Tropical Pet Tails

Let me catch my breath here.  I'm kinda (very) grossed out. The vet just left and.... shudder.

If you've followed this blog for long, you may have picked up on an unavoidable fact of life in the tropics.  At least for our family, pets have been a decidedly disappointing venture pretty much all 'round.

Kittens.  We found some kittens at the dock just after we moved to Palangkaraya.  They were so cute!  (And look how cute and little Paige and Madison were!)  But they ran away pretty quickly.

Chickens?  Um, do you mean oversized disgusting vulture birds? They were cute little chicks but we gave them to our helper when they got big and pooped all over our pump house next to our porch where we eat dinner.  Our helper loves them.  She named the mean rooster "Rocky."  We are happy her family can enjoy the eggs.

Rabbits?  We  tried the cute little baby bunnies from the pet store.  They all died within days.  Not a fun ordeal for any of us. We were given a full-grown bunny from another MAF family when they moved.  That rabbit is still kicking, um, hopping, but we passed her on to another family simply because the girls lost interest.

Sugar gliders?  Actually, those have been the most fun.  They kept multiplying, though, so we gave our two males to our girls' friends to slow down the procreation/inbreeding.  Sadly, that left us with two very grouchy females made all the more grouchy because we didn't spend the time with them that we should have.  But they've still been a fun pet we'd never have had elsewhere.

Snakes.  Well, just the one that Sean brought home from the dock that promptly squeezed itself out of the cage to terrorize the neighborhood.  Not sure I've forgiven Sean yet for bringing that home.

Our cat.  Oh, our cat.  Princess was a Mother's Day gift to me - actually bought at a pet store and kept exclusively inside.  She is very pretty and I love that she has a full tail (not at all normal for here).  In fact, I do love her...except for when she's in heat. Brooklyn is Princess' favorite - pretty much the only one of us she'll tolerate for very long. A few months ago, we thought the cat was causing Madison's allergies.  (Turns out Maddie's allergic to something else...not sure exactly what, but the cat wasn't it.) When we thought she was making Madison sick, we decided to try making Princess an outdoor cat.  She ran away while we were in Bali and made friends with the neighbors and wouldn't come home.  She recently returned (pregnant, we're pretty sure) and we snatched her and brought her back inside.  She's settled in nicely, the girls and I love having her back, Maddie seems to have suffered no ill effects, and I only have to nag Brooklyn a little bit to get her to clean out the kitty litter.

Now, we come to the dog.  Poor puppy.  First of all, I want to state that we dearly, dearly love our Duchess.  She's a sweet-tempered dog, as most Golden's are, and so patient with us and loyal and friendly.  But we've had so many issues with her health.  She itches constantly - turns out she's allergic to chicken.  What?  We thought we were giving her better dog food but there was chicken in that, too, and it was still causing issues.  Then, there were these weird bumps on her rump.  Parasites!  And then, the worst thing of all.  She's always been kinda stinky (long-haired dog in the humidity with skin issues) but it got BAD.  I finally figured out that smell was not a dead rat somewhere in the yard but that it was...gulp...coming from her ears.

We took Duchess to the river a few weeks ago to play.  Aren't we nice!  It gave her ear infections in both ears that have festered into...well, I'll stop there.  Anyway, the vet came by today, took a look at her pitiful self and started listing off all the things that are ailing her.  I feel like a terrible dog owner.  Having a dog in the  tropics is so, so, so different from having one in nice, dry Colorado.  It's gross and it seems like there's always some new ailment (usually a highly disgusting one) affecting what should be a simple family pet.  She is a great deterrent from unwanted people entering our yard, a fun conversation starter with others, and a friend to all of us when we can stand to pet her. Good grief. I've had dogs my whole life, as has Sean.  We've always loved having a family dog and specifically love Golden Retrievers and Labs. But we're learning from scratch how to care for a dog here.  Poor Duchess.  Such a sweet dog to suffer such trials just because her owners are clueless to tropical dog care.  Here's hoping we get her all fixed up before we head out to furlough!