Hiway today

This morning Hiway decided to start her incessant pacing up and down the fencing again. {You may have seen that on Cam2.} So I took her out on her little halter and leash and let her run around and be my shadow for a while. She helped do chores, and visited for a while with the domestics inside. She is now in Sarah's {Shazbot's} outside mini-coondo. Shazbot is in due to inclement weather and it's getting pretty chilly up here in the Northwoods now.

Perhaps you are not up on Hiway's story?

Hiway was found orphaned. Mother was dead on the highway, and all of her siblings were lying with mother, also dead. This is normal when mother dies, the babies still try to nurse until they die as well. It's Mother Nature's way.

Hiway was different. She wanted nothing to do with being dead yet, so started following the white line down the County Highway. She came in in really bad shape. Maggots in her eyes, lice, dehydrated, and just about dead. I went to the vet to get her Ivermectin to kill the parasites, but the vet didn't have any and mistakenly gave me Avermectins. That is highly toxic to small animals, and Hiway went into a coma. She was hydrated SubQ with NormosolR for nearly a week. She puffed up like a balloon and her pads of her paws became sunken in {indicating liver damage}. It was unlikely she'd survive the medication.

But survive she did. However, her brain "got stuck" and she remains an infant mentally. Hiway is approximately 5 months old now. She is the age of the rehabs in the Big Coondo who are about to go on their Big Adventure in the forests. Hiway has been able to integrate with Lillian & Benjamin [3 months old] at times, but reverts to her up and down pacing when she gets nervous and needs to be my shadow. It's a dependency thing at this point. But perhaps Hiway can get her mental functions back in order one day and also have a Big Adventure.

Meanwhile, I certainly enjoy interacting with my 'girlfriend'. Seems I call her Girlfriend more often than Hiway these days.