Living with Anteaters

Oh boy did today suck, this is Pua by the way. Mom got me up and put a sweater on me. Okay I thought we were going for a hike but no. Boy was I mad when I found out. I clawed at the crate the whole drive and stripped my sweater off. So finally mom came in back and let me out and I paced instead.

Finally we arrived and we were early so I got to run around in the fields surrounding the vet place. That was great. Just wet but not to terribly cold. I haven't been out for awhile due to something called winter. We walked inside and I went into my crate and curled up for a nap.

Next thing I know they are waking me up and covering my belly in slime then poking at it with a stick. Well, they said they saw my bladder, spleen and lots of digesting food but no baby. Darn I was having fun pretending. You know people are extra nice when they think you are pregnant.

Finally it was over though I had to pose briefly for a photo shoot.

The matchmakers keep failing me, So I've given up on having a mate and just want the baby. So we've put word out for a baby for me to raise. However, this boy must be of royal blood like me. Then maybe I can raise him into a prince that may be worthy of sharing my throne. You can tell a Royal anteater by their Golden Pelage like mine.

Okay so here's some photos of lovely me and the court jester.

Laundry day sucks

A little window sniffing

Trying the tomboy look

Passed out kitty

Jake wants out
He gets locked in at night

Jake checking out the snow

Playing in snow

Pouncing like a fox

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It's been to long since a blog post and was answering YouTube questions today and part way through I thought it would be fun to share.

PS buy anteater calendars they were professionally printed this year! http://www.livingwithanteaters.com/p/store.html

does it try to eat ants out of your nose in your sleep?
No but sometimes she will try to flick her tongue up my nose when sniffing my breath and giving kisses. Ears are fair game too.

Can you like litter box train them? Or do you have to let them go outside like a dog. If you have to take them outside, how do you know they have to go? Like to they start walking in circles and stuff?
Kind of. Pua is pretty good about using a pee pad but you could use dirt in a tray too. Pua just poops one a day or every other day. They tend to dribble some pee for marking purposes like rats do and can have accidents. Many often have bed wetting issues. Pua only wets the bed when she's in the washer or rarely wets mine if she's mad at me. I'd not let them outside as they can climb the fence easy. You could take them out on a lease but it's not the same as walking a dog.

How much does one cost in total including 1 month of food and medical things?
That's a tough one. Medical issues do not happen monthly but you want to be prepared. Some special things to keep on hand are vit K hots and B vit shots. Food I've estimated $50 a month but it might be more. I buy many things in bulk so do not buy them every month. Meat alone is roughly $30 If adding live insects instead of dried silkworm pellets then it might be more like $70 depending on the insects bought. This doesn't count treats.

how do you get them somewhere you need them to go? can you pick them up and carry them, or do they follow you?
I can pick them up but Pua can be very squirmy if she doesn't feel like being held(pretty much any time she is outside). She is happy to be held and cling to me inside.

Do you need to trim her nails ever?
I file them as I found trimming can cause them to split mostly on the big claws. The rear claws need trimming more. Her front claws can get really long and she still climbs etc just fine. I'm now working on filing them back a bit at a time so they look more presentable but it's merely an aesthetic issue and doesn't effect her welfare any.

Is she as soft and silky as she looks?
Not really. Not soft and silky like a bunny or something. She's not course. The hairs are smooth but some what stiff. Her belly and chest is soft and she feels nice when pet down the fur of her back.

Are their tails stronger than their feet?
Their tail is stronger than their back feet but their forearms are very strong.

Do they like to run a lot?
Pua likes to run when out for a walk in the woods and Stewie used to run circles in the living room every night but I'd say they do some running rather than a lot of running.

Do they eat spiders
They don't eat spiders. She did surprise me by eating a slug the other night though.

Pua plays with me

She gets more animated when playing on my bed but that's harder to film.

Oh no, it's toe pinching time

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Not miraculously gone but we got rid of it. Kat got a good looking over and the vet did a needle biopsy of the lump. Skin tumors in cats are rare and when they do get them they are almost always bad. The needle biopsy showed Kat's lump to be atypical, otherwise known as odd. There were no cancer cells visible just some blood, dead cells and some white cells. She said that almost made it look like an abscess, though unlikely, or a cycst as they tend to die in the middle as they grow and lose blood flow to the center.

She said it for sure should come out and she was able to squeeze in doing that today. Once out it was still odd as it was enclosed in the thin skin cells or connective tissue stuff and was made up of a 1/4 in or so of edema(dead clotting blood cells) with a center of dead cells. She let us see it. Should have had my camera. Was about egg sized. She still thought it looked most like an old abscess though still really odd for one.

It will remain a bit of a mystery since I elected not to have it sent to pathology as I did not for see the results changing anything since we already took it out.

Was a long odd day. We killed some of the time waiting at my aunts house and while we were all in the kitchen talking the glass cover of the kitchen ceiling lamp fell. It was like the size of a ceiling platter and I saw it as I happened to be looking in that direction just drop and shatter all over. At least no one was under it.

Kat is drugged up but doing well. We just need to keep an eye on the area as she would need to go get drained if it fills up with fluid.

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Lurking about up high

Pua explores
Time to pick out a bed time story

Glowing anteater eyes

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Oh no laundry day

Pua's nipples now '10

Why are we looking at Pua nipples. Well why not, lol. The first were here "teen boobies" and the other is now. The other reason is we do not know if the attempt to get Pua pregnant at the end of September was a success or not.

I feel her signs so far are inconclusive.

She did not have her obvious monthly spotting but sometimes we seem to miss that.

She showed interest in her self soon as Mandua left and enjoyed her own company for a few days. This was a week early if it was from her being in Estrus/heat. She showed a tiny bit of interest in herself the 27th which would have been on time but that was it. Maybe she's just having fun or her hormones might be funky if she's pregnant.

I her belly is bigger and firmer but she is also a pound heavier than last weigh at 17 pounds so could just be her winter weight.

Now if you look at the pinching photos you can see a stain on her private bits there. This happens from time to time and I figured collected pee staining or vaginal secretions. Well she's had that every night since before Mandua left and I looked at some under the scope to see if was estrus fluid and only saw epithelial cells, no blood. They were orange, apparently stained by her pee. So could be increased vaginal fluids due to early pregnancy or could just be nothing.

So we will have to wait and see if she has any signs of cycling the end of November as if we are still unsure an ultrasound should show something at 2 months. Seems we could test for progesterone based on the one study but the hormones didn't spike enough until 2 months either.

Oh yeah so nipples. In cats the "pink up" but seems to me hers have had that white/pink tip for a long time even though not in her teeny boobies photo.

So the short version, nothing to report here.


And now, Jake is about a year old as we got him end of last November at about 3 months. He's a big boy now.

Jake and Kat

Jake showing off his long legs

Guess my Halloween spirit was a bit miss placed.

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