Another Tiffany update

It's been a while since I posted but I've had my hands full with an ill chinchilla. She is still getting over this. I decided to log it all with daily journals and photos. It's been an easier way for my vet to see what has happened throughout the day and it could prove helpful to any other chinchilla owners. If you want to peek you can see it at: http://iwant.on.ca/Tiffany/

Update on Tiffany

My poor baby... :-( She really isn't doing as well as we would like. She couldn't/wouldn't eat anything since the vet and she's been curled up in her jar all the time since too. I saw her go for her water but she didn't drink. This is getting serious. Chinchilla's can go downhill very fast and I'm getting anxious.

I called my vet today (Thursday) to let her know what was going on and she made arrangements for me to go to a vet clinic by me (where she used to be) and get some medicine and special food. Which I did. This however means I have to force feed her and I know how much she's going to enjoy that.

So..... I did. I got her out of her cage and I rolled the poor thing up in a towel and I got the special food all watered down and in a syringe and started to give her some in teeny bits. Of course she's fighting me a bit so it's getting all over her. After that I put a single drop of her new medicine on my finger and put my finger on her little lips trying to get some in her mouth without her piercing my finger. I think I got some of it in but it's hard to tell. I do think I did though. Then I gave her some water through another syringe which she enjoyed. Then a tad more special food. I gave her cuddles and time off between each event.

I think she hates me at this point. Last night when I went to her cage she'd run out of her jar and for the farthest corner of her cage :-( Once she even barked at me!

Poor thing, she's been in her jar most of today too. She's gone to her pellets which I've added water to so they aren't so hard and she sticks her little face in them but I don't think she's able to eat them. She won't take raisins either and that's a big deal. I don't think she's drinking water from her bottle either but at least today I got some stuff into her, especially the medicine and I'm hoping over night she'll get a bit stronger, and hungrier and is able to get her own water and pellets.

I'll phone my vet Friday with an update probably around noon. Give poor Tiffy a bit of time to bounce back. She's at least coming out of her jar now occasionally. If she hears me open the cage door she sometimes pokes her head out or will come right out of the jar for a minute or two.

Well........ that's the update for today. I should take a pic of her tomorrow.

Recipe......

Oh, I was over on Mr. Anchovy's blog and there's the most delicious looking recipe over there. Prompted me to put one here again. This is my Challah (egg bread). Yup, I'm cheating and just putting a pic and link to the recipe. The recipe is complete with pictures for those that need it.
Go to: http://www.iwant.on.ca/Recipes/EggBread.html

This makes either 2 huge loaves and I mean huge or several smaller ones. And don't back off because of the braiding on it, you don't need to braid it. You can just stick it in a regular loaf pan and bake it like any other bread.

Ouchie...... :-(

What a day, I feel like the world's biggest meanie. My Chinchilla Tiffany was obviously having some issues again. She's getting to be an old girl, 9 now and last year she started having dental issues. Spurs. Big time ouchie for her. She went off her food, lost some weight, drooled all over the place. A drooling chinchilla is not a good sign. Night before last she wouldn't take her treats, not a good sign, then I saw her fur which looked matted down her little chin and neck. The next morning I called my vet only to find out she left the animal clinic here! Yikes! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a vet that will treat a chinchilla?? They are very few and far between. Anyway, the guy there at least gave me her cell #.

I called her and today she made a house call for me and oh boy...... what torture it was for poor Tiffany but her teeth got clipped and the spurs (there were 2 again) got filed down really good. I had to hold her wrapped up in a hand towel like a little cocoon, the poor thing. She was fighting me off. We had to stop a few times to give her a rest and a bit of a breather. All these horrid implements in her teeny mouth to hold it open and big files that would jam on her spurs and I actually said ouch a couple of times it was so hard to file the spurs and the file would get stuck on them. geezzzzz

So...... Tiff is in her jar now, in her cage and is sulking. I have to keep an eye on her and let my vet know what's going on. And this would happen at Passover, not last week. Doesn't matter, like most pet owners I'd do about anything for her even if it costs a lot.

I heard back from Redpath

I wrote Redpath concerning the removal of that landmark sign and this is the email I received back. Talk about Public Relations. I really didn't expect much else. I still can't believe that sign is down:

Dear...

Thank you for your email. We are very proud of our Redpath consumer Brand and as you rightly say, it represents a rich heritage of bringing quality sugar to consumers in Canada. We have a number of businesses in different countries and in 2OO4, we took the decision to unite them under one name (Tate & Lyle) to make it easier for our customers across the world to work with us. The sign on the front of the building in Toronto was therefore changed to reflect accorately the company's change of name but our Redpath Brand is still very much alive and a giant version of our famous Redpath logo still proudly adorns the side wall of the same building.Hope this helps reassure you..

Victoria Betteridge
Group Communications Manager

Can we spell U G L Y !!!

ok...... this just makes me sick. Yeah, yeah, it's only a building but it's an old building and it's a landmark here on the lakeshore in Toronto. Click on these pics to see the larger version. What an unsightly mess this is and where is our old Redpath sign? Gone, that's where. So much for giving directions on the lakeshore by telling folks to go past the Redpath Sugar building. Or, if you go past the Redpath Sugar building you've gone too far. Geezzzzz oh yeah, we'll just tell people "hey...... you know the Tate & Lyle building on the lakeshore?" oh yes, I'm so sure they do!!

Give us a break. After all these years you change the damn name on the building? Whatever happened to 'branding'? We all know Redpath. I can send an 8 year old to the store for sugar and guaranteed, they come home with Redpath. Does this company actually think that when we shop for sugar and see Tate & Lyle that we aren't going to pass on it and look for Redpath? Helloooooooo people!!

And the new sign is bloody ugly too. It's an eyesore. And that "&" sign wasn't worth the money you people put out on it either.

Stupid, stupid, stupid....... Your Tate & Lyle company may be known in the business world but listen here bubba...... it's the consumers that buy Redpath....... and it's the consumers that keep your companies afloat.

Look at the distance I shot these pics at and you can still see where the words previously were. Take down the Tate & Lyle and do everyone a favour and put the Redpath Sugar sign back up.

Flower Power!

On March 29th, I was able to get over to Allen Gardens in Downtown Toronto and shoot some of the wonderful Spring flowers they are planting in the greenhouses. I've uploaded several of them on my flickr account. Look below, in the right menu near the bottom and you'll see a link to my flickr account if you'd like to take a peek at Springtime at its best.