A Pack of Pocket Pets

Are you ready for the ridiculous amount of rodents available from our shelter right now?
My momma hamster, Minerva, is still waiting. She is honestly the sweetest hamster ever, I hope she doesn't languish in the Room for too long.
Louise (up above) and Thelma (below) have been separated from their babies and are finally ready for homes. These two girls are a bit traumatized at losing the little ones, I think - they seemed a little shocked. They are very sweet and very bonded. I hope someone takes them soon!
Cappuccino is all grown up now. I'm happy to say that Bianca has been adopted and will now live at a vet clinic as their resident hamster! Of the six pack, Bianca, Cinnamon and Smokey have all found wonderful homes. That's half of them! Cappuccino and Coffee are at the shelter, while Ginger remains at my house.
Coffee (above) and Cappuccino now look exactly alike. Cappuccino is much calmer, and a male, while Coffee is faster and female. Otherwise - twins!
Hudson and Arizona are our adult male rats, a bonded pair of 6-mos-olds. They are very sweet and quite shy, and quite fat.
Lilith, definitely our shyest hamster, is now at the shelter as well, waiting for a home. She is one of the prettiest hamsters I've ever seen, and while she is skittish, she's also a character. We almost kept her - she has a lovely personality.
Then we have our baby rats. I'm absolutely thrilled to say that the two female babies were adopted to that wonderful foster home who took Miss Maisy at the start of all this craziness! There are 7 baby boys left who need homes (five of them pictured above).
Hey, remember Kyle and Speedy? I tend to forget about them, but they are nice boys, and all grown up as well. This little pair is a little shy but are perfectly good little hammies.
Oh, and we're still not done, because we have another freaking hamster. This is Twinkle, she's a tiny little black dwarf whose owners gave her up for some ridiculous reason. She's very friendly and frankly adorable.

And that's it! Oh no, wait - there's also the five babies (not really anymore) in foster care. Oy.

Summer of the Cat

This summer has been absolutely dreadful for...well, everybody at the shelter. But especially cats. As I've mentioned before. Over this last weekend, I believe we received about 20 cats. Perhaps we did 2 adoptions. You don't need to be good at numbers to know how quickly that is going downhill. The especially irritating part is that the vast majority of our cats right now are completely wonderful. There's just no one coming in.
This stunning boy is Oscar, and I just adore him. He's really new, he arrived August 5 and just got out of the stray room. He is super handsome, with gorgeous fur and the friendliest personality ever. I could spend all day with this guy, he's wonderful.
And on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, this is Madden. Madden has been waiting the longest of all our cats - he's been there since February. That's almost six months! He's a complete nutcase, bursting with energy and very bossy to other cats, but he's also very affectionate and has been waiting way too long for his chance.
Speaking of waiting way too long, this is Cloudia. Cloudia is a shy girl, although she's improved a lot while at the shelter. She is very sweet and loves to be cuddled. She's been waiting for almost four months now!
Charlie is just awesome and it makes absolutely no sense that she's been waiting two months. She is a pudgy cuddler, and she loves everybody. She is one of the most laid-back cats I've ever seen. This is not a very good photo, but she also happens to be super-cute.
And finally there's Katia, who is a bit aloof for about 3 minutes, before she becomes a total cuddler. She also happens to be gorgeous - I just love her markings. I can never resist stopping to say hi to this girl.

Here's something cool - every Tuesday, CP24 airs a program called 'Animal House Calls'. Nicola, one of our workers, goes on it fairly often, and she's started showing my cat photos! It's pretty cool to see my photos on TV, but even better, one of our cats got adopted specifically because someone saw her photo - and that is what it's all about!

Invasion

Seriously, there are rats everywhere! Soo many rats. Rat adopters, come on down.
Thelma and Louise came back with their litter on Saturday. The babies are too young to be weaned, but come next Saturday (the 21st) they'll all be available for adoption. Ready for some cuteness?
Each of the babies looks like Thelma instead of Louise, which is funny, because while Louise is the real mom, Thelma has basically been raising them.
They follow Thelma around, and she protects them, while Louise just steps all over them. I think she'll be glad when they're gone and she gets her friend back from mom duty!
All the babies are very sweet, and while they're a little squirmy, they're very comfortable being held. Their foster parents did an awesome job!
They haven't been sexed yet (they will next week), but since there's nine of them, I'm sure there will be enough of each sex to keep them in pairs at least.

**Edited to add: I know we can sex them now, pretty easily, we just haven't bothered as they're all together and we can barely tell them apart. If someone is interested in a specific one in regards to knowing the sex, I'll get right on it, but otherwise they'll probably just be sexed when they get separated. Thanks for all the tips though - glad to know there are so many experts out there! :)
Haha, this little one is my favourite. Look at that face. Those whiskers!
I love their little hands. So very human-like!
These guys are all fat and healthy, with beautiful colouring and bright little eyes. They are as cute as buttons and very curious and friendly.
They really need to find homes right away, because they are going to grow right out of that cage. Firstly, we don't have any more cages to put them in. Secondly, we just can't keep this many animals in our little Room. These guys are in the back right now because there's no room. We can't end up being a warehouse for rats, with 12 of them hanging around for months - they need homes, now! And by now, I mean next week when they're weaned.
And then we have the two other boys, the boys of spectacularly bad timing. Why did they have to show up now?
Hudson and Arizona are quite sweet, but they're also very shy. They never nip, but they hide most of the time, and they need a home that will give them love and patience - and help them lose weight!

So - who wants a rat? :)

One Month Old!

My baby bunnies were a month old yesterday! I haven't posted photos of them since they were only two weeks old (you can also see them at 1 day, 1 week and 12 days). What a difference!
When they were fifteen days old, we took them to the vet for the first time. They were just tagging along - it was their momma who needed attention. Coraline has always wheezed a bit, and since having her babies, she's been grunting and wheezing while breathing, so we took her in to check her out.
Coraline wasn't too pleased (probably her first vet visit ever), but the babies had a great time being passed around to everyone in the vet clinic. They were a bit hit. They also got to explore - Stripe, of course, is our little adventurer, and she was all over the place.
By three weeks, their ears were up and their eyes were wide open. Look at those wiggling pink noses! Ok, you can't tell they're wiggling in the photo, but trust me.
They were also incredibly fluffy. Coraline is an awesome mom. They are already chowing down on pellets and hay (and even greens, which is...questionable), but she's still nursing and grooming, keeping everyone fat and happy and clean.
Coraline's vet tests were inconclusive, so we're hoping it's just the stress of raising babies, combined with a sensitive respiratory system. She is very active and friendly as ever, and her babies have inherited her outgoing personality.
At four weeks, they have these huge, almost cartoon-y eyes. All their eyes are brown except Patch, whose eyes are this beautiful blue-grey colour.
The blackies are still almost completely identical, but their personalities are really starting to shine. One of them (the one in the photo) is crazy active, loves exploring and gets into everything!
Patch is the most gorgeous baby - he has these beautiful markings and ears, and those big eyes! He is the most laid-back of the babies, and tends to just sit there while the others crawl all over him.
Stripe is the complete opposite of Patch. She never stays still for longer than two seconds. She's always jumping, running, nosing into things. She's a character!
It's amazing how fast they grow. Only a few more weeks until it's time to wean!

Comings & Goings

I feel like lately I've been neglecting the Room, which is, after all, the first front for adoption. There's been a lot of changes recently.
I'm happy to say that after a month, Time Machine and Tardis the budgies have been adopted! I felt sorry for them, losing their home so dramatically. I'm glad they found a good home. We've had a great couple of adoptions lately. Happily, Cinnamon and Bubbles the hamsters have also found homes - two less hamsters! Minx the gerbil went home with Bubbles the hamster, and they found an absolutely wonderful home.
That's Lucy in the photo, all grown up! Her foster home did an amazing job, and as soon as she was spayed, one of the staff took her on TV to showcase the small animals. Somebody fell in love with her and came in to adopt her!
Ariel has also finally been adopted.
We have two new rats, unfortunately. Even more unfortunately, these two boys (Hudson and Arizona) are very shy (but gentle!). That's Hudson up there. Even more unfortunately, Thelma and Louise and all their babies are coming back this weekend. Whoo boy!
This cutie here is a new face. Marigold is only 6 mos old, and incredibly sweet. Very friendly, very outgoing, very gentle. She has handsome fur, and absolutely massive, expressive ears. What a sweetheart!

Bunny Babushka

It's been a while! My computer sort of imploded, hence the update-less week. Yesterday, one of the workers and I went to an opening celebration for a local Pet Valu. We brought a bunch of pamphlets and a few animals - Time Machine & Tardis the budgies, Minx the gerbil, Minerva my foster hamster and Woody the rabbit.
This was our table - as you can see it, it was completely in the sun. We were a little worried about Woody getting overheated.
It wasn't an issue with the birds or Minx the gerbil though - they had a fantastic time outside! I've never seen Minx so happy, or the birds so relaxed. Time Machine and Tardis both spent the whole time sunbathing, they looked very content. I wonder if they were porch birds before their house was set on fire.
That's Minerva up there, who had a great time exploring everywhere including our catalogue of adoptable animals. While the others had a great time in the sun, we were worried that Woody would get too hot, and so Nicola came up with a brilliant idea that we must patent.
Presenting - the Rabbit Thermoregulation System! It was damp with cool water and it worked like a charm. Also, it was totally hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing at his disgruntled face.
"Why are you doing this to me?"
I will say that these events are a great way to get to know a bunny's personality. Woody's a great little guy that I didn't know that well before. Unfortunately we didn't have any adoptions at the event, but as Nicola correctly pointed out, it's more about making connections with the store and community. And it sounds like some really good things could come from a long-term connection to this store, so fingers crossed!