A quick warning that this post is about some of our pets at Skippers and that it’s not an entirely happy story for all the characters.
The question has been asked of me a few times whether we’re running a menagerie or coliving. As current we have three dogs and a cat but over the past year or so there have been a few more and all have their own stories. Some happy, some less so.
Crazy & Ginger
The story of our animal family started when we first took over a watersports center. Somehow two newly born kittens had been left just in time for the new occupants (us) to help out.
Ginger on the left and crazy were sisters and were each others rock. For the first few weeks crazy couldn’t see and Ginger helped with miuawing to get to where they were going.
I thought I had more photos of these two and I’ll dig them out but unfortunetly quite early on Ginger was killed while attempting to play with a neighbour’s large dog.
Crazy’s story is a little happier. She grew up to be huge and a friend who had recently lost a cat was looking for a new one and so she now lives with her. But her name has now changed to ‘Lover’ as she’s so demanding for attention.
Dog rescue – Lucky and the Pups
While out riding on my motorbike with some friends out of town I had spotted an unhappy dog wandering down the street. I told myself that when we had a car I’d come back and if the dog was still there we’d pick them up and rescue.
Unfortunately, by the time we got back, Lucky (right below) had been hit by a car. What I didn’t know until we went to pick her up was that she had also very recently had a litter of five puppies.
It was a pretty sad situation when we got Lucky home. After a visit to the vet to get some antibiotics and a once over it was clear she was very depressed.
She would sit in the garden corner facing the wall and it took a good few months for her to be happy to be in contact with people again.
We took the puppies to where Skippers where we set up a pen and the vet where they were treated for mango worms, fleas and infections. The probably didn’t have that much time left given the malnutrition.
It did not take long for them to gain some confidence and go from the cuddle puddles on the left to sleeping under our desks in the makeshift office.
Of the five puppies we were able to rehome three of them and kept the two females as well as mum Lucky. They are now all fat, happy and enjoying life.
Lucky now even happy to hang out with her now slightly more mature puppies who defend her fiecely against leaves and any marauding monkeys.
Skippers Kittens
While building one of the standard rooms at Skippers after coming back from a weekend we found a mummy cat and two tiny baby kittens.
Despite trying to rehome them very nearby, unfortunately mum got spooked and left the kittens with us.
The kittens were weened at the vet and then lived in the office. The goal was to get them large enough to fend for themselves.
Unfortunately, quite early on one evening one of the kittens was locked outside and has not been seen since. The assumption is that she had gone back to mum or nature. Some of the team claim to have seen her a few times but it’s hard to say.
Chui (Peonounced Chewy), named after Leopard in Swahili because she likes to climb trees has prospered and lives on playing with the puppies and following us around the site.
Lucky (Mum) in the foreground, Oreo and Cookie (so named by a friends kid) in the background with Chui.