Gone but not forgotten - Siggy October 8, 2007

Siggy came with her sister, Albie, as babies from a petstore with the sales inducing comment of being the "ugliest rats I have ever seen". We disagreed wholeheartedly finding hairless rats to be incredible and gorgeous.

Siggy didn't have the bossy personality of her sister but was an alpha in her own way, deferring only to her sister. Comparatively, she was shy and fussy, taking treats, putting them neatly in a corner and running up to get more only to take them to the pile and come back. She would not start eating a treat until I left the cage area, seemingly wanting to make sure that no more were forthcoming. When we would have our outside the cage sessions, she would get agitated at being away from the cage, only being comfortable hiding in my shirt or in a fold of the blanket that was used. Unlike her sister, she was content to sit with me quietly and enjoy being petted.

There's something somewhat fragile about hairless rats. While a lot of rats can live over two years and good stock (well bred by careful breeders) can live for three and sometimes the odd occasion four years, out of the four rats we have had, I don't think any lived over two years. It won't be a disincentive to having hairless but just something to always keep in mind - they are with us for an even shorter period of time.

Siggy was a robust and healthy girl but did get a lump a few months before her death with a successful removal. Then, pretty much immediately after fully healing, she started growing another. This was shortly after her sister died. Then, as I was watching it and debating on when to take her in, she started to lose a little weight and get a bit of a squinty eye. She also seemed to be having a little trouble walking - like the others had when they had had a small stroke.

We decided to take her in to the vet to have it checked out. I wasn't sure if she had a head tilt (ear infection) or a bit of a stroke/tumor. The vet was concerned about a tumor and gave us some antibiotics and other meds to give her. If it was an infection, then it should clear up and then we could think about getting the lump removed. If it was a tumor, then it wouldn't clear up and just be a matter of time. She did okay taking the medicine and didn't look to be worsening. Two days after the vet visit, we found her dead in the cage, in one of the tubes that she liked to hide in with a treat on her.

We will miss our Siggy baby but we are so happy that she will be with her sister again at the bridge.

Gone but not forgotten - Albie September 10, 2007

This is crazy Albie. We brought home her and her sister Siggy from a pet store. They were quoted to be "the ugliest rats I have ever seen" from the young man who sold them to us. We found them gorgeous and a heck of a lot of fun. Albie was nicknamed "demon rat" on occasion from me due to her red eyes. She was such a small girl and, funny enough, turned out to be an alpha rat. Bedlam would occur in the cage and it would be business as usual to see that it was Albie asserting her alpha-ness over another rat. This continued with the three boys, who at the smallest is twice the size of Albie. Plus, she was the nosiest little busybody. She was always the first at the door, pushing her cagemates out of the way to get to whatever it was. She had to know what others were getting. She was also quite fearless outside of the cage, riding my shoulder and wanting to check out the cat. Albie also was always on the go, making it difficult for our visiting sessions outside of the cage. She was so restless and always wanting to look at something.

She ended up with a lump and we had it removed. The vet told us that the lump had its own blood source and that we could have the lump checked for malignancy. We felt there was no point, as there wasn't much we could do for her if it was malignant. We decided to keep an eye on her and enjoy our time with her. She did very well for about four months or so and then started to lose a little weight. It wasn't much, not enough to be concerning. Then, on September 9, pretty much overnight she went from being somewhat energetic and lively to slow, lethargic and listless. I knew the end was coming when she would just sit with me. She never just sat with me.

We kept an eye on her overnight and on Monday she looked worse. Luckily, I was able to spend some time with her and when I was wiping her face off with a cloth, she had a seizure and died. We are thankful that she did not linger and suffer and that she had to make the "death ride" to the vet.

She was such a strong personality and will be greatly missed.

It's been a while....

It's been a while since keeping up to date on what has been happening. It's been such a stressful and busy summer in a number of ways - job, family, pets, etc. It's going to take a little while to just come out of the bone-weariness of it.

Lately we have been dealing with a somewhat sick cat and the rats. We lost Albie in September and then just under a month later we lost Siggy. We are now down to eight rats, with a couple starting to show their ages.

We feel that six is our maximum and won't be adding to the group until we get under that number. While we feel good with the reasoning behind being so far over our capabilities, I have felt sad that I haven't been able to spend the time that I would have liked because of the volume along with all the above issues that needed attention. Memorials to our beautiful hairless ladies upcoming.

A Warm Welcome to .... Meredith June 27, 2007

No pics, of course. Wouldn't want to break the cycle. A little over three weeks ago SARS (www.smallanimalrescue.org) picked up 50+ rats from a raided hoarder. We put our name in for one of the girls which turned out to be ***MEREDITH***. She is a lovely dark beige (mink?) colored dumbo girl who has been spayed. She was spayed because she was in with the boys and it wasn't known whether a bunch of ladies were pregnant and the last thing needed are litters.

We've never had a dumbo and I have always thought they were neat looking. For those that don't know, a dumbo rat has ears on the side of the head rather than on top, like regular rats. It's a different look. She is quite small and, of course, have no idea of the age. She is quite friendly but shy. She has already taken to the boys so she will be fine in the cage with all the others.

We are glad to have Meredith with us! Pics to come!!

Introducing...... Larry, Curley and Moe!

Actually, according to this pic, it is Curley, Larry and Moe. Curley is the lovely brown and white one, Larry is fully brown and Moe is a most striking beige boy with a red right eye/black left eye.

We introduced them to the household by promptly (within two weeks) getting them neutered. Welcome! Now they are with the Ladies and seem to be coming along nicely.

As with boy rats, they are lazy and complacent, more than happy to laze around on you (as this picture attests) and possibly fall asleep. They are easy to get along with and quick to trust. Moe seems to be the biggest baby of the three as he is usually the one to pass out first and also just loves to boggle. All the boys are bogglers and sleepers but Moe is the one who takes to it the best.

All three boys are about twice the size of the ladies and, in some cases, three times the size. These are the rats that people get upset about - big and dark. Have to say, though, that the list folx were right - boy rats are squishy babies. It's been a while and it has been a pleasure. I am so glad we gave boy rats a go. That doesn't mean we don't adore our ladies. ;)

I hope we can enjoy these gorgeous and friendly boys for a long, long time. Like most of the rats we have, we have NO idea of their age. I think they may be on the young side as they filled out significantly after we brought them home but that just might be more due to the "no empty bowl" policy we have for the beasts. However long it is, we will enjoy their presence!

Gone But Not Forgotten - Clementine

Our poor Clemmie. We took her into the vet's on June 18 to have her pts as she was not doing so well. On my usual check a while back, I saw she was growing a hard lump near her "bits" and from what we saw from Nibble, this wasn't a good thing. Also, she was an incessant barberer. Whether this was something she took to before she got her, I am not sure but it sure took hold after we had the injury to her mouth fixed. She seemed very compulsive about her grooming and wasn't happy with the slight deformity to her mouth (the equivalent of having a little bit of bottom lip taken away) after the injury. If a rat could have OCD, that would be our Clemmie.

Because of her OCD grooming, she had sores on her paws and a red mouth. We had tried three different antibiotics in case it was a rash/illness and also had her checked for mites (Ivermectin) twice. None of these took and it seemed that she just fussed herself into her situation.

After the lump was noticed we decided to let her go and keep an eye on her, as we had done with Nibble. Eventually, she became thinner and eventually started to bleed. On the second day, we knew that it was time to let her go. She was still able to eat but it seemed that the cancer had taken over. Because she was palliative, I never did a serious check on her as, with any rat, it was a big major ugly deal to check them over. We do it all the time but because we knew she was sick and didn't want to upset and stress her, we didn't bother. After she was gone, I checked her belly and it had spread pretty much through her belly and groin and there was a small lump on her spine.

Clemmie was a sweet girl. She wasn't overly friendly - as seems to be the case with the group of four ladies that we brought home from the same rescue group - but she was a curious and energetic girl. She did enjoy her cashews. She was the typical girl rat - not interested in staying still and visiting but wanting to run around and investigate. She came with Hilda and didn't seem to bond with the other girls but newcomer Moe seemed to take a shine to her and has been her companion since merging the boys and the girls.

Clemmie's passing feels a little sadder than the others. She was ill and had problems but was still insistent on being a typical girl rat. I honestly don't think there was a time she was with us when she was completely well. Between the mouth injury, barbering issues and the cancer she always had some kind of issue.

I feel like I've failed her somewhat - that there was something I could do about the barbering, about the sores, caught the mouth issue sooner, did something about her cancer but I guess with rats and their short life spans we do the best we could. She had food, companionship, a home and people who loved her.

She will be missed.

Emotional Blackmail

I realize that I am behind on posting about the folx that I have but came across a new situation.

Perusing Craigslist (managed to sell the Martin's cage) I saw an ad up for a young hairless lady. As I have this fascination for hairless rats, I had to find out more.

As always, the kid brought the rat home, mother is kind of horrified, kid gets bored, mother doesn't want to do the work and doesn't care for the animal and wants it gone. Yep. Okay. The rat is alone and in a hammie cage. Yep. Okay. As always, we have too many but can make the room. Husband's eyes roll the entire night.

After a few emails and me doing the majority of the work to get this done, we are set to meet at noon. Get a call about 45 min before the meeting. Kids running mom around, no time, too busy, disorganized. After a few minutes of trying to see about another time, another day I suggest that she call me back in the evening when she has a better idea of what is happening tomorrow for a time.

I remain polite even though to husband afterwards I get on my rant: No wonder the kid(s) have no sense of responsibility. Good thing I have no kids because hell would have frozen over before anything got done for them before this rat was taken care of. BLAH BLAH BLAH. %#@$%%^

We had kind of planned our day around the meet because we had a ton of other things to do ourselves. We can handle this. We end up hitting the mall in the spare time and spend money. Yippee.

Anyways, husband asks me what my inconvenience tolerance is.

Hence the title of this blog post - Emotional Blackmail.

I said well, I guess fairly limitless. I get this ill feeling in my stomach thinking about the poor animal getting the brunt of these a**h*les inability to be responsible and considerate. I guess as much as I can personally do I can't. I said I can't force the woman to show up to give me the animal.

Little did I know.

It is now Sunday night and no word. It's like they fell off the face of the earth. I did ask husband to call before we were heading out for a few hours to see if they were around. No answer. No call last night and as of now, no call. The woman wanted the rat out by Monday. I guess it isn't happening. I certainly hope it isn't going to be dumped anywhere out of "convenience's sake".

I couldn't make the call because I couldn't guarantee my level of politeness would have stayed appropriate at this point in time. We can't do anything more because at this point it would be highly inappropriate for us to keep badgering them. I can only hope that there was someone else more convenient for them to drop the rat off with, not just at a dead end or the SPCA doorstep.

This is why I do what I do - people like this. I am worried for the future in general. People like this are going to be in charge one day. We are already seeing the fruits of bad upbringing. Yes, I know it's just a $10 rat but it is still a being that feels fear and pain. We domesticated this animal and took away it's survival skills and then to... well... the most polite thing I can say is "be irresponsible".

I don't know. I'm at a loss. Between the disregard for the animal and the disregard for me as a person (courtesy, anyone?), I'm not sure what to think. I relook the conversations. I ask husband (who heard my side of all conversations and saw the emails - as he always does with possible newbie rats) if maybe I was rude or gave her a bad feeling or spooked her. He said that I did nothing wrong, that there was no reason for this except her shortcomings. She seemed concerned about making sure the rat wouldn't become food. That's why I am baffled. If nothing wrong was said or bad feelings, then.....

I just hope the poor rat will be okay.

Catching Up

It's been awhile and have pics but been busy and lazy trying to sort out health and job issues. The Boys have settled in nicely, their operations have gone wonderfully, Albie's lump removal has gone wonderfully - we are still watching for signs of cancer and the new cage has gone wonderfully. Details forthcoming!

Gone But Not Forgotten - Nibble - Saturday, April 14, 2007

As blogged previously, Nibble had been "stroking out" a little in the sense that her two front legs were losing capability. She would lose most function for a few days and then make a recovery. This happened twice. Also, when Virginia was initially taken to the vet's Nibble went with her to see about a few smallish lumps that she had. This lump didn't appear to be getting bigger but did appear to be getting harder.

Then, last week she became worse and progressive to the point where she wasn't able to move very well. She was having trouble eating and then really not able to eat at all. I sat and held her for a number of hours on Thursday and Friday kind of hoping that she would pass. She was one who hated to go out and hated to be fed medicine. She was impossible to trick to take her medicine.

We took her to the local vet to have her put to sleep on Saturday. We had seen the same thing in Snort and it is a very hard thing for them as eating and drinking is near impossible. The vet checked her back feet and lower spine and it appears that the problem was coming from there. He pushed into her back a bit and it was painful for her. What I figure is the lump that was around her genital area had moved into her back. He suggested that we could try shots of some kind every eight hours. I passed on that. It would have been very difficult and painful for her - she is not and has never been a good patient. She would have been in pain and unhappy and her last month(s) would have been those of misery. The vet said that the likelihood of it helping too much was low but that he had to offer. Maybe if it was the cat and would have benefit... sometimes with the rats there is only so much that can be done with reason.

Nibble was a sweet little lady that could be moody. She almost didn't come to us. We brought her home because of the cage situation with Houdini. She became quite mellow in her old age but still had the ability to give a good bite if fingers came into the cage and she wasn't in the mood for it. Nibble and Boggle were paired to come out together to sit on the couch. They had a great temperament together and Nibble often liked to go into my sleeve and sleep on my shoulder. She was so pretty and soft being a light colored lady with her black eyes.

We will miss Nibble greatly, as we already do. It's such a shame that these lovely animals are only with us for a couple of years.

It's been awhile, yet again

Frankenrat, alias Virginia, ended up having two lumps removed and was also spayed. She looks quite good and has healed up rather nicely. Clementine is on antibiotics for her rash. I don't know if that's going to do it for her. She is so small and seems that she is not thriving. She isn't getting beat up or terrorized in the cage - I've been watching to make sure it isn't a "stress issue". Something to watch for. Albie has a lump and will need to have that removed but will do it shortly. I will probably take her when I take Clementine in for a recheck. They always want to see them to confirm the obvious. Nibble is still with us. She had another stroke-like few days where her front paws weren't that strong but is somewhat back to normal. The hardness in her groin/genital area hasn't become larger so that's a positive sign. She's still with us! The other ladies are well. Siggy is actually about twice the size of Albie.

I'll have the opportunity to be home more as well as I am going to be working part time days at work now starting in about a week. Graveyard was so quiet which is good but it is such a lifestyle change. Husband works days and it was always very hard to come home and go right to bed. It's like regular shifters coming home at 5 pm and going to bed and getting up around 3 am. It will be interesting to see daylight and people again. I guess I have to comb my hair on a regular basis again!

We also did the incredibly stupid again on Monday (April 9 for my senile mind). We picked up three male rats. A bit of a story attached to this one. Perusing Craigslist (always on the lookout for bargain cages, etc) and saw that someone was giving up three male rats and it was one of those COME AND GET EM OR ELSE ads. Emailed my inquiry and was told that they were with the ex-roommates, owner at another place, couldn't keep rats, not sure if they were being taken care of by ex-roomies. Asked the owner whether there were any other people interested, asked about the cage, etc as we have NO room and really don't need another three rats, especially males as they need to be housed separately. After getting virtually no info (which always leads me to believe the worst), I told the owner that I would take them and to call me. No call. Hoping for the best, I go about my business and LO! about five days later another ad wanting to rehome three male rats. I email and find out it is the same three rats and now THEY can't keep them either. Idiots off to the rescue. We get there and the poor animals are in this crappy cage in a dark room. I'm not going to slam the kid taking care of them as he probably was trying but it didn't look to be the best of situations. I didn't pry but it seems that someone is sick and didn't want them there. I hope the kid keeps in touch as I would like to keep him updated and send pics of their cage.

Asked the kid if he could toss the cage and took the boys home in our cat carrier (we have a cat carrier for multiple rodents travelling). The poor things are in this very small cage (for them) but that will be remedied tomorrow when I drive to the boonies to get a nifty cage for them.

So now 11 count em 11 rats. The boys are very nice looking rats. I think they are a bit dehydrated and hungry but we'll get that sorted out. They have eaten the lab blocks, peas, dog biscuits and a chocolate chip. It looks like we'll be calling them Larry, Curly and Moe. Larry is all black, Curly is black and white and Moe has one red and one black eye. Curly is quite a large boy. That will take some getting used to. They felt healthy, as far as I could tell, when I gave them a grope. Pictures to come!

Husband is a little concerned. So am I, for that matter. It could be a lot of work if things go wrong at the same time. I'm hoping for the best and all stay healthy and well. We just won't be replacing as each pass on. There's only so much we can do and we are well over our limit. We talked about getting these three boys and felt that we could. They need a stable home and care. Not sure how long it will be because I have no idea how old they are. The only ones I know about are Nibble, Siggy and Albie because they were babies. The rest are crapshoots.

Wish us luck! Two cages and 12 sets of eyes watching us.

Living (it seems) in the car

Took Virginia and Nibble to see the vet way out in the boonies. I live in the downtown core of Vancouver and wanted to check out the new vet was out in the burbs. She has a lovely touch with the ladies and was quite impressed. She is also a little cheaper.

If you don't mind driving.

Nibble had the one lump in the "lady area" and either a couple more lumps coming up or lymph node swelling. The vet didn't like the area that they were in and said that she could go and look but that she might cause more damage than help because it depends on what the large lump was up against. We agreed that a "wait and see" approach would be good. Nibble also seems to have made a bit of a comeback with the weakness in her front legs, which is great to see.

Virginia has the lump and it was agreed that it needed to come out. A spaying was suggested because it has been said to lessen the possibilities of getting more mammary tumors. I wasn't sure about this and just went with the single lump removal. This was on Saturday about ten days ago. On Tuesday I noticed that she was growing another small tumor just above the large old one. Called the vet's and was told that both could probably be done at the same time but they'll look when I get there on Friday, March 16. Because of the drive, they are going to do her first and then let me come and get her. There's no point in my driving home because all I would have to do is turn around and go get her. I decide when I get there to have the spaying done as well because it seems that she is going to be prone to tumors. Nibble and Boggle have done well with tumor surgery and haven't repeated (knock on wood) yet. I guess Virginia is going to be like Teeth and may as well do it all if possible.

I come and get her and the poor beast has three cuts and has been glued. They suggest I put a cone on her if she gets fussy with the wounds.

I get her home and try to put the cone on. Nope. This is just not going to be happening. She pretty much chokes herself on it and fusses and wiggles and stresses. Forget the cone. She does also manage to open up the large wound and we are able to see her leg muscle and belly. Joy. I call the vet's. They are closed but have a couple of numbers for emergency vets. We go to the closer one and $75 later we go home. I won't digress on this complete arsehole that was in there causing havoc and taking up the time of everyone there but needless to say, some people need a quick shot to the head just to shake things up a little.

We get home and she manages to fuss open the smaller lump wound but this isn't too bad. It can wait. The emergency vet said that if it opens again it isn't a tragedy but to get her to the regular vet's in the morning.

Husband calls while I am showering and apparently we are told "GET HER IN QUICK, THIS HAS TO BE DEALT WITH!!!!!!!". Well, husband has a dental appointment and I have to be somewhere to pick something up so we decide to drop husband off, I will pick up said item and then I will keep going to the boonies. Husband is kind enough to take the bus home as I have no idea how long this will take.

I get there around noon and was told that the vet is doing emergency surgery. That's cool. I have to drop her off. How long? Maybe an hour and a half. Okay. Now here's the oddest thing. The vet receptionist just kind of looks at me. Was I supposed to say I'll come back tomorrow? Or say not to worry I'll go elsewhere? Or what? I just say okay. Will you call me? At about 1:45 after wasting close to two hours I go back and the vet is still not done. How long I ask. Dunno. Again, I am being looked at. I say well, I'll just sit and wait. It is pouring out and I don't want to wander around in the rain and end up spending money because I'm bored. It's reasonably warm here and quiet. More eyeballing. I just say "I have no choice, do I?". Silence. Unless you want to pay me to go elsewhere. More silence. It's kind of my fault as I should have asked for suggestions - "what would you suggest I do about this situation" would have resolved the eyeball issue and cleared it up. If, when I got there, I was told to come back the next day I guess I would have done so. Wouldn't have been happy but sometimes these things happen. The lack of communication was a little disturbing and then the eyeballing. Just speak, woman!

Ooof. At close to 3 pm the vet is done and has put staples on Virginia. We talked about the cone. Vet sees what I mean when some tape that was put around her neck to slow down being able to bend her neck to fuss is being worked at. Virginia has her feet caught in it. Then she doesn't. Now she's bouncing around the carry box going crazy. Feet are stuck again trying to get it off. I comment that this is the show with the cone. I'm given some tape to put on her because it might distract her and wear her out instead of fussing at the wounds. Better than the damn cone.

After being watched closely in a separate cage it appears that the staples are something she's not interested in dealing with. They are still intact and the wound itself looks red and angry (the emergency place apparently overglued her) but she hasn't pulled them out. All are still closed. Yay.

But I am sick of the car and sick of driving in the rain. I normally work graveyards and had to be reasonably alert to do this driving. Changed my work days a little to be able to switch sleeping so that I get more than two hours of sleep.

I am so glad that Virginia is going to let this heal, though. We have to go back in 10-14 days to remove the staples. That's okay.

Not bad for a rat that wasn't supposed to live too long. Maybe if she had pulled out the staples the prediction may have come true! Just kidding. Really. Really!

Keeping Up

Figured I was overdue for a post and listening to Lulu scream because one of the others was looking at her the wrong way seemed to be a good time for it.

We have some sick rats and not sure what to do about it. Nibble seems to be getting weaker and has a lump near her "female parts". There is a vet I want to try out in the burbs but am waiting to hear back as to a recommendation. Will shoot for the weekend.

Virginia has a lump under her front leg. This is a definite stumper as when we picked her up we were told that she was getting on and that she probably wouldn't be with us long. Her fur was getting old (or at least what it looks like when rats age) and getting skinnier. We fattened her up a little and she seems quite happy here. My concern is that an operation will make her last little while difficult. This was a decision we had to make for Teeth. Then again, an operation could help or at least improve the quality of her last six months or so. I'm considering taking in Virginia with Nibble and seeing what the vet thinks - I'd like to try out this new vet.

Clementine has been over-barbering herself and her chin looks quite red. I'd guess some kind of unhappiness or stress but I don't see or hear anything at the cage. Clementine can be a pest so any trouble she gets into is most likely her own fault. I'll have to keep a bigger eye out.

As for the Canucks, it has been a pleasure. Missed a couple of games because not feeling well but went last night and it was quite fun. They have definitely been playing better and Luongo has definitely played up to the hype. Looks like we'll have to shell out for playoff tix - the first time in about three years!

I do feel bad for poor Jan Bulis. Whatever he may have said about wanting to be traded or complaining about ice time, he is still a member of the team and for the Canucks to be successful he needs to do well. Booing and grumbling doesn't aid in that.

We bought a couple of camcorders - one cheap hard drive one and one cheap DV one. Once I figure out how they work I'll check out MyTube (?). I actually have a short clip of Lulu attacking my finger through the bars of the cage on the DV tape but am waiting for the firewire cable to come so I can put it on the computer.

Well, *I* think its funny.

Virginia!

This is Virginia. She isn't all that helpful when it's picture time. We usually are able to get good pics when she is with other rats (see the bigger pic - she is the one looking right into the camera). We brought her home along with Lulu on January 10. We were told she was getting a bit skinny and probably wasn't going to be with us for a long time. Having said that, she is doing quite well and getting a little round in the middle. She has grown a little lump so we are going to keep an eye on it along with her age and eating. Virginia is very quiet but friendly and likes to lick on occasion. She is not overly happy to be out of the cage but isn't a biter or scared, which is nice. I hope she is with us a long time, at least in rat time!

Lulu!

This is Lulu. She came to us back on January 10th when we saw that SARS was overloaded with rats. More people dumping or pet store pregnancies. Lulu is a very pretty girl who is very very vocal. Whenever we hear a raspy noise we know it's Lulu and one of the others must be looking at her sideways. They don't even have to touch her. She also likes to bite. Not too hard and squeaks at the same time. Quite cute. We'd think it would upset her but she comes to climb up my arm.

Like the other three girls from the same rescue situation, she is going to need a bit of socializing. The only one that isn't really uncomfortable is Clementine but it's probably because she is younger (we think).

We really like having Lulu with us, even though we are a little overlimit with so many ladies.

There Be Yet More Rats!

We went back to SARS on January 10 and picked up a few more rats after reading that they were getting more rats dumped at the shelter. Luckily we were able to get two more ladies from the group that we got Hilda and Clementine from. We now have Lulu and Virginia with us. Lulu is supposed to be quite the personality and Virginia is supposed to be more quiet. I am to watch out for Virginia as she is starting to get older and losing a little bit of weight. That's okay. They all eat well at our place. I haven't had a chance to interact with them too much. I felt it best for them to get adjusted to each other before having them get adjusted to me. There will be time.

They seemed to fit right in without any difficulty. Now we have eight. Pics to come!