Mollie & the toast

Poor Mollie had another fit this morning. She was quite out of it for a while afterwards so I brought her downstairs for a cuddle and a share of my toast. I couldn't resist taking a little video cos she was so enthusiastic!



Otherwise a nice uneventful Sunday in SprogLand. So I'm signing off for my Sunday night date with the boys in Supernatural and Lost!!

Degus R Us

Well they have arrived. Another 18 of them!

There were going to be 6 boys and 12 girls but as I checked them I noticed something amiss with one of the boys. He actually looked too much like a boy. Sorry to be indelicate but his bits were HUGE! Degu boys don't usually have visible dangly bits! So I looked more closely and realised that he was actually a she with two big swellings in her groin. I don't know if they are perhaps tumours or if she is very very full of milk. She'll be off to the vets on Monday so please keep her in your thoughts. I pray it is something easily fixable as I'm rather in love with her already. I always planned to adopt a few girls from this rescue since I've lost a few of my girls now. So I've decided she'll stay here for the rest of her days one way or another. I just hope it's for plenty of time yet. I have called her Nadine - Nads for short. I know. Sorry!!

Mollie squirrel had a fit today :( She came through it fine as usual but afterwards she had a little trouble holdng her food. I pray it was just that she was a bit squiffy and not anything lasting or a sign of things to come. I'm so very aware that at 8 years old, with all her problems, every day is a miracle really.

Spike and Beaker seem better. Well Beaker does definitely but Spike is still not himself. There is no sign of any illness though so I think it is just grief.

Anyway I'll let you know how things go with Nads

TFI Nearly Friday

A mixed day really.

The good news is that Stellar and Lunar have gone to their new home this evening. Their new Mum is lovely and I think they are going to be very spoilt indeed :)

The sad news is I am worried about Fozzie's brothers, Spike and Beaker. They didn't eat very much at all overnight. I am giving them antibiotics in case there is something going round but I rather suspect they're just depressed at the loss of Fozzie. I know many people will think that is anthropomorphising but rats really do grieve. I have seen it before where perfectly healthy rats can literally die of grief when a cagemate leaves them. Realistically neither of them are young anymore and someone is going to get left alone before too long. I'll have to have a good think about their future.

I'm terribly behind on cleaning again between trips to vets and things being a bit hectic with Dave's new job. So that'll be my weekend taken care of again!! Tomorrow Emma and I are doing a major critter swap and she is taking some spiny mice, the four boy gerbils and Edie and Fern in exhange for me taking 15 female degus, since I have more degu suitable cages than her. It's going to look like an explosion in a degu factory round here by this time tomorrow!

The sad thing is I've had the grand total of one enquiry offering a home to some degus. It's so sad. They really are fabulous animals and so much fun. I don't know why nobody wants them. It's sad for them spending their lives in rescue but it's also sad for all the animals we're having to turn away because we're chockablock with degus right now. And I suspect we'll be full up with degus for months or possibly even years to come the way it's going :(

Ho hum. Bed beckons. At least it's Friday tomorrow!

So many goodbyes

I've been spending some time catching up with ex fosters in their new homes recently. For the most part this has been really positive and I've heard lots of lovely stories about how well they're doing and seen some fabulous photos of them having fun in their new homes. And then all of a sudden I've had a run of people reporting that friends are no longer with us. It doesn't matter how long they were here, how long ago, I remember them all, I have love for them all and it makes me so sad to hear they have passed on.

And then this evening I went up to start cleaning and as I went to let Fozzie, Beaker and Spike out for a play, Fozzie leapt into my arms and I saw that he was struggling to breathe. We got him to the emergency vets and he had some treatment but he died in my arms on the way home. It seems his little heart failed him. This is extra sad as Fozzie never found his proper forever home :( Run free Fozzie bear xx

So I'm afraid I'm feeling rather down this evening. I'm off to bed now with a large packet of biscuits!

Yay!

Lunar and Stellar the chinchillas have found a new home! I've just spent 45 minutes on the phone nattering to their new Mum and I think they're going to be very happy. They're only going local too so hopefully she is picking them up mid week which will free up some space for some more degus.

I split the current group of 12 into two yesterday as they needed more space now they've settled in. And the amount of mess they make is shocking! I put the best looking six in one group and the ones who still look a bit rough in the other. The first group now look pretty normal. Apart from being a bit thin there is little sign of what they have been through. It's amazing how quickly they bounce back. The second group are still a bit tatty looking but all very bright and active.

The back has been a lot better today so I've managed to have a pretty good go at the cleaning. Still only fairly basic cleans - oh how I long to hose some cages down, never thought I'd say that - but it has made a big difference.

Quite a lot of the spiny mice are a little poorly at the moment. They have little respiratory infections which is making their breathing a little noisy and they have lost weight. So I'm administering tiny little doses of antibiotics to them. Bless!

That's about it really. The humans here are a bit tense today as Mr Sprog starts a new job tomorrow. He is coming to work for the civil service with me! And I have a big day at work tomorrow with an accommodation move and new bits of work coming into my team so I'm signing off for the day now. Going to go feed the monsters and have a nice hot bubbly bath before getting an early night with Supernatural and Lost!

Oops I did it again

So frustrating! I tried to start doing bits and pieces and I've put my back out again! There's so much to do at the moment and I really need to refurbish some of the cages which are looking worse for wear. But any amount of bending and it's back to square one.

The good news is though that the degus are doing really well and are looking better already just for a few days of good food.

Loki's foot is also a whole lot better and Grace the stumpy spiny continues to heal brilliantly :)

The degus are here

Tonight we took in 12 male degus from a big rescue. They came from a home where 150 degus had been living in three small cages and are in a pretty poor state. Bless them though, they were starving and so trusting. They have been climbing over me to get food and were so happy for me to pick them up and check them over. We really need to find them homes ASAP as there are still about 100 degus left in the original home and we can't take them until we make more room. Please get in touch if you can help.

A new look!

I've been laid up for a couple of weeks after managing to tear a ligament in my back! It has been unbelievably frustrating not being able to get things done. But I have spent quite a bit of time on the computer updating records and things and I've revamped the site a bit. I'm quite chuffed with it given my extremely limited website skills. You'll notice a new feature on the blog too which shows you some of my videos on YouTube which you can click on to watch. Hope you like the new look :)

Anyway, this afternoon I'm feeling much happier as I've been able to complete a round of cleaning. I'm still not as up to date as I'd like but at least everyone has been cleaned out reasonably recently. I'm preparing myself for an influx of degus tomorrow!

I'm currently nursing a rather special little spiny mouse girl. Her cagemates attacked her an bit her legs. I separated her and in the time it look me to prepare a cage for her she chewed half of her own back legs off! It was pretty horrific but these creatures really are quite amazing. She has pretty good stumps which are healing remarkably quickly and she charges about like nothing happened. The other good news is that she already has a new home lined up for when she's better, with the owner of the All About Mice forum! I'll keep you updated on her progress.

Loki sprog dog pulled a claw out of her foot last week and her toe has gotten infected. So she is currently bandaged up and milking it for all it's worth!!

Well time for me to go and watch Lost!!!