Rabbits, rabbit everywhere!

It has been a busy time in rescue lately. Sadly, homing is going slowly, but we still have a very long waiting list of animals that need our help. Rabbits are generally underestimated and misunderstood animals, the common sinearo is someone sees a cute baby bunny in the pet shop and buys them a small hutch to live in. For the next few weeks, that little bun is cuddled every day, but the novelty soon wears off. It begins to rain and people don't want to go outside to clean her out. Soon that little bun is a fully grown girl and guess what... her hormones have kicked in and now she bites. The people are desperate to get rid of her, so she comes to us.

We have a few long termers in the rescue recently. We had a large group of rabbits come to us as the owners were moving out and couldn't take the rabbits with them, so they were left behind. We had three single females and a trio arrive. One of the females - Honey - found a home fairly quickly with a gorgeous little Nethie for companionship. Speckle - another single female went to a new home this weekend. She is being paired with a neutered male and all is going well so far! This means that we still have Lola - a single female, as well as the trio - Debs, Rita and Aster looking for a home.

Lola is looking for a home with a neutered male rabbit for company.

Rita, Debs and Aster need a home together.

Working in rescue, you notice which animals are likely to be with you for a while - this is for a variety of reasons - such as age, colour and if the rabbits are to be kept in a trio. The internet is a fantastic place as it allows us to reach so many people, however the majority of homes we get are from the internet, where the first thing people notice is the photo.It sounds sad, but rabbits of a certain colour, such as dutch, agouti, P/REWS and black rabbits are usually with us for longer. It doesn't matter if these rabbits have a flawless temprament and are the sweetest rabbits you have ever seen, if they fit the above description they will probably be with us for some time. We are non-destruct, which means we would never put an animal down, unless it had a medical condition where it was suffering and nothing the vet could do could help. Any animal in our care is safe with us for life - however, the ultimate goal is to find them a home.

This brings me on to our next rabbits - Zoot and Blaise. These two have come to us as their owners are emegrating to Australia. They have the most wonderful personalities, and always come to say hello to me when I go to see them. As they are older rabbits (Zoot is 6 years and Blaise is 4 years) and they are agouti and brown, they are likely to be here for a while. They are fantastic rabbits and no less deserving of a home, so we are hoping their new owners see this soon!

Zoot and Blaise are so friendly, but likely to be with us for a long time.

We have more good news - Liberty (a 6 month old dutch rabbit) found a new home this weekend. She came to us as her previous owner was moving back to America. She is being bonded with her new partner and all is going well. Liberty has been renamed Libby and now lives in a huge converted shed.

Two gorgeous lion head brother arrived a couple of weeks ago all the way from Ireland. Simba and Smoke were going to be set free in the local park as the children got bored. We work closely with Irish rescues heard about these boys - how could we say no!

Simba and Smoke need a home together.

Some of you who have been following us on Facebook may know about Simon. For those of you that don't know who he is - Simon is a Netherland Dwarf who came to us last year as his previous owner inherited her mother's cat and no longer had time for him. He came with another Nethie called Peggy (they arrived as single rabbits), and Peggy found a home fairly quickly. It was a different matter for Simon as he has needed a lot of vet treatment. Simon's teeth were in a terrible way when he arrived. Our vet has tried to cut his teeth so they grew straight, however they kept growing the wrong way and the top teeth didn't appear to be growing at all. Our vets have now removed his top and bottom front teeth and the teeth were very twisted so it had to be done.Sadly, his top teeth have grown back twice now, so he will have to go back to the vets soon. He has the most wonderful personality, and is such a happy little soul. Although Simon is costing the rescue a lot of money, we will do all we can for him and will not give up on an animal just because treatment is expensive.

Our golden-plated Simon!

At the weekend, we will be welcoming a new rabbit into the rescue. This poor lad has spent the last 2 years confined to a hutch in a shed - he has not felt the sun on his back or grass underneath his feet. He has been given a bowl of food once a week, so I am not sure what to expect when he arrives. He was meant to come to us a week ago, however the owners went away on holiday and said it would be too much hassle to get him to us. I shall update when he arrives!


Don't forget to like us on facebook - www.facebook.com/animalrescue2 to keep up to date with all the news!

7th May 2012

This week seems to have been a week for ferrets. At this time of the year last years male kits (babies) are starting to mature and get their infamous musky smell. The answer to this problem is to get them castrated. This reduces the smell dramatically and also calms them down and allows them to live happily with other ferrets.
Unfortunately the answer to many is to release them into the wild.
This is a very cruel act as ferrets cannot survive in the wild and if they do not find an understanding human (and they do go looking for them) they will end up dying a slow death of starvation.
This seems to be what happened to Freddie the sable (also known as polecat colour) ferret who was found in dense woodland. Not only was he exremely thin and had clearly been without food for a long while, but he was also covered in hundreds of fleas and had about 400 tiny ticks all over his body. He must have been extremely uncomfortable, but luckily fell into the hands of the right person. Freddie was handed into my vets who treated him for the parasites all over his body (including in between his toes, deep into his ear canals and in lines round his mouth) and asked us to take him in. Even though he was in a terrible state the law states that should an owner come forward then they would have legal rights to him so we had to wait 7 days to see if someone tried to claim him. As we thought and as is the case with most ferrets, no owner came forward and he will be castrated within the next couple of weeks once he has gained enough weight to make the operation safe.

The following day we were asked to take a further 2 from the RSPCA who had both been handed into them after being found wandering about. One was found with a collar and bell on and I have since found out that this is a way that people who work their ferrets (send the rabbit holes to flush rabbits out) ensure not to lose their ferrets - clearly this method works well being that he was lost.
Once again neither owner came forward within their 7 days and they found themselves in need of a rescue space.
Many strays that are found are previously working ferrets (not something that we agree with here) but because they are disposable, once lost they are quickly replaced and the previous ferret is never thought about again.

We had yet another loss...this time a doe rat who had arrived here pregnant along with her sister. They were being bred by a man who fed their newborn babies to his tarantulas. He was sent to prison and hence we were asked to take all his animals which included tanks full of rats, three baby ferrets, some tarantualas and a gecko, all living in completely unsuitable accomodation and all starving. Happily all animals were rescued in time and all survived. The exotics were networked to DWARF reptile rescue in Essex who were able to care for their needs.
This girl was a great mum but due to severe interbreeding, all rats involved had terrible heart problems. Many of the babies died far too young and the mum died of heart failure just two days before going to her new home.
Her sister has now intergrated in with a new group of does with an understanding owner who knows that her time is short and to make the most of whatever time she has left. Because we took all the rats, this terrible genetic line has been stopped now.

The next day saw the arrival of a terrapin that was unwanted because it had outgrown its tank. For 3 years he had sat in the same 2 foot tank with just about enough water for him to sit in. The owners became unhappy with his care and decided to hand him into rescue on humane grounds as he was still continuing to grow. He has now joined my own two terrapins in our heated free swim outdoor terrpain pond and will wait until we have enough of a group to send him off to our terrapin rescue contact.

A few months back we had a large group of rats bought to us who had been bred out of control. We were lucky in this case when only one of the females produced a litter. A couple miscarried at the stress of the move, but this one girl gave birth to seven babies - two girls and five boys. Homing has been going well for them and the five baby boys got a new home with a tiny baby boy who was bought from a local pet shop by a lady who did not want to see him spend the rest of his life on his own. Considering he was so much younger than the five boys (9 weeks old when they left us) he had no idea what another rat was and was so scared initially thathe took a flying leap of fear when coming face to face with someone of his own kind onto his mums shoulder and sat shaking like a leaf. The five babies from here were very gentle and totally non-aggressive and by the time the tiny baby boy had finished HE was trying to push them around! Luckily things have settled down now and all have bonded into a nice little group.
Today their mum and aunty also found a home to go and join another two rescue girls so we just have two elderly boys left looking for a home now from that group. The people who adopted these ladies were shocked at how lovely they were as they had assumed that all rescue rats had problems and bit. These girls are lovely and hopefully they will take a new view on rescue animals from now on!

The next bit of news is a new arrival. Floofy arrived on Sunday morning at 2am after being rescued from the streets of Romania. In Romania it is common for the authorities to poison the stray dogs that roam about and they use Strychnine Poisoning which ends the animals life very painfully and violently.
Floofy was very lucky and will be looking for a loving home very soon and although we do not routinely take dogs from abroad, this was asked of us by a long term supporter of Furry Friends and he is now safe in our rescue network for the rest of his life.
The travelling for Floofy was not easy and the people getting him to us were faced with many problems. Five days of constant travel for the dogs and the people helping them and although all concerned were exhausted at the end of it, everybody is now where they should be.

Floofy - new into rescue

Today has seen two of our chinchillas find a new home. The children in the family got bored of caring for them and for anybody who does good research into the animal they are taking on, they would find out that chinchillas can live for up to 20 years! They are very much a long term commitment and certainly not an animal to be taken on as a whim. Pets should never be given to children and any animal taken on is the adults responsibility and the blame should not be put on the childrens shoulders when giving up an animal.

Both were castrated on arrival to prevent fighting as they got older and they have now gone to live with another chinchilla who recently lost his friend. They will be bonded slowly over a period of time by the new owner.

We also saw a group of male guinea pigs go to a new home. They were dumped on the rescue from the same people who gave us their chinchillas. We originally agreed to take three baby male guineas, but she turned up with seven boys! There was no way we could turn them away, so they were all neutered and safe with us. The older boys went to live with a lovely family, and the three younger boys should be ready for neutering next week. They will then be ready to find a new home together.

Honey the rabbit found new home as well. She was left behind (with a few other rabbits who we now have) when the owners moved out. Honey was bonded with a very sweet neutered Netherland Dwarf rabbit and it was love at first sight!

1st May 2012

Lots of sadness in rescue this week after Doofus (mentioned in the last blog) lost his fight.
Both humans and canines both battled hard with the illness that he had.
We tried everything possible to help this boy including a plasma transfusion to replace the nutrients in his blood and changing his medication to try and fight the infection, but on Saturday morning myself and Anna were called to the vets at about 2am as he had gone into respiritory failure. The infection on his chest had spread round his body and he was dying.
We both stayed with him as he was put to sleep. He was only a puppy and this was something that could have been avoided should his previous owner acted responsibly and had taken him to the vets when he had first got a chest infection. A simple course of antibiotics and our boy would still be with us.
RIP Doofus. 

Other news over the last couple of days include a ferret recently being adopted being returned just a few days later. Introducing small animals to a new home, new surroundings and new people can be a frightening experience for them. This boy was confident here and knew that we were not going to hurt him. On getting home he was introduced to four strangers all at the same time who then proceeded to try and play with him as they did the other two resident ferrets. He acted out character and bit one of them and of course that sealed his fate that he had to come back again. These things need to be done over time - the size of a human compared to the size of a ferret is big and they will protect themselves if they feel threatened. The claim from the adoptive owner that he did it '...for no reason' was wrong. There is always a reason and it is normally down to human error.

On the other hand, two other male ferrets did find their home together and so far, even though one is pushing his luck a bit (he is a youngster and so will try it on at this stage to see how far he can go), the owner is working with him to try and stop this habit.

Two of our dogs found their new homes too...

Bella the American Bulldog has now gone to live with a family and another American Bulldog. She is quite hard work being that she is young and bouncy, but she is just a baby and will learn some good lessons now. She arrived with us due to a family breakup so her reason for coming into rescue was through no fault of her own.
Dino our Minature Pinscher who was handed into us by our vets who was taken in to be put to sleep for growling at the new baby also found his place in a new pack - his owner adopted a Yorkie x Cairn about a year ago from us and has no children and no visiting children.
Dino has been unsocialised and if you treat a dog like a baby then it will act like a brat when the time is right. This is how Dino was brought up and when he acted out of instinct, he nearly lost his life.
All is going well and I highly doubt that we will ever see him again in rescue!

Betty the Staffie x Boxer came back into rescue. This girl was bought into us as a tiny puppy along with the rest of her brothers and sisters and at 2 years old has once again found herself looking for a home. There were situations out of her new owners control that happened, so it was nothing she had done wrong.
She has settled well and although her recall is questionable (and non-existant when she spies another dog to play with when out on her walk) we are working with her and she is a sweet natured girl. A little reactive to the cats unfortunately, but this is also something that she is getting her head round slowly.

Screaming Jim the hamster (bought to us because his owner could not afford to look after him) travelled to his new home and was so named because whenever you give him attention he sits there screaming. You would think he is terrified of people with this habit, but it is not fear...it is just something he does. He will take food out of your hand whilst screaming at you, walk about and round your hand whilst screaming at you and accept gentle scritches whilst screaming at you. A very strange habit but it certainly makes him one to remember!

Today, two male rats made their way to their new home in Bristol. These boys were part of a large group of rats taken from a hoarder who bred so many that she could not cope.
They were lovely natured lads and we thank the transporter who, on the way to Wales, dropped them off enroute.

As you can see it is still busy and even with all the heartbreak that has happened this week, the presence of the other animals being here means that we cannot sit around and mope and this makes it hard to mourn for those you lose. The animals that come to us do not ask to be born and do not ask to become unwanted at some stage for whatever reason and we are their only hope at being fed, kept clean and a good and interesting life be assured. So no matter what happens life has to go on.

26th April 2012

Sadly in this rescue we get times that animals come to us that end up not finding a home and die with us here.
Ben the Yorkie was one of those dogs, although he did actually find a home when he was 14 years old to people who we thought would love him till the end after arriving here as an unwanted pet. At the age of 17 years old he was returned because he had got elderly, could not hold himself as he used to and was not house clean and developed health issues - he kept suffering mini-fits. Without a care in the world they dropped him back to us simply because they knew that the time was near to make the final decision and they didn't want to make it.
Furious does not explain the emotion I went through with this little dog. To say that the family are blacklisted for life is an understatement due to their complete lack of compassion and throw away attitude.
Regardless of that Ben had to be our main priority. He deserved more than those uncaring and selfish people and I truely hope that they stumble across this blog just so that they know the digust and contempt I hold for them for the rest of my days. Just remember that we all get old sooner or later and you have taught your children a very valuable lesson in life in your case...when something gets old, dump it. I wonder if they will do the same to you?
I was of course expecting a weak and frail dog to turn up, but no...he was very agile for his age and proved to us that he still loved his walks. He did half an hour every day and led the pack happily far ahead on his extendable lead walking with the younger dogs and holding his own! At the end of the walk he turned around and wanted to go again...but we had to draw the line and insist that was enough for that day! He had a lovely, if little volatile nature if you wanted to pick him up, but we got round this easily and within a few days of being back with us accepted being picked up to the point that he allowed a full clip out of his coat and he was much more comfortable after that.
Feeding time was a tad of a nightmare as he would only accept home cooked food and preferred a different meal each time. Braised steak in gravy was his favourite and up to the day before he died he ate it all up with great gusto! He also liked to be handfed 6 dry food biscuits every couple of hours as a filler in between meals. This was all done for him as was constant bedding changes and a clean bed being given to him a couple of times a day - he was old and accidents happen. It really was no bother.
Unfortunately Ben then took a spiral downhill on Wednesday morning. On getting him to the vets it was confirmed that he had gone into Renal Failure and judging by the way that he had suddenly started swinging his head from side to side and having seizures in close succession, it was in line with a probable brain tumour.
Ben was not a happy dog at this stage and it was the final kindness that we could do for him. He may have been abandoned by his previous owners, but he died very much a loved dog. RIP Ben.

A few days before that, on the Monday, Doofus - a Labrador x Pointer bought in from a Birmingham dog pound - had to be taken into the vets after he became ill overnight.
Doofus had been seen by a member of the public being thrown from a moving car and they had taken him to the local dog pound. He served his 7 days and although he had been reserved to come to this rescue, it made no difference and he, along with 12 others who were not so lucky that day, were earmarked for euthanasia. As he was being walked to the euthanasia room, the dog warden doing some of the transport for him, spotted him and grabbed him. He was a lucky boy and we pray that his luck continues.
Overnight he had an inability to keep any food or water down and had laboured breathing and he was diagnosed with having Pneumonia. This meant a stay at the vets where he was put onto an intraveneous drip and intraveneous antibiotics. His temperature was high and although they managed to reduce this, the bacteria became immune to the type of antibiotics being used and he had a slight relapse. Four days of worry and they finally sent him home as he started to become depressed in the kennel and felt he would be better in a home environment.
His treatment is ongoing at present as he is still very quiet and we are not in the safe zone just yet.

Bella the American Bulldog who has been with us for a few weeks went in for her spay which could not be done immediately due to her recent season and all went well. She is reserved to go to a new home on Saturday subject to a homecheck. Bella has got a perfect nature and arrived in rescue through no fault of her home, but due to a family break up. She is one of those dogs with no issues at all.

Today we had a few adoptions happen - two baby female rats who went off to pair with another two does. These rats were born in rescue after their previous owner who had lots of rats, had put a male in with her group of females a week before they were due to arrive in rescue. Only one gave birth and she produced 7 babies - 5 boys and 2 girls. At the age of 8 weeks they are no ready to find their new homes.

We had a male ferret adopted to go and live as a spoilt house ferret and his two new friends accepted him with little trouble. Originally arriving here as a stray that was never claimed, his life has now taken a turn for the better.

Plus, we welcomed Peppa the Shihtzu into the rescue. This girl was originally a puppy farm breeding bitch. The farmer sold the other dogs, except Peppa who was taken to the vets to be euthanased because she could be snappy. She was rescued from this situation and although she was very loved in her new foster home, one of the original resident dogs took a dislike to her, so she came to us for rehoming. Initial assessment shows more fear than anything else, but she is obsessed with food so we shall take advantage of that and use that positively for her training. She shows good body language if she is worried by averting eye contact and will make a lovely dog for an experienced owner.

24th April 2012

So, here we go! The first of the blogs which we hope will give people an insight into the weekly runnings of an animal rescue. We hope to update every couple of days with the highs and lows of rescue without focussing on the financial side. Although a very expensive hobby to undertake and one that should only be taken on with great thought and planning, this is not the reason of this blog.

We can start with a happy input....that would be that we have just decided to offer a rescue dog a home for life with us. Chance the Staffie is now a permanent fixture of the Furry Friends household. He joins Buddy the 2 year old Lurcher (GSD x Greyhound) who has very bad behavioural issues and cannot be safely rehomed and the three dogs that have been here before the rescue opened in 1999 - Monty the 13 years old Chihuahua cross, Annie the 20 year old Yorkie cross and Harry the 12 year old Cocker Spaniel.
Sometimes when things feel right you just have to go with it and this is the case with Chance.

This week started with MJ the Staffie cross being bought into rescue. This lad found himself homeless when he owner found himself a new girlfriend who had a 12 year old dog that did not like him and decided to move in with her leaving MJ homeless. Another rescue had offered him a space, but not for three weeks and that was too long. The owner was attempting to give him away on Facebook and the people coming forward were not so pleasent and would not have been good for him, so for his own safety he came to us.
On arrival, he was neutered and microchipped, but he also had an untreated skin problem (Demodectic Mange - non contageous) and this condition had affected his ears in particular. Almost swollen to the point of closure and full of itchy scabs and infection, he was a very uncomfortable dog. A treatment of Advocate for the mange on his skin and a course of some ear cleaner and antibiotic ear drops and within a few days the ears had gone back to their normal shape and the scabs were nearly gone. Veterinary treatment when necessary will normally get rid of these simple problems and saves a lot of suffering...he had probably been dealing with the constant pain and itching for two or three months minimum, possibly longer.
His vaccinations cannot start until his skin heals, but only time can help that.
MJ continues to improve and his manners with people are wonderful. A real cuddly and lovable rogue!

We also had some sadness this week. One of the old ferrets who have been in rescue for about 4 years went into Renal Failure and had to be put to sleep. Unfortunately sometimes animals never find a home, but here we keep them as long as necessary and never euthanase an animal if it has been in too long - they get a home for life once admitted into rescue and we are always a safety net for them should their adoptive home not work out.
He joined a jill ferret who was taken in at the weekend who had a tumour in her anal glands that had been left to grow. By the time she got to us the vet could do little for her and could only remove a tiny fraction of this tumour. She was not in pain though and was eating, drinking and was playful and so we managed to secure her a home for the rest of her life with a lady who has adopted off of us for many years. She also met and fell in love with an elderly jill who was at least 8 years old, returned to rescue when her owner became fed up with her (after 6 years of ownership) and adopted her as well, so although these jills had some rough luck, their lives have taken a turn for the better now and they will live their lives out as spoilt house ferrets.

We had 7 terrapins dropped in with us who were very lucky. They were actually sitting in the euthanasia room when one of the staff asked if anybody had tried this rescue - which they hadn't! It was very close for them, so they were plucked out of that room and transported to here. Tomorrow they are joining three others and being taken to a specific reptile rescue. We always accept terrapins here. Many people will dump them in ponds and rivers, but they are not native to this country and they are viewed as vermin legally and because of this many organisations will euthanase them if they are found. We do not release them but network them to rescues who will ensure that they go to responsible homes. We have two resident terrapins here - Gammy and Biddy. These girls have been here for over 10 years and are now aged at about 30 years old.
So, these 7 plus 2 more that were already waiting to go were transferred to DWARF Rescue in Essex who have a huge indoor free swim pond where they will await adoption.

Sonny, who is a Pomeranian x Collie and has been sitting in rescue for 3 years was finally offered a home along with his sister who was homed a year ago.
These two arrived here as puppies and were completely feral. They had never been touched up to their arrival at 5 months old and were due to be put to sleep at that age because they were classed as unrehomable.
These two have proved that there ARE people out there who will adopt difficult dogs and if rescuers are patient enough and ready to commit, then there IS a home for every dog!

Also this week, two very cute multimammates have come into rescue. Their previous owner could no longer look after them so we agreed to take them in. Both girls are very friendly, but need to go to someone who has researched the species. Friday brought us some very happy news for one of the rabbits, as one of our long termers found a home. Oscar the grouch came to us last year with a very sad story. He was found in the bin by the bin men who brought him to us. It is scary to think that if he didn’t moved when they looked in, he wouldn’t have been noticed and would not be here today. Oscar has been overlooked for reasons unknown to us as he is very friendly and loves attention. Oscar has grown up in rescue, and although he did go to another home to live as a trio, one of the resident female rabbits would not accept him so he was returned. On Friday, he went to live as a house rabbit with two female rabbits and is doing great.

Dino the Miniature Pinscher went to a new home on Saturday, but sadly was returned on Sunday as he did not get on with the resident dog. He originally came into rescue because he growled at the new baby and the previous owner had taken him to our local vets to have him euthanased. The vets rang us and asked if we would take him which we did. Dino was treated like a baby in his old home and not like a dog. Because of this, Dino has some bad habits and we are currently working with him to stop these before he finds a home.

Sunday saw the arrival of Screaming Jim – a syrian hamster. We were told by the previous owner that he screams if you say certain words to him and bites a lot, however we are yet to hear him scream. We think he just needs some basic hand taming, as he is not afraid of people and has already been sniffing my hand. Luckily, Screaming Jim has a home lined up with people who have adopted hamsters from us before and are experienced with taming hamsters.

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