My brave little hamster Sooty, lost his battle with skin cancer this weekend. The last month has been very difficult for me, but the vet said as long as he is eating, drinking and not in pain there is no reason to end his life. He was put on a course of antibiotics and every week we went to the vets to check his progress. He improved, but then on monday he started losing weight, and on friday he fell over onto his side and he couldn´t get up.

This was very upsetting, and the vet agreed that it was his time to go. Even though I had some time to prepare myself for him passing away, I was still heartbroken. The vet held him as he died while I stroked him and told him what a good lad he was. It was just a week before his 3rd birthday.

He had a good life, and in a way I´m relieved he´s gone so he doesn´t have to suffer anymore.

Rest in peace Sooty, my brave little hammy. I´ll never forget you.

So now I´m mum to four 3 week old orphan kittens! I work from home most of the time, so the manager at the rescue centre where I volunteer on the weekends thought I´d be the best candidate for the hand rearing job!

They´ll be starting to eat solids soon, but for now I´m up every four hours with a bottle ready to feed four hungry mouths! They are very cute, but I´m not getting attached...my old cat, Blake, looked right at me last and hissed at me! It won´t be for long Mr Blake..you´re still my favourite old cat! :o)

They´re here!! My two new beautiful rescue chinchillas are finally here! They are 18 months(ish), both stanadard greys and both very very cute! I´ve just left them to it for now, let them settle into this crazy place they now call home! They´ve come on a treat already, I was expecting them to bark their uneasiness about being in a new place, but they´ve done nothing of the sort, and have come to say hello whenever i´ve popped my hand in to the cage for whatever reason!

All other animals have agreed that these strange furry critters can stay...even the grumpy cat!

So I get the call, the call saying there are two chinchillas in need of rehoming, am I able to take them in? So of course I say yes!! I have a cage and all the chinny accessories, so I go and pick them up either this weekend or next weekend.

I´ve failed to mention that a couple of weeks ago I broke my foot falling up my stairs. I´m climbing the walls being stuck inside, with 2 border collies and my line of work I´m used to being outdoors and I´m going stir crazy being inside 24/7!

So these two little chinnys are little ray of light in my life right now! :o)

Yesterday I went to pick up Basils new friend, a 7 week old guinea pig. Now, I thought 8 weeks was the usual time for piggies to leave mam, or am I thinking of something else? When my partner got me a hamster from Pets at Home a few years ago, she turned out to be pregnant (bloody pets at home!). She had four beautiful babies that I kept with her until they were 8 weeks...I then separated the 2 males but the 2 girls stayed with her for another week while I found loving home for them.

Perhaps because he´s a male they separated him early, I don´t know. But he looks awfully tiny compared to Basil, who is quite large for a piggie anyway! Anyway, I don´t know...

I let them out onto neutral ground, with a big bowl of food in the middle. Basil, as usual, was more concerned with being ´free´ than greeting percy, but finally, they touched noses. I knew instantly that they would get on, but I stayed with them for a few hours, trying to build up baby percy´s confidance aswell. I didn´t think keeping them together unsupervised overnight was a good idea, so I put percy in a cage next to basil´s, so they could talk to each other. But both of them started whinning and crying for each other, so i decided to put them in together.

So, all is well in piggie land! Basil is pleased to finally have a friend, and percy seems to be settling in well :o)

Pics of Basil are to come soon, I´ve lost the lead to my camera *sigh* so i´ll have to around for that before I can put the pics up of him! My computer won´t let me put up a group of photos at a time or else I´d upload a few more than I have..never mind!

Basil was very well behaved for his claw trimming experience, I think it paid off that I waited a while until he got to know my better. That and the promise of a juicy bit of cucumber! They are still slightly longer than I´d like, I´m just a bit scared I´ll cut the quick - at least he´s more comfortable now though. Blake his due to go the vets for his boosters soon so I might take Baz with me for a more professional trim!

The newest addition to this crazy I place I call home, is Basil, a one (ish) year old guinea pig who came from a rescue centre in Lancaster. He was all on his own, so I´ve made arrangements for a another young male guinea pig to come live with us too, so he´s got some company! He´s an indoor piggie, and lives in my office, so he does get plenty of company from me, but I do think he would be better with a proper friend of his own!

Anyway, he came to me with very long claws, they are so long they´ve sort of splayed his toes which I can´t imagine that being very comfortable. I´ve let him settle for the past couple of weeks and let him gain some trust in me...now today is the day I clip them!! Wish me luck!! hahaha

Recon´s lump has actually turned out ot be a bruise!! Boy, do I feel a bit silly now! But better safe than sorry I say! The vet said it was a really bad bruise, thats why it was raised and had me worried, but in actual fact all is well! There really was nothing to worry about!

You´re all going to think that I´m one of these crazy owners who must wrap their pets in cotton wool; I´m really not! It´s just I had never seen anything like that before. Anyway, panic over, phew! I can get back to work now :)