Friday, December 28, 2007

Things?

One of my pet peeves is when someone has a pet and they always call their pet "it" or "thing" If you know know your pet is male or female , say "she" or "him" or better yet, use their name. I can understand if you don't know your pet's gender yet and you haven't thought of a name, OK, understood. Even so , most pet lovers use a temporary, universal, nickname like "honey" or "Sweetie." When I here someone say , " Oh that thing over there, it smells and eats too much, it's getting on my nerves." or even if used in a nice way " I give it treats everyday and clean it's cage." to me it sounds like the person doesn't have much regard for their pet, or even a relationship. When people use the terms "thing" or "it" I get the impression the pet is just there or a possession and not really all that liked or loved, and definitely not a part of the family. I could be totally wrong in my theory and feelings, but it is just how I feel when I hear someone speak of their pet that way.

Elso and Pugsley


This Wednesday , Elso and Puglsey the rabbits were adopted! :) They have been with us since March, waiting that long to be adopted and taken home. Elso and Puglsey are bonded lionhead rabbits. Elso is a neutered boy and Puglsey is a spayed female. They were a gift for a daughter. Their new family researched rabbits and knew that bonded bunnies are the best and they found Elso and Puglsey on Petfinder. They are doing great in their new home and are settling in. They are enjoying hay and veggies and a name change. Elso is now Simba and Puglsey is Nala. Good names for rabbits that love each other.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Christmas Eve, adoptions and December 31st











Happy Christmas Eve everyone :):) and Merry Christmas for tomorrow since I probably won't get a chance to post.
Yesterday we had many adoptions, many of our rescues were given the greatest gift of all , a new loving home that they will be cherished and loved in for the rest of their days. 3 of our dwarf hamsters went home, two babies from the recent litters that resulted in the nine hamster drop off with 2 pregnant females were adopted. I had named them Cheerio and AppleJack, I'll add a picture of them with Mom hamster, they were 6 weeks old at the time of adoption , old enough to be away from Momma. I already had them separated by males and females too. Then our special hamster, Blake, was adopted by the same family. Blake had developed cataracts in both his eyes , leaving him with poor vision and more than likely, blind. Despite his condition , he remained a nice hamster he only needed a warning that you were there and about to pick him up.
Next to be adopted was Jingle Bell and Figgy Pudding. Two more of Poinsettia's babies. Speaking of her babies, her newest litter now have their eyes open and they are moving about ! :) Figgy and jingle went to a home with a Mom and daughter who have done a lot of research on how to care for rats, since they are new rattie owners and they were well prepared for their new fur babies, I will add pictures of him too.
Then Snowy the rabbit went home. Snowy also went home to someone who is new to rabbits but she did tons of research and made sure she had everything she needed, even a rabbit proofed room. Snowy wasn't happy at all with being in a carrier when it came time to taking him home, he was trying his best to dig and bite his way out. I tried reassuring him that the carrier was temporary but I don't think he believed me one bit. I am sure he has calmed down by now, he only had a little ways to go before he was home. He is an adjustable bunny , I know with a little time he will fit right in. I'll add a photo of him too, this photo was taken by dawn G, didn't she take a nice picture of him?
On December 31st we have a lot of spays and neuters happening. 2 sugar gliders are getting neutered, Mario and Archie. Ava the bunny is getting spayed. And Pizzazz the long haired bunny that came from the horrible breeder is getting spayed. Plus the Holland lop, Almond and white and brown bunny, Cashew, are getting neutered. It will be a busy day for me and the vet, and sad to say, a stressful day for those that are getting fixed.
Take care , and have a safe and happy holidays !

Friday, December 21, 2007

Noel and new arrivals




Today, Noel the baby girl rat was adopted. Noel was the only girl from the group of ten baby rats. She has wonderful Mom now and hopefully, very soon , she will bond with her friend Mee-too the girl rat.




Now that I think of it, I am not sure if I wrote about Tinsel the rat being adopted, did I? Tinsel has been adopted too, one of the baby boy rats. He is now good friends with Stanley the rat, formerly known as Will. Will was adopted from us, he was one of the three that were neutered. Tinsel's new Mom wrote us saying that Stanley and Tinsel are already grooming and playing with each other.



Here are pictures of Tinsel ( the lighter cream colored one) and Noel ( darker)



We picked up an unwanted ferret today. His name is Scout and he is three years old and a Marshall's ferret , the tattoo in the ear gives that away. this person was given Scout when she didn't even want him in the first place :( poor Scout. He was in a little cage, that was dirty and falling apart. I have already moved him into a multi-level cage with toys and hammocks and sleep sacks. So far he seems to be a very friendly and love able boy , I can't believe he has been given up twice, I don't understand it. I know we won't have a problem finding him that perfect forever home he wants.



A few days ago we were brought two cockatiels. I was told they are male and female, and they have mated and layed eggs together although the eggs have never hatched. We don't support or want breeding , but I would not want to split these two up they have been together for quite some time. Too bad there isn't spay/neuter for birds. The male is a grey and his name is Camelot. The female is a lutino and her name is Gabriel.



If I don't post before hand happy holidays everyone! :):)

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Blaze and Stanley


The past couple of days I haven't been feeling good. I have been cleaning cages but not as much as usual. Not to worry though , I always make sure everyone has plentiful food and water no matter how I feel. I even called off of work today , I feel so Blah.. And I didn't call back anyone who left a message on the machine today , I apoligize to anyone who may have called today, I was sleeping, a lot. I will call back everyone tomorrow , I promise. I hopefully will also feel up to catching up on cage cleaning.

On a very sad note, Stanley the hamster passed away tonight. He fought the good fight, but the abscess and infection were just too much for his little body. Despite draining the abscess and antibiotics the infection never went away. I really did love that little guy and he will be sorely missed.

Yesterday, Blaze the guinea pig was adopted. He now is part of a family with kids that adore animals. His new Momma absolutely loves him and was whispering sweetness into his ear as she left to take him home. I couldn't be happier with Blaze's new home and I am sure he will be a one spoiled rotten pig. Here is a picture of him snuggling with us on the couch and in the covers.

I am going back to sleep now, good night everyone.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Stanley

I wanted to give an update about Stanley, the dwarf hamster with the abscess. He has been taking the Baytril antibiotic twice a day really well. After I give it to him, he wipes his paws and cleans himself for a long time, he must feel sticky from it. So far, the size of the abscess hasn't changed, it still looks awful. If it doesn't improve with the medicine we will not hesitate to do the surgery for him and have it removed. Dr.T says he is a great candidate for surgery since his energy and health are all still good despite the abscess. And he is still in great spirits and has a good appetite, I am thankful for that. Please get better Stanley.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Our forum

I tried my best to start a forum for all of us, and I know it is very sloppy. I am very computer illiterate and have a hard time figuring stuff out. i am sorry if you have a hard time making out the categories, but please join and post. I made it so we can all ask questions and discuss anything pet related. It isn't finished yet either, but I hope you guys like it, despite it's messiness.
here's the link to it http://smallpetforum.forumotion.com/index.htm

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Two vet trips in two days


The two litters of hamsters will be old enough by next week to be on their own and by then I will have them separated by gender. They all seem quite friendly too. Most of them are the standard brown coloring , but their is one PEW, pink eyed white.

Momma rat , Poinsettia, is taking great care of her babies. They are developing, i can see fur coming in, and I can tell which ones will be darker and which ones will be lighter. Her other group of babies are doing wonderfully, I took some nice pictures of them. They are nervous but are coming along nicely, I know they'll calm down in time and become more bold and curious.

Yesterday I took Blaze and the three baby rabbits rescued from the backyard rabbit breeder in to see Dr.Fijas. We looked over Blaze first, he developed a bald spot on his back. Turns out he does have guinea pig lice. He now has been treated with Revolution to kill off the lice and even treat any mites if there are any. The babies all are healthy and it turns out we have two boys and a girl. The Holland lop is a boy and so is the white one with what I would call Siamese markings. And the really fluffy one which I am not sure if she is an angora or a jersey woolly or a cross between both is a definite girl. They are now separated accordingly. I know I'll probably have to separate the boys in time as they mature ,they may get aggressive towards each other, especially before we get them neutered. They have to be at least 12 weeks old before they can be altered.

Today I took Stanley the dwarf hamster and Americana the ferret to see Dr.T. Stanley had a huge lump on his mouth that just ballooned in size very quickly. The lump is an abscess. Dr.T drained from it was he could, yucky cheesy looking stuff that smells bad. And a direct quite from Dr.T " I love popping hamster zits the morning." Although this wasn't a zit he describes the draining being similar to popping a zit. Stanley is also now on Baytril and antibiotic to hopefully combat the infection and get rid of the abscess all together. Dr.T wants to see him back in one week and if their isn't any reduction in the abscess, then Stanley will need to have the infection removed surgically. I took in Americana just to have her medically looked over. When I play with her and watch I see a happy, healthy young girl... but a lonely girl too. She recently lost her best friend, Kodiak, to Lymphoma. I tried bonding her and our 6 year old ferret , Bandit to her but it didn't work. Bandit has always been by himself, and he is sickly with deteriorating insulinoma, so he didn't want to have anything to do with the energetic bouncy Americana. I would love to see Americana go to a ferret loving home, preferably with some one who has a single ferret that is also lonely and looking for a friend. So, I wanted Dr.T to assure me that she is healthy enough to be re homed. He told me she is fairly Young and her spleen is the perfect size and her lymph nodes are perfect. I told him that she does itch a lot and this could either be allergies or the beginnings of Adrenal disease which is common in ferrets but is treatable. All in all, she is healthy enough, so I'd like to see what I can do for her. I'd hate to see her go, but I must keep her best interests at heart. It could be a long time before any more ferrets arrive here, and even so, they may not take to Americana. Somewhere out there there is a lonely ferret and a person that is perfect for this little girl.

I'll include a picture of Noel, one of the baby rats from Poinsettia's first litter.. and her only daughter from that bunch.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

A Full House


Here is a picture of our rat boy, Carlton, Lyra requested his picture. He is friendly with people but wouldn't bond with any other ratties. He was either petrified of the new rat to the point where he would squeal when the new rat came near and then fly to the other side of the cage in pure terror. Or he would be the dominant rat and beat up the new rat and cause wounds. He is a friendly mush ball with me, I can take him out and snuggle with him.
The two hamster litters that were born a couple weeks ago from the female that arrived with 2 boys in the cage with them, now have their eyes open and are moving all about. I took some pictures, many of them came out blurry, but I'll see what is salvageable. I'll be downloading pictures tomorrow.
The three sugar gliders are gorgeous, they are getting used to their new environment and all the new smells. They are eating great too, they devour everything I place in their bowls at night. They have eaten, cantaloupe, carrots, apples, cucumber, baby food, a dry fruit mix, their pellet food and I sprinkle the repcal and herpvite supplement on their food. They really dig in! only one of them is neutered. The other two have an appointment on Wednesday the 19th to be neutered.
A Momma rat and her litter of babies also were dropped off during the week. There are 10 babies, and here's the kicker, only one baby is female , all the rest are boys! The babies were already old enough to be away from Mom, so I separated them by gender. When I saw Momma, I had a feeling she was already pregnant again.. obviously the male (Father) wasn't taken away in time. She just had another litter of babies yesterday, yikes! Maybe we can find homes for all these babies before the newest ones are ready to be adopted. In the spirit of Christmas I gave the Mom and babies Christmas themed names. Mom is Poinsettia and her daughter is Noel. The boys are Tinsel, Yuletide, Rudolph, Gingerbread, Jingle Bell, Egg Nog, Figgy Pudding and Snow Man. I only need to think of one more name for a boy, I am thinking Chris Kringle.
We also had one more group of arrivals, baby bunnies! A wonderful person rescued these three bunnies from a horrible backyard breeder. By her description all the bunnies are out in the freezing cold, and granted , rabbits can live through some real cold, but my thoughts on it are: why should they be forced to go through when they can be indoors? Especially when their drinking water freezes! I was also told the hutches were just about falling apart , were filthy dirty and all the bunnies were in cramped overpopulated conditions. It breaks my heart and makes me mad, I wish I had the legal status and resources to shut the place down and find a sanctuary and homes for all the bunnies, but I don't. The local SPCA will be and has been notified about this person. I called myself. But I am not sure what can be done, she does provide food water and shelter for the bunnies, but the rescuer told me she doesn't EVER take them to the vet! I don't even want to think about that. I know I can't save and help them all and the wonderful rescuer couldn't either, but helping these three bunnies means the world to them. They have a chance now and are warm and safe. One is a Holland Lop, I have named him/her Almond. And one may be a jersey wooly and I have named him/her , Pizazz. The other is a breed I am not sure about and I have yet to come up with a name, I will though. I will soon have an appointment for Dr.T to sex them for me and look them over then they will be altered.
That's it for now, all I can say is that are home is now full, and we cannot take in anymore until some adoptions take place.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

The adoptions, fosters and soon to be new arrivals







Thank you Lyra for the dapper rat link, it was really cute, I like it.
Nickel the guinea pig was first to be adopted. He was featured on our recent newsletter. His story was very sad.. but just turned happy. Nickel was found by an apartment tenant, he had been abandoned without food or water by his previous owners, and the owners had moved out a week before he had been found! He went that long without food , water, warmth, love .. it really is infuriating that anyone would leave their helpless pet without any care at all! I do understand if someone is forced to move and is unable to take their pet, but please PLEASE, make sure you find a home or someone to care for the pet until a home is found. I know that everyone who reads this blog would never do such a thing , I just wanted to write how I feel about that situation. It is amazing and a miracle that Nickle survived that long. He was a bit thin and very hungry and thirsty , but he bounced back into a very healthy and active piggy. And someone fell in love with his picture and story and had to adopt him, he was already a part of the family by the picture they saw :)
Next to be adopted is Chomper and Raphael the red eared slider turtles. Chomper had been with us for almost two years. The only reason she was difficult to place was due to her size. She's a BIG GIRL. She was ten years old when she arrived here, so that made her 12 years old at adoption. She's about the size of a dinner plate, maybe a bit bigger. And everyone that was interested in her over the years didn't have large enough enclosures to meet her needs. Then along came Raphael, he had been bumped from home to home at least four times, people just got tired of him or didn't want him anymore. Raphael was big too, not as large as Chomper but decent sized. Females of this species do grow larger than the males. I was told Raphael was 13 years old. Chomper and Raphael did bond together, many times I found Raphael basking on top of Chomper underneath the heat and UV light, like Chomper was a sunning deck. Happy news is, Chomper and Raphael were adopted together, YI pee!! I am so thrilled that Chomper has finally found her forever home and with her boyfriend in tow.
Then Envy was adopted. Envy is a female rabbit, she arrived here as a baby with Zachary and Anthony , her brothers. Soon after arrival, Zachary passed away under anesthesia, he had a foreign infection that circled his neck that didn't respond to any treatment, it was very difficult for us to bear. Next , Anthony was adopted and he is very much loved and has a girlfriend by the name of Layla. This left Envy, the last to be chosen, but she was still loved by us. She was skittish to be picked up by her new Momma, but she always has been afraid of being picked up. But then the uncanny happened, she melted into her new Momma's arms, she wasn't afraid anymore, it was meant to be :)
Yesterday, a Mom and daughter, who are fellow hamster lovers stopped by to help us with fostering hammies. Everyone knows that we are presently overloaded with hamsters. Plus there are two litters that are quickly growing up, they have fur now! They took home Power Puff Girl, Ben, Bart and Bill , and Ribbon, Lace and Thread. This helps me with having more room in the house for rescues and helps me with the amount of cleaning needing to be done. Foster families are always a blessing.
In just a short while , three sugar gliders will be arriving. They are on a road trip right now, they are coming from NJ. We are located near Buffalo , NY. It is snowy and slick right now, I hope they have a safe trip. I will give more details about each glider after they arrive.
Here is a picture of Chomper , Nickel and Envy.
Enjoy everyone, and have a wonderful weekend. I'll do my best to, even though I am working all weekend. Oh well, need to make the money for all the sweet critters.