Poor Nina (and Tobi)

So we know now that Nina has an immune system disorder that makes her anemic, and she's been on regular medication for a couple months. Since her immune system is repressed by the medicine, she recently caught a cold and an eye infection.

Because of the treatment for that on top of her current medication, she has left Tobi in the dust in terms of daily medical treatment, which is something I daresay we never expected. Here's the line-up of the medicine that our pets need on a daily basis:

If you click on the picture it will take you to a breakdown of what everything is. But to sum it up, when we get up in the morning we rub a paste on Nina's gums, force a pill down her throat, squirt a liquid in her mouth, and squeeze an eye-drop into her eye. Then Tobi gets her regular eyedrops, and an antibiotic pill because her skin has been acting up again.

So that's the medical report. The good news is that Nina's eye and Tobi's skin have been getting better. Nina has been seeing a cat specialist whom we like. The medicine is more expensive, but the vet visits are actually cheaper than in the states, so it evens out. Despite it all, we feel like Nina is doing well. She is very active, and loves the yard. She caught her first mouse ever about two weeks ago, and we just discovered the corpse of her second. And we can only interpret that as good news.

Some New Friends

We went and got some more animals the other day. The flock now includes two chickens and a duckling. Tobi got pecked in the face by the chickens:

but Ferdinand seems to think she's ok:

She's Home!

Yay! Tobi got out of quarantine on schedule and is making our house feel like home again.

Unfortunately Nina couldn't be released yet. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry decided to run more tests to make sure her anemia isn't masking any infectious diseases. We're sure it's not, but we have to wait until the tests come back before she can be released. It shouldn't take too long. The good news is that her blood cell count is going up, so the treatment appears to be working!

Living it up in Quarantine

Tobi and Nina have made it halfway through the quarantine process, two weeks left! They're doing great! They're both healthy and playing, and Tobi at least was very happy to see us.

There was a little confusion with the MAF regarding some test results that they haven't seen, but we've been flinging emails around to everyone to get it resolved. Here's some pictures of us visiting them in their sweet digs:

Getting Ready for a Trip

The animals (and ourselves) are getting ready to move to New Zealand.



The amount of work to get them ready to go is amazing. The regulations for importing cats and dogs into New Zealand are very extensive and specific. When it's all said and done, this is by far the most expensive and stressful aspect of our move. Here's the rundown of their vet visits for the month before departure:

Visit 1: Within 30 days

Monday December 21^st – both pets

*Blood draw for rabies titre

*Blood draw for leptospirosis, ehrlichiosis and brucellosis (brucellosis must be a serum agglutination) (ONLY TOBI)

*Two heartworm tests (antigen and microfilaria) (ONLY TOBI)

*First fecal test

(we recommend direction submission to Kansas State to expediate the results, attached please find the Kansas State submission form)

Visit 2: Within 10 days

Wednesday January 6^th – both pets

*First worming with Praziquantel and Pyrantel

*Blood draw for Babesia (ONLY TOBI) (we recommend direct submission to Texas A&M to save time as Antech or Idexx will take an additional day or two to get to the sample to the testing lab)

Visit 3: Within 4 days

Thursday January 14^th

*Flea/tick

*Worming with ivermectin (see Certificate A (attached) for other types of acceptable wormers)

*Second fecal test

*Second worming with Praziquantel and Pyrantel

*Exit Exam

*Sign off on Certificate A

Friday January 15^th

Departure!

In addition, they require and import permit and a courier to ship them. Once they arrive, they'll be in quarantine for 30 days. One week to go, cross your fingers that it all works out as planned!

Tobi Update

Quick update on Tobi, I haven't posted in a little while. A month and a half or so ago, she started losing hair like crazy and her skin got really pink. After a lot of baths, we realized it was the flea shampoo that was irritating her. So we switched back to Trader Joes Tea Tree shampoo, and within days she was way better.
We also switched her food, mostly for selfish reasons involving $80 a bag, but she got really stinky. She's better now, so we think it might be something else she ate, but nonetheless we ordered another bag of her old food which we know is good for her. We'll mix them together for a while, and see how that goes.
And that's the update!

Tobi at the Creek

Tobi at the Creek from Morgan Loomis on Vimeo.

We took Tobi to the creek in downtown San Luis Obispo, and she decided to start a rock collection. She waded in and intently patroled until she saw an especially appealing stone, and then she would stick her whole head under the water to grab it, holding her breath for several seconds while blowing bubbles out of her nose. She carried each one triumphantly to a pile on the shore, and then returned for another. By the time we left she had about a dozen rocks in her collection, and at least as many adoring fans.