Saturday, November 10, 2012

Chicago Pet Expo - St. Charles and Shiloh

So, today was the first day (of two) at the Chicago pet expo.  Got a third banner hook last night (asked one of the people in charge if they knew where I could find an extra, turns out they had some) and our banner actually hung well this time.  Started out the day good, sold several 1 ounce bags of the treats and a few goodie bags.  Brought Shiloh with us, he was a hit, everyone wanted to know about him and how we got him. 

Just about no one asked about the chins, but we did have several people wanting to take Shiloh home.

Got $3.25 in donations!  Better than the $0 last time. 

Talked with someone at the Greater Chicago Ferret Association.  Bought two beds for Shiloh from them.  Turns out they have an average of 100-150 ferrets at a time, and they have an actual storefront that costs then $1500 per month.  Holy cow.  And I thought adopting out 100+ animals this year was good, can't imagine having that many at once! 

The guy with the garage-sale-ish pet stuff was there as well.  Picked up some skin & coat vitamins (for my sometimes itchy doggie), a huge piece of yucca for $3, and two hanging tent sleeping things for the rats.  

Had someone with a booth there donate an antler chew for Shiloh.  Awesome. 

Noticed that Shiloh is missing a top tooth and one of his bottom teeth is overgrown (the one that would have been butting up to where the missing tooth is).  Not so awesome.  So, I think he will be going in with me on Monday when I go to take Rochelle in.  I'll see if they can manage to help him out without driving up to Elmwood Park.  This is front teeth so I think they can manage just fine, but I'm just not sure they've seen a prairie dog before.  Maybe this is why Shiloh's been extra crabby lately?  He never bit anyone in the first two years we had him, yet in the last month or so he bit me and one of our potential adoptive homes.  I'm really glad we noticed this.  I had noticed his eating was a tad off, but he's not consistent, so I'm really glad we brought him and noticed this now before it became a real problem.  Just bought beds for my baby so he's gonna get better from this.  Prairie dogs are rodents so they have the same potential issues as chins, degus, etc...but front teeth are usually the problem for prairie dogs, so at least this is a reasonably common problem.  I wonder what in the world he was doing to break off a tooth?  He eats rat blocks, high quality dog chow, and hay.  Nothing tough enough to completely break a tooth.  Well, I suppose it doesn't matter as long as this gets taken care of quickly.   

Some kid asked why Shiloh was a prairie dog named after a dog.  Said with a "how stupid" tone.  Had to refrain from making some snarky comment back.  We didn't name Shiloh, he came with his name, and it really does fit him.  Dog or not.

Though, we did have some idiots ask if a prairie dog is a real dog.  Like, no joke, like honestly asking.  No, prairie dogs are rodents.  And then I decided, I should check on that to see that I wasn't lying all day, but no, they are rodents.  They are ground squirrels.  For anyone wondering, prairie dogs are rodents that are only found in North America.  There are 5 types of prairie dogs -- black tailed, white tailed, gunnison's, utah, and mexican.  The one found farthest east, and in the most moist region, is the black tailed prairie dog.  Shiloh is a black-tailed prairie dog.  They are typically 14-17 inches long and weigh 1-3 pounds.  I should weigh Shiloh, he's got to be more around the 3 mark.  Black tailed prairie dogs do not hibernate, unlike the other 4 species.  Besides farmers shooting prairie dogs because they are considered a pest, and besides hunters hunting them for sport, another threat to prairie dogs is the black-footed ferret.  The black-footed ferret is an endangered species that eats prairie dogs and uses their burrows.  For more on prairie dogs and the ferret, reference the fish and wildlife website -- http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/btprairiedog/

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