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It was once again a crazy year: We took in 262 animals, we adopted out 205, we have 2 "sanctuary" ferrets who are not adoptable due to health concerns and unfortunately we had 13 this year that passed away while in rescue.

We are very proud of what we achieved again this year! We are also very grateful to all of our wonderful volunteers, supporters & adopters! You made it all possible!

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We had to put Abby down today. She was one of the babies that we only just took in on Sunday.

Abby was only about half the size of her litter mates. She had a lot less energy than her siblings and while they were out playing and wrestling, she was hunkering down in the little igloo. She wonky poop... diarrhea, unusually big ones and sometimes little dry ones. And unfortunately her belly started to balloon up. When we received a picture of her mom, our fears only grew bigger. The vet confirmed it this morning - Abby had Megacolon. She was put to sleep this morning. RIP little angel.

Abby's mom should have never been bred. Everybody who knows a little something about rats and cares about them would have known that. Abby's mom is a high white, a high white with unknown family history like all pet store rats out there.

Abby is once again proof how pet stores that sell pets suck. We don't know if the pet store intentionally breeds rats out of greed so that they can sell more of them. Or if they simply don't give a damn. Or a combination of the two.

We don't care what excuses they have. The outcome is the same. Little Abby should have never been born, instead she had to suffer in the name of greed. And our hearts are broken. It's just not fair.

Abby's siblings are doing ok at the moment, unfortunately there is still a chance that they will come down with Megacolon within the next little while but also later in their lives. They are being closely watched by their wonderful foster mom Cora.

On Sunday we will take in 7 more babies from a mom that was bought at the same time at the same pet store by the same family. We are worried.

Is that unnecessary pain and suffering the animals have to go through ever going to stop? When are people going to wake up and see what they are causing just because they want to make a quick buck or two? Or because people want to get a pet NOW and fast instead of taking the time and do some research, talk to rescues/shelters (remember - It's all about supply/demand)? And when are people going to realize that if a rescue is denying them, they have a good reason to do so and that it doesn't mean that they should run to the next pet store and get some anyway "just because they want one"? People, please stop being so selfish and think about what you are doing!

We regularly get updates from our adopters but we also often get to visit ratties, ferrets and other animals in their forever homes and now and then we even offer to look after them for a few days when their adoptive mom and/or dads go away.

Last weekend I had the privilege to look after Tino (now Nemo), Ruby and Candy (now Gigi) as well as their new bunny sister Cutie (now Velvet). They are all doing fantastic and are being spoiled rotten by their wonderful mom Cheryl.

I decided to snap some pics of the three ratties especially so I can show them to their foster homes who were madly in love with them. Reese wanted to adopt Tino but unfortunately Tino couldn't be integrated into Reese's gang. And Teresa who fostered Candy just told me the other day how she's a little bitter that she didn't adopt Candy and Jenna. The only reason she didn't adopt was completely selfless - She knows how we are always desperate for quarantine foster homes and adopting rats means that she would no longer be able to do that.

Anyway, off to the pics:

Tino - He was surrendered to us by a woman along with 3 other rats. Two of the rats incl. Tino were neutered at home by tying a rubber band around their testicles until they fell off. It's just absolutely horrifying that poor Tino had to go through such a cruel act. We're all for neutering rats if it's done by an experienced vet. Tino also had major respiratory problems but they luckily cleared up with antibiotics.

Ruby - She came to us as a 5 week old baby. She was from a group of about 30 female rats consisting of grandma, her 4 daughters and many little babies incl. Ruby. It was a situation that got out of control where a family had several male and female rats that they couldn't keep contained and so they kept on having litter after litter. The family kept all the males and we took in all the females. Ruby picked Cheryl at a rat show. The two had an instant connection and it was very obvious that Ruby meant to go and live with Cheryl and her furkids. She is now spayed and is one of Tino's ladies.

Candy - She came to us early this year along with 2 other females, probably her sisters. Candy and Savannah already had their babies a few days before coming to us, Jenna the third was pregnant. Not only did Candy already have a litter, she was already pregnant yet again so she raised two back to back litters. They belonged to some street kids. Despite the hardship, Candy and all the ratties were just an amazing bunch. Very kissy, friendly, playful.... and she is still awesome! She too is now spayed and is the other one of Tino's ladies.