Saturday 24 February 2007

Some new arrivals

We had a few rats go off to their new homes last weekend which helped things to calm down a little here. Where we had been spilling over into the bathroom at least all the rodents are now contained within the rodent room!!

Sadly we've lost a few of the spiny mice. I don't know why really - many are doing really well and some who had bad injuries initially have healed well and gained a lot of condition. But others have died suddenly and without explanation. Maybe they were elderly, maybe it was the stress of all they have been through but it has been rather disheartening.

Still, we must be doing something right as in the last week or so we have had 7 baby spinies born here! They are incredibly cute and arrive in the world with fur and eyes open. These guys pictured here are just a few days old.

Today also saw the arrival of Erwine. If you've been visiting this site a while you'll know that we had to stop dog fostering as we had a tendency to fall in love and keep them! Which is how we ended up with six dogs.

But when we heard Erwine's story we had to come out of fostering retirement. Erwine had been kept in a brick built, windowless shed for the last eight years! Emma at Furry Friends had offered him a rescue space but then found out that he had a friend in the shed with him. We couldn't bear the idea of that poor dog - for whom Erwine had been her only company for years - being left there alone. So we said we would foster her. Then it transpired she was pregnant so we took Erwine instead. It turns out Erwine is Tara's Dad and the father of her unborn puppies!

Erwine arrived this morning filthy, emaciated, matted, dehydrated, with an eye infection and probable kennel cough. After a bath he slept most of the day but this evening has been looking a bit brighter and has had something to eat. His road to recovery will be a long one but it's obvious already that there is a very lovely dog waiting to be discovered in Erwine.

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