Snow, Hannah, Buster, Lilly, Radish, Cookie, Blackberry

Ok, here's the day. Got up, went to Dr. Piepers to drop off Cookie for her spay, went to Fairfield, jogged 3 miles, weighed in at weight watchers, went to the diner for breakfast then to pick up Jojo the Pug for the day while her mommy had jury dute. I went to work and changed the laundry, went back to Dr. Piepers to pick up Radish from her spay yesterday a long with a tube of Marquee to start Blackberry on for EC ($200). I went home, checked on everyone's food/water/hay, paid some special attention to Baba the butt cart bunny, then did some laundry. I packed up Snow and Hannah for the day (their bonding isn't going badly, just not as well as I had hoped) and spoke with Ann E. to bring back Buster and Lilly who were great here but as soon as they got back home again, they were pulling fur. I went by Lori's to see how she is doing since Bugsy got very ill yesterday and had to be rushed to South Wilton. She has been hit so hard with Baba being ill and now Bugsy. Took Jojo in to play with Major and Sugar for a while, then went back to work. Jojo was picked up around 2, and I took a shower at work. At 7 I dropped off 5 cheerleaders, then went back to pick them up at 9pm. I got home around 9:45, Chris is out at a Scorpions concert with friend Dennis, and now I'm blogging and cleaning.

Toby came back the same night (morning actually, 4:30 am) so all is safe and sound. I did trap a possum trying to trap him in the Havahart trap, and they run fast when they want. Going back in to mix up the Marquee for Blackberry, and then do whatever around the house till I pass out. I'm tired, and the sinus allergy season is a killer the past 3 days!

Hope all is well with everyone! Goodnight!
Brandee

PS... RE: Billy Bunny

The day from H.E.double Hockey Sticks...HELP!

Today I got up, went to work, then went back home to pick up the two baby bunnies that were dumped in a box in Greenwich last week on the side of the road (flea ridden and a third bun was in the box dead) and dropped them at the Hollow since they are ready to be seen and good to go now. I had breakfast with Michelle L. and then shot down towards Norwalk in hopes of meeting my friend Deb at some point for a jog and a quick browse at Sports Authority. I stopped off at the Hollow and I picked up Michelle's (volunteer) bunny Snow to bond with Hannah (keep your fingers crossed, so far, going OK) and then went back up towards work in Fairfield cause meeting Deb wasn't in the cards today. I then got a call from Lori, whose bunny Baba is still here in recovery from his cancer removal, and her other bunny Bugs seems to have injured his leg and has stopped eating. I went back to her house in Fairfield and ran Bugs down to South Wilton. They have yet to get a hold of us to let us know his condition. We are very, very upset not to have received a phone call tonight on his status. I then went back to work. I did get in my 1/2 hour run/walk that I needed, thankfully, it helps clear the head and I have really been enjoying the endorphin release, it almost counter acts all the sadness at the moment...

I have a bunny here that was brought to me on Friday named Blackberry and she has two huge bulging eyes, like cloudy marbles. Everything that Linda has researched on it sounds as if it's going to be terminal and she's not even a year old. Her owner has 3 children and after we have our vet visit with Dr. Pieper (hopefully tomorrow) I will have to explain to them what is happening to their bunny. Buster and Lilly Emerson were brought here tonight to be re bonded, seem to be doing awesome so far, thankfully. Buster had gone into stasis and the animal hospital won't keep two animals together, so him coming home smelling funny had broke the bond. ARGH!!! They are just as beautiful as ever.

OK, so I let my birds out everyday for playtime. I closed the bottom of the windows and raised the screens so they wouldn't eat through them. I forgot to pull one screens down and left the window open, and now our feral kitty Toby, totally sweet but afraid of people, is missing. I have a Havahart trap set outside with smelly kitty food in it, but I am beside myself this evening, feeling like the most horrible mommy ever. I don't want to go to bed, what if I do trap him and he's outside crying all night, or what if he doesn't come back this way at all? I am so worried!
In the mean-time... We have 5 baby bunnies at the shelter, all under 8 weeks of age that are up for adoption. Bugsy and Mike left for their new homes this past week. Hopefully all will go well with Hannah and she will go live with Snow. I have found a new spot in the top middle of Evie's back that when she is scratched, she arches her back for you and sticks out her tongue. Christine's (Wignug) is still working on Martin and Leenie with Wiggum and Nugget. I am supposed to take all 4 in the next day or so, but don't know what I can do till next week now, with the extra adoptions and bondings, and the ill bunnies - HELP! Her boss has graciously offered us several CPU's (computers) amongst other items, that I will be picking up this week and trying to re-format so that we can sell them to raise funds for the Hollow (probably about $250 each, I have to see what the ram and hard drive space is, etc... when I re-format them to establish the fair price).
We are again at an all time low in our bank account. We currently owe Barnum Animal Hospital over 1,250 dollars and need help with funding or we will have to cancel all of our upcoming spay/neuter appointments, approximately 20 of them. If you can contribute in anyway, you can always call and make a credit card donation to the Hop-A-Long Hollow via phone at 203-378-0687, send a donation to our Pay Pal account at hopalonghollow@aol.com or checks can be made to either Barnum Animal Hospital or the Hop-A-Long Hollow and mailed out to Linda at 1 Woodside Ave, Norwalk, CT 06855. ANY HELP IS MUCH APPRECIATED!

Good night to all, please say a prayer that Toby will come home and that Bugsy and Baba will be OK.

Brandee

Expo at Westchester

Hi Linda,We had a pretty good day. The expo is more education and exposure for the Hollow as opposed to fund raising, although we did take in almost $210. There were so many other rescues there and we are all competing for those donation dollars. We sold just one shirt to a woman who wrote a check for $20. Oh, I found a really good way to get the $ out of the donation jar - a kitchen spatula and it works really well!I called the two people who won the Webkins but were not present and will mail them out on Monday. Peaches, Claudie's hammie that came from to her via the Hollow was a big hit right up front. Greer's *so* mellow bunnies were the best ambassadors to bunny land - we had them in a pen on one side of the booth and they were very friendly for many hours! Greer also walked the aisles with each of the bunnies to drum up interest and visitors. The unnamed Dutch girl (that came from Pet Supplies Plus with two broken back legs) that I've tonight started calling Bit 'o Honey Bunny (also, Lil Bit and Bitty for short) was a perfect show girl - she ate, drank and seemed very relaxed the entire day. She's downstairs now chowing down on greens and I will bring her back tomorrow before my girls get too attached.The names that some folks came up with for Lil Bit were Susan, Cookies & Cream, Sugar, Daphne and maybe one other (G & C, did I miss one?)The cupcakes and other baked goods were a big hit and the source of most of our donations. Hip Hop made an appearance with a balloon attached to her zipper in back, and the info booth guy was very accommodating in announcing our raffles and helped out by mentioning the Hip Hop sightings. Hip Hop even got to share a hug with the Big Red "C" Guy from Commerce Bank, one of the sponsors of the event.At one point in the late afternoon, we blew up some balloons and got a rush of kids. Our next booth neighbors were Wally and Sharon Wall, of all people! We had a special visit from a black and white greyhound girl dog, who was sporting a bonnet, purse, jacket and purple mani/pedi. She was lying down in our booth - it was quite a scene with all of these black and white animals in one place. Pictures will follow when I get a chance to off load them from the camera. I'll stick them up on Dotphoto and send invites to y'all.

Apparently, Mimi Cotter used to attend these up until this year, but didn;t come this year so Sarah, one of the coordinators, was very happy to have us there. Two vendors want to talk to you about setting up the Hollow as a donation site - one is Eric.Gold@ Pawscause.org and the other was Denise Barbolla from www.AngelstoAnimals.com (the email on the site goes directly to her). Both are e-commerce sites selling pet supplies and 100% of the profits are donated to animal causes. You can email them and let them know that they spoke with me today at the Fair and that we want to explore doing reciprocal links with their sites

I'll email Ann shortly to let her know that no ferret organizations were there, except that Sean had one or two, right Claudie? This is that fellow Sean that Brandee got Major from, I think. Greer and Claudie can add their experiences when they get a chance. We were asked if we wanted to attend an adoption day next week in Yonkers (we wouldn't do it) but I think it was nice to be asked and to be included along with the dogs and cats. I think Greer and/or Claudie spoke to a few serious potential adopters, and that's who you may have heard from today - one of those folks.That's all I can think of for now. The table cloths are washed and packed along with the T shirts so they'll be ready back to you tomorrow for the next event.Thanks again Greer and Claudie.Michele

Meriden, Sonia and Toby!! Forgot, read blog below too!!!

Meriden was dumped at the Meriden Humane Society...

Sonia was found running the streets of Ansonia...

Toby's owner became very, very ill...

As of today, all are unaltered, Meriden and Toby had been living on wood shavings, so we need to wait the 6 weeks before altering them (can lead to death under anesthesia!). All sweet and looking for homes!

New Babies, Wild Oats, Westchester EXPO, Wiggum, Nugget, Martin, Leenie, Annabelle, Casper, Benji, Moody, Baba, Major

Today I got up, ran/walked 3 10 minute miles with one of my greatest friends Deb, then went home and got ready to go the Wild Oats Pet Awareness Day in Norwalk. Christine (Wignug) and Michelle L. along with animal lover daughter Madison helped pack up Annabelle, Baba who is temporarily staying with us for surgery rehabilitation, Christine's buns Wiggum and Nugget, and our Leenie and famous amputee Martin to go, along with Baba's "Butt Cart" and pens. We put Wiggum, Nugget, Martin and Leenie in a pen where they spent the 3 hours together. Martin and Leenie went home with Christine today, and if all works out, they may both have a home with almost total free run and so many bunny toys and activities, such as 2 floors of a house and home built stairs with tunnels going through them, they'll never run out of things to do. James, Christine's man, built amazing little play stairs leading into a rabbit home and up to the cage where Chinchilla's Button and Larrie live so they have easy access to the rest of the home.

Mandy at Cottontail Rabbit Rescue of Northford helped us out last month by taking in 3 baby bunnies we had dropped off whose mother had died during birth. She had a lactating mom with 4 babies (cast on the moms leg, and she still did a great job nursing all those babies - part of an abuse case) and we lost one of our babies, but the other two survived. We told Mandy we would take all the boys since she gets a much better spay/neuter cost in her area than we do. She brought them down to be sexed today, and FIVE were boys! The little girl already has a home, so Mandy happily left us 3 boys and took the other two back to her rescue. I want to Thank You Mandy, you and the bunny mom did a great service for us. Unfortunately the mom had already been pregnant again by the time Mandy got her and there are so far 3 more surviving kits that will be looking for homes.

Annabelle, Casper and a West Haven AC drop off Benji, will all be going to a new home with Dr. Poster. Annabelle has been a love and joy and has loved her time running in the back yard with our Shepard, Major. She is somewhat messed in the head we, and our vets, believe due to the people who brought her and Dakota to us putting topical dog medication on them (should have killed them!) and will be more happy living at the farm with the other rabbits in there large indoor/outdoor play area. We will be able to visit, and Annabelle needs the room to run! She was 8.5 pounds at adult size coming in, and has managed to get up to 12.9 at the time of her spay! I believe she is bigger even now! Best of luck to them all! Casper has no great love of people, and Benji seems to be inbred to the point of no return. We will post updates on how they are doing. Thank you Dr. Poster for your kind help and offer to give these guys a wonderful life. I wish that I could pull off what is in the House Rabbit Handbook where all the bunnies live outdoors together in harmony, but I am not equipped to do so. Ahhh, a rescuers dream come true!

Little Miss Moody was to join the above, but is on meds for an upper respiratory at the moment.

We only pulled $37 at Wild Oats, but made contacts that I am certain will come in handy. Don't forget we are at the Westchester County Civic Center this coming weekend for the adoption fair. I am going to try to get down there at some point with the children I nanny for, staying with them next weekend - all older now (7 years at this job this coming month - by the Grace of God! Awesome Family!). I'd like Sean Casey of Sean Casey Animal Rescue in Brooklyn (http://www.scarnyc.org/) to see Major, our Shepard that we got from him, and see how well he is doing! He had severe muscle atrophy when we adopted him, was just getting over pneumonia and sarcoptic mange, had Giardia and a yeast infection in one of his ears. He is BEAUTIFUL and loving, a big dope of a dog, a mommas boy!

We also have the upcoming Bear Fair, our Grand Opening at Petco in Norwalk, and our 3rd Annual Christmas Party, dates to be announced!

Goodnight!

Great Blog From Linda! Many Pet updates!!!

Just wanted to update you all on the little lop eared bunny who was dropped off in the cardboard box on my sidewalk yesterday. She saw Dr. Fahey at South Wilton Vet Group last week and after cutting away some of the matted fur was diagnosed as a female. So please,everyone, meet Rose. Rose is doing far better than expected. She is developing some real mobility in her hind legs and can propel herself across the floor quite quickly though I believe it is very painful for her with the horrible urine scald that covers her entire tummy. Painful or not when I approach with the medications she manages to get away from me rather well! All four of her hocks have severe deep infected sores and the doctor is very concerned about getting them to heal. It will take a long time and a lot of work but I think we can do it. Rose is on antibiotics, pain medication, Critical Care force feedings and cream for her wounded feet and tummy. After she heals a bit I'm going to start with Bag Balm and nu-skin on those poor feet. She is doing well with the stasis issues which I believe were brought on by her inability to get herself to food. Any movement was extremely painful for her with that horrible matted fur tugging at her fire red, burned skin. Thankfully there was no fly strike! She has a long, long way still to go and probably months of treatment but she looks and acts like a different bunny just a week later. I'm thrilled with the progress and feel confident it's going to continue. While initially I expected to have to make the horrible decision about euthanasia I feel pretty certain that is not going to happen! Now, I have a plea. If anyone reading this blog has any information about this bunny please, PLEASE call me on the Hollow number at 203-247-4661. I will not attempt to find out who you are if you are the one who dropped here here. You obviously tried very hard to help her yourself and you did help a lot by getting her here that night. I had the medications she needed and I believe we will be able to return her to relative health. But...some information on her history would be very helpful and only you can provide that. I promise I will do nothing to try to find out who you are unless you decide to tell me.Our splay legged bunny boy, Tennessee Jed was neutered last week along with Martin the little amputee bun and every one's favorite bunny Zippy. All did well and will be returning home tomorrow. When Jed's hormone levels drop and he is ready for a friend we will be adopting Rose to be his bond mate. I believe with Jed's spunky attitude he will inspire Rose to great goals like raiding the garbage can together with our dog Jessie!

A few months ago Rain was adopted into a loving family and yesterday I was delighted to get this update. How exciting. Rain is perfect for the job! Amanda writes....We have come to call Rain - Eeyore because of her beautiful coloring and her docile temperament. We think it fits her perfectly! And I thought you would be pleased to know that Eeyore is starting her certification to become a therapy bunny. I have been wanting to get involved with that for quite some time, and our three dogs and 2 cats aren't up for the job. When I found the Delta Society, I became informed that they register rabbits, guinea pigs, llamas and birds, as well as many other domesticated species, in addition to dogs and cats. And since Eeyore is one of the sweetest, calmest rabbits I have ever met, I thought she would be perfect, and she could touch a lot of hearts and improve the quality of a lot of people's lives. My little sister will be joining the team when she turns 16. We are very excited!



Guy & Christine who some time ago adopted the Flemish "Gentle Giant" and a beautiful big beautiful tan bunny named "Bambi" have moved to South Carolina. Christine writes about the journey...
All the babies fit in the van amazingly enough, 13 cats, 4 rabbits, 4 chinchillas, 2 mice, 4 rescue birds, and Guy and I..............and MrBiggs the dog. I was so scared they would not make the 13 hour drive, but all were well and in better condition than we were, we had told the house owners we had pets and they didn't know how many but the eyes got wider and wider as we took them out I wanted to put them in the barn till settlement but he would not hear of it, animal lovers, you cant beat them! We have 3 acres surrounded by cornfields and a neighbour half a mile away it suits me to a tee. What a journey Christine! Congratulations on your new home! Our best to you and yours in your new home and with your wildlife rehab!



A great note from Greer who adopted Elvis last month as a friend for Gussie......

Shadow is up for adoption if anyone has it in their heart to adopt a very healthy old timer kitty! Let me just explain the picture first off, I did not get one when all five animals were in the cage nestled together, but God I wish I had. These animals just amaze me, no care for the fact that something isn't their species, simply a nice warm belly to sleep on. Everyone is doing well, I have to bring Shadow to the vet tomorrow however and get the Soft Claw caps cut off because for some reason he isn't shedding his nails like my other two do and they are getting so long that they are starting to grow into his paw pads and I can't clip them through the caps. As for Gussie and Elvis, they spend much time exploring and cuddling in their cardboard condo, still having trouble keeping Elvis out of the cat's litter box, he likes digging, I guess it could be worse, he manages to get into some of the most obscure uncomfortable looking positions when he sleeps legs sticking out all over the place, absolutely hilarious, and they are beginning to share their food better, Gussie now goes up to the bowl as soon as I put it in and they do the whole Lady and Tramp spaghetti thing but with celery sticks instead, adorable! Oh and I included a pic of shadow, even though I know you don't know him, but to see him the way he is now compared to the poor terrified and terrorized animal he was when he came to me 4 months ago, it is like a miracle, you would never know it was the same cat.