Individuals Amid the Mass

 Since I'm at the shelter so often (every few days minimum), I tend to have an idea of what's going on in all the departments - cat, dog, small animal. The Room is pretty stagnant right now, except for a few transfers. And while we now have a total of four pregnant guinea pigs in foster, none of them have given birth. Sheesh.
So I thought I'd post some of the other personalities currently renting a room at South. Cats in particular go through in the hundreds. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the numbers, but probably one of the most important things in rescue is to remember each animal is an individual.
Up top is Nixie, who has been waiting for months and months, finally got adopted, and then got dumped in a box in a park by the adopter. Poor Nixie, she's a sweetheart, but she's back now, waiting for a non-moron to adopt her.

 

Haha, I love Bob. Look at this guy, he's so chill and laid-back, it's relaxing just to meet him. When I opened the cage, he started purring and kneading the air but he didn't, you know, move. His ID card lists his full name as 'Bob V'.

This is Fern, a favourite of mine. This poor girl has been waiting for ever, but unlike Nixie, I can see why. She is a shy, bashful sweetheart, although she has come out of her shell massively since arriving. She languished in a cage environment, gaining lots of weight and getting very depressed, but since we moved her to a window room, she's become playful and active and slimmed down considerably!

 

Mattias is the biggest love-bug you will meet. He's such a suck, it's ridiculous. When I opened the cage, he literally fell out and rolled over onto his back for a belly rub. I can see how he might be a little too affectionate for some people!

As the last of the cats, we have Camille here, who is a bit of a sorry sight at the moment. She was found inside a wall, and she's had a rough time lately - she's skinny, her fur needs a long, long brushing session and she is probably going to lose the tips of her ears. But my goodness, she's so sweet! I believe she has been placed in foster, where she can plump up and get ready for adoption.

I had to post this girl. Meet Dane Judy Dench (haha, she's been with us over a month and her name still make me laugh). She's a Great Dane and an impressive sight indeed. Judy was rescued from a puppy mill a few hours away from Toronto, where she was used as a breeder. This sweet girl has a lot of fans at the shelter, I'm sure whatever home takes her will be very carefully screened.
Every one of these guys is just one of hundreds that pass through South all the time. But what's great about that shelter is that the staff and volunteers really care - Camille will find a foster home, Fern got moved to a window room to brighten her spirits, everyone says "hello" to Judy when they walk past her room.

As long as someone makes the effort to treat each animal as an individual at some point, their chances start to go up in this crazy shelter system.

And Repeat

Last week, Jingle got adopted at the Petsmart adopt-a-thon. Two days later, I walked into the Room and saw this guy in her cage:

I'm beginning to think someone out there is cloning rabbits, what with all the doubles we've seen lately.
This sweetheart arrived with the name Peter, but we changed it because Peter is such a cliched name for rabbits. Do you know how many rabbits are surrendered with that name? We had one rabbit officially named Peter and now it is unofficially banned from the Room.

This little guy is now named Oliver, and he has the loveliest personality. His story is incredibly like Jingle's, it's so weird. Like Jingle, he is around middle age - Jingle was 4-5, he is 5 and a half. Like Jingle, he is an almost perfect example of the Dutch breed, although he has longer, fluffier fur. Like Jingle, he is amazingly affectionate and laid back. And like Jingle, his owners gave him up after 5 years for an exceptionally vague reason. Jingle's owners dumped her and fled the scene before giving any info, although we later found out they 'didn't have enough time for her'. Oliver's owners dumped him and left a single word for Reason for Surrender: "Cost".

He has already been neutered, as we lucked out with the vet's timing and all the bunnies are now fixed, save for little Mac, who is not mature enough to be neutered.

As an odd and unfortunate coda to this, Jingle was returned today. Apparently the guy from the adopt-a-thon fooled us all, because he returned her for 'losing too much hair' and was furious that we wouldn't give him his money back. She has no bald spots and while she is shedding quite a bit, that's probably partially because she's beyond stressed and it's shedding season anyway. Even if she is having fur/skin issues, that's what a vet is for.
But I'd rather have her back with us anyway, if that's his standard of care. Poor Jingle's been moved around too much, although her sweetheart personality doesn't seem to have changed. Hopefully her next home will be the one she deserves.

Spay/Neuter Means Rabbits Too

 Over the weekend, someone surrendered five 12-week-old rabbits to the shelter. They're sweet and flipping adorable, and they were well cared for, but why do you have five 12-week-old rabbits? Unless you are a professional breeder who knows what you're doing, no one has any business having five 12-week-old rabbits.

I understand it might not be that person's fault - pet stores sell pregnant rabbits, a friend gives you their rabbit for free and suddenly that rabbit multiplies.
It's just that it's so easy to stop this. Spaying and neutering your rabbits makes this 100% preventable, not to mention it extends their lifespan by years. And if you're too cheap to pay for the surgery, adopt a rabbit who's already had it done!
I don't know whose fault it is, but someone dropped the ball on spaying their rabbit, and now we have five more homeless rabbits. Bravo, whoever you are. Bravo.
Let's meet them, shall we?

 

This is Mac, the only boy in the whole group. He's a handsome blue-eyed devil, and while a little rowdy (he is still an unneutered teenager, after all), he's a pretty nice guy.

Callalily is just a movie star, look at her. I am such a sucker for black and white bunnies. You will also notice that she has one ear up, one ear down - this seems to be genetic, as they all have a tendency to do this, but only Calla and one of her sisters has it permanently. It's ridiculously cute.

Poppy is the other one with mismatched ears, and she is the sweetest thing. While a little shy and withdrawn, she's very gentle and easy to handle.

Petunia is the opposite of Poppy - she is incredibly outgoing, bold and confident. She has no problem sticking her nose into everything and is clearly the leader of the group. She also seems to be the identical twin of her brother Mac.

Rose is the shyest of the group, and she likes to complain. She thumped at me a few times, but it's just a show and really she's a timid little sweetheart. I'm sure her shyness will melt away with age, because I think she's just used to hiding behind her sisters.

So there we go - I always enjoy it when the Room's occupancy spikes with one surrender. Ah well, it was only a matter of time before we filled up.
Seriously people. Spay and neuter your rabbits.

And Now For Something Completely Different

How about something a bit cheerier? I went to Washington DC for the long weekend, and while I don't normally put non-rescue-related stuff on this blog, I thought I'd share some of my favourite photos. It's a beautiful, friendly city, and it was a nice way to spend the weekend after a rather unfortunate week, what with Noelle and midterms.

It's such an interesting place, with so much history all squished together. I mean, the Lincoln, Washington, WWII, WWI, Vietnam and Korean War monuments are all within walking distance of each other, not to mention the museums.

And the best part of Washington - everything's free! Ok, not everything, but the museums and monuments are all free because they're funded by the government. It's pretty sweet to walk in and out of museums without worrying about getting your hand stamped.

I was super excited to go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, for basically one reason:

Their ocean hall! I don't think I've ever mentioned this, but I'm in university to become a cetologist - in other words, to study whales and dolphins. Anything involving the ocean makes me act like a kid on a sugar high. The ocean hall was amazing, with giant squid specimens and a massive model of a right whale named Phoenix.

 What kind of nerd would I be if I didn't post this? That's the actual model of the Enterprise used in the original Star Trek series. Not going to lie - mom and I went to the Air & Space Museum for the sole reason of finding that model (we did look at other stuff!).

Another type of nerdiness - it's a photo of Richard Nixon's downfall. The Watergate Hotel! As a political science enthusiast, it was interesting to see - it's actually quite the odd-looking hotel, the balconies look like they're made out of teeth.

We spent an entire day at their National Zoo, it's absolutely gorgeous. The habitats are wonderfully designed. They have giant pandas! The panda actually put on a show for us, enjoying first a giant pile of bamboo and then that tasty treat up there.

They had an absolutely gorgeous reptile house. This eyelash viper seemed very comfortable. Like the museums, the zoo was free, and exceptionally clean.

I totally fell in love with these birds. They're called Kori Bustards, they're huge, and they were extremely curious - three of them came right up to the barrier to stare at us.

We managed to fit in a little bit of bird-watching before catching our bus, and lo and behold, we ran into a familiar site at a local park. A handsome Red-Tailed Hawk! No matter how many times I see these guys, they never fail to impress.
All in all, a pretty successful trip! Tomorrow, a return to the rescue world - lots to write about! A mystery mouse, some baby rabbits and a very full Room. Knew it was just a matter of time before it filled up!

The Decision

Noelle had been living at our house for two months when we were confronted with the realization that a decision had to be made.
For two months, she was stuck in limbo at our house. She couldn't go up for adoption - too many special requirements, besides which, we couldn't spay her as we were sure she wouldn't survive the surgery. We couldn't have her free range, for fear of her having something contagious and contaminating our boys. Rabbit Rescue didn't take her. She was stuck in my storage room, situation unchanging - yes, getting love and treats, but going nowhere. She would improve in fits and bursts and then fall back to the way she was before - not worsening but never getting better.

We continued like that for two months before one day last week, when my mom called me into the room.

"Is she...dead?" She asked, and for a minute, I thought she was. Noelle was lying on her side, unmoving. As soon as she saw me, however, she flailed wildly, and it became apparent that she had fallen and simply couldn't get up.

I helped her up and she slid back down. After a few more tries, she regained her balance and got busily to eating, as she always did.

I looked at her for a moment, and then I made the decision. I called the shelter and scheduled her for euthanasia. 

It is strange to play god like that. I've never authorized a euthanasia (for pet or foster) that wasn't in the face of inevitable, impending death. Noelle probably could've lived months longer, maybe even more than that, in the state she was in. I, personally, never sentenced an animal to death that wasn't about to die anyway.

I was prepared for a moral quandry but to my surprise, it didn't bother me. I'm confident it was the right decision. 

She still had a will to live, and I don't think she was ready to let go herself - I think Noelle would've kept fighting tooth and nail until the moment of death. But that wouldn't have been fair, to me, to my animals, to other animals who might need foster and most importantly, to Noelle herself. She deserved a dignified death, while she could still stand and enjoy life at least. While she could still appreciate the finer things like extra treats and a good brushing and being scratched behind the ears.

If she could talk, would she agree? I don't know. Unfortunately for everyone, they can't talk, and so as their guardians we have to make these decisions and hope they turn out as well as possible. 

I don't know if Noelle would've agreed with my decision, but I do know this is one of the few times I have made a decision like this and felt no guilt. We gave Noelle a chance - more of a chance than she would normally get in the rescue world. For all we know, she was ancient. Or just beyond our help.

I went with her for the euthanization. I stayed with her and she leaned against me, and I stroked her, and that was all.

We went into this situation with a very faint hope. I knew from the beginning it might just be palliative care. I hope she is at peace now, and I hope she enjoyed her two months with us - I know we did.

We always talk at the shelter about upgrades - a new home doesn't have to be perfect, as long as it's an upgrade on their last situation.

This was an upgrade. Noelle did not die in a cardboard box. She didn't freeze to death on Bloor, lying in rotten food, as her last owners apparently intended. She died painlessly, cradled in loving hands, after two months of love and the best care we could give. For her last few days, she even got to eat whatever she wanted - potato chips, peanut butter, an entire salad.

This was a victory. It's not the prettiest or most glorious victory, not one to advertise, but in the end, it was a victory over the scum who dumped her. And sometimes in rescue, you take what you can get. 

"Look, It's a Day-gas!"

Ah, Petsmart adopt-a-thons. They do attract the most interesting people. The title comes from a lady who stared at the rabbits for a bit before exclaiming to her husband, "Look, it's a daygas!" The husband concured, saying, "That's quite a bit smaller than our daygas was."
It took me quite a while to realize they were talking about degus. And they must've had one big freaking degu, because I've never seen one that's bigger than a rabbit!
I haven't heard the end results of the Petsmart adopt-a-thons yet (we have two/three locations now), but we got rid of two rabbits. And gained one as well, but still. That's a net loss of one at least!

On Friday, we had, appropriately, Friday (above), Jingle the Dutch and our latest dwarf hamster pair, Jessie & James. I was a little concerned about Friday, as she's a shy girl, but she did remarkably well. While she didn't move the first day, she was transferred to the Warden location for Sunday and got adopted! She'd been waiting three months, it's about time.

Unsurprisingly, Jingle was the star of the day. I don't think I've written about her much on the blog, but Jingle is the most laid-back, gentle-mannered, loving rabbit I've ever met. She's a complete doll and I knew if she went to Petsmart she would get adopted. And yup, the end of the first day!
One of the funniest adoptions I've ever seen. A man came up to the table and started petting her, then abruptly scooped her up and cuddled her.
"Ohh, she's so nice," He said to me. "So much nicer than my two rabbits!"
Imagine a thick northern European accent while he's saying this. I barely had time to answer before he walked away (with Jingle!) shouting, "Where's my wife?"
"Um," The supervising staff said. "Did he just walk away with our rabbit?"
I chased him through the store as he looked in every aisle, and I was beginning to think this was an incredibly lame attempt at stealing her when he finally found his wife. He handed her Jingle. "So nice!"
She smiled immediately. "So nice!" She agreed. "We must take her home!" And that was that.
"What do your rabbits live in, at home?" I asked, once I'd gotten them back to the TAS table.
"They have big cages, but the doors are always open!" The man said, throwing his arms open demonstratively. "They go free! We have birds too, they go free! Never close the door!"
I was giggling the whole time we processed the adoption. They were very enthusiastic people! He came back on the last day to tell me that she is "so nice, she makes the other rabbits ashamed".

I wasn't there on Saturday, but on Sunday, Elf arrived to try his chances. I had a midterm today so on Sunday I was fruitlessly trying to study. I'm sure I looked like a lunatic, standing in the middle of Petsmart while a rabbit ran around the table, trying to scribble illegible notes and muttering to myself. As the photo shows, Elf was very helpful. When he wasn't sitting on my notes, he was eating and/or throwing them around.

 He did earn himself quite a few fans while he was there, although he didn't end up getting adopted. Elf's quite a character, very outgoing and not shy of anything. He also loves to lick everything. Your hand, the cage, the table, whatever. Most male rabbits calm down with the licking once they get neutered and their hormones peter out, but not Elf! Anyway, he's a sweet boy whose only vice is that he is a big squirmer when picked up. He's improved since arriving however, and it doesn't really hold him back anymore.

Petsmart often hosts more than one rescue agency during their adoption weekends, so we were set up next to a small OSPCA location. Somehow that translated into them giving us their only small animal. Hm. How did that happen?
Well, however it happened, we gained a new rabbit and he's pretty darn handsome. A young girl at the store named him Franklin due to his tendency to stick his head out of his green house like a turtle (see above).

Franklin's a nice enough guy, and we certainly have room for him. As of this weekend, the Room is home to only three rabbits (Elf, Jughead and Diamond) and the two hamsters (Jessie and James). At Pet Valu, we still have Romeo & Juliet the chinchillas, plus two young rabbits, Daffy and Bugs.
Franklin didn't get adopted at the adopt-a-thon, so we left him at Petsmart, where he will stay until he finds a home (or they get sick of him and send him back!).

Haha, I love this shot. That's Katy (left) and Boots, two of our cats up for adoption, and they spent the whole day trying to figure out how to eat those rabbits running around in front of them. The cats didn't do too badly - not a clean sweep or anything, but a decent number of them found homes (not Katy or Boots unfortunately).

The dogs always do well at adopt-a-thons, and we only had one left by the end of the weekend - Elly (above). Elly has been at the shelter far too long, and while she had a few issues when she first arrived, she has really come around. She's a sweet girl and we were all really hoping she'd get adopted this weekend, but I guess it wasn't to be. At least she got a nice break from the shelter, which is always good. I'm sure that'll help keep her calm - I know it helped Elf to get out of the shelter for a bit.
Always worth the trek out there to help with adoptions, but I have to say, by the end of the weekend I was wiped out. Sometimes I think it's a good thing adopt-a-thons aren't too close together!

The shelter has been pretty slow lately (still can't get over it, only 5 animals in the Room!). We're still waiting for foster piggie Martha to give birth - she is absolutely massive, and we keep saying "It has to be today!" But she's holding out on us. I'm beginning to think she's going to have a million babies!
Oh well - maybe tomorrow!

Perils of Craigslist Part II

I know most people in rescue hate looking at Craigslist because it's too disheartening, but I always end up looking at it, out of morbid curiosity and a pretty flimsy justification. I am always a little paranoid that one of our adoptees will end up on there (not to defame our adopters, but as with everything else in life, our screening process is not always 100% perfect at screening out the losers).
And when I read their stupid ads, I can't help but comment on them, which results in another post.

This little 18-mos-old budgie is being given away without her cage as "she can escape from it really easily anyways". Budgies are a 15-year-commitment, but it's ridiculous how many people get rid of them before they're even 2.

First off, again, this is not a Dutch rabbit. Sabrina (in the photo above) is a Dutch rabbit. There seems to be an epidemic of misunderstanding about what Dutch means.
More importantly - you're giving away your TEN YEAR OLD rabbit?! She's TEN!! Geez LOUISE, people.

Another priceless snake ad. Seriously. People. Snakes are not easy pets. They need specialized care and they live forever. I love them, I had one, but I do not recommend them unless you are willing to make a ridiculous commitment (much like birds!).
I especially like this part: "both snakes are aggressive but can be tamed very easily with frequent handling". Um, they're over a year old...why didn't you do that?

It's a rather gloomy day here, with some less-than-great news about a few fosters and a stagnant week for adoptions. Daffy and Bugs (above) have been moved to Pet Valu. These are the first rabbits at Pet Valu, so it's just a trial stage right now, but hopefully it goes well.
Also this weekend I'll be at Petsmart for an adopt-a-thon. I'm always on the fence with Petsmart adopt-a-thons, as they can move great numbers but often attract less-than-desirable adopters. But we definitely need to move some rabbbits right now.

 And finally, Sweet Pea has gone to Rabbit Rescue due to her utterly unpleasant attitude. Fingers crossed she will improve in a foster home! RR also took Noddy, for absolutely no reason that I can discern, but hopefully that means Noddy will be adopted quickly.
Midterms are here, I haven't been to the shelter in far too long, and the feeling of this week can be summed up as 'meh'. However, Valentine's Day is around the corner which means - a holiday shoot! Yay!

Making the Commitment

A few posts ago, I wrote about the return of Noddy & Jughead, only five months after they'd been adopted (well, five months for Jughead, only 3 months for Noddy). In real life, I ranted to my friends about the lack of commitment in people, how no one seems to think what they'll be doing in six months from now.
Then, in beautiful contrast to that situation, I got this email out of the blue:

Hi Laura, 
We were at the downtown shelter yesterday and saw that you had a blog for the small animals! We read some updates on adopted animals and decided to look for our Sharpie - and there he was in two posts from November 2009 (back then he was Shrek). (Note - you can read Shrek's original posts here and here)

Just wanted to share an update and some videos of him.
We picked him up in December 2009 after he was neutered. He was the sweetest bunny! He settled in very quickly and ran circles around my boyfriend everytime he stepped into the room. We renamed him Sharpie (due to his colour, his extreme intelligence, and we wanted to keep it in the 's' family). He is the best at solving problems and sometimes I think he can read my mind! 

After a few months, we tried bonding him with my bunny Sabrina. She hated other rabbits and we were warned by her shelter that she had to be the only rabbit in the house. Sharpie humped her a lot in the beginning but after his hormones finally settled down - look what happened! (Video of the bonding here)

They are now totally in love. Sabrina cannot leave Sharpie's side and follows him everywhere. And whenever Sharpie is scared, he goes to Sabrina for comfort :) They spend the day eating, snuggling and exchanging kisses. 

Keep up the great work at the shelter! I drop by everytime I go to the CNE grounds and am always impressed with the wonderfully kept small animal room.  

That. Is. Awesome!

I love all updates (obviously) but getting an update a whole year after adoption is just wonderful!

I get updates because for each small animal that comes into the Room, I write a short biography for them and put it up on their cage. The bio asks for them to send an update and lists the blog's address and email. I only started doing that in 2010 though, so I never expected to get an update from a 2009 bunny! That's amazing! Huge, HUGE thanks to Shrek's new family! 

I also received this recently:

Chloe was adopted on January 10 of last year. She was one of my favourite rabbits ever, and her new family have sent us regular updates (here and here). To celebrate their one-year anniversary, they made this beautiful video of her journey home (including the photos I took when she was at the shelter), and sent me this email with photos:

Hi Laura, 

We're sending you this update celebrating 1 year with Chloe. From the first day we got her, she has brought so much more happiness into our lives. Chloe is a very happy, playful bun, loves to hop around and cuddle. We don't know what we would do without her. 

 

And finally, I got an email from Summer the canary's new owner (the one who saw him on Craigslist!):

Hi Laura, He's doing fine! He had a cold, so he spent a few days in a small cage under a heat lamp, drinking echinacea/goldenseal tincture in his water, and now he's fine again. He loves greens and apple. He flew around a bit yesterday for the first time. His wings aren't very strong yet, but they will get there. And he looked pretty happy jumping around the bejaminas! He's getting along with all the other birds and settling in nicely. He's a nice little guy. I'm so glad you posted him or I never would have known about him. 

Summer shares his new family with three other canaries, some budgies and society finches. He is getting a wonderful diet and she hopes to reverse his splayed leg with nutrition and exercise, if possible.

These adopters made the commitment. Shrek/Sharpie's family and Chloe's family have cared for and loved their adopted bunnies for over a year now. Summer's family made the commitment to care for a special needs bird who might have had a hard time otherwise. This is what we aim for.
This is why I love rescue!