Silver and Onyx, Refugees from California's Gerbil Ban

A pair of female gerbils made their way to Oregon from California on Saturday.  They arrived at the Village about 8:30 pm.  They settled in by taking a sand bath.  They're pretty active little girls.  Hopefully they will enjoy it here.  Pictures to follow.

Ping Leaves Us

Going into the rat room tonight, I'd discovered that Ping had passed.  Ping leaves Rollo behind on his own. :(    This death was not unexpected, the brothers are 2 years, 9 months old and were really showing their age but  it was still sad to find him so.  Even sadder is that his brother is now alone.

He has been prepared for private cremation.

Rest in peace little Ping.

Another Guardian Laid to Rest - Majah

The cats are our pets and not part of the sanctuary. 

Majah was 18+ years old.  He was always a svelte cat, my husband things he was part Oriental.

Majah came into my life in 1996.  I had just graduated from college and went to Medford, Oregon to visit family.  My grandmother gave me a graduation gift of cash and I went to the local shelter and adopted a cat, a friend for Mocca.  He was the last cat left for adoption at the store I went to so I adopted him.

It was a 6 hour trip to get home and I purchased a carrier and a leash and harness for him so I could take him for walks to go to the bathroom at rest stops.  I wasn't sure if it would work but all be damned if it didn't.  He went to the bathroom while on the leash.

When I got home, I introduced him to Mocca.  As I lived in a room in a house, he would not get run of the house.  He and Mocca did NOT hit it off.  For a month it was stand-off city.  Mocca was relaxed, Majah was not.

One day I had the window open and my room mates dog was outside and jumped up on the window and started barking at them.  Mocca and Majah were sitting on opposite sides of my desk and they both reared back and then flew across the room to the bed and huddled together.  Best friends were born.

[image to come of them snuggling I have to scan it]

They were inseparable and slept together, often in a ball.  Mocca was the alpha cat, but he was a gentle leader and very welcoming to new cats.  Majah was second in command but when he got too bad, Mocca would give him a big swat.  As Mocca aged and was no longer exerting his quiet control, Majah actually became a real pain to the other cats.  He tormented Deemka and Gadget continuously.  Padjar, well, he can take care of himself.

When Mocca passed, Majah became unbearable for a year or so.  He'd chase the cats away from us.  His final year with us, he started to really slow down.  He still tormented the other cats, but he spent a lot of time sleeping (yes more so than usual).

When he started to drop weight, we brought him to the vet for blood tests.  We had periodic blood tests done to monitor him.  He started to suffer from dementia and would cry and seem lost. :(   He was almost 18 years old.

He became more frail.  Sometimes when you look at a pet, you just know. I made an appointment on August 2nd to have him euthanized.  On July 28th, when we came home from the county fair and found he could no longer stand and walk, I brought him to a vet hospital on the 29th to have him put to sleep.

We do miss him.  Sadly, the other cats do not.  I'm actually writing this on when I realized I didn't post his obit on the blog in July of 2012.  Deemka has completely come out of her shell.  She runs around the house with the zoomies and comes to sit on our laps.  Padjar's skin condition, he had a nervous spot that he would worry raw, is gone.  Gadget has started coming back downstairs too.

Despite his annoying tendencies, Majah is missed and was well loved.  He underwent private cremation at the Oregon Humane Society.

Rest in peace Majah.

Introducing Baklava...a real sweet treat

Baklava came to us on 2/21/2013.  He is a sweet boy, about 6 months old.  This picture was taken on 3/5/2013.  He's settled in quite nicely.

He loves his food and he absolutely loves his sand bath.  He's the only hamster I have that I see in it quite a bit.  Here he is in his sand bath.  (It is a square glass canister on its side.)

Here is a butt shot!  He's got some fuzzy wisps of fur!

I've had to rearrange his cage since he came here because he didn't care for the burrow.

You can see his igloo that he refuses to sleep in.  Instead, he made his nest under his wheel.  :/
Welcome Baklava!  We hope you love it here!