Edwina and the Jenny/Freddy tower

Ok I have a confession. I am, of course, totally against buying from pet shops and I think the pets at home adoption scheme is of distinctly dubious merit. But this evening we popped in for an emergency hay supply top up. And of course I have to just check on the animals and make sure they're ok, although my local store is usually quite good. And there, in the adoption section, is Edwina, sitting in a tiny tank on her own with some fiddlesticks and a small hamster wheel. The sign on the tank said she needed a special home. So I had to ask and it turns out she has a head tilt. I offered to take her on and find her a home but on adopting from the rehoming scheme you have to sign a contract saying you'll return the animal to them if you can't keep it. Much as I dislike pets at home I know if someone signed my contract and then disregarded it I'd be fuming. So I was about to walk away and said I would leave them my details and for them to call me in a few weeks if she was still looking. Then they said she'd already been looking for three weeks. So, including the time she spent out the back on treatment, this little 3 month old lady had been on her own in a tank in a pet shop for at least four weeks!

So I know I shouldn't have but I couldn't leave her there all on her own with only a small chance of finding a home suitable for her needs. So she has joined us as a permanent resident.

She's a big wiggly and disorientated so we didn't trouble her too much to get pics but here's a couple just to introduce her





Intros with my gang went fabulously as expected but there was one hitch. There wasn't really room in the main cage for another person. So I had a plan for a "quick" solution. Two hours later the freddy/jenny tower was born



So everyone is very happy with their new extension and friend. Here they are exploring

Edwina


Oooh a proper size wheel


Exploring




Eva showing off what is undoubtedly the yummiest belly in the world ever


And checking for weaknesses and possible escape routes


Keeya - Mum, look, I'm starfishing way up high!


Maisie finds the attic


Super Susie Tripod


I was a teensy bit worried about making the cage taller as Widdle, who is now 29 months, has gotten a little wobbly on his back legs of late. Seems I needn't have worried




The nosey slater girls next door were a bit jealous


Welcome home Edwina :D

Worry

Shadow has been to the vets this evening. His back has gotten so much worse just over the weekend. Anyway he has had more antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and anti mite treatment. He's back indoors again as well as he has lost weight so needs a bit of pampering. Within an hour of being indoors he has pulled more fur out leaving him with a huge bald, scabby patch on his back :( This has being going on for two months now poor boy. The vet has taken some bits of fur to look at under a microscope as well to see what we're dealing with. He might need to have some special baths.

As if that weren't enough, Skips bum is playing up again. He has been a bit bunged up on and off for a week or two. Nothing terrible, just a bit bloated in the tummy. We've found that milk of magnesia has done a good job of getting thing moving again. Well the last few days he's been having trouble pooing and his bottom has been getting a bit bunged up. This evening he has a very dry poo in there..the sort that usually proceeds one of his bad spells :( So we've unbunged him as best we can for now and put some liquid paraffin up his bottom which tends to help. We'll be giving him milk of magnesia twice a day for now too. Hopefully the things we have learnt will enable us to stop it before it gets bad again.

All in all I'm looking forward to falling into bed and becoming unconcious today :(

Lots of news

I can't believe I've left it so long without an update, especially when there is SO much to tell you!

Ok, to update on recent stories....Frank is now living very happily with Ronnie :) Hans had his x-rays which were all clear and he seems much better. Not quite back to his old self yet but eating and looking well at least.

Those ladies who were on baby watch have all had the all clear. That's Calista degu, Lola and Lexi the robos and the four female rats from Norfolk.

In not so good news, Shadow rabbit has scratched himself up again and done a really good job this time! He has three patches now, one on his back, one on his side and even one on his tummy. He is booked in to see the vet again on Monday.

Fudgey degus teeth are overgrown again :( She is booked in to see a specialist in Kent on the 25th. Erika degu is going too as she has been losing weight so I'd like to see if her teeth are the cause.

New arrivals wise we took in 8 baby boy rats (aka The Gangsters). Their sisters, The Molls, are on foster in Hertfordshire.

Anyway, now on to the really big news!

On the 6th March 2007 our dear little oldie dog Fraggle left us suddenly after a short illness. It was less than a year since we lost our other old lady Meggie Moo to cancer and we were both devastated.

We feel that the girls are still with us in some way and we like to do all we can to honour their memories. For some time we have talked about how we'd like to win the lottery and set up a trust in their memory to help animals. Of course, we're still waiting for the lottery win but as their anniversaries approached we began to think that perhaps this was something we needed to make happen for ourselves in order for it to be a real tribute.

As you know, we have been fostering animals for Furry Friends for about 3 years now. This has worked brilliantly and we've really enjoyed working with Emma who has been incredibly supportive and a real inspiration to us. Under her guidance we have learnt a huge amount. As part of our recent ponderings we began to think that perhaps we could do the work we do now in tribute to the girls with a long term goal of being able to help other animals too.

So we are very proud to announce the creation of Starlight Trust Animal Rescue aka STAR. We will be running a small rescue from our home taking in and homing small rodents such as rats, mice, hamsters, gerbils, chinchillas, degus etc. The animals we already have here on foster will be homed through Furry Friends as normal and we will continue to work very closely with Emma and the other contacts and friends we have made

You can learn more at http://www.starlighttrust.org.uk

Sprogpages will continue pretty much as is. The rehoming pages will stay until all the Furry Friends animals are homed and after that the site will continue as a showcase for our own animals. The blog will continue and will serve as the news page for both sites :)