![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Oct. 11th, 2018 12:09 pmNational Coming Out Day this year reminds me of how quickly the conditions in my country seem to be deteriorating for folks who are members of minority sexual orientations and genders, among other people.
Silence = Death. If you must be silent, I am doing my very imperfect best to be loud for you. You inspire me to try to make change; thank you.
---
Yesterday evening, Miriam and I picked up our new foster dog, Rufus, from Evanston Animal Shelter. He's verah verah small. At five pounds, this little Chihuahua is less than half the size of our cat! I thought Piper was small, and she was over twice his size! It's a little weird to get my head around: he *seems* like a dog, but...
He was a surrender, and the shelter was told he's epileptic, but none of us have seen him have a seizure yet. He was also fed purely on table scraps, so we're going to have to wean him off of that and get him onto real dog food. For now, we have a bag of cooked chicken to feed him bits of. I'm going to start mixing it into some wet food as a start.
I think the stress from his situation change and the kennel plus the diet issues are giving him some diarrhea. He has some trouble pooping and sometime during the night he made a (very small) mess on one of my sandals. He's mostly going to be in his crate at night until we're sure of his potty habits and his relationship with the cat, but he was so scared and uncertain last night that I slept with him on the couch. I didn't even have to ask Miriam if she minded; she had assumed I would and said it was ok. I am predictable.
He was terrified of every little thing at first. He was scared of Miriam and I at the shelter, but that didn't last long, especially after we gave him some chicken. He trembled and cried in the car all the way back from the shelter, and was clearly nervous at home at first, but he seems to be settling in. He likes the couch, and when we're on it with him he either gets nestled in on top of one of the back cushions, or comes to us for attention. As well as giving us licks, he tries to pull our arms out from our bodies with his paws. If we oblige, he'll lie on his side to push his head and body against our arms, pushing against us as hard as he can (which isn't very hard) while we rub his tummy. It's really adorable.
I think he's scared of being alone. When I walk around the condo, he's glued to me. If I'm in the bedroom with the door closed, he starts to cry outside of it. I'm sure he's still pretty shaken by all the change in his world lately.
He's been passably good with the cat so far, as Seregil has been with him. When we first came home with him, Seregil was waiting at the door for us as usual. If I were to put his response into words, it would be something like "Yay! My humans are b-- what the hell is that!?!?" Rufus is a little nervous about the cat, and I've headed off a couple of interactions that turned into growls on his part. By the end of the evening, they were both wandering freely about and were looking at each other but avoiding proximity. I think that's a good place to be for now.
He's in the crate today while I'm at work. I hope his tummy issues clear up soon. I'd like to get a handle on his potty needs and be sure about he and the cat so I can leave him out during the day. I'm hopeful for positive change!
Silence = Death. If you must be silent, I am doing my very imperfect best to be loud for you. You inspire me to try to make change; thank you.
---
Yesterday evening, Miriam and I picked up our new foster dog, Rufus, from Evanston Animal Shelter. He's verah verah small. At five pounds, this little Chihuahua is less than half the size of our cat! I thought Piper was small, and she was over twice his size! It's a little weird to get my head around: he *seems* like a dog, but...
He was a surrender, and the shelter was told he's epileptic, but none of us have seen him have a seizure yet. He was also fed purely on table scraps, so we're going to have to wean him off of that and get him onto real dog food. For now, we have a bag of cooked chicken to feed him bits of. I'm going to start mixing it into some wet food as a start.
I think the stress from his situation change and the kennel plus the diet issues are giving him some diarrhea. He has some trouble pooping and sometime during the night he made a (very small) mess on one of my sandals. He's mostly going to be in his crate at night until we're sure of his potty habits and his relationship with the cat, but he was so scared and uncertain last night that I slept with him on the couch. I didn't even have to ask Miriam if she minded; she had assumed I would and said it was ok. I am predictable.
He was terrified of every little thing at first. He was scared of Miriam and I at the shelter, but that didn't last long, especially after we gave him some chicken. He trembled and cried in the car all the way back from the shelter, and was clearly nervous at home at first, but he seems to be settling in. He likes the couch, and when we're on it with him he either gets nestled in on top of one of the back cushions, or comes to us for attention. As well as giving us licks, he tries to pull our arms out from our bodies with his paws. If we oblige, he'll lie on his side to push his head and body against our arms, pushing against us as hard as he can (which isn't very hard) while we rub his tummy. It's really adorable.
I think he's scared of being alone. When I walk around the condo, he's glued to me. If I'm in the bedroom with the door closed, he starts to cry outside of it. I'm sure he's still pretty shaken by all the change in his world lately.
He's been passably good with the cat so far, as Seregil has been with him. When we first came home with him, Seregil was waiting at the door for us as usual. If I were to put his response into words, it would be something like "Yay! My humans are b-- what the hell is that!?!?" Rufus is a little nervous about the cat, and I've headed off a couple of interactions that turned into growls on his part. By the end of the evening, they were both wandering freely about and were looking at each other but avoiding proximity. I think that's a good place to be for now.
He's in the crate today while I'm at work. I hope his tummy issues clear up soon. I'd like to get a handle on his potty needs and be sure about he and the cat so I can leave him out during the day. I'm hopeful for positive change!
