People and Their Pets

People and Their Pets: Daisy

Daisy on Halloween 2008 (l) and adoption day (r)

Two years ago, Sheila Galuppo, marketing manager for outpatient imaging at Stanford Hospital and Clinics, rescued a four-month old Basset Hound named Daisy: "She was surrendered by a young couple who could not spend enough time with her. She escaped once before from their home and the Humane Society picked her up. I originally fostered her first since she was only four-months old and not adoptable yet. When I picked her up at the Humane Society, I suspected that she had caught Kennel Cough, but they insisted she was fine. The next day she was so sick; her breathing was distressed, and she was about five pounds under weight. After medical care, food, and lots of love, she returned to great condition. I adopted her a month later. She is now about two- and a half-years old. She and I have been in obedience training classes for over a year with the goal of obtaining her therapy dog license. We would like to volunteer at care centers and children's hospitals. There is nothing like bringing a smile to a child with the unconditional love of a furry friend."

People and Their Pets: Humboldt

From Garry Gold, MD

Here's a picture of me with Humboldt, the best dog on the planet, and a photo of our two-year-old son, Evan, with Humboldt. The residents are quite familiar with him.

People and Their Pets: Griz, Merley, and SpyderGurl

By Scott Evans, Gale Evan's Husband

These are our three pets, Griz, Merley, and SpyderGurl. Their stories, in order of seniority, are as follows . . .

Grizzly is the oldest and biggest member of our animal family. He is a purebred Australian Shepherd, and he is going to be thirteen years old this May. His coloring is the typical "tri-color" for Aussies--black, white, and gold. He is an extremely large example of the breed, being over 85 pounds in body weight.

Merley is the next in seniority, but he is only a year and a half old. He is also an Australian Shepherd, but there is some question as to the purity of his lineage. His coloring is also tri-color, but he is black, gold, and blue merle, hence his merle-y name. He was 52 pounds at his last checkup.

The newest member of our animal family is the kitty, whose official name is SpyderGurl but who most often answers to "Girlie-girl" or "Kit-kit-kittieohhhhhh." Her birthday is one day before Gale's, and she shares the same lovable and frustrating characteristics of most Aries. She is only eight months old and still developing her final size. She is about six pounds now.

Griz was born in Illinois and has had the life of a traveler until recently. With his size, color, and bobbed tail, we have to be careful at our house up North because he looks like a small bear when we are out walking. He is by far the best dog we have had in either of our lives, and we love him from the bottom of our hearts. That said, he is starting to stretch the limits of longevity for such a large dog and his physical strength is starting to wane. We noticed this last year and decided that we wanted to give him the chance to pass on his legacy to another member of his breed. We specifically timed Merley's birth to allow Griz the chance to mentor him in the proper ways of dog-dom.

Merley is learning well from Griz. His life is more about the pursuit of the next thrown tennis ball or how to shake the life from the Frisbee than lying about on the deck, but his manners are directly influenced by the Senior Statesman. He enjoys our walks in the morning, and he doesn't even mind leaving the toys at home as there are enough sniffing posts to keep his imagination occupied.

The Queen Apparent of the family is SpyderGurl. It didn't take too long for her to find the way to our hearts. She is an incurable snuggler (and hog of the bed). She enjoys being the center of attention but will only put up with so much petting before she needs to exercise her teeth and claws on your hand. She just got a new set of false fingernails to help with that problem. The best thing is that her favorite toy is an aluminum foil ball, which provides hours of cheap entertainment.

Pet animals have always been a part of our lives. We hope you enjoy the story of our current group.

People and Their Pets: Sugar

Yvonne Casillas, RIS/PACS systems analyst, submitted this photo of her cat, Sugar, who likes sleeping and chasing birds.

People and Their Pets: Zoe's Update

Zoe, who appeared earlier on our blog (http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/07/zoe.html)

By Carol Estades

In September of 2007, we had to have both of Zoe's eyes removed. When my husband and I brought Zoe home from the vet that day we wanted to cry, but we didn't. We made sure that the loss of her vision was the only change that she had to endure. As a result, Zoe has adjusted to her loss of vision very quickly. She had only one accident in the house and that was the day after the removal of her eyes. She is a well-trained dog who has continued to be a responsible member of our family. She has all of the freedoms that she has always had. She sits and waits for her meals, comes when she is called, and knows where every member of the family is at all times.

Zoe still doesn't know when to stop playing. We have had to learn how to communicate with her in new and different ways. She was so active that we had to nail some of our furniture to the floor long before she had any vision problems. Now, it is nailed to the floor so nobody can move it into her pathway. She will trip you if she gets half a chance, and she plays bumper cars now and then when she forgets that she can't see. Zoe has always loved life and lives to play ball and tug-o-war. In the end, we spent more than $6,000.00 over the course of a year to end-up with the same loving, little dog with the only difference being that she can't see with her eyes.

People and Their Pets: Sandy and Koko

Sandy Napel, PhD, with Koko, who appeared earlier on our blog (http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/07/koko.html#comments)

People and Their Pets: Niki and Ninja

By Angela M. K. Foudray, MS, CPhil

Niki and Ninja were found at the end of my parent's long driveway in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when I happened to be home for a friend's wedding. They and their brother (Kilo), sister (Kiki), and mother (Belle) were abandoned and starving. The little guys couldn't even walk, and their mother was as thin as a rail. We grabbed them all up and fed them cans of tuna and bowls of milk. Only moments after beginning to wolf down the food, they shook themselves off and started to stumble and chase us! My brother adopted the two kittens Kilo and Kiki, and a friend of the family welcomed momma cat, Belle, while little Niki and Ninja flew home to California with me. Niki has grown big and lion-like, trying to fit himself into every new cardboard box coming into the house, earning him the nickname "meatloaf." Ninja, on the other hand, is tiny and defies physics at every turn--she regularly exceeds the speed of light and makes right angles in mid-air, racing up her favorite cat tree. Ninja suits her perfectly.

People and Their Pets: Zoe

By Carol Estades

The picture above shows our Boston terrier, Zoe, at her first agility trial. Zoe turned six this month. She came to us from Alabama at three months of age. She has earned four American Kennel Club Obedience Titles. Last year, she had to have bilateral cataract surgery. She has since lost the vision in her left eye due to a large tear in her retina. Our vet could not recommend retina reattachment surgery. On July 10th, she had laser surgery in her right eye in an attempt to save the vision that she still has. The laser surgery seems to have been successful. However, it is a little too early to know for sure.

Zoe's favorite pastime is playing ball. She likes to push the ball around with her nose and feet like a soccer player. You can even point to where you want the ball to go, and she will get it there. She also likes to play hide and seek with the ball. This game can be annoying when she puts the ball some place where she can't retrieve it and looks to me to get the ball back for her. Engaging my help seems to be a particularly fun and exciting process for her. She has retired from competition and as soon as she gets the "all clear" from her vet, she will be back to playing ball, bouncing off the walls, and teasing our younger Boston terrier, Phoebe.

People and Their Pets: Caleb

1) I've lived with my owner for four years.
2) I like to swim in Lake Lag (never filled up this year; so sad).
3) I'm really upset that Stanford doesn't allow dogs on the paths around the Dish.

Can you guess who my owner is by leaving a comment below?

People and Their Pets: Koko

My name is Koko, and I've been with my owner for all my life it seems. My owner treats me well, although I sometimes wish my owner would let me off-leash! Can you guess who my owner is by sending me a comment below?

People and Their Pets: Sunny

By Mary Troyer

I adopted Sunny six years ago from the Santa Clara County Humane Society. She was 10 months old and had been a stray. Unfortunately, she does not have her right back foot. The doctors believe it was bitten off by another animal, most likely a dog. The Humane Society asked that she be the only pet since she is at a disadvantage with other animals. She is now an extremely spoiled, happy cat, and living the good life! She is very playful, affectionate, and loves to be around people. I once read that dogs think "You feed me, give me water and shelter . . . you must be a God!" And cats think "You feed me, give me water and shelter . . . I must be a God!" That sums it up nicely.

People and Their Pets: Wadsworth

By Julie Ruiz, PhD

In 2001, Wadsworth was found at Wadsworth State Park in Middletown, Connecticut. He was living in the wild, as a feral kitten, and caught the attention of the Dean of Humanities at Wesleyan University, who happened to be jogging along the pedestrian path at the park. She trapped him, and he became a "foster" pet. He went through five different owners. I was a beginning assistant professor at Wesleyan when I met him. He was about three months old, and he was living in the inbox of the Wesleyan student assembly administrator. He stepped down from the inbox and proceeded to run around the office, spillling papers and generally creating havoc. I thought he was too wild to adopt. When I returned home, I received many emails with pictures of Wadsworth (the Wesleyan staff had already named him) and requests that I return and visit him again.

The next day, I returned to the office of the Wesleyan student assembly administrator. She already had all of his belongings packed and some extras to entice me to adopt him. So, I did. The first year of living with Wadsworth as a feral kitten was difficult. He had a lot of energy! He liked to tear down my pictures that were hanging on the walls (he jumps very high) and dig up my potted plants. If I didn't get up early enough in the morning to pet him, he would jump on the counter and knock off any dishes I had left there the night before. I began to realize why he initially had five different owners. After a year, however, he began to become much tamer and now, at age six, he's a great cat. In this picture, he is lying in my frying pan, which was one of his favorite places to sit and watch me when he was a kitten.