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May 7, 2001 – Regular visitors to this site will probably
remember the trouble we had with our two Mute Swans last
summer. We were not able to find a new home for them before this
year's breeding season rolled around. Consequently we've faced several
months of intense harassment from our male swan, Mr. Big. Humans and
Great Danes aren't his only target. In February Mr. Big drove way two
of his three offspring that were hatched last June. We were sorry to
see them go because they were very pleasant (unlike their father) and
quite beautiful.
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One
day they simply flew away after a particularly aggressive attack by
their dad. We have no idea where they landed but we hope they found
a good home on another pond. The remaining juvenile swan is a female.
Mr. Big tolerates her presence, but he has strict rules about where
she is allowed to swim on the pond and when. In late March Charlotte,
Mr. Big's mate, built a nest and deposited four eggs. She began "setting"
six weeks ago. The eggs should have hatched at the end of week five,
but they didn't. One lone eggs remains in the nest and Charlotte refuses
to give up on it. (She will probably sit on it until it explodes.) Whatever
happened to the other three eggs is a mystery, but it is possible that
Albert got it. 
Albert
is the young alligator that appeared unexpectedly last August. He lived
in our pond for a couple of months. Then he disappeared. He was just
a juvenile, less than 30" long from the tip of his snout to the
tip of his tail, but a well-fed alligator can grow almost a foot a year.
Needless-to-say, Albert was an unwelcome addition to our 8 acre pond.
We were relieved to be rid of him. His presence had been particularly
unsettling because it meant that two adult alligators – his parents
– were probably lurking within walking distance of our property.
Anyway, we thought we'd seen the last of Albert but he reappeared two
weeks ago. Evidently he had never left us; instead he'd been hibernating.
Albert is much bigger now. At almost 36" it's unclear whether or
not he would have the ability to force Charlotte from her nest and consume
her eggs. Probably not.
Based
on Jabber's last radiograph, Dr. Shealy felt that there was sufficient
bone healing to
remove the fixator. (It had been on Jabber for almost seven weeks.)
Rather than put Jabber through another operation, we opted to remove
the fixator. 
To my surprise, Jabber is much harder to manage now that the fixator has been removed. Getting him up and walking him with the sling is more difficult because his "good" leg seems weaker and he isn't able to assist with the process like before. (Remember, he weighs 175 pounds – that's a lot to lift!) The fixator sites in Jabber's TPLO leg have completely scabbed over leaving seven hard bumps. I can tell Jabber is more comfortable without the fixator, but it's removal seems to have upset his equilibrium. As expected, he has minimal range of motion in his knee joint, perhaps 10°, and he is still unable to use the leg. He will put a little weight on it when he is standing but only if I position the leg properly for him. He can't move the leg into position by himself. He tires quickly and spends a lot of time sleeping. Jabber's therapy program should help restore some function to his leg. How much function, we don't yet know. At a later date he will need additional operations to remove three of the twelve screws in his knee. I can tell we have a long, tough road ahead of us. Last night I watched Jabber sleep. He was dreaming. His legs were twitching and pumping – both of them. In his dreams Jabber can still run. I hope someday his dreams will become reality.
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