Homes!

Good news! Today saw 4 rats head to homes. Charity and Dee Dee the rats went to a foster home. Picasso and Potter went to forever homes. Big thank yous go out to the boys' new families, and another big thank you goes out to the girls' foster family.

Picasso and Potter

Rattie update

As you may recall, last Friday, Small Pets-Big Hearts took in some more rats. One of them, Lilly, arrived with a cloudy eye and was taken to Dr. T. at Seneca Animal Hospital. It seems as though there was a laceration (cut) to the eye that goes clear through the cornea. It was most likely an accidental wound from one of her sisters, which most likely occurred during play. She's on medication to help with healing, and provided she doesn't develop glaucoma, she should heal just fine. Unfortunately, it looks like she will not have any sight in that eye even if it heals perfectly.

Lilly will need a little extra love and patience. With eyesight problems can come some skittish behaviour- a hand coming in fast from the blind side can be scary! Once her eye is healed, Lilly would love a forever home with someone who will love her despite her disability. Help us find her a home!

Don't forget to check out our website to see all of the animals we have up for adoption.

Adoptable Hamsters

Mcgee, DiNozzo and Gibbs the dwarf hamsters have just been added to www.petfinder.com , www.Pets911.com and www.adoptapet.com to help them find their forever homes.

Sometimes a zebra is really a horse...

...and other times, it's a finch. Or twelve.

Recently, our friends over at Lollipop Farms took in 100 finches. Small Pets-Big Hearts took in 12 zebra finches. Their names are Mal, Washburne, Jayne, Simon, Book, Zoe, Kaylee, Inara, River, Saffron, Nandi, and Bridgit.

SP-BH also had a family surrender an accidental litter of 8 gerbils. They're named Olivia, Casey, Fin, Elliot, Munch, Kragen, Lennie, and Jack.

In case you noticed, yes, these names are all from TV shows, specifically Firefly, Law & Order, and Law & Order SVU. We like to go with themes. Suggestions for future themes are always welcome.

And in other good news, Katarina the one-eyed hamster has been adopted. Many thanks to her new family who will love and nurture her despite her disabilities. Everybody loves a happy ending!

Forever homes, Fosters, and Fuzzy arrivals

Clearly we like alliteration here at Small Pets-Big Hearts, Inc. But that's neither here nor there.

First things first: Doug and Gary the hamsters have gone to their forever home! One has already been renamed "Mailbox" by the youngest in the house, and it's obvious that they're going to be getting a lot of love.

Doug and Gary

In anticipation of their pending adoption, the fostered Emma and Tessa the hamsters have gone back to SP-BH headquarters. However, DiNozzo, Gibbs, and McGee the hamsters have gone to a foster home. Pictures of the boys will be posted just as soon as we can get them to sit still! It looks like these three will be a handful of exploration and love.

And in fuzzy arrival news, 4 male and 7 female rats have been surrendered. There are rexes and dumbos, and they're all positively adorable. As always, they will be placed up for adoption when they've been given a clean bill of health by the team at the Seneca Animal Hospital.

In other news, the new website is being worked on right now! There will be fun new pages that include pet care tips, recent adoption stories, and testimonials from people who have adopted from SP-BH. To make the latter two pages work, we'll need to hear from you! So comment on the blog or send an email to rachel(at)smallpets-bighearts(dot)org. Tell us the story, send us a picture, and pretty soon, we'll have them up on the web page.

Goodbye Little Shaft

Today, little Shaft the mouse passed away. He had reached senior age for a mouse months ago, and I decided to retire him from adoption. His home had become Small Pets-big Hearts's headquarters. We really enjoyed his stay with us. He loved Tofu, millet seed and cheerios, those were his favorite foods. He also spent hours zooming in his wheel. He did urinate and poop in his wheel consistently, but I didn't mind. As long as he was having fun, I was happy to clean his wheel on a regular basis. As he grew older, more grey fur started to show up in his black coat. He still zipped in his wheel, but not for as long of a period of time. Today was the end of his story at Small Pets-Big Hearts, Inc. but the beginning of his journey at the Rainbow Bridge.

Fosters, Donations, and Getting the Name Out

Good news all around. To start with, on Thursday, Emma and Tessa the dwarf hamsters were brought into a foster home with repeat adopter and owner of Persephone and Hera (formerly Pandora) the rats. (In case you're wondering, that would be me.) It's probably only a matter of time before they become a permanent fixture here. Along with the dwarves, Pocket, Charm, Jenkins, Scribble, Hummus, Egg Roll, and Zig-Zag the African soft furred rats were given a foster home. It wasn't easy determining who was who - they all look so similar - but with some study (and the petfinder page open) they were all determined.

It's plain to see that the ASFRs are extremely energetic and a lot of fun to watch, though getting them to a handleable state will take time. If you're interested in fostering any of the remaining 11 ASFRs, please let Rachel know. Every little bit of socialization time helps.

As you may recall, today SP-BH participated in the Hamburg Burgerfest. Thanks to volunteers and Ray, our name got out there and people got the message that small pets can be rescued, too! Ray printed up a bunch of pamphlets and had a slideshow running on a large monitor. With that sandwiched between Christopher (the rabbit) and Pepper (the guinea pig) with Gary & co. (the dwarf hamster boys) off to the side, people began to come over and take notice. Thanks to a few "chinchillers" (stone slabs kept in a cooler and rotated out when they got warm), everyone endured the heat well.

After a donation and several requests for adoption information, the Animal Alley segment of the Burgerfest was over, and SP-BH packed up and went back home knowing that the word is finally getting out. With any luck, people will take notice and tell their friends. Wouldn't it be wonderful if all of our furry friends could find forever homes?

On a semi-related note, it won't be long before we start to determine the genders of the baby angoras. Pretty soon, we'll have an idea as to how much money will need to be raised to have them all spayed or neutered. Keep an eye on the website for more information.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Incorporation and Hamburg Burgerfest Animal Alley

As some of you may already know, the rescue's name has been changed along with the incorporation status. Here's why: When Rachel and Ray started the rescue, they hadn't heard of Life Long Tails operated out of Boome County in NY. As that rescue was already incorporated under the name, this rescue was told that the name would have to be changed. This was all done in a very amiable manner - there were no hard feelings.

After some thought and a lot of hard work, our rescue was granted incorporated status under the name of "Small Pets-Big Hearts, Inc." A new website will be created to go along with the new name, and everything under the old name will be removed or altered as per the agreement with the Boome County rescue. The rescue remains the same in every aspect aside from name. The mission, the treatment of animals, and the adoption/fostering/surrendering process will remain the same. So three cheers for incorporation!

In other news, this Saturday (July 17th) is Hamburg's Burgerfest, where SP-BH will be participating in Animal Alley. This activity is intended to showcase rescue groups, sell pet supplies, and have various awesome things like a dog wash and a micro-chip clinic. Animal Alley will run from noon to 5pm at Buffalo/Main in Hamburg. We will be there with info on the rescue, pamphlets, answers to questions, a place to donate, a place to sign up for fostering or adoptions, and a "plea" for the angora rabbits' spay/neuters.

We will have guests Tommy the guinea pig, Christopher the rabbit, and Doug the dwarf hamster (and his brothers). If you're free, stop on down! While Rachel won't be able to attend, Ray will be there (because he's awesome), and if you get there in the earlier portion, I'll be there, too.

Stay tuned for more news as it happens!

[Edit] I've just gotten word that Cleo and Milton the neutered rats have been adopted. Yay!

(I'd post pictures, but they've already been removed from petfinder and I didn't think to save them beforehand.)

More news!

The news just keeps coming in! I suppose I could wait until the end of the week for a full compilation, but where's the fun in that? We have both good and not-so-good news. Let's start with the not-so-good.

About a week ago, rats Anita, Ellis, Farrell, Larkin and Maya were adopted. Unfortunately, things didn't work out with their new family, and they are back. They're a bit on the tentative side, and tend to get frightened easily. They are still lovable, but will need a little extra patience.

But now for the good news: Hawthorne and Flynt the rats were adopted, as was Chip the love bird! Yay for them and their new forever families!

Hawthorne, Flynt, and Chip

Stay tuned for more news as it happens!

More adoptions!

Remember how yesterday, we said that Mabel, Marigold, and Sophia the angora rabbits were up for adoption? Well, it turns out that we have to make an adjustment to that statement. They've been adopted!



Mabel and Sophia (Marigold is camera shy)



But wait; there's more! Guinea pigs Annabelle and Coco have also been adopted!


Annabelle and Coco

And don't forget, there's a yard sale happening today (7/10/10) and tomorrow (7/11/10) at the rescue's headquarters (Rachel's house) with all sales to benefit the rescue. Pet items are for sale including:

• Small animal cages
• Aquariums (fish tanks)
• Bird cages
• Bird "play gyms"
• Small animal wheels
• Play balls
• Tubes and accessories
• Hamster cages and Crittertrail brand cages
• Ferret/rat hammocks and sleep sacks

If you need directions or have questions, comment here or email Rachel at rachel(at)lifelongtails(dot)org.

One last thing: After some calculations, we've determined that the bare minimum cost to spay/neuter all of the angoras that have yet to be adopted will be between $2080.00 and $2500.00 depending on the amount of female babies. (Neuters are less costly than spays, as they're less invasive.) We really would like to "alter" all of the bunnies we still have despite the cost. Donations are the only way this will happen. Please help of you can.

Oh, and happy Caturday.

Bunnies and Babies and Adoptions, Oh My!

You might remember that not long ago, we took in 7 adult angora rabbits that came from a cruelty siezure in Canada. They all needed extreme cleaning and were put on pregnancy watch, as the females were not separated from the males. Two weeks ago, one of the rabbits gave birth. She and her five babies are now in foster care and doing well. Two week old Angora babies

Now two of the other adults have given birth. Each of them had eight (8!!) babies, bringing the baby total to 21! We are in dire need of both foster homes and donations to help take care of these adorable balls of fluff. Anyone who can foster would be greatly appreciated. Donations are also appreciated, be it monetary or food - the moms have been going through Oxbow brand bunny pellets and timothy hay like crazy. Ideally, we would like to stop this rapid rabbit reproduction (three cheers for alliteration) with spaying and neutering, but we simply can't do it without financial help. If you can help with this, please comment or send an email to rachel(at)lifelongtails(dot)org.

Luckily, not all of the adults were pregnant. Three of the angoras are up for adoption: Sofia, Marigold, and Mabel. These three beautiful ladies would love a forever home. Will it be with you?

And in other happy news, Edgar the (female) guinea pig was adopted yesterday! We're sure she'll be feeling right at home very soon.

Edgar the Guinea Pig

A new blogger!

Hi everyone! Just a quick note - Rachel has asked me to help out with maintaining the blog and the website. This gives her more time to spend with the animals, but allows you to continue getting updates.