That Bunny Bond

23 animals adopted in the last two weeks! How's that for sheltering success?

One kitten, a vivacious Tuxedo named Gromet, was first to find a home. He was followed by 16 adult cats! Congrats to Babear, Minnie, Abigail, Tyson, Sabrina, Faye, Astro, Pebbles, Loki, Greta, Cissy, Bea, Miss Kitty, Chocolate Chip and Elmo together, and … finally … SALTINE! 

Saltine

This senior long-haired all-white beauty has been waiting months for a new home. As so often happens with long-term residents here, when it rains, it pours: Saltine suddenly had three interested parties all at once last week! One of the families drove here all the way from Massachusetts just to adopt her. Fortunately, their trip was not for nought: Saltine joined them for the long trip home.

Four dogs are new family members this week, too! Congrats to Terrier mix Oliver, Black Lab Shadow, Cocker Spaniel Squishy, and Lab-mix May.

 

Our featured adoptees this week? Good friends Penelope and Leonidas! Penny and Leo are one-year-old bunnies who were relinquished to us in late February because of a changing family situation. Penny, a black Rex-mix rabbit, and Leo, a gray American-mix rabbit, lived in the same home and got along well, but, we were told, were not necessarily bonded.

Penelope (L) and Leo (R)

Penny and Leo's owner called us at a time when we had no room for two more bunnies at the shelter--but was dealing with an emergency situation. So we turned to a woman who's fostered rabbits for us before: HSCC volunteer Nikki DeSarno, who also runs a chinchilla rescue named "Frodo's Friends Rescue"  from her home.

Nikki previously fostered speckled rabbits Oreo and Samoa for us, and did a wonderful job caring for them. She did just as well with Leo and Penny, who were shy and skittish when she took them in. She noticed that they loved to play, however: "They would entertain me by tossing toys and paper towel rolls all around the pen!" So she decided to use their playtime to help the pair develop confidence and trust in people. She sat with them in their playpen and pretended to ignore them at first. "After a while, curiosity kicked in and I would feel a little nuzzle on my foot or leg as they took turns sniffing me and running back to their tunnel," she said. By the time the two came back to the shelter, they were totally different rabbits. Leo was even outgoing, and ended up starring in one of our calendar shoots!

Leo in "Party Animals"

Penny and Leo are unlike our usual featured adoptees in that they didn't have an epic stay at the shelter; in fact, they were spoken for even before making their debut on the adoption floor. About a month into their foster care, Cara (our small animal coordinator), received a phone call from a woman who wanted to grant her daughter's birthday wish for a pet rabbit. They had been researching rabbit care for two years, she told Cara, and knew exactly what they wanted. Cara told her about Penelope and Leo, and the women wanted to meet them right away. Fortunately, space had opened up at the shelter, so in the bunnies came, and the woman decided on Penelope for her daughter that very afternoon.

The next day, however, Cara began to rethink splitting them up. It seemed each time we walked by their enclosure, the bunnies were grooming each other, lying smushed together side-by-side, or playing togther. Bonded bunnies will fail to thrive if separated, and Cara worried that these two had grown so close in foster care that they really ought to stay together. Nikki had noticed the same thing: most evenings when she came home from work, she'd find them snuggling together.

The mother returned with her daughter the next day, and Cara hoped to convince them to take both bunnies. But she didn't even have to try! In the first place, the daughter decided she was more intrigued by Leo than Penelope. In the second place, she noticed the rabbits' affection for each other immediately. At one point during the visit, Penelope began grooming Leo's ears. "Oh, they love each other, Mom!" the girl cried. It was an easy decision: the daughter would get double the bunny companionship she'd wished for! Leo and Penny went home with a very excited young lady on Saturday.

This is a wonderful story to feature because this family knew exactly what they were getting into. Unfortunately, many people who take on rabbits don't realize that they're actually quite high maintenance pets--or that a rabbit's lifespan is a good ten years!

Cara keeps an eye on craigslist.com, and has already begun to notice the multitude of ads that typically crop up this time of year for baby bunnies. Easter is prime time for bunny breeding, and shelters across the country are routinely slammed with rabbits from May through the summer. In fact, rabbits are the most frequently relinquished companion animals after cats and dogs.

Rabbits are highly intelligent animals that need lots of exercise and enrichment to thrive--we say at least one hour out of the cage a day, but more is ideal. Rabbits can also be clicker trained (we hope to capture video of that soon!) and litterbox trained. 

Freshly-cut Timothy hay is best for rabbits.

And let's face it: they're expensive pets. Rabbits need an unlimited supply of Timothy hay (not cheap) in their diets to prevent gastrointestinal stasis, or blockage in their digestive tracts. They also do best with a changing array of fresh veggies every single day. And don't forget the chew toys! Rabbits need to chew to keep their teeth a manageable length … and bored rabbits will chew destructively. Regular brushing and nail trims are also required.

A lot of this is relatively "new" information. I cringe to think of the life of the rabbit I had as a child, before I knew about daily exercise and training and toys and unlimited hay … The more we get to know our fellow creatures--the more intelligence and complexity we discover in them--the more we realize how few animals actually are "low maintenance pets." And isn't that intelligence and creativity the very reason we find these animals' companionship so fulfilling? More really is more when it comes to animal care.

Fortunately, it seems that Leo and Penelope will get all of the love and attention and enrichment they could possibly desire. And … they have each other :)

That's the good news this week!

Best,
Megan

20 for '12

The good news is:  What we're lacking in numbers this week we make up in great triumphs.

Most exciting to animal care and adoption staff is the adoption of Salty and Pepper, ten-year-old sisters who'd been waiting for months to find a forever family. The couple who adopted them had been in to visit with all of our cats multiple times. In the end, they felt that this black-and-white duo had exactly the mellow personalities they were looking for. We couldn’t be more grateful!

Top: Pepper, Salty
Bottom: Salty and Pepper sit nicely for a treat from feline supervisor Kayla.

Chocolate Lab Kip went home with an older couple who was super excited about him. Cat Mansfield found his new family in JUST ONE DAY! Lovely feline lady Tofu had been returned by her adoptive family a month ago when the home environment just didn't prove the right match for her. She was adopted by a new family on Saturday, and we hope she's home to stay this time around.

We have multiple featured adoptees this week, because they all came from the same home.

Husky mix Posey, and cats Wendie, Trout, and Adrianna were four of 20 animals who came from a single household. The three cats were adopted before our photographer, Mountain Dog Photography, could even get photos of them!

Posey

Early in December, two town officials arrived at our doors with an emergency situation. A family had been evicted from their home, and the officials entered the premises to find stacks of crates inhabited by animals in the apartment. The animals had ample food and water, but--especially in the case of the cats, who were living, in some cases, three to a crate--not nearly sufficient living space. The town threatened to seize them. Fortunately, the owners agreed to sign the animals over with no cause for legal proceedings.

Under normal circumstances, we accept animals on an appointment-only basis. This helps us avoid overcrowding (and the spread of contagious disease that results), and makes it possible for animals to stay as long as they need to until getting adopted (we don't euthanize for length of stay). However, we're almost always at capacity, so suddenly receiving notice that we need to find room for 20 new animals immediately greatly stresses the system. Fortunately, a local veterinary hospital and dog kennel agreed to house the pets until we were able to make room.

Humane investigator JoAnn Nichols, feline supervisor Kayla Malzac, and shelter manger Allison Stark loaded up the HSCC vehicle with JoAnn's tubs of emergency investigation supplies. They had only two hours available to process the animals--which involved photographing each of them with a specific tag number--and documenting the living conditions they came from. JoAnn, Kayla, and Allie processed two dogs, three rabbits, one rat, two hamsters, and 12 cats that afternoon.

 

The cats had all been exposed to upper respiratory infection--the feline version of a common cold--which can spread like wildfire in a shelter environment. So they were given a single room to themselves at the shelter while we assessed them for adoption. Fortunately, most of the animals have lovely temperaments, which means they were given plenty of attention and affection. Because of their outgoing natures, they've been quick to leave the adoption floor, once made available! Aside from the four animals listed above, Lyndi the cat was adopted two weeks ago, the two hamsters found new homes in record time for smallies, one kitten was snatched up quickly, and one of the rabbits went home.

Lyndi

Hoarding situations are often like this: the owners love the animals, and want to do the best for them. But because they become overtaxed on space and resources, the animals' wellbeing is compromised. A family who can't make rent payments certainly can't afford spay/neuter surgeries. These cats may have been confined to crates simply to prevent breeding, as there's some evidence that small groups of cats were periodically given free time in the home. And in stark contrast to the lack of space, we did find lots and lots of food stored away for the animals. Our hearts go out to this family, who lost their home and companion animals in one fell swoop. But hopefully, just as the 20 animals were given fresh starts in far better circumstances, we hope this occurrence might afford the family the same kind of fresh start.

We currently have three more cats and two rabbits from this household available for adoption--and they're all very sweet. We're confident that each of these animals wil have a happy ending--homes in which they can run and play freely.

That's the good news this week!

Please don't forget to join us tomorrow night at The Scuffer steak and ale house! 15% of food and alcohol proceeds from the evening will be donated to the shelter. We'll see you there!

Best,

Megan

Director, Development & Outreach