Home Base

The last few months, I've been crazy busy with school, work, music and the shelter. I was popping in and out of the house for about half an hour at a time, and I'm sure my own animals were feeling rather ignored. Carmen getting sick made me realize that I should slow the hell down and appreciate my furry/feathered family.
Plus, they've been extra cute lately. So here's a completely gratuitous post about how I think my animals are adorable.

I'm so excited, Giles and the baby have finally bonded! It took three (long) months. They were never overly aggressive to each other (except a few aggravated nips on Giles' part), but it was not a fun process nonetheless. Still, it could've taken longer! I think a lot of people give up too easily on bonding, it can take ages. One of our adopters took ten months to bond her adopted bunny to her old bunny. That takes a lot of patience, but in the end it paid off!

They are best friends now; the bonding process is crazy, one minute they're both grouchy and on-guard, the next minute they're cuddled up to each other.

The little one is pretty much grown up now! I think we've finally settled on a permanent name - Neville! After a character in Harry Potter, of course. It only took two months to pick one!

He's really tiny, I thought he'd get bigger than this. He's also hilarious - the other day, he grabbed their metal food bowl and threw it in the air. Of course it landed with a huge crash, and he was so surprised he flipped over backwards! Once I ascertained that he was ok, I could not stop laughing. He's nuts!

I love this photo of Giles. He and Neville have completely different body types. Neville is sleek and wiry, while Giles is chunky and round. He's also got the softest fur around.

Neville has picked up a lot of Giles' habits, but he's generally more happy-go-lucky. Giles is a bit of a grumpy old man, and he will thump at everything and give you the ultimate look of disdain if you displease him.

I was actually trying to get a photo of Bailey sitting on that little post, but Loki insisted on sidling into the photo.

There we go, that's the photo I was aiming for! If he looks a little odd, it's because he's scratching the back of his head, but it sure makes for a cute expression.

I just found this photo on a lost memory card...from last year's exams. Loki randomly decided to fall asleep in the middle of my notes. I'm sure it was a show of moral encouragement.

And finally this photo, which is not so sharp but cracks me up. Loki: "Did someone call me?"

I love having a full house!

Excuses, Excuses

Jughead (above) arrived at the shelter as a stray last summer. A sweet, good-natured guy, he was adopted so fast I didn't have time to post him on the blog. His family showed up about 7 weeks later to adopt another rabbit. They brought Jughead with them - he was on a leash and they gushed over how much they loved him. They decided to adopt Noddy, a three-month-old bundle of cuteness. I didn't meet them personally, but the shelter staff (who by necessity are excellent judges of character) loved them. The young girl wanted to volunteer.

This week, I arrived in the room to see Jughead staring at me from one of the cages. A glance around revealed Noddy was there as well, all grown up. After all that, after keeping them in their family for five months, why had that family returned them?
The girl was going to university.
REALLY? You didn't know that five months ago? Was this a surprise? As a student myself, I hate that excuse with a passion. Look at Jughead up there - he's thinking, "I thought I got out of this place."

Then we have Diamond here. This gorgeous girl is 3 years old and she was left at the shelter by her family because they have a new baby. According to them, she was "more outgoing before the new baby arrived". Well, no kidding. This little girl is quite shy and rather high-strung, I'm sure baby cries didn't put her at ease. But you know what else doesn't put her at ease? The constant noise of barking dogs, clanging metal and yowling cats at a shelter. Poor thing is scared out of her mind.

And finally, North transferred two pigs to us, and their shelter cards had my favourite note on them - "PREGNANT". One of them, Martha, looks like she swallowed a beach ball. Since she looks so very obviously pregnant, we assume she is close to giving birth, so I took her home for foster. The other guinea pig, Vanilla (in the photo), looks big but her pregnancy is not a sure thing. We're on the hunt for a foster home for her as well.

What is this, National Stupid Week? Come on, animal-surrendering public. I know you can come up with better excuses than that.

Carmen

Carmen, my canary, passed away over the weekend. Apparently fate read my blog post about how you should provide veterinary care for your small birds, and decided to put my convictions to the test.
As I said before, birds have ridiculously fast metabolism. Everything - good things, bad things - spread through their bodies at an impossible pace. They heal fast, but they also crash fast.
I had Carmen out last week in the evening. She flew over to me and started chirping at me. I was confused, because normally she wanted nothing to do with me. In retrospect, I wonder what she was trying to tell me.
She fluttered about for a bit before abruptly crashing. Alarmed, I went over to her - she suddenly seemed drained of energy, like she couldn't fly. 

The next day we rushed her to the vet. She spent a few days there, in an incubator, and tests seemed to show that she had a kidney infection. We put her on antibiotics and she improved remarkably. So much so, in fact, that we took her home.
We turned our bathroom into an incubator of our own and I did my best to get antiobiotics in her. She was improving and to be honest, I thought it was done. I was sure she would be fine. The vet sounded positive, she was active, and I thought - miracle canary! She survived a broken leg and a kidney infection!
But it was not to be. The second night she was home, she crashed, hard.

The infection must have spread, or maybe she had had something else wrong with her the whole time. For all we know, she was an old bird. That's the one problem with rescue, you never know their age. Carmen could have been 10 years old for all I know. She could've been used for breeding in her first life, and breeding significantly reduces a female canary's lifespan. She could've had a genetic defect from birth. Or maybe she just got sick and it was beyond our ability to treat. There are so many unknowns when it comes to these little guys.
Carmen went back to the vet's and was placed on an oxygen tank, but the vet prepared us for the worst outcome. Sure enough, the next morning they called to tell us sadly that she had passed away overnight. On one hand, I hate the idea of her passing away alone in a vet clinic. But on the other hand, it was as comfortable as she could've been at that point.

Carmen wasn't hand-tamed, and she wasn't really interested in people. I loved her, and she was mildly fond of me. She had an interest in Loki the cockatiel and utter distaste for everyone else in the house. But why should she like people? She didn't have to, as far as I'm concerned. I like to think she lived a good life here, and that she was happy to be left alone (except when being spoiled!).
She had a massive cage with a variety of perches, a healthy diet with vitamin supplements, treats, free-range time and vet care whenever it was needed. Her favourite game was to land on the Kleenex box, pull off pieces and spread them all over the couch. She liked to drink out of the rabbits' water bowl and her favourite kind of greens were the little curly ones in the mix.

I loved Carmen, but I won't pretend that my grief over her loss is the same as it was with Alice. There is a different dynamic when the love is mutual. But it's grief nonetheless, and guilt - could I have done anything to prevent this? Anything else to fix it? The house certainly seems empty without her. Loki the cockatiel, probably the only one Carmen considered a friend, landed on her cage the next day and peered inside, looking back and forth from the empty cage to me. How to explain she's not coming back?

It's not fair. We lost our Alice only four months ago, and now this. The last two years, we have lost too many members of our family, both human and animal. My pets get the best care I can possibly give them, and I always try to make life better for them. It's so frustrating to lose them nonetheless. I had to play a concert at the St Lawrence Centre later that day, and I don't think I've ever played the horn so angrily in my life.
I wish she'd had so many more years, but I like to think she was really happy here in the time that she had.
Rest in peace, little sweetheart.

 When I returned to the shelter today, there was a slew of new arrivals and some really infuriating excuses for abandoning their pets. Sorry guys - there's going to be some angry posts coming up. But that's rescue; what goes down, must come up, and good news will come eventually. Just have to be patient and try not to blow a gasket.

Adoption Stats for TAS South

I have AWESOMETAQULAR news! I recently received the adoption numbers for 2010 at TAS South, and they are pretty darn amazing. Check it out!

Number of Dogs Adopted (2009): 342 
Number of Dogs Adopted (2010): 391
Simple math reveals that in the past year, 49 more dogs got adopted than the year before. That's 49 more dogs who are now in loving homes, being cuddled and praised and spoiled rotten. That number includes all varieties of dogs - from Jack (above), an amiable lab to Daisy, a non-house-trained dog with many issues who almost seemed unadoptable at one point. It includes sheepdogs and cocker spaniels and shih tzus and German shepherds and everything else.
That is pretty awesome but wait! It gets even better.

Number of Cats Adopted (2009): 883

Number of Cats Adopted (2010): 1029 

That is a lot of cats! That means that in the past year, 146 more cats found homes than in 2009. Over one thousand cats got a second chance last year thanks to TAS South. That number includes Brixton (in the top photo, the yawning one) who waited months and months, and it includes Smurf (in this photo) who waited all of one week. 

 

That number includes Oscar (above) who found a loving home despite being 13 years old. It includes all the cats in this post, these three tabbies,and these tabbies too.

It includes Pirate, the one-eyed kitten, and Barton and Panther and Sweeper and Moose & Ormond, Hershey, Wheezer, Raymond, Miriam, Guthrie, Dave, Lanie, Jasper, Eartha, and hundreds and hundreds more.

And here's the best part of all!

Number of Small Animals Adopted (2009): 169

Number of Small Animals Adopted (2010): 287

The number of small animal adoptions has almost DOUBLED! It's increased by 118 animals! That's a really amazing number, and I am so proud of TAS South. I don't need to specify what animals were involved in this number (since that's what this blog is about), but a lot of animals that might not normally get a second chance now have loving homes!

Our adoption numbers in all three departments have been increasing steadily for 4 years. The small animal jump this year is really exceptional, but the situation at TAS South in general is just awesome. We have dedicated staff and volunteers, and the adopting public is starting to recognize that! You know, I never say this, but I am really proud to volunteer at this shelter. Of course it's not perfect, but thanks to everyone's hard work, hundreds and hundreds of animals get a second chance.

We've already had 10 small animal adoptions in 2011. I can't wait to see those stats go up even more!

The Perils of Craigslist

The Craigslist 'pets' section can be a goldmine for cages that are actually decent for chinchillas/guinea pigs/rabbits, since those cages are impossible to find in pet stores. However, it can also be horrific.
The sheer amount of 'free pet' ads on there are mind-blowing. Here's a tip - if you are offering your small animal for free because you don't want it anymore, it will not find a good home. In fact it may end up being eaten by a snake. I have nothing against snakes, but your pet was not bred to be a feeder animal, and it should not have to go from being in a safe home to being eaten.

The thing about these Craigslist ads is that they shine a very bright light on how aniamls come to be in the Room. A lot of good people simply don't believe how many people treat their pets like this. They think every sad story in the Room is the exception, but it's not. I will always believe there is more good in the world than bad, I've never been a pessimist. But it's a fact that this kind of ridiculous attitude is more common than most people think.
I thought I'd highlight some particular ads I found to show the kind of idiotic reasoning that consistently fills our Room.

 This one is just odd. I know birds aren't crazy breeders like mammals, but if you have a male and a female in a cage with a nest provided, how could you expect them to not reproduce? Maybe they didn't know a nest would prompt breeding but you know what, that drives me nuts. GOOGLE. It's your friend! Anyone can Google! And now they're not keeping any of them? I mean, do you know many people who want 5 zebra finches? I guess someone with an aviary...This one isn't actually that bad, as they come with supplies, are asking a reasonable fee, etc, but it is bizarre.

This one cracked me up. That is not a Dutch rabbit. Jingle (above) is a Dutch rabbit. You have a blue otter dwarf something. This ad also has a common feature: "must go this week-end". So many ads have this ridiculous phrase. MUST GO ASAP! Come on, if you're leaving the country, you knew that before! Why didn't you plan ahead of time? How could your pet be the last thing you planned for?

 This is horrific. "I got him for my 6-year-old but he is not the snake for her." Um. NO SNAKE IS THE SNAKE FOR HER! Snakes are high-maintenance, sensitive pets. They need to be carefully cared for, and they need to live in a low-stress environment. People, do NOT get reptiles unless you know how to care for them. Do NOT get a snake for your child. That poor guy, he's gorgeous, I hope he finds someone good.

 This one is infuriating. "Free to good home. My 10 year old no longer wants them. We got them off here about 6 months ago for free....so giving them away FREE."
Way to teach the children. I wonder if the free ad that originally gave those guys away also wanted them to go to a 'good home'? This is why free ads suck.

And this one is particularly charming. I quote, "i havr 2 turtles i dont want...i am going on vacation and i cant take there."
What's that you say? Going on vacation isn't an excuse for dumping animals? Amazingly, I've heard this excuse a bizarre amount of times.

I'm not knocking Craigslist itself, however. I always try to post birds that show up in our Room, hoping to find their owners, because I know how easy it is for flighted birds to escape. I've never had an owner claim one, but I do sometimes hear from people who want to adopt. That's what happened when I posted Summer, our crooked-leg canary. An experienced canary owner emailed in response, and it sounds like he'll be going to his new home soon!
From one extreme to the other! Craigslist is an interesting site, that's for sure.

Bowlegged

A woman walks into the shelter while I'm chatting with one of the staff at the front desk. She has a box in her hands and it's too small to hold a kitten, so immediatly I know it's headed for the Room.
"I found a bird." She says, looking concerned. "It was in the stairwell at work, I think it's in shock."
"What kind of bird is it?" Asks one of the staff, expecting a pigeon or some other wild bird (many wild animals are brought injured or dead to TAS).
"I don't know." The woman answers. "It's yellow."
Not a wild bird.
"Canary?" I guess.
We open up the box and yup, it's a canary. The little guy is huddled in the corner, scruffed up and looking very cold. After all, it's -8 degrees outside.
As the woman tells the staff her details and how she found the bird, I examine him for signs of injury - healthy birds tend not to be easy to catch.
He's had a lot of feathers ripped out of his neck (fight in the aviary?), he's a little dirty and he's clearly very cold. Other than that, we pronounce him healthy and take him upstairs.
By this point, he's bouncing around in the box. It's difficult to move him into his new cage, because he does not want to be grabbed by a giant hand, thank you very much.
As soon as he's in the cage and sitting on a perch, something becomes obvious.
"What's with your leg?" I ask, bewildered. It's sticking out as though broken, but he's obviously not in pain and hopping around without hesitation. In fact, he starts talking immediately, beeping and chirping his alarm at his new home. Not shy, this guy.
A staff member who's familiar with birds comes in to investigate the weird leg.
"It must've fractured at some point," He says, holding the very annoyed canary. "And it healed wrong. See, it's at an awkward angle."
"Doesn't seem to bother him," I note.
He shrugs. "Just put a note on his card and leave him be."
This little guy arrived last Wednesday. Kudos toward the woman who brought him in, because a lot of people see lost pet birds and just assume they're fine in the wild. No, they're not! This guy was way too cold out there and for all we know, he wouldn't have survived the night.
We've since named him Summer, and he's hilarious. He's not shy at all and jumps right up to people to check them out. He's also very vocal and was already singing his first day at the shelter! Canaries typically sing only when comfortable and safe, so colour me surprised.
I am extremely familiar with broken legs in canaries, thanks to my girl Carmen (above). Last December, my lovebird figured out how to get into Carmen's cage to eat her seed (since the parrots only get seed as a treat, this is a constant mission for them). This wouldn't have been a problem, except that Carmen flew at him and as a reflex, he snapped at her. His beak being the size of her head and her leg being as thin as a twig, he nearly snapped it in two. It was broken and stripped to the bone and she lost a third of her blood.
Luckily, I live close to my vet, and we rushed her there. She was given fluids and her leg was splinted and we crossed our fingers. A large vet bill and a month later, she was hopping around like nothing had happened, her leg perfectly straight and without even a scar.
These photos of Carmen were taken after she recovered from her injury. Birds are spectacularly fast healers. If they survive the initial injury, they tend to heal extremely quickly.
Obviously I don't know the exact circumstances, but I wish more people thought to take their small birds to the vet. If properly cared for, canaries can live past 10 years. Aren't they worth medical care? There are few things more gratifying than seeing an animal come back to 100% after a devastating injury.
Summer is a super little guy, and while he favours his wonky leg a bit (after all, their legs aren't designed to sit like that), he's got an awesome personality. I hope he doesn't have to wait too long, although he and the finches seem to enjoy each other's company. The Room is turning into an aviary!

What's in a Breed: Dwarves

For all practical purposes, the general public knows nothing about small animals. As such, I can't tell you how many people are surprised to see the 'Breed' line filled out on rabbit shelter cards. What? Rabbits have breeds? Who knew!
Currently, ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders' Association) supports about 47 breeds and there are a handful more that aren't official, making over 50 distinct rabbit breeds.
Now, most of the rabbits we get are like Friday up there - mutts. A mix of colours, body types and markings that sometimes show bits of certain breeds but usually make no sense put together. Lately, I've been trying to brush up on my breed knowledge as slapping on a breed label helps rabbits get adopted. I thought I'd do a series of examples of the breeds we get through the door.
Today, I'm going to write about the most popular of them all - the dwarf rabbits. Everyone wants small rabbits. Even though I ended up with two dwarves of my own, I'm not sure why they're in such high demand. On average, dwarves are more neurotic and grouchy, while larger rabbits tend to be calmer and more laid-back. Dwarves also pose a problem in that most dwarves sold at pet stores are not pure dwarves, and will grow larger than promised - which often means they get dumped.

So let's look at these breeds, shall we?
Netherland Dwarves are the smallest breed of rabbit. We get a lot of Netherland crosses because pet stores are always looking for smaller rabbits to sell. True Netherlands are, in my humble opinion, weird-looking. Ozzie here is the closest I've seen at the shelter to a true example, but he doesn't quite have the weird squished look. Telltale signs of Netherlands include a stocky, round little body, flat faces, and most obviously, rounded tiny ears. The ears are super distinctive and show up in about half the rabbits we get at the shelter.
Dwarf Hotots are a less popular breed. Panda up there is not a Hotot, but he has some Hotot in him and was the only rabbit I could find in my files to show their distinctive markings. Hotots are nicknamed 'mascara bunnies' because they have those dark markings around their eyes. True Hotots are pure white otherwise, and have little Netherland ears.
There are also large Hotots and Hotot crosses with every other breed in the world. Panda is a result of a Hotot cross with another breed, while Duchess here is a result of a Hotot crossed with a lop (ears hanging down). A proper Hotot looks more like this.
Lionheads are a very new breed. In fact I have heard many rabbit people scoff at them being called a breed at all, but they are certified by ARBA and they have gotten ridiculously popular. True Lionheads are insanely poofy little dwarves, but most pet store Lionheads have a 'single mane' of poof around their head. Chubbs up there has the proper stocky body, but her ears are larger than they should be (as usual, this dwarf breed comes from the Netherland and has their itty bitty ears), and she has one ring of fluffy fur around her head.
Finally, the ever popular constant in the rabbit world - the Dutch. Dutch rabbits aren't technically dwarves, but they're only a bit bigger than true dwarves, and they are insanely popular. It's easy to see why: Dutches are handsome, small, easy-going and friendly. A Dutch rabbit is easy to spot. They always have that white front half and they should have that white wedge down their face. The black markings can also be brown or grey (like Sabrina below). Dutches are like the Netherlands - if you have a small-medium sized rabbit, chances are it has some Dutch in its background. They're everywhere. Jingle (above) is a true Dutch that we have right now, with the most perfect Dutch markings I've seen at the shelter.
To wrap up this not-so-advanced look at breeds, I thought I'd show some examples of crosses we get, and how we choose the breeds to put on their shelter cards (no, we don't just make it up):
Dottie here is a Dutch cross with...something. While her markings are all over the place, they fall mostly into the pattern of the Dutch breed. She's got the body of a Dutch too (compact but not true dwarf) and their medium-sized ears.
Sweet Pea is what I call a frankenrabbit...she has the perfect head of a (pet store) Netherland, with round ears and a flat face, but it's attached to an entirely different body. Her body is large and elongated, and her head just looks too small. I have no idea who thought to cross a Netherland with whatever her other parent was, but it resulted in a pretty funny-looking rabbit. Good thing looks aren't everything!
And finally, just to screw you up after all that, here's Benji. Based on all that stuff I just wrote, you'd guess he was a Hotot mix. If he'd arrived at the shelter like that, that's what I would have written on his card. But we know who Benji's parents were, and he's actually a Dutch mix.
So the moral of the story is....yes, we actually are just making it up when we fill in the 'Breed' category.