Ins and Outs

There's been a shake-up in the Room's population lately! A few adoptions, a lot of incomings.
First off, the adoptions! Ozzie the Dwarf Rabbit was adopted last week, and Mali the Dwarf Hamster was adopted around the same time. I'm glad someone was willing to take Mali, that cranky old guy deserved a home. Hope they don't mind getting their fingers chewed! Finally, Gandalf the Big White Bunny was adopted yesterday! He was adopted by a great family and as one of the shelter workers said, 'he won the bunny lottery'!
But as always, more are coming in than coming out.
I wrote about our newest budgie yesterday - his stray hold runs out on Tuesday and I'm pretty sure he'll be snapped up right away by one of his many admirers. It'd be nice if one of his admirers settled for Kiwi, our less perfect budgie, who also still needs a home!
Oh my goodness, isn't this the cutest bunny ever? She's got my favourite kind of ears - not quite a lop, not quite straight up, just flopping all over the place. She is very sweet and needs a name! I hate leaving them without names - I always want to have a name to remember them by, even if it gets changed right away.
Barney here is a raving lunatic. I don't mean that in a bad way, but he's nuts! He licks you, he jumps all over you, then he thumps for no reason, jumps three feet in the air, and runs so fast he flips himself over. All in under a minute!
Coco is not on the website yet for some reason. She's a sweetheart, obviously used to being handled, and very friendly. She's 3 years old and has an awesomely fuzzy coat.
Caramel here has my favourite type of fur, the wild-type colouring. She's friendly enough, one half of a medium-sized pair surrendered only yesterday.
Snowflake is the other half of that pair. I wonder about these two - pairs take so long to go, plus they're not very small. On the other hand, Snowflake is particularly cute, and they're quite friendly. Here's hoping it doesn't take too long.

And the two hamsters from North are arriving this weekend. Phew!

An Unlikely Friendship

This handsome fellow arrived at the shelter on May 25th. In the cage, he's quite flighty, but as soon as I let him out, it became clear that he was hand-tamed (and wing-clipped). He was also obviously used to being out, and as soon as I opened the cage door, out he flew - right into a rabbit cage!
The little guy decided he wanted to hang out with Smudge, I guess. Smudge had no objections. I figured they'd be fine - my two birds and two bunnies have lived in harmony without killing each other.
I think what he really liked was climbing between the cage bars. They make for a good playground!
This guy's great. He's pretty quiet, friendly, and entertaining! I've posted his information on Craigslist and 911 Parrot Alert - whenever we get these tamed budgies, it's a shame, because you know there's a family looking for him somewhere. But if we can't find his owners (and sadly, we probably won't), he's already got three families looking to adopt him!
You know, that's one of the reasons it's so important to hand-tame your birds. Kiwi the budgie is not tame (at all), and she's been with us for a month. This little guy is tame, has been with us two days, and already has three offers. Everybody wants a hand-trained bird, but 95% of the birds that come through the shelter won't let you touch them. You don't need to do hard-core training - just teach them to step up, that's all it takes.

In other news, we also have FOUR new rabbits and a guinea pig! And two of the new rabbits are white, of course. This high rate of white rabbits is making me wonder if we're getting the post-Easter rush already. Two hamsters are arriving from North on the weekend, so we are, once again, packed to the gills.

Seeing White

I've mentioned before that the shelter, bizarrely, goes through 'trends'. We'll get a huge amount of brown tabbies for about a month, or lop-eared rabbits. It's weird and I can't explain it, but there you go.
The most recent trend is white - almost all our rabbits are white right now!
First off is Gandalf, who is completely white and in fact albino.
Then we have Smudge, who's all white except for a sprinkling of grey on his face.
Ariel is also almost completely white, save for her eye-rings, ears and spine. She's trying to camouflage with the grass here, but that doesn't really work when you're bright white.
Ana's all white, if you don't count her head and ears. Even her face is at least half-white.
Even Starbuck has substantial white markings.
Only Ozzie, who's all-brown, is the odd one out.
Shelter trends are utterly bizarre!

Houdini the chinchilla has been adopted! The adopters posted on our Facebook page and seem to love him. I'm glad that cranky boy found a family that really wanted him!
According to the website, we have a new rabbit and two new budgies (birds again!), and I suspect another bird and rabbit will be coming our way soon. Guess I better go in tomorrow and catch up!

Update on Cat!

The new owners of Cat, the little Lionhead adopted from the adopt-a-thon, have sent an update!

Hi Laura,
Here's a picture and an update on "Cat" the Lionhead mix I adopted from Toronto Animal Services South in April. I decided to rename her "Crystal Blue" because of her amazing blue eyes! Crystal settled in quite nicely to her new home and loves roaming around with curiosity. She will often spread out under my chair to relax and enjoys playing with all her bunny toys when she is active. I just wanted to let you know that Crystal Blue is indeed a wonderful little rabbit who will always have a safe and happy forever home with me!
Another great update! You know, I was beginning to think that we wouldn't hear from any of the adopt-a-thon bunnies, but this is a good reminder to be patient! Most people don't send an update until over a month later, which is great because it's more of a long-term thing.
I never get sick of updates!

Smudge

Roxy and Hermes the lovebirds have been adopted! Even though they weren't a pair, they were adopted together by a bird-experienced family (with two separate cages!). That means we only have one lovebird and it's a lot more peaceful in the Room.
But as always, a few go out, a few come in. We've got another new rabbit.
Isn't he a cutie? Smudge here is a transfer from the Etobicoke centre, because they're not equipped for rabbits. I was there the day he arrived, and he settled in immediately. Talk about an outgoing rabbit! He sticks his nose into everything and wants to meet everyone. He settled in so well, in fact, I took him out on the harness that same day.
He's quite the character. He's sweet but he's going to be a handful! Of course it'll help when he's neutered, since he's marking everything and showing up all the other guys in the room right now.

I also have an update on Luscious, that sad older cat from yesterday - he's found a foster home! The power of the Internet. It's not a permanent home, but at least he'll leave the shelter tomorrow and can be more comfortable. We are still hoping to find an adopter, so please continue to spread his story! Thanks!

The Cat

This is the saddest story I've heard in a long time. Can anybody help this guy?

A cat came to the shelter last week. He's around 8 years old, neutered and declawed - he's also dangerously obese and can barely get around. His owner had died, and no one realized for quite a while. We don't know how the cat survived, but by the time he arrived at the shelter, his coat was insanely matted. It looked like kittens clinging to him.
They shaved off the mats, and he loved it. He purred the entire time, his sweet personality shining through despite everything.
This guy's got a lot of issues, medically. They can't do any dental cleaning because the vet thinks he might not survive the anaesthesia. A geriatric blood profile revealed some issues as well, mostly with his liver. And now he has an Upper Respiratory Infection, and has stopped eating, which poses another huge risk to his health.
But despite all this, he's the sweetest boy. When I went in to take his photo, he started purring as soon as he saw me, and didn't stop until I left. He rolls over, loves to be brushed, and comes when you call him. He is so happy to have any human contact, he loves everybody.
All we want is to find someone who can take this guy, and keep him comfortable and well-loved for his last little while. The new owners shouldn't feel obligated to spend thousands of dollars to fix his health. They should try to bring his weight down, and he will need another blood test in 6 weeks. The vet will discuss all concerns with any potential adopters. If in the future, he needs to be euthanized, they can bring him back to the shelter. They're waiving the adoption fee for this guy, and new owners will only have to buy a $15 license.
This is a lot to ask, but we're going to try. This cat has been through such a hard time, and yet he's still the most loving, affectionate animal. It would be so great if we could find anyone willing to help him live the rest of his life in comfort.
Please spead his story to anyone who might be able to help! If you are interested, please contact the shelter or send an email immediately. Thank you.

Update: The cat has been named Luscious. If you contact the shelter about him, ask to speak to Natalie, Jenn or one of the vets.
Fred at One Bark at a Time has also posted about him

Stopping Traffic

I take Gandalf out to the green. He's a big boy, and bright white in the sun, so he tends to catch people's eyes.
A woman who's driving by actually stops the car and gets out to say hello. She's very nice and loves Gandalf, who is a huge cuddler and happy to get petted by tons of random strangers.
She doesn't know much about rabbits, so naturally I start up my spiel. As I'm talking, I hear someone come up behind us.
It's an older man who evidently works with the woman, as they greet each other. "Watch yourself," He says to her with a smile. "When my daughter was little, we went to the Humane Society. I told her that no way was anything with a heart and lungs coming out of there with us...but we ended up with a rabbit. Cost us $100, since we didn't have a cage or anything."
The woman is listening with interest. I'm staring at Gandalf, nodding slightly. Almost everyone who comes into the Room has a story like this, about a rabbit they had 'way back when'. Almost every story ends badly for the rabbit, and is usually concluded with some statement about them being boring, nasty pets.
I wait for this story to turn bad.
"Well, the daughter goes off to university," The man continues conversationally. "And of course leaves the rabbit to us. And we have a dog, you know...used to chase that rabbit around the room."
This story, like all the others, is quickly going downhill - a kid leaving the rabbit behind, a dog looking for a snack.
"I used to tell that rabbit, 'You should just smack that dog on the nose if he bothers you'." Laughs the man. "They were practically the same size. She was a lovely rabbit though - her name was Lilac, she used to sit beside me. They make great pets. Lived a good long time, too."
"Really?" The woman asks.
"Yup. I really liked that rabbit." The man smiles at us, then says goodbye and heads home.
Well. What do they say about making assumptions?
The woman leaves after a little bit as well, with a final glance back at Gandalf.
I stay out for another 20 minutes, just hanging out with the big guy. He decides that my jacket is now his, and has a great time sitting on it like the king of the world.
"What, you want this jacket back or something?"
Rabbits are great pets and great company. But until recently, no one really knew how to take proper care of them. Most of the stories people tell me don't end very well. There are always a few stories, however, that end happily.
Wouldn't it be great if that woman came back for Gandalf and took him home? Now that would be a great story.

Update on Emma!

So after that melancholy musing last night, let's have something a bit cheerier, shall we?
Remember Emma and the awesome adopters that chose her?
Well, they sent me a great update - sounds like Emma has already settled in wonderfully! I've been meaning to post this for ages. I wish all adopters were this thorough with the adoption process AND their updates! These guys do everything right:
Hello there!
My boyfriend and I recently adopted Emma the rabbit from Toronto Animal Services South. She is a beautiful gray/white bunny with a very gentle personality, and since we've gotten her home she's stolen our hearts! She loves to hop around our rooms investigating every corner. Once she feels she knows the place well, she'll jump up on our bed and come nudge us for pets before flopping down for a rest. We used to give her dried fruits as treats but when we took her to the high park animal vet we found out that rabbits can't actually digest the sugars in fruit properly. So instead we give her a daily papaya enzyme supplement as a treat. She unfortunately had a case of ear mites but the vet gave her some serum in the ears to clear them way, and also sent us home with revolution to apply to prevent them from coming back. Other than that though, our vet said her blood and stool results came back clear, and Emma's a very healthy bunny.

She also loves her bowl of Kale, Collard Greens, Mustard Greens, Bock choy, and romaine lettuce in the morning. We're trying to switch her to wter bottle rather than a bowl, but she's pretty persistent about drinking out of the bowl. At night she's quiet in her large cage, and likes sitting on the second level where her water and food bowl are, surveying the cage and the room. The other day, after having her out for several hours she jumped up on our bed and binkyed around for the first time since we got her! It was so great to see those happy kicks of joy! Overall, we're really happy that Emma's in our lives. She's a great pet and as we continue to earn her trust I'm sure she'll continue to warm up to us and binky around :) She's a quiet, clean, affectionate pet - everything we were looking for and more!

Thanks so much to the volunteer Laura who spent the time taking each bunny out for a play on the grass so that we could find a good match!

Fantastic! I was thrilled to help them out, not many adopters take the time to go outside with each rabbit. Emma was such a sweetie, I'm glad she's in good hands.
In other news, Ana and Ariel have been spayed, and Ozzie and Gandalf have been neutered, so all five rabbits are up for adoption. I guess I should stop lazing around and post them on Bunspace.
Inukshuk, the little white budgie, has found a home. I really hope we hear an update, he was a doll.
Mali the dwarf hamster is causing a bit of a problem because he keeps biting everybody. He really needs to find a home. My project for the next few days is to find someone to give him a second chance; he's not too horrible or anything, he only bites when he's in the cage. Somebody out there has to be willing to help a grumpy old hamster. Fingers crossed!

So Long Marianne

A few days ago, I found Marianne dead in her cage. I have no idea what happened. She liked to climb the cage walls and frequently fell off - maybe she hit her head. Maybe she really was messed up because of inbreeding, as a worker suggested when she first arrived. Whatever it was, she was gone. I took her back to the shelter and that was it. After three months, I was done with her.
Except something's bothered me since I found her.
Marianne's life was not much. Probably bred in some dirty backyard hamster mill, she ended up in a Montreal shelter immediately. She was picked out by one of our workers because she was cute, loaded into a truck, and driven to Toronto. There it was discovered that you couldn't touch her, so she was sent to my house. In my house she got a nice fancy cage, but I was busy and couldn't work with her very often. When I did try to tame her, it didn't go well. She bit. She spent her days climbing the walls and falling off. She picked at her food; her coat was dull and sort of ugly and she never plumped up or played with toys. She ran on the wheel and climbed the walls and that was it - three months later she died.
What was the point?

I love classical music (music history is my minor). One of my favourite sections of music of all time (it's not even a full piece, it's just a section) is the conclusion of Beim Schlafengehen, one of Richard Strauss' Four Last Songs. Strauss wrote these four pieces, not even intending them to be a set, right before he died. They represent his life - the beautiful soprano is his wife, a well known singer. The supportive horn part is his father, a famous horn player.
Not to bore you with music history, but the Romantic Era was all about rage and passion and defiance. That's not what these pieces are about, nor are they a mournful eulogy. The Four Last Songs are calm, serene, and thoughtful - they are a quiet celebration of life, a peaceful reflection of a life well-lived. In my opinion they're some of the most beautiful music out there. You should Youtube them.
In an ideal world, every life could end that way. A celebration of life and love achieved. No life would be reflected on as a waste.

I can't say that about Marianne. I know she was 'just' a hamster, but she was a life nonetheless, and that life was wasted. Who's at fault? The irresponsible breeders. The shelter that didn't or couldn't bother to help. Me, the foster home that did too little too late, and had one excuse after another to ignore her. Maybe even Marianne herself is at fault, maybe she just didn't try hard enough. I don't know. It just seems that collectively, we all failed, and a life was wasted. This thought won't leave me alone. Sometimes I think too much.

I didn't even like Marianne. I didn't even get a decent photo of her.
What a waste.

Rest in peace, little one.

Bird Bonanza

Well, last time I went in, there were three rabbits and two birds. This time, the room was completely full! What the heck happened?
It turns out that our East location, in Scarborough, is having massive renovations done. This was stressing out their small animals, so they shipped everyone to us. Strangely, most of their small animals were birds. What is it with birds lately?
Anyway, here's a rundown of the many new faces:
No Name: This cutie chinchilla was put in the back because we wanted to send him to Rabbit Rescue, but unfortunately they're full at the moment. Chinchillas need someone who understands their needs, so hopefully he finds a good home.
Gandalf: What a doll! A big New Zealand White (a meat rabbit, basically), Gandalf is an impressive boy. He was taken into protective custody after his owner was evicted. Gandalf is oddly twitchy, but he's sweet and laid-back - typical large rabbit. Bigger is better in bunnies, I always say. I love this shot, he looks like Godzilla over that hamster cage!
Ozzie: Did Ozzie just win the prize for cutest rabbit in the room? Yes, yes I think he did. What an adorable dwarf! The little guy could stand to gain a bit of weight, and he's got sores on his feet, but with a little TLC he'll be tip-top.
Mali: Scraggly, older hamster with a lovely habit of biting fingers. He's a bit of grump but he's also cute as heck and fine once you've actually picked him up.
Hermes: And now we arrive at the birds. Hermes here reminds me a lot of my Bailey - loud, big attitude and totally nuts. He even kind of looks like Bailey.
Roxy: Roxy has really stunning markings on her back, it looks like dappled sunlight. She is the quietest of the lovebirds and I quite like her thoughtful little personality.
Sugar: Sugar came in with Roxy, but according to their owners, they fight. Sugar is a little neurotic from what I could see, but maybe she just didn't want to put up with me right after being moved into another shelter.
Kiwi: Kiwi really, really did not like the camera, hence this terrible photo. She's a very pretty bird, really!
Inukshuk: And finally there's this little albino baby budgie. Inuk is a total cutie and very young and curious, so I think she'd be fairly easy to train if someone knowledgeable snapped her up!

The two cockatiels have been already adopted (of course), but nevertheless, the room is filled to capacity. There's also a ferret in the back, and there seems to be another new budgie. Sheesh!

Splish Splash

Most parrots loooove to take a bath. Some, like my lovebird, prefer to be given a shallow bowl of water so they can roll around in it like lunatics. But many love to be sprayed, and they put on quite the show as they enjoy their bath. I was delighted to find that both our resident cockatiels, Sharkey and Sweety, really enjoyed a spray bath. I think they knew they needed it!



The small animals portion of the main website is finally fixed - for some reason, it wouldn't change our animals up for adoption, so we only had guinea pigs and a rat up for adoption. Happily it's now much more accurate! And it looks like we have a new hamster.

Hey - go check out our Facebook page!

Tiel Time

I am such a sucker for birds. The minute a bird arrives at the shelter, all the other animals get slightly more ignored. I just can't resist talking to them, playing with them, giving them kisses. I learned my lesson early on about fostering - never foster a bird, I can't give them back.
I especially can't resist a cockatiel. They are such characters, and I'm so comfortable with them since my first bird was a tiel, and she's still my lovely girl.
Tiel attitude!
I've already fallen in love with these two. I'm sure they're already gone since birds never last long, but it had better be to a good home.
Sharkey is a White-Face Pied. He is the sweetest thing in the world (besides my tiel of course!) and instantly became my buddy. He is very chatty but doesn't shriek. He just wanted to sit with me as long as I was there, he clearly loves people. When I kissed him, he made kissing noises back! Someone, at some point, clearly spent time with these birds.
Sweety is a Lutino. She's not quite tame - she'll only step up if she has to. But she does like to sit on you of her own accord. She loves Sharkey and gets very upset if she can't see him. Sweety talks up a STORM, holy moly.
He's so darling, it kills me.
These two came in weird circumstances. Someone clearly spent time with these birds and trained and socialized them (and spent money - these morphs are usually worth $200 each), but I rather doubt it was their last owner. They came in a small box and their feathers were all dirty - we realized most of it was dried blood. What probably happened was that they were in a small cage and thrashed around (as cockatiels do), catching and breaking their feathers.
When I gave them a bath, they were most grateful. You can see how filthy his wings are here. Sweety looked even worse.
Wet birdy!
Anyway, they seem no worse for the wear, but something weird happened along the way to these two. You wouldn't think it to meet them, they're so sweet.
So what was the reason listed for surrendering these two incredibly lovable birds? "Too hyper"

Yeah, whatever, old owners. These guys are going to find someone way better than you to love them for the next thirty years, as they deserve.

Update on Weezer

Weezer was a lovely cat who was at the shelter for about two months (he was on the blog here). He got adopted at the Petsmart adopt-a-thon last weekend, and his new family has already sent us an adorable update, written from Weezer's perspective.

Hi - Weezer here. Just wanted to give you an update on the new home. So far, things are going pretty well. Apart from the two humans (more on them later), there are some resident animals as well. A couple of somewht over-friendly and oafish Labrador Retrievers and a rather put-out female tabby cat. By the end of day two here the dogs and I had reached an understanding - i.e., don't crowd me with those huge noses and nobody gets hurt! Milo, the resident cat, poses more of challenge - she views me as a brazen interloper and has made her feelings clear in no uncertain terms several times, but I remain unscathed and undaunted. I am confident that patience, along with my innate charm and gentlemanly manners will win her over.
As for the humans, they seem very kind and affectionate (apparently they think I'm awesome) - I'm growing especially fond of the boy...the grub is good and litter box is clean. While I fear my days of hunting glory outdoors are over, there appearss to be enough here to keep me amused indoors - plenty of running room, scratching things, cat toys (even the dog toys are amusing!), lots of windows for watching things...
Well, that's it for now. Picture attached - sorry it's a bit fuzzy, I blame the dogs. Best to all my friends down at TAS,
W.

I especially like that they signed it 'W.'. They also attached a photo - looks like Weezer found a great home!

Odds and Ends

It's been a bit of a weird couple of days for me, with a lot of things going in a million different directions, so this post will also be all over the map.
Firstly, isn't this the cutest photo you've ever seen? My goodness, I can't stop looking at it. I didn't take it, but I adore it - that's Ana, the shelter's cranky Rex. You'd never guess it to look at her!

Do you remember the Quebec hamsters? Well, we still have one of them, which is ridiculous. We've been fostering Marianne for almost three months now, but it's mostly my fault because I haven't had time to really concentrate on socializing her. She doesn't care, happy to be left alone in her four-story monstrosity of a cage, but I would like her out of my house. Luckily I'm now out of school for the summer, so I've started working with her much more - optimistically, I'm hoping to bring her to the shelter next week. It'd be nice to bring her in while there's lots of room.

Right now there are three rabbits at the shelter (Ana, Starbuck and Ariel), and we are looking at a possible transfer of two hamsters from another TAS location. If I bring in Marianne, we'll have an equal number of hamsters and rabbits, how weird is that?
Apparently there are two nice cockatiels at the shelter now. Nice cockatiels, what is this? We don't get nice birds, we get irritable, untamed birds that have never been socialized. I am excited to meet them tomorrow.

Sometimes I get frustrated at how little people know about TAS. It'd be nice to just stake a giant billboard downtown that says, 'COME TO TAS SOUTH - WE DO ACTUALLY HAVE ANIMALS FOR ADOPTION, AND WE'RE NOT EVIL DOG CATCHERS, REALLY!' It would do wonders for their public image.
And now I'm going to stop this blog post because I'm just typing whatever pops into my head. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some nice tiel stories to share.