Happy.

I can only chalk up the last two day's utter sense of happiness and joy to the fact that I am finally doing what job I've dreamed of doing my whole life, I am surrounded by amazing animals, and I'm surrounded by amazing people to share the experience with. Today was ridiculously busy. It's gotten late, and I've had a bit more caffiene than can be good for me. In fact, I'm so goofy right now, I'm just about to get up and jump around for nothing but the fact that my feet will carry me. It's a great feeling, to be so alive. Let me tell you a bit about my day, so you'll know why the sun shines so strongly before me.

First thing first. I found one of our parakeets lying in his food dish this morning. He's one that we'd been calling "Billy Idol" because of his spikey hair. He'd been sick for a long while with a fungus called macrorhabdus. Essentially,it keeps him from being able to get any nutrients from his food. He looked very bad, and it made me very upset. We got him out and force fed him, injected fluids, and gave him sugar water. Yet, he still seemed terribly lethargic. I moved him to a tiny cage with a heating lamp, but by early afternoon, Billy had died. It was determined that he must have had a very advanced case of the fungus, that though it was agressively treated by us, could not be fixed.

The little pintail duckling is seemingly better today. He has this issue going on where he wing grows awakwardly out to the side, sticking out, and it's called "angel wing." We had to tape it down so it will grow in the correct direction, but it gives him an endearing sort of look. Here's to hoping he improves...again, and stays that way.

This morning we also had to check out the guineafowl I mentioned in yesterday's post. Catching her was a real pain, considering they had already been let out into the extremely overgrown yard. And out of twenty birds, we needed a specific one. Thankfully, we had someone from the bird department come help, and after several attempts at rounding them up into a corner or the barn, we got them pinned in a corner and this lady was really excellent at just digging in the group and getting the bird we needed. Some were even climbing up the fence to get away from us by the time we got the one we needed. We took the sick girl, as well as another healthy one for comparison's sake, and headed back to the vet wing. The doctor examined her, we took several xrays, drew blood, did a skin scrape on a slide, and took a fecal sample. Despite figuring out the bird had mild arthritis, we found little on the pictures, and the poop sample and blood testing showed little else. The sick bird weighed only half as much as the healthy bird, and her face was still pale, legs swollen. I hope the doctor will be able to make a diagnosis as more research is conducted.

After the guineas were finished, we had to do a west nile virus injection on the hamerkop, as well as get his weight. I love that little guy, and I was very nervous about having to catch him today. I was afraid that all the patience I'd put in would be erased. We got to the quarantine building, and I reluctantly shut him in only his outside stall, where he loves to stay the most. We needed him in a smaller area so that he could be netted. Thankfully, the tech was able to catch him fairly easily. We needed to move him from the net to a pillow case so that we could weigh him, but as I held open the pillow case, and his head poked out of the net, he latched his skinny beak onto my index finger. Indignant little sucker. It didn't hurt, and I laughed as I got him wrapped in the fabric. His weight was a good one, and after he got his shot, we released him. He was pretty frazzled after the encounter, but I still needed to give him food and clean his stall. I opened the doors and he came right inside. The outside area had become an unsafe area for him, and it made me sad. As I put on my big white quarantine suit, he gave a little knowing squawk, as if suddenly I had transformed from the bad guy, back to the lady who brings the food. Well, as I got inside his stall to clean, he sat on his perch right beside me, and everywhere I moved in the stall, he moved with me, and stayed close. It was as if he were testing me--would I catch him again? Would I wrap him up? Thankfully, he found that I was not going to, and he seemed to still trust me. In fact, though a little shaky, he was very happy when I gave him his new food bowl, and gobbled up a meatball. As I cleaned outside, he stayed inside, afraid of that world. I hope he grows confident about the outside perches again. I am happy he does not fear me, though. I will draw him back into the sunlight again.

Remember the goat I took a picture of yesterday, Baby Ruth? She had a bald patch of hair on side. We thought it could be fungal, but upon checking it out, it seemed like a place she had merely been rubbing at because of her pain. She has really bad arthritis, and we're going to be upping her pain meds soon. She's lived a very long life, at seventeen, and is an old old lady now. The plan is just to keep her comfortable as life takes its course.

Another thing we had to check out today was a bobcat named "Dokie." He was reported to be lying on his back, barely breathing, so the cat keeper roused him and brought the cats inside. When we got to the cat house and checked him out, he was bright and alert again. He paced his stall, beautiful big green eyes alight, and cute little bobbed tail swaying. They are very lovely cats, and it seems he only had heat exhaustion. Considering it got up to about 100 degrees today, that made total sense.

I am so happy right now! Life is everything I want it to be!