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 :)

Poor Frank

You might recall that amongst the recent new arrivals was a group of three boys, Frank, Miles and Daniel. Frank is the little man with a head tilt.

Last night, just as we got into bed, there was a lot of banging and crashing and squealing from the rodent room. I rushed in there to find poor Frank being attacked! He has three wounds on him but there's not a mark on either of the other two which just goes to show that it was an attack rather than a squabble.

So poor Frank has had to be separated and is now on his own. I have no doubt that if he'd been left in there they would have done him serious damage or even killed him. I'm very surprised as there had been no sign of any problems between them previously.

So once Frank has had all his mite treatments I'm going to try introductions with Ronnie. I think the two of them might be compatible and Reggie could then go in with the babies arriving tomorrow.

Hans Update

I'm delighted to report that Hans has begun eating for himself again today. He's looking much brighter and has been in the sand bath and generally much more alert and active :)

Less delightful is the fact that I managed to go to work today with the gloop I'd been syringe feeding him all down myself with realising. Oops!!

Hans

Please keep Hansy Man in your thoughts. Last night I found him looking very subdued and with a gooey stuck together eye. I cleaned his eye and gave him antibiotics and eye drops but I was really worried at how subdued he was and totally off his food. I wasn't sure he'd last the night to be honest.

Well he has been to the vets today and it's not clear what's going on. The eye itself is ok but the tissue around it is very inflamed. It might suggest a problem with his teeth which would be very bad news. So we're carrying on with the eye drops and antibiotics and adding in some painkilling anti-inflammatories. We're also syringe feeding him so he can get his strength up a bit. Then he'll have an x-ray on Monday to see what's going on with his teeth.

He is looking a bit brighter this evening and took some of the syringed formula quite willingly. Please keep him in your thoughts so he gets his strength back and keep your fingers crossed that it's just an eye infection and not a tooth problem.

The Noobs

As mentioned, we were expecting quite a few new arrivals.

On Sunday we took in 9 new rats from three different sources. Firstly, from a home in Norfolk we have The Slaters. A group of four girls with lots of mouth! They were pretty shy on arrival but then they had had a long day. Now they're much more friendly although none are overly keen on being picked up. They're a really cute, funny bunch who have got the hump with my own girls being in the cage next door and have been huffing and puffing at them and then taking in out on each other like a bunch of chavs outside a nightclub on a Saturday night, hence the names! Although they're "boring black hoodies" they have really nice markings and are all very pretty. They need to stay here for a few weeks to make sure they're not preggers.

So, the boss is Kat. She is the friendliest and once she realised I was ok she spent most of the evening on my shoulder


Second in command would appear to be Lyn. She is curious but really sounds off when you try to pick her up!


Then there's Zoe who has a really pretty white nose which you can't see in this pic


And then there's Little Mo, the smallest and shyest of the batch and almost chocolate in colour.


And showing what nosy little monkeys they are


Also from this same home is Barney. He has been living on his own but his ex owner said he was ok to travel with some other boys. They disagreed and took a big chunk out of his shoulder. This has closed and scabbed already but he's a bit of a mess bless him. He's riddled with lice and covered in scabs and cuts. He's obviously meant to be a big handsome stud muffin but at the moment he's just a very battered old man. I'll see how he reacts to some baby boys who are due to arrive soon but he may end up being neutered. Dave has fallen in love with this lad big time. He is such a sweetie !


Then, from a local home, came these three boys, also crawling with lice.

Daniel and Miles are two very well roaned huskys and a lovely pair of squishes. They're easy to tell apart as Miles has a stripe of colour left on his back

Daniel


Miles


And Frank is a smeezy lad with a headtilt. I suspect he has had this for a while but he'll get a course of baytril just in case. He copes well with his headtilt although he twists when he gets stressed.


And finally there is the evil that is Reggie. He was the only boy in his litter and is undoubtedly the naughtiest little monster I've ever met. He is totally full of himself. I've introduced him to a lone lad, Ronnie, this evening. Ron is 5 months to Reggie's 8 weeks ish but it's obvious he'll be boss. He kept running up to Ron, bouncing on him, and then running away as if to say "chase me, chase me"!!

Here's Reggie


And with Ronnie


I'm hoping to add at least one other baby boy to their group as I think Reg will want a friend of his own age.

And then last night we took in a group of four spiny mice. Now this case saddens me. More so than the rats who came from a home where they were missexed, left to breed and crawling with lice even. This is one of the spinies who arrived yesterday



And where did he come from? The home of someone who knew no better and let things get out of control? No, another rescue. Who on earth can animals rely on if they can't rely on a rescue? It really saddens me.

So none of these animals will be ready for homing for a little while since almost all have parasites and/or wounds to recover from first. Still, they're safe now at least.