Thursday, March 26, 2009

Fernando and results at the vet











Our largest guinea pig love crush, Fernando, has been adopted. Ray and I fell head over heels in love with him, and so did his foster Mom, Andrea. It wasn't easy saying good bye. But we will have updates about him and we know he is going to the best home. Jana adopted him :)!! Woo HOO! She adopted Cooper last week. Look at those pictures of Fernando, he is a womanizer!
I took Gemini the rabbit, Turbulence, Runway and Launchpad the 3 parakeets, and Koda the guinea pig to the vet today. Everyone was going in for routine check ups except for Gemini. Gemini has two small lumps on her back. They are abscesses and she will need to have them surgically removed. Poor girl. Her and her sister, Whisper, battled off a horrendous vascular infection about 4 months ago. Dr.T told me that these sisters are genetically prone to infections. They are such sweet, friendly and personable bunnies. I would love for them to find a great home despite their medical "conditions" They can make someone happy in many ways, if they are given the chance. The 3 parakeets and koda had a great exam, they are completely healthy. Dr.T loves Koda's curly whiskers.. I do too, he is very adorable. They will be placed up for adoption very soon.

Rabbit care videos on You Tube

You tube has some very helpful videos about rabbit care. The information on these videos is fantastic and I do recommend it :) Here is a link to the video about adding veggies to a rabbit's diet- http://www.youtube.com/user/FastUpOnRabbitCare Underneath this video you can view others, made my the same people, that touch on other care topics. Enjoy :)

Friday, March 20, 2009

My Motivation and Inspiration

Since I haven't been feeling well, I've been feeling guilty about not caring for the pets as much as I normally do. Ray even helped me clean rabbit and guinea pig cages a couple days ago. With feeling mopey and no energy , I have been laying around and ignoring them... not intentionally, just can't manage it right now. I am a bit better today, so I have been lavishing treats and attention on them while I am getting back to routine cage cleaning. Still, I can't help but feel down in the dumps about the days I wasn't completely there for them. Then I received an e-mail from Jana, Cooper's new Mom, and what she wrote to me, Ray and our organization brightened my whole day. I asked her permission to post her inspiration and she was happy to share. It nearly made me cry happy tears all over -
"Hi, this is Jana - a few days ago I adopted Cooper. I just wanted to write and let you know Cooper is adjusting so well to his new home! He's very relaxed and he seems to absolutely love his new huge cage. We've already bonded quite a bit, and he's even met some of his new animal companions. I can really tell you cared very well for him when he was with you, and I wanted to thank you for allowing me to adopt him and for doing all the fantastic work you and your husband do. I've fostered quite a few animals over the years and volunteered a lot helping animals find homes, and eventually I would really like to do what you and Ray do. I know it sounds corny, but you're an inspiration to those of us who look to help abandoned animals live out the rest of their days in new homes with lots of love. Thanks again and great work!"
Thank you Jana! I cannot stress how much it means to me when we receive such glowing words from people, and also show enthusiastic support. It means the World to me and all the rescue animals. THANK YOU :)

Hamster

Hamster

This lively pet hamster will keep you company throughout the day. Watch him run on his wheel, drink water, and eat the food you feed him by clicking your mouse. Click the center of the wheel to make him get back on it.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Boggle the hamster, Samantha and Molly, and Cooper







Crouton the dwarf hamster didn't make it to surgery, she passed before the day arrived. Boggle went in to the the large tumor removed from up underneath, near his armpit. The surgery went great and was a total success! He woke up from it and was eager to be back in his cage and start eating. A week later he doing extremely well and is healing up quickly. I always worry about such a little guy going in for major surgery like that, but WOW, he made it through and bounced back like a champ!
Samantha and Molly the rat have been adopted :) Their new Mom, Kitty is in absolute love with them! I couldn't be happier! And Cooper the rabbit was adopted too. His new family loved him at first sight.
I'm sorry I didn't write in more depth. I haven't been feeling well for a few days, I am fighting off a cold and flu. I hope I did give a good update besides this, I'll be back with more details once I am feeling better.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Vet Visit on Tuesday and Words I Must Say

This past Tuesday I took seven pets to the vet. It was exhausting, but very productive. Crouton and Boggle the hamsters went; Clay our uromastyx lizard; Rosie, Mr.Pig and Dexter the guinea pigs; and little baby turtle, Fry. Rosie, Mr.Pig, Dexter and Fry all had a great exam and clean bill of health. Now they are adoptable !:) Crouton has a growth coming from her lower lip and Boggle has a growth underneath his armpit area. Both hamsters are going in next Tuesday for surgery, they will have their growths removed. I will update all of you on how they do, and their progress. Everyone wish them well and hope for speedy recoveries. Clay always has troubles with shedding, Dr.T told me to rub neosporin on his feet and toes since these are the areas where he has trouble getting the skin off. The lubing action of the neosporin will loosen up the skin for Clay.
And just to clarify- Clay and all our own pets are under a different account at our vet. We only use our own money to pay for our own pets when they go to the vet. Donations and adoption fees are used for the rescues only. We always keep them separated. The only pets that are our own are ones that were our family since before we started rescuing. This would be our lizards (2 water dragons, uromastyx, bearded dragon and crested gecko) Our birds ( 4 parakeets, 4 conures and African grey) and our 7 cats. Otherwise everyone else is a rescue. If for some reason, a rescue has many medical problems or is very aggressive and we decide is not adoptable, then we adopt that pet as family. Then, once that decision is made, we use our own money at all times for the unadoptable pet. Believe me, many times we use our own money for supplies and toys not only for our pets but the rescues too. There is no profit at all with what we do. I don't understand why people decide to "flame" us for having our own pets , I didn't know it was forbidden to have any if you are rescuing.. we have been rescuing for 4 years now, many of our pets are 6 years and older, they are family and always will be. And we carry their financial responsibility too. I know I can say this over and over until I am blue in the face, and there will still be someone or a few, who will still say nasty words about us and post those lies. But, I said it again. We have nothing to hide and we are true to what we want to do, help the animals.

Pasta


After writing such a sad post, I do have good news to report. Pasta the dwarf hamster was adopted yesterday! Alright! His new Mom, Lindsay loved him right away and says he is the absolute perfect hamster for her. He is wonderful, I'll miss the little man, he is very friendly and lovable.

Tragedy

Last Saturday night we had some tragedies. I went to see the four babies in the nest that were born the week before, Expresso's
babies I didn't make it a habit to disturb the nest , but would check on them here and there. I realized right away something was wrong. The babies looked withered and moved sluggishly. I decided to pick one up and it was ice cold and dehydrated :( I knew Mom wasn't caring for them at that point. Mother rabbit's only feed their young two or three times a day , and usually in the evening, so it isn't uncommon to not see a Mom rabbit nursing her babies.
After taking the babies out, I found one already dead. I took them to the Intesive Care Unit we have and immediately warmed them up, slowly, as the unit warmed up itself. Then I gave them each a couple cc's of pedialyte to hydrate them before even attempting to feed them. An hour later I mixed up the kitten food and tried feeding.. they were, of course, unused to it, but took in a little. I waited a couple more

hours to try again, to find another had passed away, and one was barely alive. I got a drop of kitten milk into the bad one and fed a little of what the other would take. It wasn't long before the other passed and the remaining one was downhill as well. That one passed by morning. It was an awful night. I wish I had known the Mom stopped caring for them sooner, before they were already too debilitated to be rehabilitated and hand raised. But I knew it was bad when I saw them, their skin soo loose, ribs showing.. and ice cold to the touch.. it was too late :(Now we have 12 babies, 4 adults and Gemini and Whisper ( the number of rabbits)