I’m Proud Of Me: No More Apologies and A Tica Tam Update

Hi, my name is Gator and I’m a total softie.  Let me rephrase.

I’m proud of being a softie.  No more apologies.

I will proudly stop my car on the side of the road to pick up mangy puppies.  I will trap hungry stray cats and try to find them homes.  After witnessing a squirrel get hit by a car and watching his little body thrash in the road until peace comes, I will cry for no less than three days and probably need a large dose of therapy.  I might even scoop up a full grown squirrel with my bare hands and a dish towel in hopes that my local vet can save him.

I am the girl that rescues abandoned kittens and bottle feeds them every 3 hours, all night long and somehow manages to convince all of my high school teachers to allow me to tote them to class.

I am really and truly over trying to save Cotton Tail rabbits (they become ungrateful mean bunnies) but I’ve nursed 2 back to health successfully and 2 unsuccessfully.  My most favorite little bunny slept in my shirt pocket right next to my heart for 4 days, nursed from a tiny bunny bottle every 2 hours, and then passed away taking a little piece of my soul.

I am the girl that ran over a cat in high school and then spent 2 months working off the vet bill.  I am the girl that rescues nasty black birds with broken wings and baby birds from hungry dogs.  I have taken in too many strays to count and then found them loving, forever homes.

I am the woman who tries the impossible, like attempting to fly a dog home from Costa Rica in one of the hottest summers recorded in Texas history, and I am the woman who is going to be proud of this little piece of good that I possess.

It’s who I am.  I really am proud of me.

http://www.behappyinlife.com/inspiration/i_am_proud_of_me.php

I will also be proud of myself because as much as I love all of God’s little critters, I only posses 2.5 dogs. (Tam is the 0.5 seeing as she’s in CR and I’m here in Texas)  So, there’s no need to call ‘Hoarders’ just yet folks!  But perhaps we should keep them on speed dial, at any rate…

Tica Tammy Update:

Good news:  Tammy is heart worm free!!  Amazing but true.  I was 100% certain that I came home from Costa Rica with heartworms and yet some how little Tam Tam is negative.  Wahoo!  (The mosquitoes are off the chain in Tamarindo y’all.)  This makes me think that the mosquitoes in CR don’t carry the HW microfilaria, and let us all praise the Sweet Baby Jesus for that.

Tammy is still staying with Dr. Jessica Jimenez.

“Like” her page on Facebook and help me say thank you!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Veterinaria-Jim%C3%A9nez/182532835095826

Jessica says that Tica Tam is sleeping on her own personal couch at night and she is following her absolutely everywhere during the day.  Always under foot, that little Tam Tam.  She knows she’s found a good thing and she doesn’t want her people to get away.  Little baby dog wants a human pack desperately.

Bad news:  Tam has erlichiosis or canine hemorrhagic fever.  It’s a tick borne disease and it causes lots of terrible side effects if left untreated, like hemorrhage, blindness and neurological disease.  Although the erlichia is very easy to treat, Jessica also found a little tumor on Tammy’s vulva that was bleeding a bit.  She hopes that it's only a venereal disease, again easy to treat however, she fears that it could be cancer.  Tam was spayed before she was left to roam the wilds but the vet proposed that if she wasn’t spayed well, she may still cycle and that would explain a venereal disease.  The cytology results will be back from the laboratory this time next week, so please keep your paws crossed that all comes back well.

Are there any other scenarios in life where the lesser of two evils hangs on the hope that your kiddo is in fact a hoochie mamma?  I think not.

Good news:  Although Tammy’s rescue mission turned into a wee bit of a nightmare, I can quit beating myself up for doing what I believe was the right thing.  I can quit beating myself up for embracing that good little piece of me.  Tam would have died a slow horrible death on the beach if it weren’t for my harebrained scheme, the help and patience of my travelling companions and the good hearted efforts of complete strangers.  And a large heartfelt thanks goes out to JS, my best friend!

Now here’s to hoping Dr. Jessica falls madly in love with Tica Tam like I did!

Plan B includes finding Tammy a forever home in Costa Rica.

Plan C would involve inconveniencing more perfectly good strangers and asking family members of one of my dear patients to graciously lug Tam Tam home from Costa Rica when they visit Texas in November.

Plan D, and my favorite would have crappy American Airlines fly me roundtrip back to Costa Rica at no charge to fetch Tammy my own self, (when it’s a bit cooler of course) after they agree that the $200.00 voucher that they emailed me is terribly insulting and simply less than helpful in this current predicament.

All of these plans include living happily ever after.

Got your paws crossed?