Lionheads looking for homes/A very nice donation...

I got two letters in my mailbox today at my home address. One freaked me out a bit, and one made my day... The first letter I opened was someone looking to place 9 lionheads, so of course with it coming to my home address I figured soon there would be a box of bunnies on my front lawn. I spoke to the owner and he is totally responsible and looking for help, he wants to make sure the bunnies are taken care of now and not wait till last minute. I would totally adopt out to this family. With the possibility that we all have of losing our homes right now with the economy the way it is, once I spoke with him, I felt so much happier about helping out. They had bought two bunnies (miss-sexed of course) from the Milford mall pet store. Honestly, I don't even shop at the Milford mall because this pet store is there... His bunnies had a litter and the pet store took them back. He wants us to come over, which I'm doing tomorrow, sex the bunnies properly, and find them homes. I was so totally impressed with my conversation, unlike the one I had a couple of weeks ago with the woman ranting and raving she was going to report us to the police because she had a bunny to donate and we had no room. I don't understand why people assume because we do rescue that we HAVE to help them. The man I spoke with today, I am so happy to help out. So tomorrow I will go and sex what he has told us are Lionheads, and place them out accordingly, of course with the CT Humane Society once again there to help us out (Thank you HS and Allyson!).
The second letter I got was from a man who came by with his wife this weekend looking to place their two standard gray female chinchilla's. It was the nicest note with a donation of $200 stating that if we didn't place them soon, he'd send further funds as he didn't expect us to take on the financial burden. It was so nice, my day ended on a good note! Thank you to the family! I'm tired (took a nap with my 8 month old today for about 1 1/2 hours not meaning too, but it just happened) and Linda's daughter Chelsea is due any day now, so all hell is about to break loose at their home, in a very good way, but still a very busy way. We have 2 Petco dates coming up in Milford on the 4th and in Norwalk on the 11th, the Easter Bunny will be at both, and nail-clippings for a $10 donation per rabbit from 11a.m. to 1 p.m. on both days will also be available, I also do ferret and Guinea Pig nails too in case anyone needs it! Addison (Addie) is still hanging in there, and so is her hind leg that will either be removed or fall off, and there is a LOT of pet sitting going on this month a long with several bondings. Well, I could write a book tonight, I'm sure, but too tired. We have 4 chins and 11 rats, a long with the very, very many rabbits all looking for homes. Nora has still been coming over to work with the rats, Christine has offered to help with the chins here, and ALI AND LUMAR GOT THEIR OWN PLACE THIS WEEK!!!! Yeah for you guys!!! We also have a degu up for adoption, if anyone has degu's that this one could even live next too for communication, that would be great. Mandy at Cottontail Rabbit Rescue also has several females if anyone is looking for a friend for their male. I'm here to do bondings, abuse me over it!!! Get your bun a friend! Brandee

Bugsy Passes/New Chins come in

We lost Bugsy on Thursday morning. I went down to give him meds and he was mouth-breathing, so I made the decision to take him in and have him put down, as neither Linda nor myself have ever seen a rabbit come back from that point. I packed Bugs and his bond-mate Moody in the carrier to go to vet, and Bugsy died on the way there. We got a room when we got there (thank you Barnum Animal Hospital) so Moody had a chance to say good-bye. It was sad to see her nudge him and climb on him, but all was done and we went to the Hollow to pick up Popeye (who came in smelling of urine, way over-grown nails and a tiny cage). I put him next to Moody and will try bonding them next week. I just tried bonding Leo the Lion-head and Bandita, and hopefully all goes well, they went home yesterday, we'll hope that it sticks, they are so darn cute together! Heather who was adopted a few weeks ago, may be coming back. She's being a brat to the pre-existing house bunny. Today I had a pair of 6 year old female standard gray chinchilla's dropped off, and Nora who has been coming to work with our rats, took home two babies to foster (though I bet she keeps them!). We had a GP adopted last week, and another that we have here, a black and white male who is sweet as can be that is looking for a home. We'll see what pictures I can manage this week - right?? OK, Katie and I are going to watch Mama-Mia, it's nearly her bed-time. Brandee

Addison's leg...

Ok, I am actually blogging two days in a row - messed up, but I have to share. Addie went to South Wilton today for another check up on her leg, and again had her amputation surgery postponed. She's doing awesome now, and the doctor seems to think that I may just mosey on into my kitchen one morning and find the leg has fallen off on it's own! Eeeeeeewwwwwww! As far as Addie goes, it's not bothering her, she's in no pain, and it would be better for her than putting the little 1 1/2 pounder through the surgery. She's still on Metacam, Baytril and Pen-G shots, and she is just doing great, she's actually following me in the kitchen now (she' knows where the lettuce is) and I'm so worried I'll step on her, she's the same size as Major's (our Shepard) toys! I have to watch out for her when Katie is in her walker zooming around too. We are making it work. Such good news after the loss of Oliver Chin. Bugsy on the other hand, I had to express his bladder again today, gave more fluids, and he's being force-fed now. He's just like Fuzz-butt, just lying there, only Fuzz is eating on his own. I'm keeping him with Moody, his bond mate, during the day so he doesn't get depressed, and putting him in a cage next to her pen at night so they can stay together. I hate this, this thought that every time I go see him he might be gone... Brandee

Hello's and Goodbyes

First, I want to thank you Ali for taking over and helping with the blog since I've been nutso and too busy to even feed myself! I want to also thank Ali and Christine for helping out at the Petco Fundraiser in Milford (which didn't raise much, but we still got to talk to people!) and for just constantly helping the Hollow. Today was a crappy day as far as things go. We took in a chinchilla named Oliver a few weeks ago that was misdiagnosed with a neck tumor, and after hearing he had been bought twice and brought back due to fighting, I was positive it was a neck abscess. I took him in to Dr. Pieper at Barnum Animal Hospital (who rocks!) and he drained the abscess and sent him home with meds, then when Christine (who wanted to adopt Oliver aka. Spooks) came by on Friday, we noticed a little drooling from him and also another lump that had come up on the right jaw. This time it was an abscess due to a poor diet and miss-aligned teeth, his teeth were white instead of the orange-red that a healthy chin (or Degu) should display. He went in again on Saturday morning for another surgery, he had a bad tooth that was going to need to be pulled, and things looked like they might go septic. We had full hope of him pulling through. I had him on Baytril and Metcam, and force fed him Critical Care last night. I went down at 6:30 this morning to give him and Bugsy (a bun that just lost a lot of use of his hind legs) their meds, and Oliver was dead. I am so upset, he had a possible awesome home with Christine if he had gotten better and gotten along with her totally layed back chins. It just sucks. Now Bugsy is not only having hind-leg weakness, but his front legs are splaying. He had fluids tonight, and he's on Metacam, Baytril, and Reglan. I had to express his bladder last night because he's not peeing on his own. He's not attacking his pellets like he usually does. He's in a crate next to his bond-mate Moody tonight so I can see if he uses the bathroom, but the are close enough to nose each other. I hate to separate them, but it has to be done to see what he is producing. On a good note, Addie, the bunny from one of the Easton dumps that I didn't even think was going to make it throught the first night, is doing amazingly well, one of her hind legs seems to be regenerating, so she will probably only have to have the one hind leg removed, and after having Martin's removed, I have high hopes, he was so much happier not dragging that dead leg around. Animals don't get depressed about appendages being removed like people do, they cope and make up for it. Addie is also going all over the place now, and constantly following me around the kitchen, especially if I'm opening the fridge, she knows that's where the goodies are. It's been a long, long weekend for both Linda and I, and we need a couple of quiet days. I currently have a very sweet black and white Guinea Pig and 2 white male chins up for adoption, and also a Degu here that rocks and they are all up for adoption. I also have the 11 rats that Nora has been coming over to work with to make sure they are socialized when going to new homes, 4 males and 7 females (I want them to atleast go in pairs! OK... Done and going to bed. Thanks everyone... Brandee p.s. Pictures should follow...

It's been a while....

So, April ended up coming back to us. The poor girl couldn't handle her, brought her back and went and got a cat instead. Her second choice had been Duke, who got adopted the week after, and he came back to us yesterday as well for being a handful. So I guess no matter which bunny poor Carrie adopted, she was going to have a hard time. Rabbits just aren't for everybody!

A friend of mine from work called me on Saturday and said his little lop girl wasn't eating. Of course, he failed to call me at the first sign of stasis like I had warned him and instead called me after she had not eaten in 36 hours. I told him to get to South Wilton ASAP - a few hours later he called me back to tell me she was dead...he never even made it to the vet because he didn't have a car. I feel horrible for him because he's my friend and I know what he's going through...but at the same time I am nothing short of outraged. When my first bunny, Tess, died from stasis I didn't know any better...I didn't know what to look for. I gave him all of the warning signs and told him to call me if he ever noticed anything.... I'm just suffering from mixed emotions.

We did get an email from the family that adopted our English Lop, Trouble. Of course, he is doing what he does best...making noise, rearranging his furniture and dishes, and climbing things like a cat!

We've also had some adoptions: Joy, Dusty & Jordan, and Sable & Cinnamon have all gone to a (hopefully) forever home! There was a family that was supposed to come yesterday that was interested in a bonded pair but she rescheduled so hopefully sometime within the next two weeks we can get another pair out of the shelter!

We had our first fundraiser of the season at Petco in Milford last Saturday. It wasn't very productive funding wise, but we had a lot of visitors and Dixie (my brother's flemish who joined me for the day) was quite well behaved. I will try to post pictures of her later if I remember....

TTFN!
Ali