Charlotte Coordinator Andrea has been searching for the perfect friend for one of her own guinea pigs, Maddie, who is a lethal.  Because of her special needs (she’s blind and deaf) she needs a piggie who is a little more laid back than your average pig.

She saw a woman giving away a long haired pig, and fell in love with the picture.   She wanted to try this piggie with Maddie to see if they could be friends, since we didn’t have any single girls in.  She dutifully met this piggie owner, and picked up her beautiful new friend.

One problem:  her friend had testicles.

Luckily, Andrea is both a.) savvy enough to know to quadruple check the sex of any new animals, and b.) practicing a strict quarantine.  Apparently, the woman had been trying to breed this pig (now known as Wesley) with predictably little success.  And yet she never though to simply look at the pig to try and sex it!

Wesley will be neutered, and then he can be Maddie’s friend.

I also got bitten by Craiglist this week.  Part of my sanctuary is a rat named Phedre who was meant to be snake food.  I took in a friend for her, named Cecilie, who is hearty and hale because rats are extremely social animals, much like guinea pigs and rabbits.

However, lately Phedre has been slowing down and has become more and more sedentary.  She likes to spend her days dozing and hoarding food, and I wanted Cecilie to have a younger, more energetic friend to wrestle and romp with.

I succeeded in finding one young female via Craigslist, that was living in a predictably tiny cage, on pine, and eating some typical junk food from the pet store, but was in otherwise good health.  And after I had taken her in and made up my mind that I had found my rat, another of my inquiries — ignored for nearly 2 weeks, responded.

They emailed my response that their rat was still available, and that she was very sweet, and that her cage was pink but if I wanted, they would throw in a can of white spray paint.  Imagining this rat dying from the paint fumes with an untutored owner, I haplessly agreed to take her also.

I was expecting a lack of basic knowledge for this poor rat, but I was horrified when I picked her up.  The cage she was in was made for hamsters, and not rated big enough for a single rat to live in.  It had been spray painted fluorescent pink already.  It was dingy and dank, and this poor rat had only a single, dirty washcloth to snuggle with, and one tiny box as a toy.

Upon physical examination, two health serious problems were revealed.  First, she had lung scarring problems like Phedre.  When she was active, she wheezed and huffed like she’d run a marathon.  And her poor feet were ulcerated from bumblefoot, most likely from the filthy wire floors on the cage.  When I removed her nasty washcloth, it was covered in patches of dried blood — most presumably from her poor swollen feet bleeding onto it.  Sadly, she even had to be taught to take treats from human hands.

She has been christened Ysandre, and started on the same medications that Phedre is on to help with her breathing, and we’re starting treatment on her poor hurt feet.   She will stay with us forever so that she can continue her lung treatments.

“The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that’s the essence of inhumanity”

-  George Bernard Shaw

Bess is a sweet natured brown “helicopter” lop (meaning one ear stands up and one ear falls over).  She loves treats, and can be quiet a snugglebunny if she decides you’re worth of her time.  Bob is her husband, and is a little more aloof than she, but it’s evident from meeting them at the get go that they are truly a bonded pair.  They are estimated to be between 7-8 years of age.

Bob and Bess ended up with us at ACR&S due to our  return policy. We have a lifetime guarantee that any adopted animal can - and must - come back to us, no matter what, if the adopter cannot keep him. We will always make room for returns.  We had adopted Bob out to be Bess’ husband several years ago, but Bess’ mom was moving cross-country and didn’t feel like she could relocate with both bunnies.  Because our policy is not to split bonded pairs, Bess came along with Bob back to us.

My previous fosters, Wendy and BB, went to foster with Andrea in Charlotte once it became clear that Bob and Bess had some senior issues which may be difficult for a first time foster parent to deal with.

First and foremost, because both were overweight, jumping onto the second story of the cage proved to be a little much for both buns.  After a failed attempt by Bess (which resulted in much thumping and probably cursing under her breath), the several story cage was reconstructed into a 1 story cage with more floorspace.  Both rabbits, however, had an enjoyment of jumping onto things, so a series of short stools were added for their pleasure.

In addition, due to their weight and age, they were having severe issues grooming.  Because of this, they are going to require frequent shaving around their tails, and until that can be accomplished, frequent bathing.  Currently, both buns are having a lot of issue, so there are a minimum of 4 “butt-baths” per week, often more depending on how messy the rabbits have been in the interim.  In addition, both of their rear ends look like a dandelion about to explode, and dedicated brushing and plucking of hair has been required so far.  Neither of the rabbits particularly likes being bathed or brushed, though they tolerate it with moderately good graces.

The final obstacle in dealing with these mature rabbits is that their former owner allowed them to eat alfalfa-based pellets.  Alfalfa is suitable for young rabbits and pregnant or nursing does, but is not desirable for adults, and especially not for seniors.  Unfortunately, alfalfa is also a lot more tasty than timothy based alternatives, and they are not very gung-ho on switching out their candy pellets for healthy pellets.  Each handful of alfalfa pellets is mixed in with a copious amount of the timothy pellets, but this leads only to the buns picking out each alfalfa pellet individually.

Overall, though, these rabbits are probably suitable for an intermediate owner.  Their health needs are basic and easily taken care of at home (and they tolerate them well) and have an excellent chance of improving once they slim down on a more appropriate diet.  They are also a well bonded pair who can keep each other entertained and socialized, and are outgoing, curious, litterbox trained, and used to living in a house with cats.

Pan was found by a kind police officer wandering around outside by himself.  The fact that he’s still alive is a miracle in and of itself.  Chinchillas, with their especially thick, dense fur, are super-prone to heatstroke and dehydration, and our average daily temperature here in North Carolina is easily in the high nineties.

The police officer turned him into the local animal control where his extremely amusing and grumpy intake picture quickly won our hearts.  We made arrangements for him and then brought him into ACR&S to deal with some of his more specialized dietary needs (which most shelters are ill prepared for) and to work on socializing him.

So far, he’s proven to be a friendly, if hyper, little fellow, who has quickly learned that people bring treats and is happy to ride around on your shoulder.

Sadly, this year has been a boom year for animals being abandoned outside.  Never abandon a domestic species outside under any circumstances!  For the most part, that leads only to their early demise, and often in a painful way.  Turn them into the local shelter.  Even if they euthanize them, they are not going to be starving, overheated, and attacked by predators.

Pan has been a learning experience for everyone with ACR&S, as he is our first chinchilla.  With a lot of research, we prepared carefully to bring him to our home, and so far he seems to be having a blast.  His spacious cage is a source of enjoyment for him, and he often spends hours simply hopping from shelf to shelf, checking out the lay of the land.

He has also quickly learned how to use his flying saucer wheel, although he admittedly is embarrassed for us to watch him and will scamper off to hide in his favorite wooden house.  He seemed grateful when we provided him with a dustbath to clean off his greasy fur (although we did quickly learn that a dusty chinchilla will add dust to all of your personal belongings in a very short amount of time.)

Pan is looking for a home that will love and cherish him for the rest of his days.  He’s guesstimated to be middle aged (between 5-7 years old), but chinchillas can live to be 20 or older! He has plenty of time remaining to spend with his preferred person.

Sponsor-A-Guinea-Pig has a new pair of piggies up for October! Cinnamon and Salizar are a senior pair of sweethearts-at six years old, they have been through adoptions, returns, lost mates, and now they’re going to spend the rest of their life at the rescue, living the good life. They met and fell in love in the rescue in their senior years.

SAGP hopes to raise $200 to fund two months of their care!

When Salizar (on the left) was just a young boy in the rescue he lost his eye in an attempt to assert dominance. He still found a loving adopter, and was able to be paired with other males successfully. He had to be returned to the rescue when his owner moved to New Zealand.

Cinnamon and her mate were returned to the rescue when her owner was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her owner was devastated to return them. The rescue wrote, “Collecting them from their Mom and watching their farewells was incredibly hard. Sadly she passed away several weeks later and Cinnamon’s beau also passed following surgery to remove a stone from his bladder.” Around the same time Salizar’s bonded mate, who was in poor health, passed away, and both pigs were lonely and depressed. The two were introduced and have now been bonded for years.

Cinnamon and Salizar have slowed over the years. Salizar suffers from arthritis and asthma, and needs his eye socket cleaned daily. He also suffers from impaction issues. Cinnamon is presently fighting an infection. The two pigs are still close friends who love each other deeply. “They snuggle together and still love to dine in style together..Salazar and Cinnamon are an ‘old’ couple, they do not run about their cage but rather paddle about it.” Thank you to Wee Companions for caring for homeless animals in their old age!

We are grateful to SAGP for featuring our own Piglet as August’s Piggy of the Month, and hope all our supporters will pay it forward by visiting SAGP to continue to support other needy Sanctuary piggies!

In addition to this substandard care and lack of concern for whoever would pick up this poor animal, they were ignoring a serious health concern for Douglas — he had a huge lump on his right side that had obviously been ignored for months, if not more than a year.

A good Samaritan took pity on Douglas (then Chewy) and took him home.  She bought him some basic supplies to get him through the night and then started contacting vets to help him out.  Unfortunately for her, the lump removal was going to be rather pricey.  She opted to contact ACR&S and seek our help in rehabilitating Douglas.

So our ever-intrepid Charlotte coordinator, Andrea, made the trip to pick up this poor piggie, and then transported him out to me to be de-lumped, neutered, and paired up with a buddy.  I guesstimate him to be 1-2 years of age, and he seems to have spent his entire life in that tiny hell.  When encountering a C&C cage for the first time, Andrea reports that he popcorned, ran, and frolicked as though he had known no greater joy.  (He probably hadn’t.)

Despite all this, he is an unusually friendly and nosy pig.  He likes to come over and see what we’re doing, complain to us about his lack of vegetables (he seems to feel like he should have all he wants instead of carefully measured portions), and tell us about what he’s doing.  He likes to popcorn and seems to be grateful for what he’s finally been given — the very basics.

Douglas went in for his surgery on September 12, 2008.  It was initially planned for him to have this enormous lump removed and to be neutered at the same time, but the lump was too massive, and removal took too long.  Dr. Munn was nervous of keeping him under any longer, especially given the enormous size of the surgical site, as seen to the right.

Doug has taken his surgery in good stride.  He begs for treats frequently, hams for visitors to our house, and tries to appear pitiful when medication time rolls around.  His staples will be coming out this Friday, and he will be on the lookout for his new home.

UPDATE: Due to the odd nature of the growth, our vet isn’t convinced that this is a one-time problem. Therefore, we think Douglas will have to stay in the Sanctuary. He may be able to be considered for adoption to experienced pig owners only, with the understanding that he will be special needs and may have life-long medical expenses.

Sullivan met his new partner, Spice, this weekend with the help of our Charlotte coordinator, Andrea.  Spice has an interesting story of his own — he is the son of Kismet!  His mom contacted us when she adopted Kismet’s son, asking us to please make room for her, and even helped transport her up to NC!  Spice recently lost his long time friend, Quilt, to a serious cancer, and he was lonely, and needed a friend.

Spice’s mom, Brenda, asked for my recommendations, and I thought that Sully would be a good match!  He too was lonely from the loss of Ferdinand, and was young enough that they could be friends together for a long time.

As you can see from the pictures, the introduction was a great success.  (And Spice was very tired.)

His new family says:

I know I’m repeating myself but Spice is the happiest I’ve ever seen him.  He’s so content.  If he’s not eating, he’s sprawled out right next to Sully.  He loves Sully and is so happy for his company. […]  Spice is once again making those happy little percolating noises they make as they travel around their cage.

I slept in the den last night, just to make sure all was well.  I heard rumbling every now and then and it was coming from both pigs.  Sometimes Sully starts it and sometimes Spice does.  They’re so funny.  Jeez, I’m easily entertained.

I am thrilled with this match, can’t you tell?  My daughter (who turned 14 yesterday) didn’t want to go to school today as she didn’t want to leave Sully.  She has said over and over again how much she loves him and how beautiful she thinks he is.  A pig can’t ask for much more than that!

We weren’t in Cali for 24 hours when we found ourselves back having to do some animal rescue.

We were meandering along a path lined with olive trees in Davis, when I felt compelled to take a picture of the olives. So we turned off of the path, and right in front of us was a common pigeon, curled at the base of a tree. I picked him up and felt that he was bone-thin; further examination showed that his lower beak was broken off. It was not a recent wound; the beak had mostly healed. He’d probably been having trouble eating for a while and was finally weakened nearly to death. So we paused our trip down memory lane and started calling around to find a wildlife rehabber.

We found one, about a half an hour away at the old McClellan Air Force Base. The rescue was actually housed in the base’s old radar station! They felt hopeful he could recuperate, given enough good, easy-to-eat food, although he may never be able to be released.

What are the odds of us going down into that part of town, right at that moment, and turning aside precicely at that place?

Pretty good, as far as the pigeon was concerned.

Brownie was one of the earliest residents of the Sanctuary. He and his brother/cousin/daddy Greyly came to us in February 2003. We were told they were about three years old. They had been adopted from the Orange County Animal Shelter, but returned within a couple of weeks later because they didn’t get along with the adopter’s other pig. At that point OCAS had too many other small animals, and requested that we take them in.

Over the course of the next year, they didn’t garner much interest from adopters. I found this bizarre, since I considered them the most attractive pigs I’d ever seen. Then in 2004 Brownie developed a large number of lumpy growths over his body, which were diagnosed as benign faty cysts, not harmful, but pretty much guaranteeing he would be unadoptable. At the time, both boys were living together in a herd with three other neutered males, so when we finally found a wonderful adopter who was interested in Greyly, we let him go. Brownie was content to remain with his friends Odin, Loki, and Thor.

The last of these original partners, Thor, died in December 2007, and Brownie was alone for several months afterward. We tried numerous other pigs with him but he was fairly defensive and didn’t tolerate much aggression from his cagemates. In August 2008 he was successfully partnered with an older girl, Ms Piggy.

In March 2008, Brownie broke a tooth. It did not grow back correctly, and since then he has had recurrent malocclusions of both the molars and incisors, requiring monthly trimming to control. This is very similar to what we saw in Greyly, who suffered severe and recurrent tooth problems before his death in 2005. With Brownie, we hoped we could manage the malocclusions through monthly tooth trims. These require anesthesia and are fairly high-risk in an animal so old, but without them, his incisors cut into the roof of his mouth and his molars cut into his tongue and cheeks.

On Friday, we took Brownie in for a regular tooth trim. He had a routine pre-anesthetic blood panel that showed no changes in kidney or liver function, which would contraindicate anesthesia. However, he never woke up. About six hours after the surgery, he was still unresponsive, his breath became shallower and shallower. Finally he died in my arms. He was about eight and a half years old, if our original information was correct.

This has been one of the hardest deaths for me to deal with, in this year of so many losses.  He was one of the very first animals we rescues as a newly-incorporated rescue. He has been with me through so many changes, and he put up with all of my incompetence and experiments with such good natured patience. And this is one of the first deaths this year where I find myself second-guessing, wondering whether we could have done anything differently, for a different outcome.

I miss you, fuzz butt. Forgive me, and I hope you finally have peace.

On September 2, we lost Gonzo. Gonzo was one of the Jacksonville 48, a group of mostly young, male pigs who were dumped by a breeder in summer 2005. They came from horrendous conditions, and Gonzo was among the older animals in the group, meaning he had endured neglect and malnutrition longer than most.

Gonzo was one of those who never left the Sanctuary. He was briefly placed into foster care, but returned within a couple of weeks when he started showing aggression towards other pigs.

For most of his subsequent time with us, Gonzo lived alone (although always in a divided cage so that he had a friend or two to talk to). It wasn’t until Spring 2008 that we managed to conduct a successful introduction, with two other pigs. He turned out to be the most submissive and least aggressive of the bunch, and seemed very happy with his new friends Freddy and Aragorn.

Unfortunately, we had already noticed that Gonzo was starting to lose weight. Combined with the behavioral change (more mellow temper), this alerted us that something was wrong. Bloodwork showed that his kidneys were not functioning normally. He didn’t have stones and was still eating like a horse, but after a few months it was clear that his kidneys were failing.

Unfortunately, in guinea pigs, there is no good treatment for kidney failure. Mostly, you provide fluids and supportive feeding as long as possible. He didn’t need any help eating - if anything, his appetite was bigger than normal - but his body just wasn’t getting what it needed, no matter how much he ate. He continued to lose weight.

It was hard to see him transform from one of the biggest, fattest, bravest pigs into a frail, thin thing with no interest in his friends. His weekly weighing on September 1 showed that he had finally lost nearly half his peak body weight, and we decided it was time. We said goodbye to him the next day.

I’m sorry we couldn’t do more for you, brave little man. See you on the other side.

I have to admit, I had been spoiled by fostering Sinatra. He was the best, most docile bunny in the world. He liked being snuggled, and tolerated being picked up when it was needful. He rarely chewed things, stayed in his bunny room, and seemed content to explore quietly and amuse himself.

Wendy and BB are much rambunctious than the sweetly reserved Sinatra.

The first thing they did during their very first floor time was work the perimeter of their enclosure until they found an opening and escape. They are avid extreme sportswomen. They like trying to climb onto things (especially things which they shouldn’t be on) and have a knack for teamwork which is a little frightening. (I saw both of them work together just last night to topple over a carefully stacked selection of periodicals)

But so far, their best trick has been with the water dish.

Their previous foster mom made it very clear that Wendy and BB were serious water drinkers. I did not pay close attention to this their first day, and I returned home to an upset, empty water dish that had been thrown up onto the second story of their cage, and two very disgruntled rabbits.

The spirit of ingenuity filled me, and that was when I made my fatal mistake. I tried to outsmart the rabbits.

It started well enough. I decided that I would give them an automatic waterer. That way, I reasoned, they would have at least a half gallon of water available to them throughout the day while I was at work, and I could then refill it when I got home, and there would be much rabbit rejoicing.

Luckily, as our cat has chronic renal failure, we have a plethora of water dishes, bowls, fountains, and dispensers. I selected the tried and true Petmate waterer.

I dutifully filled it, added it to the cage, and then watched the rabbits drink from it. I was successful, the rabbits were happy. I went to bed secure in the knowledge that I had been a good provider.

The next morning, I woke up slightly late, and so had to hurry to do my morning feed. (This usually takes around 30 minutes depending on the number of animals. Currently in residence are 11 guinea pigs, 2 rats, 2 rabbits, and 3 hamsters) I typically do the rabbits last as they are the most involved, and it gives them a bit of time to stomp around while I clean everything up.

I opened their door and immediately noticed two things:

1. they were both on the second floor, which is unusual as they prefer the ground floor
2. they both looked pretty smug

I reached in to pet them, and put my hand into the bottom of the cage for support myself, and my hand went into half an inch of standing water. At some time during the night, they had managed to drain the entire waterer. On top of that, they had also managed not to move it an inch. AND it still had the very small amount of water in the dispensing bowl.

I said several inappropriate words, grabbed a handful of towels, and was watched with amusement by a pair of rabbits as I tried to clean up half a gallon of water wearing my nice office clothes without getting hay and poop on myself.

I replaced the waterer with a bigger bowl, and we’ve been ok since.

Finally, this morning they were let out to roam around a bit and get some morning exercise. About 20 minutes in, I hear a series of especially angry sounding thumps and grunts. BB had managed to jump into the bathtub, but was having difficulty getting out. So, of course, she thumped for room service.

This was followed by Wendy wedging herself between a large full bucket of pellets and the wall while trying to eat the wallpaper. “Hey! What are you doing?” I asked. She shot backwards out of the hole, ran across the room, skidded 180 degrees, spun out, and then dove into the cage. We are calling this move “GTA: Bunny”.

Prior to fostering rabbits, I definitely knew they were intelligent, but living with them has only proved to me that they are insanely smart, and people are very lucky that they don’t have opposable thumbs.

This is excerpted from Susan describing to someone how to bunny proof a bathroom:

The bathroom *could* be a good option, but you’d still want to rabbit proof the following:

a. add a toilet seat latch so bunny doesn’t nose up the seat, get in, and drown.
b. add cabinet latches so bunny doesn’t nose open the cupboard and eat the Drano.
c. put grids all along the baseboard/cabinets/doors so bunny doesn’t eat them/start peeling off the wallpaper
d. move the shower curtains and towels out of reach so bunny can’t pull them down and eat ‘em.
e. move the toilet paper out of reach because MY GOD WHAT A FUN TOY until you come home to bunny’s paper nest all over the floor
f. move all the toiletries off the counter, because sure as sunshine, the bunny will figure out how to get from the floor to the toilet to the counter and then he’ll decide to share your toothbrush

Initially, you sort of laugh, but then you have a rabbit in your house that’s motivated and you realize in about a day that all of those things are possible.