Animal Lovers Web Blog

The on-going saga of our male dwarf lop rabbits reluctance to get on in a civilised manner has finally been resolved and all parties seem to be happy at last!  Despite three costly castrations and our many attempts to integrate our male rabbits, we were resigned to the fact that our bunnies just preferred the single life. 

For the past four months or so, the rabbits have had to put up with less than perfect accommodation, rotating between hutches, our dog run (minus the dogs!) and one of the stables to ensure that they all had equal access to grass and a good run around at some point each day.  Like most rabbits, they really didn’t enjoy constantly being picked up and moved and we realised that, once it became clear that integration was not on the cards, we needed a more permanent solution to our rabbit housing problem.

Over the Christmas period, we have invested in three really spacious rabbit runs, complete with their own little houses for sleeping quarters.  Two of the runs arrived just after the new year and our rabbits Charlie and Snowy have enjoyed their new accommodation, much to the annoyance of poor Phil, who had to wait for delivery of the final run until today.  The rabbits still all get to see each other as the runs are housed together in one of the stables but they (and we!) no longer have to endure the thrice-daily ritual of trying to avoid being caught - even if it was for their own good.

Our rabbits seem much happier (well as happy as a rabbit can look) with their new living arrangements.  The rabbit runs  are spacious enough for us to sit in with them and it’s great seeing how much more relaxed they are in our company.  It’s lovely to see them hop over and take a carrot from our hands or have the confidence to jump over to sniff us out! 

Each rabbit has their own corner litter tray, although Charlie seems to think his new wooden house makes a much better toilet at this stage.  Phil and Snowy have obviously read the rabbit care book and realise that rabbits can be toilet-trained and are really good at using the tray.  It’s going to mean that we get to spend much more quality bunny-friendly time with our rabbits as cleaning out will be less time consuming, not to mention the many hours over the past few months of rabbit catching that can be much better utilised for rabbit cuddling.

Diane

www.AnimalLoversWeb.com

After our bad experience at trying keeping male rabbits together, it should not really have come as a surprise to find out that our boy baby dwarf hamsters were no longer the best of friends.

At six weeks old, we had finally mastered  sexing dwarf hamsters and all of our baby hamsters had been accurately identified as boy or girl hamsters and separated into two cages.  Out of an initial litter of seven, we found that the boys outnumbered the girls by five to two, but as we expected a couple of the males to be going to a new home shortly, we left them to enjoy each others company for a little while longer.

It became apparent that all was not well over the weekend as increasingly worrying screeches and squeals emanated from the boys cage.  We weren’t sure whether it was initially just over boisterous play (ever the optimist!) but closer observation lead us to single out a rogue hammy who seemed to get his kicks out of terrorising the other boys.  Clearly he preferred his own company and, once presented with a new bin cage of his own, peace was restored to the boys quarters again.

Our confidence that the boy dwarf hamster’s new-found harmony would last through the New Year was unfortunately short lived.  An ear-piercing squeal this evening sent us rushing to find one of the boys blood-soaked with bites to his nose, several puncture wounds on his back and other wounds to his feet and abdomen.  He was a very sorry and ragged mess.  We quickly assembled an old cage and, following some TLC, left him alone to rest and hopefully recover from his ordeal.

We’re not sure if he was the result of an ambush by the other 3 dwarf hamsters,  they all looked remarkably unscathed and the hamster which was attacked had been a late addition to the boys cage due to difficulty sexing him accurately.  We just need to hope that the remaining males continue to get along or we’ll be over-run with cages, never mind hamsters! 

Santa must have thought that we’d been very good this year when he delivered two beautiful guinea pigs to the farm on Christmas morning. It was difficult to be sure who was squealing the loudest, Laura or the guinea pigs, when Laura opened her last present - a guinea pig book with a note on the front “We’re in the lounge” on the front!

Both baby girls, the guinea pigs are very cute but look so different from each other. Penny is your more typical smooth coated type, usually referred to as an English cavy. She is black and white with an adorable pink nose and seems to have adopted the role of “top pig” and likes to think she’s in control. Although still nervous in our company, she is getting more adventurous and will explore her surroundings more and makes constant chirrupy, bird-like sounds. Hope this means she’s happy - we’re still getting used to all their different sounds and trying to interpret what they are communicating to us and each other.

Snuggles, our other guinea pig, is a grey Abyssinian with loads of swirling rosettes of hair that just make you want to curl up next to her - hence her apt name. You could be forgiven for thinking that she’s having a bad hair day, every day! Her big eyes look like dark pools of water and she is still quite a nervous wee thing who does a great impression of playing dead if she is spooked by anything.

We know that taming the guinea pigs will require patience and can’t be done overnight.  They’re slowly being introduced to the benefits of a cuddle on our laps whilst enhancing their cultural awareness with Coronation Street or BBC News 24 in the background!  They really are adorable pets and, despite their understandable anxieties, have never shown any aggression towards us, or even an inquisitive nip.  You can see why they make great pets, even for younger children. 

We are enjoying trying out different fruits and veggies to see what they like and hopefully both the guinea pigs will eventually look to us as their friends and with as much affection as we have for them.

Diane

www.AnimalLoversWeb.com

Trouble, our Syrian hamster, became increasingly unwell over the weekend.  He didn’t seem to be eating much food and his mobility was becoming very compromised by his hugely swollen abdomen.  Every time he woke up, he couldn’t open his eyes and we had to bathe them regularly to try and help him to see.

It seemed inevitable that Trouble would have to be put to sleep and, with a heavy heart, an appointment was made at our vets last night.  We made Trouble a comfy home inside a cardboard box for his last journey and, chocking back the tears, popped him into the car.

The vet was very understanding and a familiar face to us.  He knew Trouble and his health problems very well and felt that it was the right time for us to say our goodbyes.  No matter how many times people say that “You’re doing the right thing” or “Well, he’s had a good life” - the pain of making the decision to have your beloved pet put to sleep feels very raw, with your heart and head pulling in very different directions.

Trouble died very quickly once he had his injection and he looked so peaceful and calm, it was hard not to think that he was just asleep.  The vet placed him back in his carry box and we took him home. 

The evening hours were difficult for us.  Trouble lay in his box and, as we stroked him, we chatted about all the memorable things that had made him OUR special little boy.  In between crying and laughing we realised just how special Trouble was and the important place that he had within our family.

Trouble spent the night in Laura’s bedroom next to her bed and today we buried him in a memorial garden so that we will always have a special place to remember our beautiful Syrian hamster. Sleep tight sweet one, we will always love you xxx

Diane
Animal Lovers Web.com

Keeping sheep on the farm has become a whole lot chillier over the past few days. With winter temperatures really starting to bite, our poor lambs have experienced their first proper frost these past two nights. This morning just looked like a Christmas scene on a greetings card and I think, if the sheep could talk, they’d be mighty perplexed and quite cross that their grass seems to have disappeared!

You would think that the sheep might blend discretely into the white canvas of the winter frost but it was really funny to find tell-tale signs that they were not far away. Much to our amusement, there were five oval-shaped green outlines where the sheep had slept overnight and the grass had taken respite from the plummeting temperatures.

It seems strange that our sheep don’t shelter much in their barn and are quite happy in these inhospitable conditions. In fact, it appears to be the heat of summer that bothers them most which probably isn’t surprising with such a thick woolly coat stuck to them all the time.

Our sheep do need that little bit more attention during the winter with regular topping up of the hay rack and defrosting of their water trough with a hot kettle full of water. They still get their morning pellet feed (plus a bit extra as I feel so sorry for them!) and their sheep lick is going down at some rate!

All this extra attention is just spoiling me really - ANY small excuse for an extra cuddle is what keeping pet sheep is all about. They’re just adorable.

Diane
www.AnimalLoversWeb.com

Trouble our Syrian hamster is starting to show increasingly worrying signs of his advancing years. For a couple of months now he has suffered from very swollen testicles and we were aware that his old age was starting to catch up with him. Visits to the vets had reassured us to some extent that there really was no active treatment that would relieve his symptoms anymore and that he just needed lots of our love and cuddles so that he could enjoy the twilight years of his life.

Over the past couple of weeks, Trouble has developed a distended abdomen, to such a degree that we have now had to remove the tubing from his cage and make sure that he couldn’t get into any tight spots, as it’s difficult for him to turn around very well. Trouble doesn’t appear to be in any pain and his abdomen, although very large, feels soft. We suspect that he may have ascites, which is a collection of fluid in the peritoneal cavity, commonly associate with liver failure and tumours. It may be that Trouble has developed secondary disease due to his testicular probems.

Trouble still comes out to see us and he seems to enjoy his daily exercise in the hamster pen and has certainly not lost his appetite! We were worried however that he could in pain and so we took him to the vets yesterday for a full health check. The vet was very kind and empathic to our concerns and understood that we really don’t want Trouble to suffer. Obviously, we would rather not have him euthanized but felt that a professional opinion was needed to guide us. The vet confirmed our suspicions to the cause of Trouble’s problems. He did not feel that there were any treatments that would help to alleviate any of his symptoms and that really it was just a matter of time before Trouble would pass away.

Fortunately, our vet agreed with us that Trouble was still well enough to come home provided that we kept a close eye on him. If there is any deterioration in his health e.g. loss of appetite, weight or signs of distress, then we will have to reconsider Trouble’s future and make some difficult choices.

It was with mixed feelings that we came home with Trouble, knowing that this will be our last Christmas with him. We can only hope that he manages to live that long. He really is such a lovely, placid little boy hamster, who won’t be short on love and affection in the last few weeks of his life.

Diane
Animal Lovers Web.com

Our dwarf baby hamsters are now three weeks old and we were getting to the stage of needing to think about sexing the hamsters and separating them with their respective parent. Unfortunately, Sunny (dad) has hastened up the whole process by having a sudden personality swap! His nomination for father of the year has been removed after his repeated attempts to attack the babies and scare them half witless. Although no babies appeared to be physically harmed, he made his feelings towards them known with lunging, high pitched squeals and threatening behaviour.

This posed a real problem for us as we had planned to put the male babies in with him but realised that this was now probably an unwise option. Fortunately, we have had some really great advice from some dwarf hamster experts on our new hamster discussion forum . We realised that we had no option but to separate Sunny from the baby hamsters, both male and femal, as the risk that he would have seriously harmed or killed them by the morning would have been too great.

Laura and Diane hastily reassembled an old cage and sadly removed Sunny from the family home. It was with a really heavy heart, as he had been such a supportive and helpful dad up until this point. We didn’t know how he would react to being taken from his partner Elly and all the babies - we were soon to find out!

Sunny became quite frantic once on his own, desperately scratching the sides of his cage and trying to climb out, it was terrible to see him in such distress. We decided that this was too cruel and made a short term decision to reunite him with Elly, but to leave the hamster pups together on their own. Our friends on the forum assured us that, although the babies were still suckling from Elly at times, they would be able to look after themselves. We had certainly seen them using the water bottles and taking solid food, so we felt assured that they would be OK.

Well, Sunny and Elly are back together - Sunny is so delighted and has unfortunately been displaying his great affection as only male hamsters know how. Let’s hope we don’t hear the patter of more tiny paws too soon! Elly is still a young hamster and we don’t really want her to be breeding, but it’s a bit of a problem as they get so distressed when apart. It was suggested to us that we could maybe separate them with a wire partition so that at least they could see and smell each other. We’ll need to think carefully about what’s best for them both.

As for our hamster babies - talk about when the cat’s away! They have had a ball without mum and dad around and have really amused us. Check out the video and you’ll probably agree that they don’t seem to be missing the old folks too much at all!

Diane
www.AnimalLoversWeb.com

We braved freezing temperatures, muddy puddles and our first flurry of snow to visit a local farm that specialises in rare breed pork, poultry and lamb. Pepperfield Farm in North Yorkshire is owned by two teachers, Terry and Joanne Laheney who, for the past four years have been dedicating their free time out of the classroom to the care of Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, Tamworth pigs, Wiltshire Horn sheep and Buff and Blue Orpington chickens.

The main purpose of our visit was to gain more information about pig breeds following our pig keeping course back in October, particularly in relation to the Gloucestershire Old Spot. We are keen to get a couple of weaners, but were still deliberating as to which breed would be the best for us. Our discussions with Terry and Joanne encouraged us to take a closer look at the Old Spots because of their reputation as a very friendly breed of pig.

We were fortunate to be able to get up close to the pigs, armed with a bucket of carrots and were treated to a mini-stampede of Old Spots and an occasional Tamworth, who were only too happy to relieve us of our load! The Old Spots certainly looked more like a traditional pig, with big floppy ears that conveniently acted as umberellas over their eyes to keep out the driving snowy rain. The weather reinforced the stereotypical view of being as “happy as a pig in muck”, as they squelched and rooted through the rain-soaked ground. The younger pigs were very inquisitive, jostling for their carrots and taking an occasional nip from the older pigs! They were absolutely gorgeous.

We are hoping to get a couple of piglets in the springtime and today’s visit certainly provided food for thought! We really took a shine to the Old Spots and think that they would be a lovely addition to our animals. In the meantime, we will be looking forward to sampling some of their produce and tucking into some sausage and mash for dinner tonight - thanks pigs!

Diane
www.AnimalLoversWeb.com

The baby dwarf hamsters are getting bigger, faster and cuter every day. They are also growing in number as was evident from our surprise discovery last night. We had thought that there were only five but…

Just before bedtime last night, we checked to make sure that the hamsters were OK, and we couldn’t resist peeking underneath one of the cardboard tubes that they often like to nestle under. It was one of those “double take” moments, when it seemed that there were more bodies than there should have been. Certainly there were at least three fawn coloured babies and at our last count, we had only ever seen two.

Scooping them all up for a closer inspection, we managed to count at least seven babies - we think! Anyway, their cage will be due for cleaning soon, so it’ll be a good excuse for a proper head count. We’ll have to be extra careful sifting through all the wood shavings to make sure that we don’t miss (or crush) any!

Diane
www.AnimalLoversWeb.com

Now at around two week old our hamster babies are finally losing their inhibitions and are out and about quite frequently and are incredibly cute. Once you’ve seen newborn lambs and chicks you think you have seen the cutest things that the animal world has to offer, then it surprises you again with a baby animal at least equally cute.

Hamster babies are tiny and they seem to have a head that is disproportionately large for their bodies, which just adds to their cuteness. When we first started to handle them they would just sit there, frozen to the spot. Now though, they are having a sniff around and even having a little nibble at our fingers.

We have two lovely fawn coloured baby hamsters and three that have exactly the same markings as their mother, which is darker brown with a blackish dorsal stripe. We did count at least eight to begin with but some do seem to have disappeared, without a trace. Unfortunately, one of the babies seems to have a problem with its eye, which doesn’t seem to be opening properly. We are going to ask for some advice regarding this from a hamster expert on our hamster discussion forum. We are still hoping that it is not too late and that the eye may be ok. You can just see this briefly on the videos below.

We are now thinking about having a go at sexing the  hamsters soon as we will need to separate them at about 3 weeks. We are also dreading separating the parents, as they do make a lovely and very considerate couple. From observing the daddy hamster over the last two weeks I think many human dads could learn a thing or two about how to be a good partner and father!

John

www.AnimalLoversWeb.com