Pepperchini Notice

Pepperchini Notice

I’m named after delicious food, but please don’t feed me!

I’ve gained 10 pounds in just a few months. That is a lot of weight for a little dog in a black and tan fur coat.
Doggy obesity is a growing problem in this country; please don’t contribute by feeding me extra food!

How You Can Help:
If you MUST give me a snack – please limit it to healthy fare such as tomatoes and carrots.
I like physical activities such as walks, runs, bike rides and fetch.

I look forward to debuting my new, slimmer body in a few months!

Plus Size Pep

She started getting chunky around her mid-section. Then I noticed a good size fat roll behind her collar. I knew I had to do something when I saw her waddling, not walking, down the stairs.

The impossible has happened - my trim, in shape, always on-the-go herding dog has gained weight. The question is: How much?

Today I loaded her in the backseat of my car and took her down to the vet clinic for a weight check. Like any lady, she didn't want to step on the doggy sized scale in the front office. I pushed her hefty body with my leg and forced her to sit on the scale. She did so with shame. I almost couldn't believe the number that popped up. 58 pounds. 58!!!! That's a 10 pound gain since we moved to the desert. Canine obesity is a growing problem in the U.S. and apparently I'm a big contributor.

I know exactly how she got fat and the reason is twofold: 1. Dumpster Diving. The trash is right at Pep level and she never hesitates to dive right in. Peanut butter jars, butter wrappers, yogurt containers... nothing is NOT a treat. 2. Family members who dispense treats on an hourly basis. They deny it, but I know what they're doing.

And, I hate to admit, this one's my fault - I don't take her on enough walks. We used to walk everyday. Now she's lucky if I can make it a couple times a week. Bro and Bro's GF have done some legwork with her, but they don't go everyday. I figured her daily play session with the Critter were enough. Totally wrong.

We must meet this problem head on! Which is why I've posted signs around the house (The actual sign is posted above). I hope I don't embarrass my dear puppy, but she has to be stopped! I resolve to monitor her eating habits more closely and take her on as many walks as possible. It's my job to save her.

Pep's fighting weight is 48.5 pounds - Wish us luck!

The Day I Birthed a Baby Horse

I've never seen the miracle of birth first hand. And I don't think that's an accident. Word on the street is that birth is gross and messy. Considering kids aren't my favorite - I don't think it's a co-inky dink that I've missed out on the birthing process.

Enter: My Job.

I work at a large animal vet clinic. All horses, all the time. With the occasional donkey, mule, pig, mini horse thrown in. I've seen a lot of cool stuff. But I was wholly unprepared for the birth.

It happened on a Saturday afternoon. I work alone on Saturdays, assisting the doctor who is on call. A mare had been struggling for a few days. She was ready to give birth, the little monster inside her didn't want to come out. What to do? The doctor decided to induce, which is pretty rare in the large animal world. Before the dirty deed went down, I pulled the doctor aside and told him I was a little nervous. I'd never done anything like this... ever. His calming words: "Me neither."

He gave the horse a shot and within 20 minutes the action began. When the baby horse's front legs were visible, the doctor wrapped some chains around them so we could pull. Don't worry - this doesn't hurt the baby horse and it's totally standard. His final words were, "You might want to put some exam gloves on."

I slapped my gloves on and we grabbed some legs and started pulling. After a couple minutes I was in the position to catch the baby before it fell to the ground. (FYI- It's best and easiest if the mare stays on her feet.) The doctor said, "The baby's coming! Are you going to catch him?" Me - "YES, I'm going to catch him!" And I did! He came tumbling down and I caught him and helped him land gently on the ground.

I haven't mentioned how completely disgusting this process is. The whole time we are pulling, the mare is spewing baby goo all over us and pooping everywhere! I know you can't control yourself but I don't need poo down my scrub top. When the whole thing was over I had to change clothes because I was THAT disgusting. Eww.

The baby stayed in the hospital a few days because he was a little bit sickly. I made his butt get up and nurse because I felt a small kinship with him. I helped him come into this world and no child of mine is going to be an underachiever dammit!

Final word - The baby is doing great. He eventually kicked us so many times that we sent him home happy and healthy.

Pep is a Poop

Pep likes to growl at people she knows. Especially when they call her name and she's trying to take a dog nap. A few days ago Bro called Pep's name in the middle of the night. He was awake and probably wanted to give her a snack or take her on a walk. I woke up because she was growling. He called her name, she growled back.

My favorite part is that she doesn't move from sleeping position. She was sprawled out on her bed (my bed) and didn't even get up to growl. No effort except the rumble in her doggy throat. She growled until he opened the door. As soon as that happened, she was all smiles. "Hello Bro! I'm so happy to see you! What are we going to do tonight?" She promptly ditched me and followed him out the door.

She's made the adjustment from only dog to social dog pretty well. I was nervous because she has a history of being aggressive. She's only bitten one person (sorry former boss) but I wouldn't put biting past her. She's naughty. The social life suits her though. She has a person to hang out with day and night and two other dogs are always ready for a play session.

Even though she talks tough, Pep is a love pup at heart. Turns out my ill behaved rescue puppy has turned into a sweet, polite and well behaved dog. Congrats Pepper-O-Chini!

Horses Don't Drink Baby Formula

A lot of strange things happen while I'm at work. Mini donkeys run me over, stud colts jump on me in a sexual specific sort of way and people feed their baby horses human baby formula. Why would a baby horse drink human formula? The short answer is: they don't.

Several weeks ago the front office got a call from a frantic woman. Her new foal wouldn't suckle from his mom. Instead of calling the vet or encouraging nursing, the woman loaded the baby horse into the backseat of her beat up Towncar and drove it to her trailer park. She spread the colt out on the floor of her home and force fed it through a syringe. FYI - this can be quite dangerous. One has to be careful that the food, water, whatever actually goes down the throat and not into the lungs.

Two days later, the foal is very weak and won't drink anything. When water doesn't work, the woman goes to the store and returns with human baby formula. For HUMANS! Not horses. She loads the syringe with the formula and sticks it down the baby's throat. Of course, the formula isn't going anywhere near the baby's stomach, it's getting shoved down his windpipe right into his new baby lungs. He's suffocating on formula.

Several days and several phone calls later, the Towncar screams up to the clinic and a crew of people jump out of the car. "We've got a baby in the backseat!" They keep screaming at us. Normally when horses arrive at the clinic they do not do so in the back seat of a beat up car. I ran to the car with one of my co-workers and try to unload the black colt from the backseat. We end up making a sling out of a blanket that works well. Inside the clinic, the colt is wheezing badly. He sounds like he's breathing underwater, very gurgly. His vitals don't look good and yellow formula whooshes out his nose as soon as we tilt his head down. The family is still carrying a bowl of baby formula.

The doctor rushes to put a catheter in so we can get some helpful fluids into the colt. I start scrubbing the area and try to explain what I'm doing. "This is betadine. I'm cleaning the area so we can put a catheter in the vein." The lady has a sassy comment for me. "I know what you're doing. I've had horses for 20 years." It's time to shut my mouth. If you've had horses for 20 years then please explain the chain of events that led you to our clinic.

The baby foal died within 30 minutes. He had no chance. He never received his mom's nourishing first milk, he was extremely dehydrated and oh yes, he had baby formula coating his lungs.

The family decides to one up this entire situation with their final move - they load the dead foal into their truck and take it back to the mother.

No word on the mare. Hopefully they don't feed her what's left of the baby formula.