Hamster Updates

Thanks in large part to the Star articles, almost all of our hamsters from the hamster chaos have been adopted. We originally had 30 hamsters from the duffel bag. Unfortunately three passed away - two (Merry and Smaug) escaped from their cages and got into dangerous situations, and one (Elphie) passed away suddenly in my house, much to my astonishment. I think it likely that she was born with some kind of heart defect, because it looked like a heart attack.

That sadness aside, we adopted out twenty-five hamsters! That is pretty spectacular. We have two hamsters left for adoptions.

Max (one of Merry's babies) is at Pet Valu right now and Cosette (below, one of Millie's babies) is at the shelter. It's not really a surprise that those two are left, because they both have rather bad attitudes. But they'll find a home soon enough.

I've gotten some really great 'happy endings' on some of the duffel bag hamsters and I'm going to post them, but first I want to share one of my own! Remember Estel, my tiny little runt from the first litter? He looked like this as a pup:

That's him at three weeks old (when they're supposed to look like this and not like aliens). He was severely underdeveloped. I gave him a little TLC (and some oats soaked in evaporated milk), and two weeks later he looked like this. We grew rather attached to him and since we weren't sure how he'd do, we adopted him. And now he looks like this!

Can you even believe that's the same hamster? He actually turned out to be the cutest little ball of fluff ever. He is very sweet, probably because I had to handle him so much to feed him when he was young. So Estel joins our (ever expanding) hammy family!
Now on to some more updates. This one is about Oliver, one of Millie's babies:

Hi Laura,
Just wanted to send along an Oliver update. Well formerly known as Oliver, now known as Sir Maximilian Cornelius Hammington the 1st, aka MC Hammy.
We have been having a great time with him, and he seems to enjoy being in our house! 
Hope all is well and enjoy the photos!

 

 Cute! Oliver - sorry, MC Hammy, LOVE the name - looks pretty darn happy!
I also got an update on Gilbert, another one of Millie's babies, who is being spoiled rotten. They sent lots of photos (it was tough to pick a few to post) and a long update that I only edited for space, because the whole thing was super sweet.

Hi Laura,
It's so lovely to hear from you. You guys are all so dedicated to the animals, it is wonderful to see that. As for Gilbert, the newest member of our family, he seems to be a happy, content little boy. Our whole family is fascinated with him. We love to watch his antics. (Even my husband, who never grew up with any pets. He was dying to have his turn holding him on Wednesday!).

The first night Gilbert was a very busy boy. We had set his cage up with the larger dome as his bed and it was tucked in nicely behind the cage to give him more peace and quiet there. Up at the top, we put the smaller globe, and put chinchilla sand in there so that he could have a sand bath if he so chose. Anyway, he moved a bunch of bedding up to the smaller globe on top of the sand, and also brought all of the food from his dish up to his 'bedroom' and buried it! He clearly has his own mind about how things should be organized! 

He is so cute. It is actually really nice that he has decided to sleep in the top piece as the position means that when you sit on my son's bedroom sofa, Gilbert is sleeping next to your shoulder! We all find ourselves taking some quiet time sitting just watching him curled up asleep, watching his little nose twitch, and his chest rise and fall. 

 My son was dying to handle him, but was also a little nervous. He was worried about hurting him or losing him! He did neither. He was very gentle and now is very confident in handling Gilbert. On Wednesday night, and again last night, he sat in my son's hands during bedtime stories (just like one of the kids), you would even think he was listening in. I've got the feeling this could be a regular event!

Gilbert has already been on Skype twice to two homes of extended family in Scotland, and my son had me print out little photos of him to give to some of his friends, and all of the other kids in class!

Did I mention he is really, really, really cute? We love him to bits and hope we have him for a very long time.

Ok, how CUTE is that update? I can't decide what's my favourite part - the bedtime stories, the Skype appearances, Gilbert's photo being passed around the classroom. Every hamster should be so lucky!


Sometimes I love this work!

Out of the Frying Pan

So a few weeks ago, I posted that Ruby (one of the rabbits from the hoarder) surprised us all and had 7 kits. I also said that even after the underdeveloped 7th one passed away, I knew she'd cull the weaker kits.

Well, here they are at two weeks old! As you may notice, there are still six kits! Ruby didn't reduce her litter at all. All six are fluffy and active and doing well. On one hand, obviously - SUPER CUTE. On the other hand - that brings our number of foster babies up to 12. Twelve baby rabbits needing homes. Ahhh!

We did a photoshoot yesterday with Pistachio's family (the older litter). They are about 40 days old now, and have entered the lanky, scruffy stage. This is one of my favourite stages of rabbit growth, because they usually haven't grown into their comically oversized ears yet.

Following our tradition of naming babies after their moms, the first foster home named these guys after nuts. This little one is Cashew, my favourite in the litter. He is by far the most outgoing - plus, look at that adorable face!

Then we have Almond here, who has one of those cool bi-coloured eyes I'm noticing more and more. A nice thing about this litter (and Ruby's litter, actually) is that each baby is easy to tell apart. No identical twins!

Hazelnut is the lightest coloured, and my mom's favourite. She inherited Pistachio's crooked face stripe! Although you can't really see it here, Hazel has especially large ears for her head, and therefore is especially cute. I love rabbit ears, have you noticed?

And finally we have Pecan, who was originally the runt of the litter, not that you'd guess that now. They are all super handsome and striking, so at least there's that.
Our total in foster care right now: Jade & Sapphire, Ruby's 6 kits and Pistachio's 4 kits. From the hamster crisis to a rabbit crisis!
It truly is a case of 'out of the frying pan into the fire', because 14 rabbits are a lot harder to deal with than 30 hamsters. But we'll figure it out somehow.

There's been so much going on in foster that I haven't written about the Room in ages. There's been too many stories and not enough time lately! Should I write about our super sweet new guinea pig, the lovebird who arrived with a hole in his head, the rabbit whose owners were arrested, the trio of gerbils?
Too many options!

Why Pet Stores Aren't An Option

I have wanted to write this for a long time, so naturally when I decided to do information posts, I knew this would be the first one. I started and stopped a couple of times, because it kept getting angry and I don't want it to be angry. I want it to be informative, but I don't want to get angry and I'll explain why, because there is a lot to get angry about.

Last summer, I worked at a camp that was designed to let kids work with animals. I had a new group of children every week, and I made it my mission to drill one message into their brain: If you want an animal, you go to a shelter, rescue or professional breeder. Pet stores were not an option, but I was very careful not to make any statements about people buying from pet stores, because inevitably, one of the kids would talk about an animal they'd bought from a pet store. I bought animals from pet stores too, when I was young, and it wasn't because my parents were horrible people or because I was a horrible person. People don't know and they need to be informed, but there is a fine line between informing and berating them for a poor decision. If you have bought from a pet store, then I hope you love and care for that animal as long as it lives. And I hope you never buy from a store again.

Everyone knows that dogs and cats should never be bought from pet stores, but like most things in animal welfare, that message hasn't yet trickled down to the small animals. So here goes my little thesis on why pet stores are a terrible idea if you're looking for a new animal. I know there are things I've left out, but I was trying not to let it get totally out of control. Feel free to pass this along to anyone thinking of buying a hamster, bird, rabbit or anything at a pet store!

Rabbits
Rabbits that are sold from pet stores are not fixed. An unspayed female rabbit has an 85% chance of getting a reproductive cancer by the age of 5 years old. Their lifespan is almost always cut in half. An unneutered male has a high risk of testicular cancer. Spaying/neutering cuts down on health problems, behavioural problems and destructive behaviours.
Besides the fact that they're not fixed, all animals from pet stores, including rabbits, have a high risk of being sick. Pet store employees are usually minimally trained and don't have the expertise to recognize signs of illness. Even if they do, vets are only called in if the animal is worth well over $100 in value (since a store is a profit-driven venue). Sick animals such as rabbits and hamsters often go unnoticed and are left in with the healthy animals - this means that even if the one you take is healthy, it could soon become sick. Plus, if you have an animal at home, they may pick up something from the pet store animal.
All pet store rabbits are dwarf mixes. However, they are always sold as babies, as pure dwarves. People are told that they won't grow to be any bigger than they already are. I was told that about my first rabbit - she grew to be twice her size. They aren't purebreds and the pet store has no idea how big they'll grow.
Pet store rabbits tend to come from large scale breeders. The rabbits are kept outside in small cages stacked on top of each other, unsocialized, bred back to back until they run out of steam. There are responsible breeders out there - I know they're difficult to find, but there are responsible breeders of rabbits and if you are completely opposed to a shelter pet, they are worth a look. The pet store rabbits won't be purebreds anyway - pet stores get the breeder rejects, not their top picks.
Finally, rabbits are sold as babies at pet stores. Trust me on this - you don't want a baby rabbit. Kits are destructive, high-energy, neurotic little nutcases and they have no interest in cuddling. They do not fully mature, physically or mentally, until they are a year old. So, so many people buy baby rabbits, only to realize they can't handle them and give them to a shelter. Adopt an adult, it'll make your life a whole lot easier. 

Hamsters (& Other Rodents)
Oh, I could go on about pet store hamsters all day. They are some of the most abused animals in stores.
Housing: Hamsters need to be housed alone once they hit a certain age. With the piles and piles of hamsters that pet stores go through, they can't monitor which hammies are hitting which age, and the little guys are often left together past maturity. This means fighting and often the weakest ones are injured badly. Living together also produces more stress on the body, which can lead to illness. On the other hand, gerbils are social animals that must live together. They are also failing in popularity, so pet stores often keep them for ages, alone, and that puts stress on their immune systems as well.
Breeding: First off, many pet stores keep their hamster populations up by throwing two in a drawer overnight and hoping it takes - I'm sure we can all see the million problems involved in that method. But more pertinently, employees usually can't tell the males and females apart. They don't separate them at the right age. I'd say if you buy a female from a pet store, you have about a 70% chance of them being pregnant. I cannot tell you how many times people have contacted me or the shelter, complaining that they bought a female and she gave birth the next day. This also applies to rats, gerbils and any other rodent. I'm sorry, pet store employees cannot sex animals.
Illness: Sometimes when I go to pet stores, I go to look at their animals just to torture myself. There are always rodents that are clearly ill, in with other 'healthy' ones. Always. I know what a sick rodent looks like, and there is very rarely an attempt to separate them.
I'll say this a million times: If you buy from a pet store, there is a very high chance that the animal will be sick or have a short lifespan.

Reptiles
While I love reptiles and have owned a snake before, I will freely admit they are not my area of expertise. Reptiles require specialized care and knowledge - you are not going to find that in a pet store.
Employees are not experts. They are trained quickly and do not have years of experience and veterinary knowledge. A sick reptile hides it very well and will not be noticed.
Small display boxes are not appropriate living habitats for reptiles (or any animal), and high stress animals do terribly when forced to be on display all day. There is a lot of stress at pet stores - children making noise, tapping on glass, constant handling.
I'm sure a reptile person could tell you a million other things wrong with reptiles at pet stores, but the basics always apply - they will probably be sick. They will probably be stressed. You may not get what you paid for.

Birds
I may get a lot of disagreement here, but I believe that parrots suffer the most from being in pet stores.
People know about kitten and puppy mills - well, there are parrot mills as well, and they are horrific. Birds are extremely social, intelligent animals. Breeder birds are locked in cages all day and night, left to breed back to back only to have their chicks taken away at a young age to imprint and sell. Breeder birds inevitably turn out nasty and vicious toward humans, and once they stop reproducing, what do you think happens to them? They sure aren't going to be pets. Buying from pet stores supports this industry, just as it does with cats and dogs.
As with other animals, the volume of birds passing through the stores increases the chance of disease. I speak from lots of experience when I say birds are extremely good at hiding the signs of illness until they are literally on death's door. It's very easy to take a bird home from the pet store, looking perfectly healthy, only to have them die in a week. Even worse, they can easily infect your birds at home.
Birds have extremely specific social needs. In stores, they are often either kept alone (the large parrots) or in groups that are much too large (budgies or finches). Both these situations create stress on the bird's body and can lead to illness. Most stores don't have enough knowledgeable staff to regularly handle all birds, so they are rarely tame and often socially neglected. This can lead to biting and other difficult-to-fix behavioural problems.
Cages are usually too small and don't contain enough stimulation, the birds rarely get enough exercise, and their diets are usually nutritionally deficient. Often stores feed only seed,which is not healthy for any parrot, and will usually lead to first time bird owners thinking that's acceptable.
Speaking of first-time bird owners, pet stores often sell higher level parrots such as macaws or cockatoos without fully understanding the care they need themselves. Far too often, parrots are bought from pet stores by people who aren't educated enough and then get bitten by the untamed bird. That bird will probably spend the rest of his life ignored in a cage. Besides which, all birds live over 10 years. The larger parrots can live to be over 80 years old - how many people buy at a pet store on impulse, because the animal caught their eye? Do you think they're prepared for that commitment?
The fact is that birds have extremely specialized needs and there is a one in a million chance that you will find pet store staff educated enough to take proper care of all of them.

 Are there some pet stores with knowledgeable staff, who handle the birds at least some times and try to give proper nutrition? Sure. But the fact remains that a crowded store where they are constantly on display and surrounded by other animals simply does not result in a healthy bird.
There are lots of bird breeders out there. I got Loki, my cockatiel, before I got into rescue, and we bought her from a responsible breeder who kept her family in a clean, healthy environment. It's not hard to find a better option than a pet store.  

There are certainly pet stores that try to do a better job but I'm sorry, I just don't think it can be done right. It's impossible to keep them healthy in that environment, and it promotes far too many impulse or uneducated buys. And where do those animals end up? On this blog!
I'll say right now that I have nothing but disdain for all of the big chains, and that's not from rumour but personal experience. That's why I love Pet Valu so much, because they don't sell, instead choosing to work with rescues. The chains are profit-driven and their highest priority is never the animals' health and safety.
If you buy from a pet store, you are most likely going to end up with an unsocialized, sick, probably pregnant animal, and you will be supporting a cruel and ignorant industry. If you want a small animal, there are options.
Rescue, shelter or professional breeder.
Pet stores shouldn't even be on the list. 

Adoptapalooza

 

Approximately three months ago, my friend Jenn and I were talking about how to make more adoption events. Jenn is an amazing person who works with the cats at the shelter, runs the foster program, and runs most of our adopt-a-thons. She is an incredible staff member who is always looking for new ways to boost adoptions.
"What about a community center?" I suggested, as we agreed that pet stores were too small for the scope we were considering.
"Yeah, or an outside area around a community center."
"A city-owned space?"
"A park!" She said suddenly. "What about a park?"
After momentary excitement, we both agreed that the parks department would never agree - but we'd try anyway.
We got in contact with the staff at Dufferin Grove, the beautiful park across from Dufferin Mall. And to our astonishment, they were enthusiastic.

After that, things went forward at an incredible pace. Jenn and I spent the next two months frantically planning. There were hours and hours of flyering, contacting newspapers and tv stations, posting on Facebook, arranging volunteers, coming up with ideas to raise money. We decided to have a donations table, a kids' table, face-painting - it quickly ballooned past mere adoptions.
The Star article was a glorious thing that brought the event a lot of attention. Jenn covered the entire neighbourhood with brightly coloured flyers.
There were several moments of sheer panic, in particular the night before, when Jenn called me to say that the forecast was 100% thunderstorms for Saturday. We both had nervous breakdowns and completely freaked out that our months of hard work had been for nothing.
The next day we both woke up at 6 am and realized that the skies were clear. Miraculously, they would remain clear for the entire weekend.

Usually I do two posts for adopt-a-thons, but I was completely exhausted Saturday night, so you get one giant post for a giant adopt-a-thon.
After months of worry and panic and logistics, it was...everything we hoped for and more. It was truly amazing.
We must've had about 500 people come out over the two days. The park staff were amazed at the response. We were incredibly busy both days, and by Sunday night we had no voices left and were dead on our feet. But it was worth it!

Jenn's sister and niece took over our donations table and were completely amazing. They donated buckets of cat toys, made grab bags, and decorated donations tins.

I made some home-made treats that we managed to sell to all small animal adopters. Jenn makes these beautiful little mice that sell like hotcakes all year around. Our younger volunteers turned out to be incredible salespeople!
Our donations table was busy both days, and while we don't have the exact number yet, we raised over $500!

We took a few dogs each day. This little pug mix took about 5 minutes to get adopted on Saturday. The next day, her new family brought her by for a visit. They looked as though they'd been together forever already.

This incredibly handsome boy is Trail, who didn't get adopted. However, Keva the black lab and Keaton the black shepherd both found loving homes! And Trail enjoyed a lovely day out in the park.

We took two rabbits each day, and as usual I didn't expect any adoptions. As another volunteer said, the rabbits come mostly for show, and to educate people that rabbits are available. But to my astonishment, we did two adoptions!
Sassy here is one of those rabbits who are nothing special in the shelter, but at an event, she shined. She loved being on the leash and happily hopped all over the park! She even got featured on Saturday night's Global News. She was adopted Sunday morning and now has a little girl who absolutely adores her and a home where she will live free range.

We also brought Hilda, a portly Holland Lop who had been a complete jerk when she arrived at the shelter. Spaying her made a world of difference and she actually turned out to be a sweetheart. Hilda was adopted on Saturday, also to live free-range. Two rabbit adoptions!

We knew there was going to be a lot of interest in hamsters thanks to the Star article. Still, I had no idea how much interest!
On Saturday, there were three adoptions - Moria, Muppet and Roger, one baby from each litter! We actually forgot to bring boxes for people to take them home, so we were forced to improvise:

 Yes, that's Roger going home in a Timbit box. That's not even the worst one - Muppet went home in a tin foil box. At least we got boxes for Sunday!

 And good thing, too, because Sunday was hamster day. We did five adoptions - all five boys from Millie's litter (aka the famous hamsters in the Star). Sully, Sweeney, Gilbert, Billy and Fiyero all found families of their own. Their entire family cleared out in two days, save for their two sisters who are still at my house.

And then we get to the cats! We did an amazing amount of cat adoptions - NINETEEN in total! The best part was that people weren't picky about age or gender. Sure, all the kittens got adopted as usual (including Ziggy, above). But a great deal of adults also got adopted!

But the highlight of the entire weekend was one adoption. Nixie (above) was at the shelter for six months last year before being adopted - only to be dumped in a park by her adopter. She was found and brought back to the shelter, where she waited for another six months. During that time, she shared a room with Nala, who had been waiting for 8 months herself. The two became bonded. At the adopt-a-thon, they didn't sell themselves very well - just sat next to each other looking haughty.
And yet despite all odds...one amazing family adopted the two girls as a pair! After a year of waiting, Nala and Nixie had a home - and they even got to stay together. What a truly amazing adoption!

Besides Nixie and Nala, two other very long-term cats were also adopted, Miracle and Fern. All of our seriously long-timers found homes at the event. It was just a great weekend for adoptions. The photo is Pickles, another adopted cat, in the carrier on his way to his new home.

In total, we had 32 adoptions, a record for an event like this. We were also featured on Global News and in the Bloordale Press. We raised over $500.

It was everything we wanted and more. It was so worth the months of work.
I think this will lead to very good things in the future. It was bigger than we expected and I hope it paves the way for more events like this.
Now to catch up on sleep!

Surprise!

Damn the fertility of rabbits.
Look what appeared in Ruby's cage a few days ago:

Yes, more babies.
Actually, I'm such an idiot - I didn't even consider that Ruby was pregnant. As I posted a few days ago, Ruby arrived with two kits from the rabbit hoarder who was keeping them outside. I was so preoccupied with the newborn litters of Pistachio and Rascal, and with making sure Jade and Sapphire were okay, that it never even occurred to me that Ruby could be pregnant with more. Even though I know very well that rabbits can get pregnant again the day they give birth.

To be fair, Ruby is a skinny rabbit, probably from living outside. She had no bulge and almost no fat on her. She didn't look pregnant in the slightest and I couldn't feel babies the day before she gave birth. Which is why it was such a shock when she had a litter of seven.

One of the kits was a 'peanut' (not the one in the photo). Peanuts are underdeveloped babies that are common in dwarf breeds, and they are incapable of survival. Recognizing this, Ruby moved it out of the nest into the corner of the cage, where it passed away the next day. I am prepared for more deaths as well - 6 kits are a lot for one skinny mom to raise, especially when she just weaned her older babies a few weeks ago.

Naturally, they are freaking cute. I nicknamed this one Blaze because of his beautiful stripe. They were born on June 4, and he is already very furry. Ruby's a good, experienced mom and the remaining 6 kits are fat and active. As time passes, the weaker ones will be weeded out but I wouldn't be surprised if it's still a large litter in the end.

 

They're all black and white except this fascinating little guy we've nicknamed Silver. He's almost metallic looking and very shiny - I'm very interested to see what he looks like as an adult.

So here we go again. Jade and Sapphire were hastily transferred to another cage when I noticed Ruby ripping out her fur for a new nest, and now they are staying with another foster home until they're old enough to be spayed.

And this is Pistachio's family earlier today, chowing down on some food.
All these little rabbits that didn't have to exist - now they need love and care and homes, homes that could have gone to any of the rabbits at any shelter. There is no reason for this to happen - it was caused 100% by someone who had too many and chose to throw them all outside and let them breed.
Thanks a bunch!

Extreme Makeover

You may have noticed that the blog looks entirely different!

In a few days, it will be the 2-year anniversary of starting this blog. It certainly doesn't feel that long - it seems I should be better at it after all that experience! I went back and read my first post though, and it's pretty ridiculous so I guess I've improved. Um - please don't go back and read the first posts.
I read a bunch of them actually, and my knowledge of fostering has definitely increased exponentially. It's amazing my first hamster litter did okay, considering I had no idea what I was doing.

Anyway, in honour of this momentous occasion, I did something I've wanted to do for ages. This blog was too small - when I wrote a wordy post, it would fill up the entire page. I made it wider, and I changed the heading. The old photo was the first animal I adopted from TAS, my dwarf hamster Strauss. However, Strauss died over a year ago, and he didn't properly represent the kaleidoscope of species we get in the Room. I hope this header does the department more justice!

So I hope you like it! And if you don't, too bad, I'm afraid - it took me long enough to figure out how to change it, I'm pretty sure I'm incapable of changing it back.

On for another year of rabbits, hamsters, rats, guinea pigs, birds and whatever else the public can throw at us!

News from the Warren

I've been so busy with these hamsters and arranging foster transfers and taking photos and all other madness in our incredibly packed Room, that I never told the story of these rabbits. And it is a story worth telling.

You may recall me freaking out about a bunch of rabbits arriving during the hamster madness.
It turns out a woman was hoarding rabbits. As her home got too full, she would throw the surplus rabbits into the backyard. Living in the wild, they naturally started breeding and forming their own little community. Finally, Rabbit Rescue and TAS did a round-up and brought the poor things inside.

The five males went to Rabbit Rescue, four females went to TAS North and we at South received two females and a mom with two older kits.
This is Rascal (formerly known as Kittiwake, but she kept breaking out of her cage so Rascal seemed to suit her better). Rascal arrived pregnant from her life outside. She gave birth in the shelter to three kits and went to my house for foster. Sadly, due to malnutrition or stress or whatever, she couldn't nurse properly and all three kits died within two days.

Ruby also came straight to my house for foster. She arrived from the hoarder with two kits, about three weeks old. It's so impressive that she managed to raise her little ones and keep them safe in that crazy environment.

Her two kits, Sapphire and Jade, are growing like weeds. These two fluffballs are sweet as sugar and cute as buttons. I'm pretty sure they're both girls and they make a lovely little pair.

And then we have Pistachio here. She arrived at the shelter pregnant and went to the always amazing Grace for foster. She astonished everyone by having 7 babies on Mother's Day.
Grace's husband is allergic to rabbits and while he was remarkably cheerful about the whole thing, as the kits grew up it got overwhelming and Pistachio's family transferred to me.

And they are SO CUTE. Sadly, seven was too much for Pistachio to care for, and three didn't make it. The other four are doing fantastic, as you can see. You'll notice that every single rabbit that came from this situation is a Dutch mix. They're all striped little balls of fluff, black and brown and white. There will be a billion photos of them in an upcoming post.

Haha, look at their disgusted faces. Disapproving Rabbits, anyone?
And so, the final count from this little nightmare? Five males at RR, four females at TAS North, and 3 females with 6 kits at South. A total of 18 little lives that came out of one person's mistake.

I wish people would stop making such large mistakes!