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26/6/2014

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Introducing Little Alice! Alice came into care on Wednesday night in the
usual way, by her mother being killed by a car. Alice is from Clarence Town
Rd near Woodville and close to Wallalong. A nice family stopped to look at
the mother and saw Alice on the road a few meters away. The called the
rescue line who called Anne Williams who called Loreto who asked her to call
someone from WINC to see if they could pick her up and we would meet them
somewhere, and Anne called Rhonda Parkinson and Rhonda rescued the little
joey and I met Rhonda at McDonalds at the Terrace (phew). When Rhonda went
to look for mum her body was not there anymore. So we don't know what
happened to it. Little Alice is 528 grams, has already papped and is feeding
beautifully, She is a little bit feral which is good as she gets very
excited about her milk and I have scratches all over my hands to prove it.
She has a nasty laceration on her nose which doesn't show up in these photos
and the eyelids on the left eye are both grazed, so I'm thinking she was
tavelling on mums back and got thrown off and hit the road. She has an
appointment with Don in the morning for a check When Rhonda picked up the
joey the youngest of their 4 children was nursing the joey to keep her warm
and her name is Alice. As we already have an Alice I have added little to
her name because it sounds much better than Alice 2. So thanks to the Kerr
family and thanks to Rhonda. Now everybody please keep your fingers crossed.
Cheers Sue

27/6/2014

Hello. I went to the vet today where some man with REALLY big hands
grabbed me and felt me all over. I didn't mind too much so I didn't wee on
him. I think I was diagnosed with being "too cute". And she can put some of
the yucky cream on my nose if she likes but my nose isn't very bad. Then I
went home and had my milk and a sunbake on the deck. I had a lovely big
scratch and went to bed. Little Alice
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29/6/2014

Hi Everyone. Alice climed out of her pouch and wee'd on everything
and then yelled her head off. So we had a try on the ladder and did really
well but still yelled about it because it was really scarey. She loves to
eat Melalleuca and Scribbly. She  has put on 65 grams since she came in so
she now weighs 593 grams . Good girl. Cheers Sue 
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2/7/2014

It has been a week now and Little Alice has gained nearly 120 grams and now
weighs 644 grams. Feeding beautifully and having a go at any leaf you offer
her.
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7/7/2014

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Little Alice had her first HKPS visitor today. Uncle Ray! And they seemrd to hit it off straight away. Sue


9/7/2014

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This is what Alice likes to do the most. Climb on me especially when I
wear my dressing gown. She even tries to jump and gallop. She is ready for
the cot,  So Alice and her cot can go into my room, yippee!

20/7/2014

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Hi Guy's, Alice is now 882 grams up another 41 grams since last weigh.
She is averaging over 10 grams a day gain which is beautiful. She has gone
into the big kids cot out of the basket and is very excited about the extra
room (for now). She was overdue to go into the cot but we had to get the
other baby's cot out before we could put this one in my bedroom. Cheers for now Sue    

27/7/2014

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She is 968 grams so
will be the big 1kg when next weighed. She very rarely wees in her basket
anymore, it all goes on the paper from the log. As she shares a bedroom with
me this can sound like a pipe has burst at 4am. Loves Nicholii & Scribbly,
and is drinking close to 100mls a day over 4 feeds. She looks a bit
different from the other joeys I have had. Little ears and bulging eyes,
sort of like a possum. But I suppose this will all change as she gets
bigger. So all is good with Alice. Cheers Sue      

17/8/2014

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Hi Everyone. Little Alice is not that little anymore. She was weighed
yesterday and is now a whopping 1300 grams (528 grams in the beginning)!
Photos of her awake are very hard to get as she gets around at 100 miles an
hour and there were about another 10 I took of her where she was just a grey
blur. He fur is getting quite long and the longer it gets the more her ears
disappear. She is a very independent little girl and can entertain herself
for around an hour before she burns out. She loves her milk and eats lots of
leaf. In a month or so she will be ready for a cage, let's hope the weather
warms up a bit for her. Cheers Sue

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25/8/2014

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Little Alice was rudely woken up for photos with the PORT STEPHENS Examiner
photographer yesterday for an article recruiting new carers probably going
in next week. After the initial shock of being outside at 10.30am she quite
warmed to the idea and showed off on her logs for Ellie. So it has been my
first opportunity to get photos of her in daylight. She was also weighed
this morning and she is 1414 grams gaining 108 grams this week, Notice how
she is nearly too big for the basket on the scales. Cheers Sue   

6/9/2014

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Hi Everyone. Little Alice now weighs 1600 grams, that's a gain of
147 grams this week! She does like her milk.  She is doing really well as
you can see and has just about outgrown her cot and is ready for a big kids
cage. I am hoping this weather improves so she can go outside and enjoy the
freedom of a cage with lots of logs to climb and ropes to swing on. I think
it is still a bit cold, but watching her on the front veranda in the rain
and the wind, playing away like it's not cold at all, and last night she got
soaked and didn't seem to mind except for a few head shakes to get the water
off. I may be being a bit overprotective. So we will see what the weather
does this week and she could be out there next weekend of a daytime and work
up to all day and then all night. The baby is growing up very fast. Cheers
Sue

18/9/2014

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Hi Everyone. Little Alice has been feeling a little off colour for the past
week. So I waited until Uncle Don came back from Holidays and she went to
see him this morning. I have no idea what is wrong all I know is she is not
herself. When she gets up for a play at night she is like the Ever ready
Bunny. Gallops everywhere and you are forever looking for her.For the past
week it has been like her batteries were flat, walking not running SUE

20/9/2014

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As you know Alice had become unwell, lethargic and difficulty breathing. Don
put her on Chloramphenical (joeys have this antibiotic instead of Baytril as
Baytril can damage growth plates in little ones). On day two we had a bit of
a gallop but we were still breathing hard. Day three we were almost back to
normal but still the breathing was a bit exaggerated . Day four and look out
no one is safe! The cats have declared a high terrorist alert, they claim
she is a gremlin, don't get it wet and don't feed it after midnight! Nothing
is safe we just seem to put one lot to bed and then she gets up for a play.
Pellets are great so there seems to be no adverse effects of the
antibiotics. She has settled into her cage and now she is feeling better is
all over her logs and eating at each feed tube. She should hit the 2kg very
soon and the midnight feeds will stop. Yeah!! Sue

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22/9/2014

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Just to make sure Noel and my heart rate is up we gallop along the veranda
rail which has a 10ft drop off one side onto pavers and a drop onto timber
deck on the other. I prefer her bouncing on my bed and attacking pillows
thank you. SUE

27/9/2014

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Hi Everyone. Alice has been on antibiotics for 1 week now and is 110%
better.  Her weight this morning is 1970grams which is close enough to 2kg
for me to stop her midnight feed. Seeing as she gained a record 168grams
this week I don't think missing a feed will hurt. I will just increase the
volume of the morning and evening feed by 10 mls. As you can see nothing is
safe again since she is feeling better. Up the back of the chair and onto
the table and look what I found! All this unusual leaf. She wrestled with a
dark pink Carnation until she got three petals in her mouth, chewed for a
while then decided she didn't like it one bit. Shook her head violently
while chewed up carnation went everywhere. What a relief she is feeling
better. Cheers Sue

1/10/2014

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THEY GROW UP SO QUICK AND LEARNING HOW TO DRIVE??

7/10/2014

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16/10/2014

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Hi Everyone. Alice is still battling on. As you can see by the photo she is
bright and alert just still lethargic. She is on day 8 of Clavulox which
involves daily visits to Don for the injection and day 6 of Baytril. So the
poor little angel is getting 3 injections a day and she blames me for all of
them. Don sneaks up on her from behind while I'm holding her so she thinks
I'm doing it!! She has no mucous in her lungs but has adhesions which is
what is causing her difficulty in breathing. She is still eating her leaf
and drinking her milk which is why she has been able to maintain her weight
which is 2kg. When Don saw her this morning he thought she was breathing
with a little less effort and I agree it has improved in the last 48hrs. So
as far as I know we are not thinking of stopping antibiotics yet so we
continue with the nebulizer and chest percussion and a hundred kisses a day SUE

As you all know Alice has been unwell with what appears to be a chest
infection. Don Ordered Chloramphenical to be given for 1 week. At the end of
that week she was back to her old cheeky and energetic self. I contacted Don
and he said seeing as she was doing well to continue the antibiotics for
another week, which I did. But on day 13 her pellets changed, she was hardly
eating and even refused to drink all her milk, and she returned to being
lethargic. That bad that I stopped the antibiotics and gave her .5ml of Dex
on Saturday night  to try and spark her up. This did the trick but it only
lasts for 48 hrs and then she went back to being unwell and the laboured
breathing returned only not as exaggerated as before. So she went to Don
this morning who diagnosed "Bordatella" (never heard of it). It is a
bacterial infection that can cause pneumonia.

KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED SUE 

23/10/14

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Hi Everyone, Little Alice went to see Don yesterday for an X-Ray as her breathing was still difficult and she was still lethargic. Still drinking her milk and eating leaf though. The X-Ray showed that the left lung was clear but the bottom of the right one was a solid lump of congestion, it also showed she had gas in her tummy so I started her on Charcoal as soon as I got home . The plan w. as to see if Ilona could do something to help with the adhesions and congestion. Don said her lung would always be compromised but she would be able to climb and be released, just never an Olympic athlete. But Alice had different plans. Last night when I got her up I noticed when she was walking that her tummy was distended on both sides, she looked like a frog. When I got her up for her midnight feed she had a thin, clear, pink stained mucous coming from her Cloaca, but she scoffed her milk and went back in the cage. This morning at 6.30am there was a lot more of this discharge and her tummy felt hard and she didn’t want her milk. So I text Don and he said bring her in first thing for bloods for a Crypto. When we got there at 9.30 she was in pain and couldn’t keep still, Don gave her an injection for pain, took the blood and sent me home expecting to see me back that afternoon. I got home and took the lid off her basket and put it straight back on and back in the car. She was in more pain, gasping and clawing her way around the basket. When I got to the surgery she had already passed away. It was very quick and very painful for my poor little baby and the most distressing thing is how they can be in so much pain but not utter a sound. PM results, Don said “ there was nothing anyone could have done because there was no way she could have survived with that lung”.  That’s it from me. She came in on June 25th so she was with me for 4 months. Sue


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