear really funny clothes and great big shoes.  Also they have red noses.  They look pretty goofy and a little scary, too.  When Mom took this picture, she broke one of the Important Rules of photography because she made it look like a pole was growing out of that one clown's head.  

This is the sheltie rescue float, but it was after the parade, and Mom couldn't get a very good picture of it.  The float shows a bunch of different important parts of North Kansas City history, and the shelties are dressed up to match.  Mom especially remembers the Katz Drug Store that you can see the sign for on the front of the float.  The sheltie group got the second-place prize in the parade, but we don't know how much money they got for that.

When the parade was all over with, everybody packed up and went home.  The dachshund got folded up and put in the back of Aunt Laura and Uncle Jeff's truck.  I guess he lives at their house in between St. Patrick's Days, but I think he must take up a lot of space.  I wonder if he eats very much.

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VOTE FOR HANK! by Charlie

In this year of national elections, there are lots of candidates running for lots of offices, and I am going to tell you about one of them.  His name is Hank, he lives in Virginia, and he is running for a seat in the U.S. Senate.  But the thing that sets Hank apart from ordinary politicians is that he is a Maine Coon Cat, just like me!  I feel so excited and inspired by this that I could hardly wait to tell everybody.  And Piper said that if I wanted to write about it in her blog, I should go ahead, because she thinks it's totally stupid for a cat to run for office, which means that this topic is not one she herself would ever touch with a ten-foot pole.

So it's up to me to tell you about Hank.  Like a lot of politicians, he had a very humble beginning.  He was born to a single mother and lived on the streets until he, his mother, and his siblings were taken to a shelter. There they were placed on death row, but just in the nick of time, a rescue group saved them.  Hank was fostered by Matthew O'Leary and Anthony Roberts, who later decided to become his official adoptive dads.

Hank is 9 years old now, and he is wise and experienced in life.  Because of his early experiences, he knows that the judicial system needs to be reworked so that there are equal opportunities for all.  He also supports job creation and low-cost spay/neuter programs.  Politically, Hank has positioned himself as a moderate independent.  He wears ties with both red and blue in them.  He has a website, stickers, signs, and also a Facebook page.

If you would like to see Hank's campaign ad, which is called "The Greatest Land of All," you can watch it by clicking on the link that I have so thoughtfully provided.   Part of Hank's platform is to avoid running any negative ads, and yet he has been savagely attacked by a group called Canines for a Feline-Free Tomorrow, who produced an ad called "Hank for Senate?  No Way."

But in spite of this nasty mud-slinging, Hank continues to keep his own paws clean and to pursue his honorable campaign along the same path that he outlined when first announcing his candidacy:

“In this time of austerity, of threats to families’ livelihoods and to our civil liberties, it is essential that we choose the right leader. Our situation is too dire to risk placing this important job in the wrong paws, and that is why I have decided to run for US Senate for the great Commonwealth of Virginia. If I had to sum up my feelings for Virginia’s future, I would have to say: Meow.”

The biggest hurdle that Hank will have to leap over is the fact that current laws prohibit animals from serving in Congress.  Still, if a dog can serve as the mayor of a town in Kentucky, surely people will see that it makes just as much sense for a cat to occupy a seat in the Senate -- preferably one with a nice, soft cushion.

I only wish I lived in Virginia so that I could vote for Hank personally (or felinely, as the case may be).  But maybe I will just have to run for office sometime here in my own fine state of Missouri!

Oh, and before I quit writing, Mom said I should tell you that Jason came home from the hospital yesterday.  He's still not feeling all that great, which I can tell because he mostly wants to sleep.  Of course, all cats mostly want to sleep, but Jason wants to sleep more than he, a normally energetic kitten, usually does.  He has been eating his meals, though, and taking his medicine, so we hope he will feel all better very soon.

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JASON IS SICK!

Our little Jason kitty had to spend the night in the pet hospital last night because he is sick.  Mom noticed that he was not feeling very perky on Monday night, and he wasn't even meowing at her to hurry up and give him his bedtime meal.  Mom didn't even know if he would eat it, but he did.

Then after that, we all went to bed, but Jason slept by himself in a bed in the cat room instead of coming in Mom's room and sleeping on top of her, which is what he and Chloe usually do.  Then when we all got up yesterday morning, Jason decided maybe he would just stay in bed.  But finally he did get up and he ate a little bit of breakfast.  After which, he went back to bed and slept all morning.  Even when the kittens came out to play, Jason stayed in bed because he did not feel like playing.

So in the afternoon, Mom took Jason to visit Dr. Griswold.  Mom thought probably Jason caught toxoplasmosis from the kittens because the main symptoms of that are (1) lethargy, (2) loss of appetite, and (3) fever.  It turned out that Jason had all three of these because his temperature was over 105º and the normal for a cat is about 101º or 102º.  So right away, Dr. Griswold got worried about Jason, and she thought he needed IV fluids to help make his temperature go down, and also because he was sort of dehydrated.

Anyway, in the end, Mom and Dr. Griswold decided that Mom should take Jason over to Mission MedVet, which is now called VCA Mission.  An emergency doctor there named Dr. Allen looked at Jason.  She was very nice, but we don't think she is related to us, even though she has the same last name as we have.  Also, Dr. Grigsby, the internist that Nicky went to see last week, looked at Jason.  And everyone said he was a very handsome kitty and a nice one, too, probably because he didn't try to bite them.

The doctors thought Jason should be tested for Feline Leukemia, even though he already got tested when he was a little kitten, plus he has had a vaccination for Feline Leukemia.  So they tested him, and he doesn't have it, which is good news.  Then they did a blood panel, but that didn't show anything unusual.  They are also testing for toxoplasmosis, but it will take a day or two to get the results of that test back.

So in the meantime, Jason is staying in a cage at the hospital with an IV thing in his leg so he can get fluids and antibiotics.  We hope that his temperature will cool off soon, so he can come home, because he is probably feeling lonely and scared in the hospital.  I know about these things because I have been there myself, and that is how I felt!

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PICTURES FROM THE PET TELETHON

Sunday night Mom went to the Pet Telethon that the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City has every year.  And the reason they have this event is to make money to help the poor, homeless dogs and cats at the shelter.  So anyway, Mom went to the station, and she got to be on TV three different times.

This year, Mom took her very own camera to the Telethon so that she could make some pictures for me to put in my blog.  So now I am going to show you the pictures.

In the TV studio, there are three different places where they aim the cameras.  One of these is what's called the phone bank, because all the people who are answering phones sit there.  Well, actually, there are some other people answering phones, but they are in a room upstairs where you can't see them.  And whenever a kind, generous person calls to make a pledge, somebody answers the phone and writes down  important stuff like how much money the person wants to give and also their credit card number.

This other place looks sort of like a dog house, but really it's what you call a "tote board."  And what it's used for is to show you how much money got raised so far.

The third set is called "the couch" because it has a couch in it that a nice furniture company loaned the Humane Society to use for the evening.  The furniture company gets their name on a sign where TV viewers can see it whenever people are sitting on the couch.  Then when the couch goes back to the furniture company, it will probably have lots of dog hair on it.

There are three big cameras on wheels, and there is also a camera that a man holds on his shoulder.

And up in the ceiling, there are lots of big lights.  These lights are so big that if one fell on you, it would probably kill you, especially if you are just a little dog like me!

In a big room in the back, there is a lot of food and sodas and stuff like that for the volunteers.  This year they had sandwiches, pizza, fruit, chips and dip, cupcakes, cookies, and a dog cake.  And as usual, Mom forgot to bring any food home for us dogs.

The first two times Mom went on TV, she was holding a chihuahua whose name was Banjo.  This dog was very small, even though he was full grown.  He only weighed 4 pounds, so Mom could carry him around without getting a tired back.  Everybody thought Banjo was the cutest thing ever, and they wanted to pet him.

When Mom took Banjo in the studio to be in front of the cameras, Aunt Sylvia also went there with a dog named Maddie.  I told you about Maddie the last time I wrote about adoptable dogs at the shelter.  Maddie is a corgi mix, and she is very cute.

The third time Mom went on TV, she took a little puppy named Peanut Butter.  This puppy is maybe a terrier mixed with chihuahua, and she is totally adorable.  Peanut Butter got the most calls and applications on Monday, so now she is already adopted!  And guess who adopted her -- it was Aunt Tania's daughter, Victoria.  I'm sure you remember that I talked about Aunt Tania before, because she is the cat rescue lady.

Banjo also got some calls from people who wanted to adopt him, and so did a bunch of the other dogs
that were on the Telethon.  Now we are hoping that they all get adopted soon.

One thing that happens at the Telethon is that people bring pets they have adopted from there in the past, and then they talk about how their dog or cat is doing.  Here is a picture of a dog named Toffee with his new mom and dad.

Meanwhile, the people waiting backstage have to stay sort of quiet, but they can watch the Telethon on a TV screen there.

And guess what!  Dr. Lineberger was on the Telethon because he was presenting a jumbo check from Mission MedVet to the Humane Society.  Dr. Lineberger is the surgeon who fixed my knees, and he also operated on Gabe after The Greyhound Incident.  Luckily, he has not needed to do surgery on any more of Mom's dogs or cats.  At least so far.

Well, that's all the pictures Mom took.  At the end of the Telethon, there was a total of about $151,000 that got raised, but this was not as much money as the Humane Society wanted to make, which was $165,000.  Some more money will come in, but probably not enough to make it to the goal.  But at least a big chunk of money got raised, and also a bunch of dogs will likely get adopted, so that's good.  It's all because of the wonderful people who care about the poor, homeless dogs and cats, and those are the very best people in the whole wide world!

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UNDERSTANDING YOUR VETERINARIAN

Vets have a secret sort of language that is made up of weird abbreviations and acronyms.  And they use this language when they are writing in your medical records.  The reasons why I think they do this are (1) it keeps you from knowing what they are really saying about your medical condition, (2) it's easier and faster than writing out whole words, and (3) it makes them feel like part of a special group or club or something.

But guess what!  I have managed to get hold of a list of this secret code that vets use, and I am going to share it with you.  That way, we will always know what crazy things our doctors are saying about us.  This is important because for instance, one time my mom got to look at my chart while Dr. Patricia was out of the room, and Mom kept seeing NSF written in it.  She got really worried because she thought maybe NSF was some kind of horrible, fatal disease that the vet had not told her about.  So when Dr. Patricia came back, Mom asked what NSF stood for, and it turned out that it meant "No Significant Findings." So it was not a disease at all!

Anyway, here's the list.  It's pretty long, and I am still working on memorizing it, but you can get started doing the same thing, and soon we will be almost as smart as our vets!

AD: right ear

ADR: ain’t doing right

AS: left ear

AU: both ears

BAR: bright, alert and responsive

BCS: body condition score

BID: twice daily, every 12 hours

BPM: beats or breaths per minute

CBC: complete blood count

CHF: congestive heart failure

CNS: central nervous system

CRT: capillary refill time

D/C: discontinue

Dx: diagnosis

EENT: eyes, ears, nose and throat

EOD: every other day

F/S: spayed female

FNA: fine needle aspirate

FUO: fever of unknown origin

Fx: fracture

HBC: hit by car

HCT: hematocrit

HR: heart rate

Hx: history

IM: intramuscular

IN: intranasal

IV: intravenous

M/N: neutered male

NDR: not doing right

NPO: nothing by mouth

NSF: no significant findings

OD: right eye

OS: left eye

OU: both eyes

PCV: packed cell volume

PE: physical exam

PO: by mouth

PRN: as needed

PU/PD: polyuria/polydipsia (i.e., drinking and urinating more than normal)

q: every (e.g., q4hrs means every 4 hours)

QAR: quiet, alert and responsive

QD: once daily, every 24 hours
AD: right ear

QID: four times daily, every 6 hours

QOD: every other day

ROM: range of motion

RR: respiratory rate

Rx: prescription

S/R: suture removal

SC: under the skin

SID: once daily, every 24 hours

SOAP: subjective, objective, assessment, plan – a method of organizing medical records

SQ: under the skin

STAT: immediately

Sx: surgery

TID: three times daily, every 8 hours

TPR: temperature, pulse and respiration rates

Tx: treatment

UA: urinalysis

URI: upper respiratory infection

UTI: urinary tract infection

WNL: within normal limits

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