Farewell my little Milo....

Papa Gerbil (Milo) passed away last evening. He lived a VERY long life. (over a year longer than the average gerbil life exp) so I feel blessed that we had him for so long. I knew he was looking a little worse for wear. I told Jon last week that I think he is saying goodbye. I can always tell with the gerbils. They slow way down and suddenly really seem to enjoy being pet. Like they are stopping and letting you know that they appreciated you. Usually they are so busy digging and chewing that they didn't have time to be pet for too long. Last week he stood and let me scratch his head for a good long while and he was looking very elderly around the eyes.
It is sad because we are down to two, one girl and one boy, but they are in separate cages so they can't hang out. I am going to see about getting the boy fixed so we can put them together again. They would be happy together. Their cages are side by side and they are always touching noses. It is so sweet.

RIP Milo

Bye Bye baby...

We lost a beloved pet this weekend.

One of our female gerbils died sometime on Saturday. (This photo is her with her family when she was a newborn. She is the baby on top with the white spot on her head)
I gave them all treats on Friday evening, and they all seemed fine, but on Sunday we noticed that we had not seen her since then. She went into her little house and passed away. There was nothing obviously wrong with her, so it must have been something internal. Poor little girl. Now her sister is alone. They are social animals, so I don’t think she is going to like being alone very much, she is too old for a new cage mate. Lonely gerbils tend to die soon after their cage mates. Usually from broken hearts. When they are alone they lose the will to live.

I think losing her lead me to having uneasy feelings and uneasy dreams. All night I dreamt about pets that I’ve lost along the way. In my dream they were all living at my parents house and I went to visit and told them I was bringing them all home with me. I woke up sad because for a few minutes I forgot they were many years gone.

Over the years I’ve lost as many humans as animal friends to death. Honestly, both things hurt me equally. I know some people would think that is wrong or shallow, but I don’t. Pets give nothing but unconditional love to the families that adopt them. I can’t say that same thing about all of the people that I’ve come across over the years.

In other pet news, it is so weird that our gerbil died. She was young and seemed so healthy. We have actually been bracing ourselves for our little hamster, Wasabi to pass away as he is looking very much like a Grandpa recently.
The weird thing is, he has made a complete turn around! He has been running in his wheel like he has not done in ages and his fur is looking all bright and healthy!

He started to look really skinny and was sleeping a lot about a month ago. I was starting to get very worried about him because I am told that Dwarf Hamsters don't live more than 1.5 years usually, and he is right at that age right now. He was not eating as much as he used to either, so I decided to try something out to get him to eat better. I thought that old people need soft food, maybe geriatric hamsters do too?
I bought a few different types of high end baby food and a block of tofu. 2-3 times a day I've been feeding him a small dish of baby food and a square of tofu with a thin all natural peanut butter spread on it. (I started out spoon feeding him for the first week when he was weaker, but now the dish is fine.) He has been going CRAZY for it and totally got his wee appetite back. It has been amazing!! Within a week, he was sleeping less and running in his wheel and begging to get out to play. He is a young hammie again!

I mean, I know he is at that age, and I should not get my hopes up too much, but at least I know that if he does go soon, his last days will have been happy.

R.I.P. Kodo

A few hours ago our oldest gerbil passed away. This makes me very sad. She was not only my favorite, but she was our first gerbil and she is the mother of all of the other gerbils we have. (The photo is of Kodo not long after all of her babies were born.) She lived a long and very spoiled life as far as gerbils go. She will be missed.

What a way to end the year.

Animals in need of our help

God, this just makes me sick.
I have pet Gerbils, Mice and Kitties at home and I could never imagine anyone wanting to hurt any of them. They are all such sweet and gentle animals. Info on how you can help is at the bottom of this re-post:

I just read this article from King5 and it's a horrible thing that happened to these animals.

$5,000 reward offered for info about pet store break-in

SEATTLE - A total of $5,000 in reward money is being offered in connection with a pet store break-in over the weekend.

The operators of the "Animal Talk" pet store and shelter say cats have been traumatized by burglars who ripped open cages, kicked the cats and stomped gerbils and mice to death.

Pasado’s Safe Haven is offering $2,500 and the Humane Society of the United States is also offering $2,500 for information about those responsible for the crime.

Early Saturday morning, thieves hacked through the front door of the store in the Roosevelt neighborhood. Volunteers arrived to find animals everywhere and dozens of dead animals on the floor.

The 44 cats that were let out of their cages fought each other and hunted the smaller animals.

“It was just devastating initially because to get to the cats and to get to the animals we were having to walk over little dead bodies,” said owner Missy Young.

Lots of help is pouring in, but much more is needed now that the full extent of the damage is becoming clearer.

A veterinarian who examined the cats on Sunday determined that seven had been brutalized.

"At least two of them had to have been drop-kicked. They have internal injuries, bruising, bleeding," said Young.

The shelter is now looking at thousands of dollars in vets bills and are in shock after realizing what the cats went through.

"What initially happened seemed like a spree, an immature and cruel act but this just goes into the realm of vicious. It's torture," said volunteer Susan Wilk.

An emerging pattern

A spokeswoman for the Humane Society of the United States said Saturday's crimes demonstrate that people who commit cruelty to animals often engage in other illegal activities.

"The suspect(s) in this case not only committed burglary but may face felony cruelty charges for intentionally killing and injuring animals," said Inga Gibson.

Gibson said studies have found that people who abuse animals are likely to escalate to violence against humans.

"The FBI has recognized the connection since the 1970's, when its analysis of the lives of serial killers suggested that most had killed or tortured animals as children," she said.

Gibson said research has also shown consistent patterns of animal cruelty among perpetrators of more common forms of violence, including child abuse, spouse abuse, and elder abuse.

"Residents should be concerned that such offenders are in their community and such crimes should be taken seriously," she said.

How you can help

Send donations to: Animal Talk Rescue C/O Animal Talk, 6514 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115.

If you have information relating to this crime, or know of someone who may have one of the stolen animals in custody, contact the Seattle Animal Shelter at (206) 386-PETS(7387) or the Seattle Police Department non-emergency line at (206) 625-5011.