Birds Like Friends Too

After writing a post about the friendship that my dog and rabbit share, I thought about the friendship between my family's two birds: a budgie name Nasa and a cockatiel named Sundo. Nasa is around 8 years old and Sundo is around 14 years old but we only got Sundo recently. Nasa used to be all alone and she was kind of crazy. She was scared of hands and she also freaked out if she got out of the cage so you can imagine how hard it would be to take her out. If she was out of her cage, she would fly all over the place and crash into walls. We were afraid that she would kill herself but it was so sad that she was stuck in her cage all the time. She didn't play a whole lot with toys and just sat there every day. There wasn't any excitement in her life, except for when we would go up to the cage or put our hand in the cage to change her food and she would shy away from us.

When one of my Aunts was visiting, she brought along all of her dogs and Sundo since she didn't really have someone back home that could look after them during that time. During my Aunt's stay, my Mom suggested leaving Sundo here so that there'd not only be less for my Aunt to take back home, but both Nasa and Sundo would have a friend in each other. It would be nice since both of them are older and are both alone. Plus, Sundo always had other birds, specifically budgies, with her in the past but she was the only bird that my Aunt currently had left. We experimented having them together without putting them in the same cage. We simply sat both cages beside each other to see how the birds would react. They really seemed to like each other, going as close as possible to each other as two separate cages would allow, so we put both of them in a nice big bird cage that we had stored away in a shed. We transferred all of their toys, perches, mineral blocks, food and water dishes, and individual foods into the new cage and waited to see how it would go.

It turned out that this was the best thing that we could have ever done for Nasa! She became a completely new bird. It was amazing how much she changed. Nasa and Sundo became good friends. They would groom themselves at the same time, sleep at the same time, and they were willing to go close to each other. Nasa tried new things that she never would have done before. She played more with toys, chewed on mineral blocks, and tried new foods. I guess she observed Sundo doing all of these things and decided to copy her. Sundo was already tame and used to doing all sorts of things so it really encouraged Nasa to be the same way.

Nasa even started taming down. She wasn't as afraid of hands anymore. Eventually, we could take her out of the cage. Sundo was already really good for taking out of the cage so it was nice to be able to take Nasa out as well. She still flies around a bit but she isn't as spooked as she would have been before and she's better at staying in one place now. She likes to fly over to our rabbit's cage and sit on top. I guess she just likes the feeling of the bars of the cage because it reminds her of her own cage. She is improving so much at taming down that I even saw her jump and sit on top of Sundo's back once while they were both out. It was so funny!

When it comes to birds that we have in the future, I definitely think that my family should have two birds and not just one all by itself. It really makes a difference in the life of a bird. Nasa went from being crazy to being much more tame in almost half a year! So, not only does having two birds give each one a friend, but they learn from each other as well. Nasa is pretty old and we don't know how much longer she will live so I am glad that she has a friend for the last part of her life and I'm glad that Sundo has a friend like she used to always have.

Cheers,
Kaylie

There Is Now A Cat In My Family

I always thought of myself strictly as a dog person. I never thought that my family would own a cat. This was mostly due to the fact that we thought that my Dad was allergic to cats since he used to be allergic to several animals. He was allergic to the guinea pig that we had years ago and we didn't figure it out until the guinea pig died and my Dad's allergy symptoms and asthma symptoms decreased (we later tested him out with a skinny pig/hairless guinea pig in a pet shop but he even reacted to that!). He has always been okay with all of the other pets that we've had like dogs, rabbits, birds, and hamsters. He got allergy shots (never finished them but got enough of them to manage most of the allergies) when he was younger. I guess that's why he's okay with a lot of pets. That and the exposure that he's had since we have always lived with several pets at once. But we have still never owned a cat because we thought that he was still allergic to them. He always seemed fine, however, with the cats at my aunt and great-aunt's house. I always liked the cats at their house but I kept my strict dog person label because I had accepted that my family would never have one. I never even thought that I'd have a cat when I was older. I just really love dogs since I have had them for all of my life.

This year, my Mom suddenly seemed interested in visiting cats in adoption centres and I soon found out why. Not only was she thinking about volunteering at one, but she was also thinking about actually fostering a cat. We visited three different adoption centres, visiting two of them several times. I opened myself up to the idea of having a cat. It would be fun! Cats are different from dogs. They don't require as much attention and they just do their own thing. They aren't as rough as dogs and they can be very cuddly. I became quite excited but I couldn't get my hopes up because we still didn't know if my Dad's allergies would act up and there was also the fact that my Mom was thinking of fostering a cat which meant that it would go to another home if someone wanted to adopt it. I'll tell you the truth, I didn't think that I could deal with fostering a cat. I think anyone that fosters pets is absolutely amazing because a lot of people will actually foster several pets (whether they be dogs or cats) at a time, giving them a loving and caring home until they can be adopted. But I get really attached to my pets. Fostering a cat would mean that there was a possibility that the cat would be given away and then I would be sad. I know that people are probably thinking "Well, you just have to get used to that if you choose to foster a pet." I understand this. But when I get a pet, it becomes family. And having to give it away would be really hard. We once had a horse that we had to sell to someone else because he was not trained enough for us to handle him but that wasn't hard because I never got attached to him enough. Of course I loved him, but we didn't spend a ton of extra time with him because he wasn't safe enough to ride and I was kind of scared because I didn't have a lot of experience with horses (my Mom was the one who had experience with horses).

We didn't end up fostering a cat, though, because we adopted one! My Mom met a really nice tuxedo cat named Pingu one time when she was visiting an adoption centre and, after looking up more information about him through the online posting that the adoption centre put on the internet for each of their cats, she wanted to go back to see him with all of us. He was found in one of the neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Sudbury and ended up in the animal shelter for a few weeks before ending up at the adoption centre. My Mom told me that they keep the animals at the shelter for a few weeks just in case the animal escaped from a home and has owners who come looking for them. It gives the possible owners a chance to claim back their pet. If nobody claims the pet, then they end up in an adoption shelter. Pingu was neutered and had his shots updated before going to the adoption centre. When we met him, we all loved him. He was such a sweetheart. We could tell that he was nervous but he let us pick him up and hold him without any kind of struggle. We got my Dad to hold him to test him out and my Dad was fine! If my Dad would have reacted, it would have been instant. We decided to adopt him. It was March 13th. We bought a starter kit but we couldn't bring Pingu home until the next day, March 14th, since the day that we adopted him was just too busy for us. We took advantage of this time by buying cat supplies, preparing the downstairs bathroom for him, and I read a booklet about caring for cats. We decided that we would keep the name given to him at the adoption centre because Pingu was the name of a claymation TV show about a penguin that my brother and I used to watch as kids and we thought it was such a cute name.

When we brought him home the next day, we put him in the downstairs bathroom and kept him there for the next few days. He had everything he needed: food, water, litter box, blankets, scratching post/tree, and toys. There is even a window in that bathroom that has a ledge so he can sit and look outside. We wanted him to adjust to his litter box and food and water dishes in his new home. We didn't want to stress him out with a house that has a main floor and a basement plus several other pets. We would visit him in the bathroom which is now his bathroom. He was so sweet when we'd visit him. If we were sitting, he would often walk over to us and climb up into our laps to cuddle. After a few days, we started letting him out for short amounts of time to let him start to explore a bit. He started with the basement and my Mom started bringing him upstairs, with him eventually going upstairs on his own. He got to meet our other pets: our dog, our rabbit, our birds, and our fish. Our dog was very interested in Pingu but Pingu would hiss at him or swat at him if he got too close. Our rabbit was scared of Pingu. The first time he saw him, our rabbit was in his own cage but he was still scared and he stomped. One time, our rabbit was out hopping around the living room and when he saw the cat he became frightened and raced back to his cage. Our pets still all have to get adjusted to Pingu and Pingu still needs to get used to our other pets but we see little signs of all of them starting to adjust to each other.

So far, Pingu has really been adjusting to our house. We are now seeing his curious, playful side. He loves exploring. He doesn't really like playing with little balls or little plush toys but he loves chasing the light from a laser pointer and he also enjoys stealing larger stuffed animals or pieces of clothing to play with. He is also quite vocal. He often meows while he's walking around. He also meows every time we pick him up as if he is protesting but he never bites us or scratches us. When he's exploring, he prefers to cuddle by his own choice. If we ignore him and let him do his own thing while he's touring the house, he'll sometimes jump up onto our laps to crawl up and rest. Sometimes he'll just jump up onto an empty chair or the couch to curl up for a nap. He has his playful times and his nap times, just like our dog and rabbit. He has his own little personality and it's ending up to be very cute. I have fallen in love with this cat, just like I have with all of my pets, and he has become a part of our family. I can now say that I am both a dog and a cat person (as well as a rabbit person). Having a cat, if only for a few weeks so far, has shown me how amazing these animals are. Now, hopefully his presence will keep the mice out of the house too.

Cheers,
Kaylie

The Friendship of a Dog and a Rabbit

Since today is the 2nd anniversary of the day that my brother and I rescued our rabbit, Geronimo, I thought that I'd share the story of how Geronimo and our golden retriever, Finnlegh, became best friends. You'll also learn a bit about how Finnlegh came to live with us as well as a quick description of Geronimo's rescue story, although you can read more about his rescue story in the post that I wrote last year on the first anniversary of the day that we rescued him. Enjoy!

We bought our golden retriever, Finnlegh, from a breeder in 2012. We had lost our beloved golden retriever, Angel, at the age of fourteen when we had to make the tough but caring decision to put her down. We didn't think that we wanted another dog right away but she had left a space in our hearts to give to another dog. We searched for a good breeder and brought Finnlegh home. He grew into the perfect dog for our family; hyper and active at certain times and sweet and quiet at other times. Sometimes he'd race around the yard but then in the house he would curl up and nap or give us tons of sloppy kisses. During the Winter of 2015, there was a new addition to our family. We rescued a rabbit. He was born from domestic rabbits that had been breeding outside in my Grandma's neighbourhood. He was approximately two months old and was hopping around in the snow in -18 degrees Celsius weather so we brought him in out of the cold only to find that his eyes were stuck shut. We got him some help and found out that he had been dehydrated but he was going to be okay. We made the decision to keep him instead of him going to someone else and we named him Geronimo.

Of course, we had a challenge to face. Finnlegh was a golden retriever: a dog bred to retrieve animals for their masters while hunting. Naturally, he chased small animals and birds but could never catch them. This situation was going to be different. If Geronimo was running around and playing in the living room, Finnlegh might bite him or scare him too much for his little heart to handle. We had to teach him to be gentle with our new rabbit since we wanted them to get along and not have to be separated. We would let Geronimo hop around and play on the couch and if Finnlegh went to nip him or play with him in a rough way, we would stop him and tell him to give kisses. He eventually caught on and would give Geronimo such a sloppy kiss that our little rabbit's fur would be all wet. As Geronimo learned to hop off of the couch and play on the floor, we helped Finnlegh adjust to that too. All of the encouragement paid off.

With continued commands from us, Finnlegh learned to be gentle with Geronimo. Finnlegh would go and sniff our rabbit or give him a kiss. Sometimes Finnlegh would be lying on the floor and let Geronimo hop right on top of him. When our rabbit became playful, Finnlegh would become playful too. He would chase Geornimo a bit and sometimes they would play a mix between a game of hide-and-go-seek and tag around the old trunk that we use as a coffee table. Finnlegh and Geronimo have become best friends, which would fascinate people who see a relationship between a dog and a rabbit as being extremely difficult. It also teaches us a lesson: If a dog and a rabbit can become best friends, maybe it's possible that we humans can get along better with each other and we can make the world a more peaceful place.

Cheers,
Kaylie

Geronimo's Rescue Story

One year ago today, my brother and I rescued a rabbit. He was the size of my hand, approximately 2 months old, and he was out in -18 degrees Celsius winter weather. We were at our grandma's house and knew about the rabbits in her neighbourhood. Someone had let some domestic rabbits outside and they had bred over the years. There are many rabbits there now of various breeds. The rabbit that we rescued was one of them, possibly part lionhead. We knew that it was too cold outside for a rabbit his age so my brother and I went outside with a towel after we saw him hopping around in our grandma's driveway. By the time we got outside, he was hopping along the road. We followed him to try and catch him in the towel but he kept hopping away from us. We finally chased him against a snowbank and he was unable to climb it so we threw the towel over him and brought him inside. We found a small pet carrier in the garage and set it up for him with a towel and water. His eyes were closed and he hid under the towel most of the time, obviously quite scared.

I texted our parents, who were working, and told them what had happened. I still remember the text that my Dad sent back: "You can't keep him." We waited until our parents got home from work and by that time the rabbit had still not opened his eyes. In fact, it appeared that his eyes were stuck shut or that he might not have any eyes at all since all we could see was skin and fur where his eyes should be. Since we had found him outside and didn't know what else to do by the time we arrived in our own part of the city in the evening, we brought him to a wildlife refuge centre. They took him in even though he was not a wild rabbit and they nursed him back to health. It turned out that he was dehydrated and, once they took care of that, his eyes opened and they had to clean them out since there was guck in them. The wildlife refuge centre said that they would have to find a home for him since he was a domestic rabbit and we instantly offered him a home with our own family. 

We named him Geronimo because we're big fans of Doctor Who and that was a sort of catchphrase for the Eleventh Doctor. We call him Gerry for short. He has grown into a healthy rabbit, other than not having the best eyesight which is probably due to the state that his eyes were in when we found him. He has such an adorable personality and he is really good for an unneutered male rabbit, although we still plan on having him neutered. He and our dog, a golden retriever named Finnlegh, became very good friends. Gerry likes to cuddle with Finny and Finny likes to lick Gerry.

I am so glad that we decided to rescue him and then give him a home. In regards to that text that my Dad sent me, my Mom said that my Dad later stated that he shouldn't have looked at the rabbit because he ended up falling in love with it just as we all had. Geronimo has changed all of our lives. He can be really crazy at times and then funny or super cuddly at other times. He is a major sweetheart and my heart feels good knowing that he is alive today because of my family and I. Rescuing animals is good for the soul, you guys. You rescue them and they rescue you. That's just how it works.

Cheers,

Kay

So, My Dog And Bunny Have Instagram...

Bonjour!

Yes, my dog and bunny do indeed have their own Instagram account! C'est tellement excitant! What could be better than a dog and bunny duo?! My golden retriever, Finnlegh, and my bunny, Geronimo, became buddies pretty quickly after we rescued Gerry and recently I guess they decided that they wanted to share their friendship with the world!

They're really cute and Finny is hilarious! He's the one who describes all of the photos. I don't know how he comes up with those captions! I mean, they're so awesome that I don't think that I could do a better job myself. So, go check them out!

Their username is: @finny_and_gerry

Cheers,

Kay