Thanks for the prayers and well wishes.  We're doing good all things considered and are so greatful we have family in the area that didn't have damage that we can stay with.  The girls, Chelsea and Phoebe are doing much better than I expected.  They are pretty unsocialized and have been put in a situation where there are a lot of people around.  Phoebe has discovered that means more scratching and petting and is loving it.  Chelsea has started protecting her new home, barking at cars passing by .... someone has to keep them away and she gives us a look every once in a while like "am I the only one that's going to keep the evil traffic away".  We are dealing with insurance adjusters and contractors and hope to be back home before the end of the month or at least by Thanksgiving.  The house lost some vents on the roof which allowed water to damage all but one room.  The old walls, ceilings and insulation have been removed and replaced and we are waiting for some door frames to be replaced, texture on the walls, paint and flooring.  There are a lot of people in the area that are in worse shape than we are with no house left to rebuild.  We consider ourselves lucky.

Bless your heart for helping the animals.  My husband and our two dogs Chelesa and Phoebe had to evacuate for Ike and we returned home to a mess.  Our house is currently unlivable but we are blessed to have family in the area to stay with.  We live between Galveston and Houston so we took a pretty good hit.  I'm just greatful we were not in the house at the time.  I have heard that any animals found in Galveston were reported to the humane society and picked up and the local news was asking for people to help foster pets until they could reunite them with there people.  Wish I could do something but I'm not in a position to do so right now.  Maybe next natural disaster. 

I spoke with my sister, Shellysmom and Whitneys UTI has finally cleared up.  Whitney will be going in this Sunday, if all goes well for her radioiodine treatment.  Please pray that Whitney will do well with the treatment and for Shellysmom and her family who I know are worried about their little girl.  Shellysmom - I've been praying for you, Whitney and the family everyday...love you.

Bridgett - The little snakes Phoebe has caught are garden snakes..harmless.  The large snake we had a couple of months ago had made his home in the inch wide space between our backdoor and the patio and we never could identify what it was.  Creeped me out!  I came up with the idea of flushing him out with water and sending my husband in for the kill.  It was morning and all I had a pair of flip flops on and a bathrobe.  Hubby asked if I was ready to give the idea a try and just as I was telling him I'd like to put some clothes first he was there with the garden hose turned on and starting to fill up the area.  Some frogs had dug themselves a little den under the patio so it took some time before the snakes head appeared.  Hubby decided we were just letting the nasty creature take a bath and that we need more water pressure.  Next thing I know is hubby is yelling "RUN BABE RUN!"  By this time my flip flops are wet and slippery but I curled my toes and attempted to run as fast as I could with who knows what hanging out of the robe thinking the evil creature is coming after me.  Quite the site for the neighbors.  We haven't seen the devils nasty evil creature since...

You could try posting a found ad in Petfinder.com.  Hope you catch that waskly wabbit!

I'm not so sure about that.  The first time I saw a small (not quarter sized small, but small) snake was shortly after moving to Texas where I've learned everything really is BIGGER.  Thought is was the biggest earth worm I had ever seen.  Picked it up and the darned thing had scales!  I flug it over the fence without thinking....(poor neighbors).  I've seen several since and then a couple of month's ago we had a giant sized one right outside our back door....Yikes....been turned off by snakes ever since....don't like em....don't want em eating one of my Yorkies!  Phoebe mistakes them for earthworms too.  A couple of summers ago she would go out in the backyard where she is always looking for worms in the grass and come back to me with one of the darned scalely things in her mouth with an "it doesn't taste right" look on her sweet little face. 

My two dogs had giardia for months before I was told they were all clear.  They continued to have runny stools and vomiting and I continued to have them tested.  All tests came back with nothing showing up as a problem.  I decided to take matters into my own hands and found a website that sold me on trying their products.  It's been about three months now and they no longer throw up and their poop is beautiful.  Please read some of the information on what happens to animals that have taken so much medicine.  I started with the antioxidant treats and saw some improvement so ordered the ox-e-drops, tincture of black-leaf and the bac-plus.  It's not cheap but I was spending a decent amount of money at the vet without finding anything wrong and with the results I've seen it was well worth it.  Good Luck to you both.

http://www.nzymes.com/

I don't know about giardia in cats and kittens but my Yorkies had it for months before we found out what it was.  They went through four rounds of flagyl with runny poop that just kept coming back.  Our vet finally sent us to an specialist who again didn't find anything in the stool sample that they looked at in the office.  They sent the sample out to a lab and it was fianlly found.  Since the flagyl hadn't worked they used Tylan Powder. From what I understand some dogs (again, don't know about cats) are carriers and will never be rid of it.  I believe they got it when I had them boarded for a weekend when I was out of town....I will never board them again! (I've had a pet sitter come into the house)  It will spread to the other animals in the house very easily...be careful and congrats on your new additions!  Nothing cuter than a kitten or puppy!

I love seeing cardinals.  I grew up in So. Calif so never saw one before I moved to Texas.  I get thrilled everytime I see one, they're so RED!  I make my husband who grew up seeing them come outside to take a look at them everytime I spot one.  I've put up two feeders and have a birdbath this year and am enjoying ALL of the birds. 

Haven't spotted a catbird yet....they must be rare in this part of country.

My sister and niece live about 20 miles away and said it shook things up pretty good.  Two of their three cats were pretty freaked out by it.  It's the first good quake for one of them and the other is a three legged beauty that adopted their porch last year and they've moved her inside so don't know how many quakes she's been in. 

I would be very upset too.  My Yorkies had Giardia for months that was not detected and have never been the same.  I believe that when an animal is on medications for such a long time that the meds kill the bad as well as the good bugs.  My girls were a mess for months and I was at a loss.  Poop was soft, lots of grass eating and vomiting and they still have goopy eyes.  I understand that this is small stuff in comparison to what you have had to go through with your little one but thought I'd let you know that I started them on herbal products from "Nzymes" a website I found and they are doing better.  No vomiting anymore and the poop is back to normal...the eyes are still a bit weepy.  You may want to read their site and see if it might help some of your little one's issues.  (No, I'm not a saleperson for this product...just have had pretty good outcome on my small dogs.)  Going to a vet teaching school sounds like a great idea.  Please keep us updated.

http://www.nzymes.com/

I've attached a site (I hope I have attached it....doesn't always work for me....I tend to be a computer idiot) that looks like it has several foods listed that may help.  I would check out the Cat Food Epeience thread like Catbird suggested.  Welcome to itchmo.

Here it the link incase the attachment doesn't work.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cat-Food-3490/Allergies-Chicken.htm

Really pretty photos!  Summer has been here in Houston since the middle of May with temps in the 90's....a little to hot for this So. Calif. transplant...but I'm sure I'll get use to it some year.  Does anyone know a good fertilizer for Hibiscus?  Mine are in need of a little pick me up and I can't figure out what to use.

mgt - I know that the Houston SPCA services surrounding cities.  You may want to give the closest SPCA a call and see if they can do anything.  My heart is breaking for that little one.  Some people just don't care about their pets....makes you wonder why they bother to bring an animal into their homes.  I'm glad to hear the tiger cubs are now in good hands.  Good luck.

Catmom is right, not providing  needed medical care is against the law.  Have you thought of calling your local SPCA so that they can come out and insist medical care be given or take the dog away?