Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary

Angel Baby. I sing this song in my head everytime I talk to, see or think about Angel, one of the Hayward rabbits who came from a rescue long ago. Sometimes I sing it out loud, much to the dismay of those around me, be they people or animals. Angel presented with head tilt on Friday evening. She is wobbly on her feet, tilted almost 90 degrees and has a dazed look of confusion on her beautiful face. She is on a wide array of drugs to address possible infection of the inner ear, slowed gut and parasites. She is not eating on her own, so she is being syringe fed three times a day and receiving sub q fluids. The good news is that she is anxious to eat and is consuming large quantities of Critical Care.

Including Angel, we have 5 rabbits with head tilt at the sanctuary. Although they all share some common symptoms, they are each so very different from each other. Rabbits are amazing animals who can become so very sick so quickly.

Rainbow, one of our potbellied pigs, is on the mend after having (we believe) a tooth problem. Rainbow is now well over 11 years old and came to us a year and a half ago with a mouth full of rotten teeth and a bad case of mites. She refused her evening meal one night last week so we knew something was very wrong. She is on an antibiotic now and was getting softened food at meal time, but it looks like she is ready to go back to her usual diet. I think I mentioned in another post that I had to take her temperature late one evening. She was not happy. I was not happy. But the job got done and now I know I can temp a pig if needed. Why didn’t I know about the ear thermomter sooner? Quite an accomplishment but I don’t think I’ll be putting it on my resume.

Last weekend was very busy and I was lucky enough to have help on both Saturday and Sunday. Our friend and long time volunteer, Carol Schalla, came on Saturday afternoon and helped me when I returned from vet appointments. She took care of all the waters in each of the barns and helped me in the rabbit building. It’s always great to have another pair of hands and to top it off, she always brings dinner with her! My dog Barney also enjoys the company of Carol’s dog, Molly. Molly is a beautiful Bassett Hound rescue and seems to always enjoy herself while visiting. Thank you Carol!

Anne came on Sunday and cleaned the chicken barn and then moved the last three ducks off of the lawn area and into the chicken barn/enclosure. Rocco, Gertie and Georgie took to the new space quickly and are enjoying the larger space and all the friends they now have. Lisa came also and worked on Rippy’s barn door. Rippy is a large Ram who finds great pleasure in battering his door down. Over the past year he has cracked 2×4’s, ripped bolts out of the 2×6’s and has hit the door so hard that it flew off the side of the barn once. No kidding, it was laying flat on the ground. Quite the picture! Thank you Anne and Lisa!

The basement project is moving slow, but hopefully I’ll be able to spend some time down there this weekend. There is a lot of painting to do and the new door is not yet in. Although it’s nice to see all the rabbits up in the house, it will be great when they can get back into their pens in the basement. Ellie Mae and Maple let me know when they are bored in the condos. They communicate this by emptying out their litter boxes and shredding their towels and blankets.

We have another rabbit in the beginning stages of head tilt. Angel, one of the rabbits from the Hayward rescue, is looking wobbly and has nystagmus (rapid eye movements). I brought her over from the rabbit building and into the office for observation. Hopefully we caught it early enough and she will stay on her feet.

Little Rebekah is in foster care with a wonderful friend of my sister. Bea is watching over Rebekah closely and giving her tons of attention and affection. Rebekah has been battling a jaw abscess for a long time and just had another check-up with Dr. Harvey from VCA where she got a clean bill of health. She is completely off of medication right now also. This is all great news for Rebekah.

More later. . . . .

Karen

The basement in the main house is getting a makeover and it’s about time! We’ve installed insulation, put up beadboard and will sheetrock the ceiling tomorrow. We’ve also got some new electrical outlets so we can free up the two miles of extention cords that are weaving their way through the basement. Between the new heater vents and the insulation in the walls we should be in good shape for both the winter cold weather and the summer heat.

The weather continues to amaze us. Frozen water pipes, broken water pipes, frozen duck ponds and bowls. We are getting a bit smarter and taking extra precautions.

A mama rabbit and her 7 babies came to us for a day on their way to be fostered by Loreli in Lodi. The mom is beautiful, scared and sick. The babies were sweet and popping like popcorn. They left on Sunday just as quickly as they came. Thank you Anne for transporting them to us, Anna for rescuing them and most important, Loreli for fostering them.

Rocky, our rooster who was so sick last month is now doing well and trying to fit back into the flock. It’s gone from looking bad to looking good to now having to remove him from the group. One of the smallest Banty roosters got the best of him on Sunday so Rocky spent the day in the outside enclosure of the rabbit building. He attached himself to a hen who was housed there temporarily. They spent the weekend together and then were moved over to Phyllis’ backyard. They are both now spending their days resting, eating and relaxing. Thank you Phyllis for offering them the your backyard and your company.  

We can’t believe how cold it is getting at night here. Tonight we are supposed to be down in the low to mid twenties so we have taken some extra precautions with all our residents. Bullwinkle (donkey) and Herbie (pony) have been fenced into the open bay of the barn with a lot of straw, hay and food. Neither were very excited to be fenced in as they are used to roaming the pasture at night.

Betty and Tucker (goats) have been closed into the other side of the barn and they were downright mad. We have to fence Tucker from Betty so he spent a good 15 minutes giving the barn door a piece of his mind about his accomodations for the night. Everybody was given treats and hay for the night along with their food.

The chickens and the ducks were closed up early tonight and packed in straw also. Windows and doorways have been covered with blankets and most all of the drafty areas were packed with straw. George (turkey) came out of the chicken barn today by himself to sit in the sun so I hope he warmed himself for a cold night. The pigs and the chickens in the front barn were closed up by 6:00 p.m. with orders to stay close and stay warm. Rippy (sheep) was the last to go in. If he is closed up too early he batters his door down to show us his disapproval. The door is barely in one piece now and quite damaged, so we didn’t want to aggravate him tonight.

The rabbits are in their building which has central heat, so they are the least of our worries right now. They will sleep well tonight.

8:15 p.m. Update: Bullwinkle and Herbie have kicked all their fencing down and are back out in the pasture. Oy. We moved what was left of the fencing out of the way so they can go into the loafing shed if they choose. We will have to invest in better fencing in order to keep these two contained.

Karen

Two of our rabbits from the large group have developed head tilt. Sonoma, a beautiful Californian, and Christopher, a small satin, started showing signs of tilt within two weeks of each other. Head tilt is a nasty symptom of a variety of diseases and often difficult to treat. They are both on an array of drugs (Baytril, PenG, Metacam, Cipro) and are also receiving daily fluids. After a very difficult week, they both actually look better today and their appetites are improving. I’ll take good news any way I can get it.

Last week I pulled a baby from the Stockton shelter who has wounds across his back. ”BJ” had a huge skin tear that we are watching closely for signs of infection. He is a darling white Holland Lop who is about 6 weeks old. His day consists of eating, sleeping, eating more, running around his condo and then eating some more. Although it was extremely fun to syringe feed him formula, he drinks it out of a small bowl just fine. When held he gives kisses, kisses and then more kisses. Watch for his adoption posting on the HRS site and here on the Harvest Home site also.

It’s a warm, sunny and quiet day here at the sanctuary. Last week a flock of baby white egrets flew in and stayed for about 6 days. It was always a surprise to find them in a pasture, on a roof top or being chased by Rico, our resident cat. There is no sign of them today but I’m hoping they come back for a visit soon.

We have been joined by Biscotti, a rabbit from the Watsonville shelter who is in need of medical care. She was seen by Dr. Carolynn Harvey yesterday at the HRS shelter in Richmond and we have a treatment plan underway. She is a beautiful spayed tan mini rex who spent the evening thumping everytime someone passed her enclosure in the dining room. She has filled my last emergency cage so I smile and say we are again “full.” I’m not sure what that even means anymore.