I don’t even want to hear anything about last week. Let’s say that unpleasantness is as behind us as it could possibly be. I’m letting Aurora back in with the others as soon as Katy clears Foxfire to be off sedatives. She’s…. Well, she’s almost certainly pregnant. Not going to be able to shove her in that cage at all in a week or so, given how tight a fit it was to begin with. Her wings are strapped along with her ribs, the dislocated one a little more thoroughly than the one that was just strained. She’s patched and cleaned back up as well as I could get. She’s also suddenly decided I am the best thing in her life had a bit of an attitude shift. I let her out to check her over and clean her up and she just huddled at my feet. Crying about not wanting to be a princess and calling me Mumma Shadow without a single damn trace of anything she used to put into it. Apologizing non-stop. She’s acting clingier than Rook was as a weanling. I’m not sure if this is going to stick, but it’s some kind of change.
The park went wonderfully, by the way. Rook was… incredibly baffled by the dogs, at first, but they seemed to have much the same reaction to him. He’d never seen anything like them but could apparently tell they were carnivores and fluffy eaters. Jane and Jesse, for their part, seemed to be aware he wasn’t like the fluffies they usually round up, and approached him with the caution Asher says they usually reserve for strange cats and the larger waterfowl in the pond. The consensus seemed to be weird new fluffy eating friend all around. Or at least non-hostile fellow carnivore.
Jane’s nearly twelve, a pretty good age for a still working border collie, and Jessie’s just about thirteen which is just as long for a red heeler. Both breeds are known for working just about till they drop, but still. Asher says they love the work, and he isn’t going to pull them out until they get tired of it. They’re good dogs, and at their age they seem to take most of the world in stride.
Rook also seemed to very much approve of not being the only one both on a leash and expected to stay heeling- the process of which was just about the peak of the dogs deciding he was weird but not something to herd. He was somewhat… dismissive of the other fluffies in their section of the park, but not dangerously so once I explained that playroom and Kennel fluffy rules applied. He chased a ball, he played tag… carefully… with what few fluffies were there that weren’t shrieking things about monsters at him… He didn’t actually didn’t seem much more impressed with the purse dogs someone snuck into the fluffy side of the park, but they really weren’t there long before one of the designer Fluffy people threw a fit.
We weren’t there much longer before someone else (not the designer crowd, pretty sure their pile were all either former ferals or shelter rescues.) got sick of their fluffy screaming about monsters, honestly. But we found a quiet corner on the dog side and let all three of them tire themselves out chasing more tennis balls. Rook saw one of the swans, but luckily took the sudden extreme caution the dogs were using as his cue. There was still five minutes of babbling about “big pwetty wings” before he fell asleep.
He’s the best late birthday present ever, Dave.
I did mention the need for extra amateur surgery victims suitable dismemberment candidates extra milk sources for the Kennel to Asher on the way home. He immediately offered to pull me a few still nursing mares from his next batch as well as the usual feeders. He’s pillowed a few before for some of the mills in the next county, and between him, Katy, and those so helpful guides we should be able to get them set up. He also showed me these nice set ups that would keep them concealed so Pepper, Sunshine and Myra don’t have panic attacks/ conniption fits. Anything from milker setups in separate areas running to an auto feeder or these mostly self contained “magic milk boxes” that just leave the teats exposed for use.
I like those, they seem the most portable. Which means I can set them in a corner of the run and move them to the pen in the playroom or anywhere else I need to. Still debating how much I’m willing to budget into those. There are some nice reusable ones with built in feeder and waste collection that should last for a while, or there are cheap cardboard bits that aren’t going to last more than a week or so before they fall apart or the mare does. Depends on how much I can spare for initial outlay.
I did put some of the foals back with their actual mothers until I can get that set up. Pepper’s only managing to make enough milk for ten or twelve of them. Took a suggestion from Katy and added something to our new soon- mummah’s feed to dry their milk up in a few days. Figure the best way to get them to give them up without too much drama is if I tell them their new tummy babbehs are keeping them from feeding their current litters. Myra and Sunshine still aren’t enthused about their own litters, but they are looking after them up to an acceptable standard.
Not sure whether that will last past the point the milk teeth really start coming in, so I’m planning to set up the ittybitties with a magic milk box or two of their own, fed the supplements to ensure the milk has the slightly altered formulation for baby carnivores. Their eyes are starting to open, so pulling them over into the pen in the playroom seems pretty soon. The runs are good enough for the kennel stock, but I’d like a little more enrichment for the new Pack foals.
Debating over the lesser sale stock, but then there’s the chance of raising their expectations out of life with whoever buys them. They have flufftv, they have a ball and blocks, they have Pepper. That’s a pretty good start for what is only one step over a fluffy mill right now. The oldest of them are starting to get slightly rambunctious, though, but Pepper is watchful of the little grey alicorn, Marnie is watching they don’t overrun the ittybitties, and Absinthe’s litter is back with her again for a little bit.
Foxfire isn’t happy at all about the fact Marnie has been drafted into baby duty, but I moved Glory in with her entirely and they’ve been fluff-piling. Rook even joined them for a few nights. The ones I don’t find him asleep on my feet- or not asleep on my pillow. I’m getting entirely too used to waking up with a fluffy nose and blue cat eyes inches away from mine. I adore him and the others, but every now and then, I swear it’s like someone took all the weird bits of having a dog, a cat, and a toddler, and mixed them. At least he doesn’t have the fingers to try prying my eyes open when he wakes up first.
First Chapter- The Pack- because what we need is more fluffies bred to eat other fluffies. (1) by :Shadowfox
Previous Chapter- The Pack (25) Shadow's week 11 footage part 3 (Shadowfox)
Next Chapter- The Pack-(27) Log week 12 Tuesday (Shadowfox)