Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Growing Up Happy

I have a few truly depressing and frustrating posts coming up, so I thought I should start with something more uplifting. And what's more uplifting than updates?
I think my favourite updates are on former foster babies. I love seeing an animal who was born homeless, with nothing, getting the chance to grow up in a loving home.

Do you remember Thelma, Louise and their little ratlings? Two years ago, we ended up with nine rat babies, who were raised in foster care by the amazing Grace. Two of them were adopted by a young man and his family, who also became small animal volunteers. They recently went out of town, so I ended up rat-sitting for them.It's amazing to see how big they've grown!
They're named Osmium and Samarium, thanks to their owner's love of science. They are huge! The boys are very well loved and have a wonderful home where they are spoiled rotten. They receive a wonderful diet, regular trips to the vet and lots of love.
They also love each other very much, which is why I'm so glad all the babies went in pairs or more. Rats are such social creatures, they really should never be alone. It's wonderful to have not only a foster baby update, but also a long-term update! These guys definitely got a home for life.

I also have a fabulous rabbit baby update. Remember Circe & her 7 kits? Circe was dumped on the streets and had to give birth under someone's porch.
Two of the boys in that litter, Achilles and Hercules, were adopted together to a wonderful home. They were renamed Oscar and Leroy, and I got an update right after they were adopted.  Today I got another update, celebrating their almost-one-year-birthday!
 Hi Laura,
Both of them are doing great. They had a check-up with the vet last month and are completely healthy. Only thing is that Oscar is a little on the chubby side. He's 6.5 pounds and Leroy is only 6 pounds!! Their personalities have changed a bit now that they're growing up. Oscar has taken over as the dominant bun, which doesn't bother Leroy at all. Leroy is a real sweetie and loves to be pet. He's also very active and loves to do binkies. Oscar loves to run circles around their room and then lie down for a long nap.
They also love to throw things. Their favourite toys have turned out to be some old plastic measuring cups that they toss around night and day.
Now that the nice weather is here we're building them an outdoor pen so they can eat grass and nap in the sunshine. We've seen a hawk in our yard a few times so we have to make sure there's a roof and a nice secure shelter for them. 
We love them very much!!
Don't they look fantastic? It's so great to see them a year later! They really lucked out in terms of homes.
The last update for this post isn't a foster baby, but it's a great one nonetheless. Jellybean was a laid-back, sweet girl who was adopted once and then returned. It was no fault of hers or the adopters, it was just a bad match, but Jellybean was pretty depressed to be back. That's why I was so happy to hear that her second home is pretty much perfect!
We adopted Jellybean back in January, she's an adorable black English Lop. She was still having a bit of trouble with an eye infection the first week she was home but a trip to the vet and some eye ointment cleared that up. She's rapidly settling in making her hutch her home and is showing signs of bonding with us.
We've discovered that she's a big suck for nose rubs and isn't shy about putting her nose into your hand whenever you come near. Although she's not terribly active - she spends a lot of time happily kicked out relaxing - she enjoys hopping in and out of the hutch and nudged out a hidy spot between the boxes underneath it.
So far so good, Jellybean is our big loving adorable bunny and we're so happy we adopted her.
They also attached this photo of Flower, a rabbit they adopted beforehand from TAS North Region.


I love updates! There's nothing better than seeing a homeless animal happily in a home. After a pretty disheartening week at the shelter, it's great to remember that some shelterees do have happily ever afters.

No comments: