Pet Supplies Plus, Lefty, Smudge, Pikachu, Sasha, Busy

I have been so insanely busy that I haven't written in days. I was on the phone again with Pet Supplies Plus, here is the out come of that:


I just got off the phone with Pet Supplies Plus (small animal franchise) Westport, CT location Owner Per (pronounced Pair). Last week when I had spoken with him and he was very nice and co-operative, this week he was very ill tempered with me. They had a rabbit that died two weeks ago and I had called inquiring about it at the store. The manager Billy was very rude to me and hung up on me after I said I was going to call and speak with the vet they used to see what the diagnosis was and he left the conversation saying "Whatever." When I called him right back, he said when he said "whatever" he was talking to someone else and hung up on me because he thought we were done talking. I told him I thought he was a poor manager to deal with a complaint in this way. I called their main office and spoke with Per and we were in talks on how we could go in, sacrifice our time, and help educate the store employees about proper rabbit care and signs to watch for illness. Well, it's another week, and another rabbit has died. There were supposedly 4 that came in together and I was concerned about contagion. I called Per again today to see if we could get this rabbit education thing moving and Per was very rude to me telling me that I am taking things to personally, that there are children dying in Bridgeport because they are malnourished and why do I care about a rabbit (don't ask me where that came from, but if he really feels that way, maybe they should stop selling rabbits and start helping children!). I was very calm about it. He had also said "What do you want me to do? Give you all the rabbits?" I asked what that would solve. Like I need more rabbits in the shelter! He hung up on me after telling me to stay out of his stores and that I had no business talking to their vet. A little touchy for some reason? I was very nice (my husband was here listening the whole time). I also spoke to someone today that I shall not mention, but she can jump in if she wants, who told me that instead of taking small animals in to be euthanized that they are putting them in containers of alcohol and letting them die from breathing in the fumes. Since their phones conveniently keep hanging up on me, I guess I will approach this another way. This was their Westport CT store. The store managers names are Billy and Ray and the number at that store is 203-254-0008.

Unable to comprehend,
Brandee
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Well, that as they say is that. The owner Per called to apologize (I had called and left a message after being hung up and apologized that I made him so upset he felt the need to hang up) and he, like the manager Billy, said he didn't hang up on me. Well, I guess at PSP they have a convenient way of having the phone drop or hang up at a particular moment in a conversation... I have contacted many organizations. This is going to be pursued. If you don't care enough to speak with people in regards to the animal care (and I was offering to help - keep in mind) then I don't feel your heart is going to be in the right place to take care of the animals.

Lefty and Smudge left for their new home today and Pikachu and Sasha leave for their new home on Monday! The trio of babies left yesterday to go to live at the Hollow in Norwalk for a while. Visit some of our videos in the video section of http://www.hopalonghollow.org/.

Did I mention how pleased we are with the Petco, Norwalk location right now? They have done a wonderful job with their store, it's just great! I really like the new manager too!

I have Susie downstairs cleaning with her mom tonight. It feels very strange to take a night off and be sitting here blogging on the computer as someone else is taking care of the rabbits, someone else who cares. Thank you Susie and Mom! Each time Susie comes, it's the sweetest thing to hear the "Ooohhhh's" coming from the basement as the bunnies run loose and she plays with them, oh, and Sus- you have a great laugh!

OK, I know that there is more, much more that I haven't written about lately, like the girl I nanny for and love that doesn't need me anymore has full-blown mononucleosis, and the girls I use to nanny for had to put their bunny to sleep last night. It's just another one of those weeks, and I know we all go through them, but today.... Wow. Smallville was good tonight though, ok Great, right? How cool would it be to find some actors or actresses that were so into helping animals that they would come and help us? Dreams...

B~

Ivan, Lorraine Warren, adoptions, Pet Supplies Plus

Hey! OMIGOSH! I spoke with the legendary Lorraine Warren tonight! I can't tell you what a high that was to me! Anyone who doesn't know the "Warrens" is so not from New England. You can visit their web-site at http://www.warrens.net/. I won't go into the reasons why we spoke, but just know that I was VERY THRILLED to speak with her and she was as nice as everyone has ever said. OK, I will be excited about speaking with her for the rest of my life!

Ivan is doing OK, still hanging in the other direction now and he HATES his ear drops, they throw him off balance when he is trying to shake them out and it is kind of sad to watch, but if the ear drops work, it will all be worth it.

We have several hopeful adoptions this weekend for possibly Butterscotch or Thistle, Indie, Parsley and a few others. They are all wonderful rabbits and wonderful sounding homes. Wish them luck!

I spoke with someone at Pet Supplies Plus today. I had a couple of phone calls regarding a sick Lionhead Rabbit and wanted to see if maybe they would let me have the rabbit to take care of. One of our supporters called and told me that the bunny was very sick last week and they were trying to "give it away" for $20. I called and questioned the manager at the Westport store today (Billy) and was told it was taken care of. I assumed this meant someone bought it or took it home and when I asked about what vet they used they told me, I said I would call that vet and see what the condition was and the manager said "whatever" and hung up on me. The vet told me that a bunny had died earlier this week. When I called back to PSP to ask why he was rude and hung up on me, he said he wasn't talking to me and that he thought our conversation was over... OK. I left a message with Nancy Jarvis, our state animal control officer, and spoke to someone at the main office. They seemed interested to please and said they would be wiling to let me come in and do a seminar type event to train them in rabbit care. OK, I know that they aren't going to stop selling rabbits any time soon (and unfortunately they are using "Fish-Mart" out of New Haven which I have seen many ill animals and pregnant animals come in from) but if we can at least help educate, I will be happy, I guess.

Petco in Norwalk has been looking amazing! We are going to enjoy working with them on rabbit adoptions. Stratford Petco (always looks clean) was a nice dealing today as I went to pick up Superworms for the Beardeds that are here until they are adopted. I really look forward to seeing what will happen in working with Petco in the future. Will keep you posted!

Brandee :o)

Ivan, Petco Conference

Ok, well, we saw Dr. Pieper yesterday, Ivan and myself that is. Ivan's head is tilting the other way. What is happening apparently is that the brain stem ends around the ears and the abscess has gone from one side and kind of flopped over the brain stem to the other side. Ivan is still on his chloramphenicol (haven't missed a dose yet!), and now on ear drops that are irritating to him, boy is he trying to shake them out! He also had another mild shot of steroids. He hasn't completely flipped, and isn't out of the clear, like I said in my previous blogs. We can only see what is really going on with an MRI, and we just can't afford it right now (I think it runs 500-1200, can't remember, but it's very expensive) so we will just keep doing what we can right now, and it has definitely shown progress. He is hopping around my house like a crazy man still. We live in a center-staired cape so he keeps running in circles around the main staircase... Living room, computer room, hall and than all over again. He's making up for loss time I guess.

Linda and I had a conference call with Petco today re: Rabbits coming into the New England locations. We are very upset about the sale of rabbits in these stores, and they are looking at it as keeping up with local markets. We also spoke with a woman, I'm not putting names. I had a bunch of rabbit questions I asked that weren't answered to our satisfaction and we are looking forward to speaking to their District Animal Care Trainer to see what information he has to offer up on rabbit care. The DM is working on it (we understand it all goes back to Corporate), trying to get us answers and trying to see what he can do to keep everyone happy. I don't envy his job, especially having to deal with people like me that will never, ever understand the sale of animals in stores when there are thousands looking for homes. He let us know that they are working on other ideas, but we are not at liberty to say what those are at the moment as we gave our word. I guess we'll just sit back and see how things unfold for now. It's very upsetting, very heart wrenching to me, but we will stand by both our word, and by our goals to helping these animals find homes.

Please don't forget that we have 2 dates at Petco coming up for adoptions and donations. We will be at the Norwalk location on the 10th and the 24th from 10-4pm. Come and bring your family to see the Easter Bunny and have your picture taken!

Good night, and say a prayer for Ivan!
Brandee

Ivan tilts the other way, Raven, JD, Petco, Hip Hop

This is so messed up, and please believe we will get an appointment with Dr. Pieper in the next week, but Ivan's head is starting to tilt a bit the opposite way. He is still hopping all over the place, and is trying to mount our old Lab Mix, JD, who keeps doing an angry bark when the bunny climbs on him. It's kind of funny, in a silly sort of way. I can't imagine what would make his head start going the other way, maybe his neck muscles finally getting use and he is getting tired or lazy, but we will go see Dr. P to see what is up. As I stated before, yes, it is a miracle to me and others that have seen his progress, but I am still not getting my hopes up that this will be cured. I am curious as to what this is. Hope all is well and everyone has checked out our YouTube videos through the web-site. There are so many very cute videos, but I think the "Flash, Zippy and Thunder" is my favorite after watching the little wacky Flash flip over so many times like a chinchilla rolling in the dust!

I took Raven down to our Norwalk location today. Omigoodness, the birds are having their last wind tonight, I keep waiting for Chris to say to throw the blanket over them, but he doesn't seem to be bothered by them yet. The bearded dragons are doing well, hopefully we will have them adopted out soon

Look for us at Petco on the next two dates at the Norwalk location, and the Easter Bunny's friend Hip Hop will be there too!

Good Night!
Brandee

Black Bear Hamster: Claudie's Blog NYHH

Hi Brandee and Everyone,

The 5 adorable Black Bear hamsters I picked up at The Hollow on Sat. turned out to be two girls and two boys and Mom. I could see how they were not easy to esx as the boys are not, ahem, as well-endowed in the testicular department as they get when they are fully adults, and one of them is that teeny tiny "runt" (SO CUTE!) -- I am hoping that this means that they are too young to have made any of the females pregnant! At any rate, I have the boys in a separate cage than the girls. Though eventually they will need to live solitarily (a characteristic of adult Syrian hamsters), they are now still snuggling together and not fighting. However, if they show any signs of starting to fight, fortunately, I still have Ella's cages (from the Ghent Great Hamster Caper:-)) into which I can move them. And I will be bringing them to the wonderful Jessica Wells (www.nyhh.org) who will have them up for adoption (she tells me that she's had several requests for Syrians), though I may keep the little runt, depending on his health and well-being -- I am hoping that he is just unusually small but not "genetically challenged" in any other way.Best,
Claudie (The Hamster Whisperer:-))

Raven, Parsley, Hamster, Gerbils

Raven came in today, she's a beautiful black lop with very soft fur, about 3-4 lbs, fully grown. She was bought by a couple for their spoiled child and of course, one again, the child, OK, a teenager, lost interest. They were moving an planning on releasing her, their neighbor took her until they could find a place for her to go. She's about 1 year old.

Parsley is running in the living room now, a place she has never come into before due to the hardwood floors, but just to torture Ivan. She is in his litter box right now chinning everything. It's actually cute, as long as no fur flies! She's just being a beastie girl! She is such a great bunny, I fell asleep with her on our bed 2 times last week, she just hops off to her litter box and takes care of herself, clean and happy and healthy.

Julie took in 4 or5 gerbils for us, all solid black and we believe males, that are looking for homes, Claudie took in 5 black hamsters (we believe all females) that are very sweet, also looking for homes. OK, gonna go to bed. I know there is more, but my mind is wondering, again!

Storm, Steven, Mikey Fitch, Marley Dies, Pumpkin, Funding

Well, it has been a busy couple of months to say the least. Stormy, Mikey Fitch and Steven all got neutered on Tuesday, all seem like they are unphased by the whole ordeal. Once Shaylah is spayed, I will try bonding her with Steven since they were caught together and I feel they should be together. Ivan is still the ever running mad-man, Parsley is still doing great living on the main floor, and Hermione is well too! We have just hit an all time low in the bank account with all the guys being treated including Pumpkin who seems to possibly have cerebral damage that will not ever go away do to his EC coming in. He is doing well living in Chelsea's apartment and having run time not to mention a baby play pen! Too Funny! Claire and Cadbury are in the bonding process and Holly has come back do to allergies. I hate to leave this blog on a sad note tonight, but Hendrix who was adopted and bonded to Rabbit Allies bunny Tonka has passed away. He was young and beautiful, a black mini-lop, and we all grieve for his loss.

A note from Linda, our President:

Hi All: This time I have some very sad news on Hendrix. I just received a letter from his adoptive mom and was expecting to find a happy update. Instead I learned Hendrix died. Here is the letter she wrote.
Dear Linda,

It has taken me this long to write you because I didn't want to make you sad. Unfortunately about three weeks ago our little Hendrix passed away. We have no idea what happened but after Hendrix passed Tonka started to display some symptoms of an upper respiratory (sneezing and grunting and bad mood) and we started him on the Baytril right away and he seems to be doing remarkably well on it.

We put the boys in their cages one night and Burke said Hendrix sounded gurgly. Your vet and ours said he was fine but apparently there was something underlying that no one could detect. When we woke up in the morning he was gone. I hope you don't mind but we are using the Baytril you gave us on our boy Tonka. I was so afraid we were going to lose him too, he is such a gem. But I haven't heard a gurgle or grunt out of him in 4 days. I am so sorry to have to tell you about Hendrix but I thought you should know, I feel awful. At least he finally got a home of his own and got to run and binky in our apartment and get treated like a king. It was just really hard to lose another bun after what happend to our little Nicky. Hendrix just seemed like he was sick from the beginning and there was nothing that could help him. I am so sorry to have to tell you this news I know you loved him too. If you need to talk about it please feel free to call or write.

With sadness,

Stacey, Burke, and Tonka

I am thinking that he had the same thing that so many of the bunnies had in the shelter but the vets (ours and hers) both missed it and he was not treated with the Zithromax. Apparently it went into pneumonia. How heartbreaking that such a sweet,young bunny is gone. I am writing her now to tell her to use Zithromax on Tonka to be safe.