Monday- 6/ 8/ 2012

I've failed again to keep things updated but it has been very hectic lately.

As usual I will remember those we have lost. It sounds awful that every time I write we have lost more animals but this is a sad fact of running a sanctuary like this. Oldies and poorlies pass on no matter how hard we try to look after them. This is why we have a relatively small number of animals, they take a lot of time and finances to keep comfortable.

We sadly lost our little spitfire, Candy. She had suffered from IBD since her arrival and had them been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, and more recently still her kidneys showed signs of deterioration. Candy started to lose weight and she became very tolerant which was very unlike her. Tests showed that she most likely had developed a gut lymphoma, which can often progress from IBD. She was put to sleep at home and we miss her an awful lot.

We have also lost a few hens, Sybil ( who we only had for a few weeks) died of a suspected heart problem, possibly the stress of being with other hens was too much for her, it left Mabel ( her friend) on her own but she in now settled with Edward and Silvy, the bantams. We have lost a few brown hens too and also Scruffy passed away this week too. She was an old girl, about 7-8 but it was a bit of a shock all the same.

Foula, our little black shetland sheep had to be put to sleep too, after lots of tests the vet diagnosed a cancer in her gut and a post mortem confirmed this. We kept her comfortable for as long as we could, Mike would carry her out to her friends in the morning and carry her back to her stable at night, so she was safe and warm.

Our rabbit population has also suffered a few loses- Thumper, our big, handsome, curious boy died of renal failure.

Mitzi, our feisty, old lady died yesterday from a combination of renal failure and uterine cancer.

One of our newcomers, who we only had for a month, also passed away while having tests, she had been quite and bleeding from her back end for a few days. She saw a vet immediately but did not improve and a post mortem confirmed she also had a uterine tumour. Her name was Wicket and she was only 3.5, we hadn't even begun to know her, but she seemed a friendly girl.

We have also welcomed a few more animals to the family- along with Wicket, came Noodle. Noodle is a 7 year old female rabbit who will be spayed as soon as we get a chance. She is a bit less friendly than Wicket was but is getting better with handling.

2 more cats have joined us- Poppy and Daisy, they were very loved pets but their owner had to give them up due to ill health. Poppy is a 10 year old tortioseshell and Daisy is at least 14, she is white, is hyperthyroid and has no ears due to having developed skin cancer on them from sunburn. They are adorable girls, and Poppy makes typing very difficult because she likes to prance between you and the keyboard. Hopefully once blood tested for FIV/Felv they will join the rest of the crew.

Marigold is another tiny addition, she is a 3 month old guinea pig who was taken into P@H adoption when only about 5 weeks old. Too young to be away from her mother, and not fully weaned, she and her brother were the product of a brother/ sister mating. A concerned lady adopted them and looked after them until they were eating solids properly. They both have extra toes on their back feet and there is a concern there may be other issues with them being inbred. The lady has kept the wee boy to bond with her older boy and we took Marigold, who has no been bonded with Phoebe. Phoebe has an enlarged heart and when we tried to introduce her to Lola and Juniper she became very distressed, she immediately took to Marigold though and they are quite happy together. Phoebe is on fortekor twice a day to try and help her heart, and keep her comfortable.

Tommy the tiny tearaway, also looks to have joined the family. He is a bolshy, little, black shetland gelding who we initially took until the owner could find another home for him. Tommy has other ideas I think and is completely devoted to Pippin, and has finally been accepted by the girls. His behaviour has improved too, I'm not sure if he is copying the others or if he has been put in his place by them, so he now realises he is not the top dog. Either way he walks nicely to and from the field and even let us put a rug on him, without a fuss, having never worn one before.

Our open day was not as busy as we had hoped it would be but the people who came were very generous and we raised just over £1300 on the day. Our volunteers were wonderful and although I was a bit of a dragon, helped out through the week before and on the day, some even came the day after to tidy up. Without them it would never have happened and we are eternally grateful.

We had our guinea pig shed in action, built from the proceeds of the previous year's open day and dog show.

Our dog show this year is on the 19th of August, it has pedigree and companion classes, so please come and join in.

Saturday- 26/ 5/2012

Our most difficult news this week is that Jack, our old man goat, had to be put to sleep yesterday. He had been in the house since November struggling to fight arthritis and then a hoof abscess. We fought long and hard, as did he but over the last few days he was unhappy, he was off his food and weakening each day. We felt he had finally become tired of the fight and honoured what we thought were his wishes. He passed with us and the vet who had treated him throughout quietly and peacefully. We will miss him dreadfully though- he had been with us for 9 years and was a very cheeky, happy, gentle and friendly lad, who often made us laugh at his antics.

Sadly we had bad news about Molly Parkin too, after a trip to the vet because she was coughing. I was concerned it may be lung cancer, due to the fact it is often secondary to mammary cancer, and unfortunately it is.

Thursday- 10/ 5/ 2012

Another month has gone by and again lots of news.

unfortunately we have had a few more losses- some hens and quail, it was a shock to realise the quail are now 3 years old so they are very elderly. We seem to be losing the brown, ex-commercial hens and they are only 4 but I guess they are not bred for longevity but for production, it is sad to lose them but they have had 2 more years than most commercial hens who are culled between 1-2 years because they are producing less eggs.

It was a real shock to lose Nutmeg the guinea pig thought, he was found dead in his hutch one morning and he was fine the night before. Poor little Phoebe was still snuggled up to him and has been quite distressed since. I took his body down to the vet and the vet thinks he may have had a heart attack.

The biggest loss for me was my old man, Donald. He seemed to be doing well but we noticed he had started to lose weight rapidly, I assumed his thyroid medication needed adjusting but he was also drinking lots of water. I took him in and we took blood tests but I was devastated when the vet said he thought he felt a lump. He went in for x-rays 2 days later and a large abdominal tumour was found, he was still eating and alert but obviously deteriorating quickly. We took him home for the night to say goodbye and the vet came out the next day to put him to sleep. Poor Pudding is lost without him and really not herself. I'm sure she will settle again but it will take us all some time.

We have had a few more additions too- 3 large hens from the New Arc to be friends for Zeus as he is too big for any of our girls.

We have also added a mallard drake to the family of ducks- he was hand reared and has decided life is much easier being domestic, we hope he will befriend Smokey as the other ducks have not really taken her into the family.

We also took in 2 polish hens, they had to be rehomed as they were becoming too noisy for the owners' neighbours. They are flamboyant ladies and are becoming friends with Edward and Silvy, the pekins. The are called Mabel and Silvy and are very tame and curious.

The final additions are a new species to Halfpenny Farm......Donkeys!

Over course it is never simple, they are both stallions ( or jacks in donkey terms), they are small and friendly but need to be gelded. They are called Danny and Dillon, unfortunately Dillon is a bit too thin to geld just now so we are trying to get some weight on him for the operation. We have to geld them because we do not want them to get pushy as they get older and they may also start trying to get to our horse mares. I have never heard a donkey 'hee haw' and it is LOUD!

Everything else is moving along well, although the weather is terrible, all the animals should be outside enjoying the sun and the grass but its just too cold to stick them outside in the wet and wind after they have been tucked up warm inside over winter.

The goats are going stir crazy and have battered the doors of the pens off their hinges but if they went out they would be unhappy. The pigs are bored and the quail are getting frisky and need more room!

We were very proud of Pepsi, who was taken to the fun dog show hosted by Clinterty college to raise money for the SSPCA and the Grampian Wildlife Trust. Keiran, one of our volunteers, entered her and she one the 'prettiest bitch' class and the dog one of the judges would most like to take home. We were amazed to be honest because she is a thug at him but she was the perfect lady in public.

We have bonded Juniper and Lola, the guinea pigs and Juniper is a very happy boy now, I think Lola is pretty pleased with her handsome new partner too. We tried to introduce Lola too but she was very distressed, perhaps it was too soon after losing Nutmeg, but I'm not sure what we are going to do about her being alone.

Milly and Snowy, the blind rabbits, are coming into the house overnight. Milly in particular needs a little extra care because of her various problems. She will now need regular dentals and along with her blindness its better to her and Snowy ( her friend) inside to monitor more easily.

Mitzi, our 9 year old bun, had an operation to remove a mammary lump, unfortunately its cancer, but there is no sign it has spread so we will monitor for the moment.

Finally for today, we started Molly Parkin and Urchin's vaccines this week. I was rather worried as both cats can be a bit feisty. Molly Parkin was great, not a peep out of her and was examined throughly. Urchin, however ( he is a feral cat, technically) took off round the surgery, about 3 foot up the wall. I tried to catch him, which I eventually did but received a bitten thumb and heel of hand in the process and he was injected in the first bit of skin the vet could do so safely. Lets just say I'm dreading the 2nd injection now! Uchin has finally forgiven us, after spending 2 days on top of the wardrobe, he came to bed this morning for a cuddle!

Friday-13/ 4/ 2012

I can't believe it's been so long since I wrote- sorry.

We have had lots happen a few goodbyes and few hellos, a fundraiser and some new volunteers, or as we now call them 'halfpennians'.

We have lost a few quail and hens due to old age mainly, and we have taken in 2 cockerels- William a stray who was going to be PTS and Zeus, who is a young, large lad who is aggressive.

We also took in a muscovy duck called Smokey because she was being a bit too frisky with the owners small ducks and had injured a few- she is now living with Quaffle, Daffodil and Buttercup, and seems well settled.

We have also lost quite a few rats- Wart and Merlin, Eliza, Greta and Luna, again age related problems. We now only have Lucy, Anna and Emma. Anna and Emma have both had to be spayed but to ovarian growths and Lucy is poorly with a suspected brain tumour.

We also lost old Doris the sheep, she developed pnuemonia but suspect it was secondary to a heart issue, just like her sister Elsie. She was 15 years old and we had her for 10 of them so she is missed every morning when we let the sheep out.

Jack on the other hand is still battling on, he his in the front hall of the house while recovering from arthitis caused problems. We are not sure what the final outcome will be for him, but he is comfortable, eating like a horse and on pain relief for his arthritis. It is very hard because he looks so well but his legs are struggling, he however enjoys the warmth of the house, food in a bucket 24 hours a day, a radio! and regular attention.

The dogs are all doing well, Bruno now has severe arthritis in his elbow and is lame on that leg, he still loves to play and chase a ball, and the vet agrees that if we stopped him playing it would affect the quality of his life, he will let us know when he wants to stop running and take life at a more sedate pace. Corrie, who isn't even 6 year, has spondylosis down his right side ( there is evidence of a broken rib on that side) so we can only assume this is from trauma from being beaten as a pup. Again he loves to run and we are not stopping him from doing this. They are both being given treatment though to try and help the discomfort- we are in the process of trying cartrophen injections, so it will be interesting to see if they help.

Lady has a mast cell tumour but because of her bronchitis we cannot operate, we are trying a drug called Palladia, we think it has slowed down the growth of the tumour, although it has started to grow again lately.

The cats all seem to be doing well- Donald's tumour is large and not nice to look at but he seems happy and is keen for his food.

We have taken in more cats- Dumpling was an elderly stray handed into Donview vets. It was unlikely she would be rehomed so we were asked to take her. She is a torbie- tabby face, legs and tail with a tortoiseshell body. She has settled and we think she is about 15. She was very thin and dehydrated when handed in but is looking really good now. We have also taken in Molly, now named Molly Parkin because she is the dark ginger colour of a parkin and is a little sweetie. Molly's owner had to rehome her because Molly took a dislike to the man of the house and then started attacking any visitors, she also has mammary cancer which makes rehoming a problem. Molly has settled in with us, had one tumour removed here( already had one taken out when with her owner) and is in the process of being introduced to the other cats!

We very sadly lost Jessica, our 8 year old angora rabbit to an accident when she caught her leg in the wire of her run. She dislocated her shoulder and after x-rays, which showed arthritis running through pretty much all her joints, we decided the most humane thing was to have her PTS. The other rabbits are ageing, and it shocks my to think that most are now 5 and over. Recently it has become apparent that Milly and Treacle will need regular dental- at most 6 monthly, at least 3 monthly. Thankfully they both have recovered well after the sedation.

I will be back to update on other news another day.....I'm still in shock its been so long since the last time.

Saturday- 19/11/2011

We have had a couple of fund raisers this summer, our open day was a huge success, we could not believe the number of people who came to visit- we think we had about 400 people and we only really advertised a couple of weeks before hand!

We were gratefully to all the people who turned out to help and as well as the animals on show, Les our farrier did a shoeing demonstration using Bournville, who stole the show by bowing to the audience at the end of it. We had face painting done by Kathleen Robertson and Diane Melville did a talk on reptiles. Hudson catering donated drinks and cakes giving us the proceeds and BA stores gave us their train to transport people from the parking site into the yard- this was very popular with children of all sizes! We cannot forget Nixons who gave us to portaloos for free, this was invaluable on the day. Lots of people turned out to help, too many to mention but I will remember them all, some people came to help and we had never even met them before but they gave up a day to the sanctuary- amazing.

We debated about having the dogs out and finally decide they should be part of the day, I carefully planned who would be responsible for each dog and they were handed out on the day on leads, it didn't work as I planned however, and every time I looked round there was a different person with a different dog. The dogs had a whale of a time and I don't think they were too badly behaved ( other than Bruno barking). I would like to say that all the animals were good, but I know Cirrus got fed up and as I walked into the stables at one point I saw her making faces and reaching out to nip someone- if she did catch anybody I do apologise. I spent the rest of the time sitting by her stable door, telling people she was a bit grumpy.

Obviously there were odd little things that we forgot to do and things that we could see needed to be better signposted or organised next year but for a first attempt we were very proud.

We do have to give a particularly big thank you to Laura Fraser and Mark Morely, without whom the open day would not have happened they came our for about 6 Sundays before the big day to help tidy up. If they hadn't given up their time we would not have been able to go ahead as planned.

At the end of the day, we raised just over £1300!

The next month we had a dog show, this was organised by Fiona Forbes and Joyce Emslie. We had nearly 90 dogs turn up, some beautiful animals, and the show ring was in the sand school. It was a bit of a trek for people, from the top field down to the school but I think it was worth it once people got there. Mickey Ramsay was the judge and Donview vets sponsored the show.

We had 10 classes but could easily have had many more, and I think plans are afoot for more next year! Joyce supplied teas, coffees and cakes in the yard and we had a raffle stand, thank you to those who donated prizes, the organisers and those who helped.

Once we counted up the pennies we raised over £518.

We have just spent all the money on a shed for the guinea pigs to live in, you may wonder what kind of a shed has cost £2000, well it is a 9ft by 20ft shed so we can have indoor guinea pig runs, where they can have space to run around all year and be kept warm over winter at the same time. There are some pictures of it on our facebook page although it is in the process of being painted at the moment. The advantage of making a shed for the guinea pig, is that the building that houses the rabbits and guineas over winter just now, can become purely for the rabbits and we can build indoor runs for them overwinter, again giving them space while keeping them safe and warm.

Wednesday- 16/ 11/ 2011

Hello!

Here we are Finally back online. Its been an eventful 6 months and hardly know where to begin. I guess I should begin with the sad news first and work towards the happy and exciting.

We have lost a few friends along the way, some expected and sad and some a real shock.

Deli the dalmation finally lost her fight and she was PTS at home by our vet only a few days after the open day. She got to the stage where she could not stand comfortably and was starting to go off her food. It was hard because she was still fairly bright but panting a lot which is often a sign of discomfort.

Just before we lost her we lost Xena, one of the rabbits. Xena was handed in as a stray at our vets and she was with us for a good few years happily bonded to Runt. We had no idea of her age and she could be very grumpy but she was a real character and enjoyed life. We noticed her appetite was reduced so took her to the vet and the vet said her teeth were in a bad way. She went in for a dental but did not recover wll from the anaethetic and after further tests they found she was in acute renal failure, we tried treatment but she did not improve and we again had her PTS at home.

We have also lost Eliza the rat to a suspected brain lesion, Mango the kakariki to old age and a growth on her beak, Jemima the araucana hen and one of the brown hens, 2 quail girls and very sadly Elsie, our 15 year old sheep. She had been with us for 9 years and never had an ill day in her life until we found her unable to stand in the field, we nursed her for a week but found her dead in the stable, she was recuperating in, one morning, we now wonder if she had a heart condition. One small animal was also a big loss when he passed away- little Murray mouse.

We have also had some happy additions to the group.

The stray guinea pig has stayed, we have called him Juniper and he is a very handsome boy, if a bit nervous.

We also have 2 new girl rats, dumbo rats this time, 2 very nervous little girls we have called Anna and Emma. They are now living with Luna, Lucy and Greta but Emma is a bit of a madam and still hasn't fully intergrated- we hope with time things will settle.

We also have another pony in the family, we have shortened her name to Cara, and she is a very pretty welsh section A with a blue eye and a brown eye. She is VERY nervous and flinches if you take her by surprise. She is improving though and is now living happily with Pippin and Pixie.

The cat numbers have gone up too- we have taken in Buttons, a 16 year old cat with a heart problem. Working alongside Cossetted Critters, we were asked to help rehome 2 cats when the owner went into care. Buttons was one and Scooby was the other. Scooby was only 6 and was looked after by Cossetted Critters and has now been rehomed after having his vaccinations and a dental. Buttons is in the process of being intergrated with the other cats as we have another girl arriving on Friday- I'll tell her story once she arrives.

We have another bunny too- actually we have 2 buns because the little wild baby survived and is now staying because she is far too tame to release. She is called Sparrow and is a wee scrap of a thing who does not like to be held but loves nose rubs. The other rabbit is Daisy, who is Katie's daughter. Daisy's owner has had an operation and she could not look after Daisy because Daisy was quite high maintenance. She gets a very messy bottom and needed constant cleaning. We have changed her diet slightly and she is much better, although still messy.

The final addition is a dog. He got himself into a bit of bother and was going to be PTS because no rescues could take him- so he came to us. He is very handsome, and almost as boisterous as Levi!

We have called him Jasper.

I will update more over the next few days, but because I have been asked by lots of people about Jack, our old man goat, he is still with us. He is now spending the nights in our front hall to keep him warm over the cold wintertime. He is quite calm with the whole thing, trots into have his tea, stands beside the radiator until he is nicely cosy and then settles down on his duvet for the night- calling for his breakfast as soon as he hears us up and about!

Halfpenny Farm Animal

Sanctuary Open Day.

24th of July.
10am til 5pm.

Sorry no dogs allowed and please do not leave them in cars.
If you require disabled parking, please contact us on 07737653402.
We do not have disabled toilets, sorry!

To get to Halfpenny Farm-

from Aberdeen, take the A96 and just before the Thainstone roundabout take the left hand road called Clovenstone. Directions will be given from the junction.

from Inverurie, take the A96 to the Kintore bybass, do a u-turn using the bypass and head back towards Inverurie. Just before the Thainstone roundabout, take the left hand road called Cloverstone. Directions will be given from the junction.

Monday- 11/ 07/ 2011

Oh my goodness, I can't believe its 2 months since I last wrote, shocking!

Lots has been happening and life has been full.

As usual I will start with the sad news, which is mainly that we have lost both Polly the rat and Bluebell the goat.

Polly's tumour became so big that it started to interfere with her quality of life so she had to be PTS, she at no point suffered and was with her friends until the end.

Bluebell was a complete shock, we found her dead in the morning and she was fine the night before. Bluebell was a fat, healthy goat so we sent her off for a post mortem to find out exactly what had happened- it turned out she had died from a bacterial infection which can affect one animal or the whole herd. We immediately got the other sheep and goats vaccinated and we have lost nobody else. It seems very strange now to see only 8 goats in the field, goats are such characters to lose one has a big effect on the atmosphere.

We have had quite a few poorly animals. Mango the kakariki had a sore eye and needed eye drops- not easy with a bird who objects by biting. Cirrus the horse became very lame and after 2 lots of x-rays and a physiotherapist assessing her we have come to the conclusion that she has hurt her feet with the hard ground, because she has very flat feet and arthritis it has put too much pressure on them.

The sheep were sheared in June and snce then we have hardly had a nice day, we are pleased we put them back in the winter paddock afterwards because the weather was horrible and the certainly felt the cold after losing their woolly coats. April, one of the older sheep has very bad arthritis and its not easy to medicate a sheep daily, so we are trying her with a course of cartrophen injections- she is half way through so we hope to see an improvement by the time she has her last one.

We have also welcomed a couple of animals into the family- some more unusual ones too.

Firstly we took in 2 chinchillas who's owners were moving abroad, the homes for the chinchillas had fallen through and they were left with 2 days to find somewhere. I have never had chins before but they are very active, friendly little creatures. They are both boys, Tyler is a beige and is the more confident of the 2, where as Minstrel, who is brown, is more timid.

Next we took in 2 female rats, we have called them Emma and Anna, they were rescued by someone a who then had to rehome them 3 months later. They are very nervous and seem very small for their age. We hope after they have been quarantined they will join the 4 other girls.

We have also taken in an african pygmy hedgehog, who we have named Whirlygig. Whirlygig is only 16 weeks old and we are her 3rd home already. I have to admit, although she is beautiful to look at and everybody likes hedgehog- she is not a pet I would very say is a 'good' one to have. She is very nervous so curls into a ball and hisses whenever you try to interact with her and she is noctural so sleeps all day and is active on her wheel all night. Added to this she needs to be kept above 24 degrees centigrade and runs miles a night on her wheel pooping on it as she goes!

I am also hand rearing a wild baby bunny, whom we have called Sparrow. He was taken home by a dog and the owner called us and asked us to help. He was only about 9 days old and I had to feed him cimicat milk every 3 hours to begin with, this was the only time I saw Whirlygig out and about on her wheel, at 3 in the morning! Sparrow is now between 3 and 4 weeks and is also nibbling hay, thankfully his feeds have dropped to every 6 hours so I have finally caught up on my sleep.

We had a call about a stray guinea pig last week, living in somebody's garden. He was hiding away in a tightly packed clump of low growning conifers, there was no way we could get to him, but he was also at risk living in the wild. I called BA stores who kindly let us borrow a humane rabbit trap, and we had him home, safe and sound, by the end of the day. Thankfully we have found his owners, he had been missing for 3 weeks and they had given up hope.

The final and biggest bit of news is that we are having an open day on the 24th of July, it will be from 10am to 5pm. I hope any readers will come along and visit if they are in the area, and meet out menangrie of animals.

Friday- 13/ 05/ 2011

We have had another couple of losses, Nipper left us after he suffered a suspected heart attack. Heart conidtions are fairly common in guinea pigs and there is little to do to treat them. Some guineas if cought early enough can do well with diuretics and extra care, however by the time we realised Nipper had a problem it was too late.
We also lost Princess today, no idea why again she was fine the day before, eating and in good condition. We had her for about 2 years so in actual fact she was quite old although we still considered her a baby.
All the other animals are enjoying spring- the rabbits, goats and guinea pigs are back outside in runs and Gigi and Scarlet are outside full time. We have just ordered them and the findhorn 4 new housing from 'Animal Arks' in Cornwall and Dyce Carriers will transport them up here to us. We must thank them both for the help to do this. The pigs, we are sure will be delighted, Gigi and Scarlet are too big for their arc and the findhorn 4 need a good quality sturdy home to see them through next winter.
We have also bought Murray the mouse and new and improved home, it is huge and although it cost a lot more than the tiny homes you can buy in pet shops it will be a good investment. It is a cage Alexander and he doesn't know what to do with the space.
The sheep have moved into the summer paddock and are very relaxed, with plenty of grass and a lovely spring after a miserable winter.
Deli, our old dali is struggling and we are trying a final treatment to ensure her last few months have some quality to them, otherwise we need to think about her future. She is receiving crtrophen injection, one a week for 4 weeks and hopefully they will help her movement- Deli has spondylosis and has neurological problems in her bac legs.
Ourselves, we are living with a very limited kitchen, after the floor the insurance paid for a new floor but we have to finance the kitchen ourselves, so we are saving to try and buy one, although this may take a long time. We hav a rayburn, a sink and a table, its amazing how you cope when you hav too. We do have a new sofa and chairs thanks to Alan and Ava and we are trying to keep the dogs off them- you can see how successful we are here
Monday - 11/04/2011

Sorry I have been late with an update but we have had a hard month. The saddest news is that we lost Violet, one of our oldest goats to pneumonia. We tried very hard to save her but her age was against her and we had to have her PTS because she became very weak. It was a big blow because we had fought so hard to get her through the winter and were looking forward to her being able to enjoy another summer and feel the sun on her back.

Donald our old man cat was in for a dental. It was risky because of his age and health problems but he pulled through and recovered very well. While he was under the anaesthetic, we got the vet to take a biopsy of the scab on his nose and unfortunately it is skin cancer. We are very limited in what we can do, so for the moment we are just monitoring it. Donald is well and happy in himself and, after being on meds for his blood pressure, his violent outbursts seem to have stopped.

On the home front we have had a bit of a nightmare time as well. We had a burst pipe in the kitchen and now have a hole in the wall and no flooring - this will hopefully be fixed next week. Our back door lock also broke and, as usual, nothing here is simple. The door is very old and it is not a standard size, so rather than just replace the lock we have to replace the whole door! Thankfully Colin Tough (Joiner) is a neighbour and has come to the rescue as he will fit the door when it arrives, and at least he knows the dogs.

The stress of all this has caused Corrie to have a fit. He has been fine since November but had one on Sunday so it was very disappointing, but thankfully he is fine.

Lady the collie had to go in for a dental too this month but she did not deal with the anaesthetic very well and the op did not get done because her breathing was causing problems. She did get x-rays to find out why she was coughing and she has bronchitis so she is now on medication to open her airways and keep her comfortable. We have been on holiday this last week and what a week to pick as the weather has been glorious.

We have built Monty, the wood pigeon, a new aviary and he seems happy with it so he just needs to figure out how to climb/flutter up the branches so he can roost. We are also getting some fencing done in the summer field and this will make management of grazing so much easier and it will be much more adaptable. Generally we have tidied up the animal housing and we now have some new runs so the guinea pigs can go outside on better days and have space to have a run around.

We do have big plans for guinea pig housing but, as usual, we need to raise money first. It will soon be time for Gigi and Scarlet to go out as well so we are just waiting for the weather to be a bit more reliable and I’m sure they will enjoy the fresh air. We do have to be a bit careful with Gigi because she is a commercial pig and although she looks big (very big) and healthy, she is quite delicate and we suspect she may have a heart condition. The problem is that it is hard to listen to a pig’s heart when it doesn’t want to stand still! The horses have even been rugless this week and have started staying out. We are putting the rugs on if it is cold or wet but I think they are happier outside when the days are longer and there isn’t 2 foot of snow or mud to walk through. It is quite amazing because with just one dry, warm week all the fields have dried up and the grass is starting to grow. Let’s hope this weather continues for a wee while longer……until October would be good!

Saturday, 26/02/11

Finally, we have had a few good days here and it seems spring may just be around the corner. The animals are feeling brighter and are getting more lively. The horses went out without rugs today for the first time in months and we are hoping to put the quail back outside tomorrow and return the guinea pigs to the kennels. We have just received the new explorer cage for Wart and Merlin, the boy rats, and hope to put it together tomorrow. Monty’s aviary has also arrived and, at some point this week, Mike will put it up too. Another big hutch has arrived for Snowball and Mitzi so things are looking up. We also bought a second-hand pig ark for Gigi and Scarlet because theirs was used for the Findhorn 4. It is all very exciting except we are broke! Pudding is doing OK and is eating well. I took Donald back to the vet because he has had some very aggressive outbursts towards everybody, un-naturally so. His blood-test wasn’t too bad and his kidneys have not deteriorated any further compared to November, He has marginally high blood pressure, which could be causing it, so he is on Benazacare to see if it helps. He has a scab on his nose that was there when he came here but it is getting bigger and there is now a concern it may be cancerous. He has to go back to the vets in 2 weeks to be re-assessed. Fluffy was also back to the vet this week. She also has slightly high blood pressure but is already on Benazacare but the vet wants to leave her just now as she has put on more weight so we are sure her thyroid levels are fine, although we have sent off to have it tested anyway. We have put her on Zylkene because she gets very stressed and it will strain her heart. She is in heart failure already so we need to prevent it. We will try her for a month and see how she goes! Urchin is causing trouble as always; he and Mr Tomsk are best buddies and it’s not unusual to find them snuggled up on a hammock grooming, although it does often end up as a wrestling match. 2 of the ratty girls went in for an op to remove mammary lumps. Greta’s lump was removed easily and she coped well; Polly’s lump has spread and the vet thinks it is malignant. She struggled under the anaesthetic so the vet removed as much as she could but didn’t want to keep her under too long. She is bright and alert now but we don’t know how long she has left. I am also having to get up overnight to put bitter apple on the wounds to prevent them eating the wounds like Polly did the last time. We have a new volunteer; she came on Wednesday and cleaned out rabbit hutches. It will make things so much easier for us. We have also got Hector the 110 Landie back. Mike smiles every times he walks by him. We just need to sell the red one.

Monday, 14/02/11

Firstly, a warning to all rabbit owners - there is a VHD outbreak in the Aberdeen area. In fact, it’s from the Borders up to Aberdeenshire. This is in the wild rabbit population so it will spread quickly down into England and up into the North of Scotland. This disease is fatal and a rabbit will die within a day, often with no obvious symptoms. The disease causes the rabbit to haemorrhage internally. There is a vaccine so please, if your rabbit is not vaccinated, please get it done. It costs around £20 and should be done yearly. It is also the time of year when insects start appearing again and this means that Myxomatosis will start to appear again. An unvaccinated rabbit is certain to die and if not PTS it will take about 2 weeks to do so. A vaccinated rabbit MAY occasionally develop the disease but is much more likely to survive with treatment, most do not develop it at all. The latest recommendation is that rabbits are vaccinated 6 monthly. Right, now for our news. There is not a huge amount to say really, but the new bunnies have settled in, they had their bottoms clipped as they were a bit matted at the vet and also got their teeth checked. Mitzi was also blood sampled and x-rayed to check for signs of uterine cancer (over 80% of unspayed female rabbits will develop this by the time they are 4). Thankfully, all seems fine and they have also had their VHD vaccine, next it’s the myxi one. The rabbits are all due the vaccine this month so it has worked in well. We had a big fright with Pudding the cat as she became very shaky and staggery a couple of Sundays ago and we took her into the vet to get her checked. Why is it always a weekend?? Of course when we got there she trotted out of the box as though nothing was wrong so I explained to the vet I was a bit worried in case it was her kidneys because she hadn’t been eating so well either. She got a proper checkover and we took a blood sample to check her kidneys, after which she was very wobbly again, so we checked her blood pressure. Everything was pretty much the same as her last blood sample as blood pressure was fine and no signs of heart problems, diabetes, ie. nothing. She is still a bit shaky so we have put her on Benazacare because it does help with blood pressure but otherwise, we are not sure what to do next. She is eating much better and is happy enough, although I do think she is a bit senile. We have Polly and Greta, the rats, booked in for ops to remove mammary lumps on them. I’m a bit worried about Polly because she ate her stitches the last time she had an op. We are also planning on buying the boys a big explorer cage too as we were initially going to put them in with the girls but think it may be too crowded in the one cage. Monty the wood pigeon is doing very well - he goes out during the day and comes inside the house at night for the moment. Although he cannot fly, he is getting stronger and can now perch quite high up in his flight. We have had a real problem with the sheep and lameness as they keep getting footrot because it is a bacteria that lives in the soil and our soil seems to be full of it. Most nights Mike works away putting on an antibiotic spray, however with the flu and then his cat-bite infection, and I struggle to handle the sheep because they are quite big, their feet were terrible. We got the vet out to vaccinate them with a footrot vaccine and also give a Micotil injection, which is a very effective antibiotic against this. They were done on Thursday and are all so much better already. I think we will continue with the footrot vaccine 6 monthly from now on - it will also save a lot of time. Poor Elsie had an abscess in her foot because of her interdigial growth we think, so the antibiotic will help and we will keep an eye on it from now on. We did have some very sad news on Saturday. Sadly, Winston, who we fostered for PAWSS when he was first rescued from an abusive home and again at the end of last year while his owner was recovering from an op, collapsed and died while out for a walk with his owner. He was only 5. He will be sadly missed but was a very lucky boy to have found a home as understanding as he did. His bad behaviour and nervous issues were treated with love and patience.

Wednesday, 26/01/11

It has been a challenging time for us over the past few months. Sadly, we lost Misty our 21 year old cat with kidney problems in mid-December. She went downhill very quickly but we are confident she didn’t suffer, so for that we are grateful.

Christmas and the month before was a struggle. We had 2 feet of snow and a long spell of days where the temperature didn’t get above 0 degrees. We think this may have contributed to the next 2 losses we suffered. On the 23rd we lost Pepper, our 15 year old goat who had spirit right until the end. She ate her tea the night before but Mike found her dead the next morning, the same thing happened with Noggin on Hogmanay – he was an old stiff sheep who we also think was a teenager. It was a hard time because we had the flu over Christmas and New Year, and it really floored us. What added to the strain was losing Jimmy, the constipated cat, he had a very bad upper respiratory infection and the vet thought he had a very low immune system due to possibly a bone marrow issue. It was the right thing to do, and the vets didn’t think he would live as long as he had, but it is still a big loss as he was a funny lad, not like a cat at all but became a large part of the family.

We are desperately trying to clean up the animals after the snow and the flu and we are slowly getting caught up. Things were slowed down last week after Mike was bitten by Urchin (feral kitten) and developed a cat bite infection all the way up his arm. This meant I had to do everything and it was hard work! We are now backon track andhope to be well on the way to catching up on the animals’ cleaning.

We do have a bit of happy news - we have welcomed in 2 new rabbits - Mitzi and Snowball. They are mother and son and were struggling to find a place at a rescue; they are also elderly buns so would be hard to re-home. Snowball is white with beautiful blue eyes, very laid back and 5 years old. Mitzi is white and brown and is an old lady aged 8. I have them booked in to see the vet on Friday for a check over but they seem like happy friendly rabbits who had to be re-homed because their owner has to work abroad.

We are hoping that if there is anymore snow, it is not as deep as last time and I hope by the next update we are nearing sanity again!

Saturday, 12/12/10

This is not a happy update, but one from tired people. The heavy snow, over 2 feet and sub-zero temperatures have made things very difficult. We have spent all our days trying to keep animals well fed, warm and watered. All the water outside had frozen so we had to cart 25 litre containers from the house to each group of animals. The older, thinner goats were very cold and Pepper and Jack ended up with 2 layers of rugs and Violet had 3!! The outdoor pigs really felt the cold and we have been taking masses of straw down to them to try to keep them warm. We had to take the ducks into the rabbits indoor runs because they were just sitting shivering. The quail are in the guinea pig hutches and the guinea pigs are in the house. We have spent a fortune on food this month because we have been feeding so much extra to try and keep them warm.

We also sadly lost Tansy, the guinea pig. We did not realise she had ovarian cysts and one ruptured. She went into shock and, even though we rushed her to the vet, she died later that night. Her friend, Nutmeg, is a nervy guinea pig and is totally lost without her.

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So far, we have not lost anybody to the weather, although Deli, the dalmation, is very stiff thanks to the cold and the fact that she can't walk very far in the snow. She was very bad on Thursday, and ended up being x-rayed. She has severe spondylosis and, other than pain relief, there isn't much more we can do for her. She is now on a steroid and tramadol to try and help. We have to monitor her this weekend and see if she improves, if not we will not have her for much longer. dddd

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Donald and Pudding, the cats, were in for blood tests to check their kidney function, but sadly they are both now in chronic renal failure. We will treat them the same as Misty with meds and a special diet, and give them as comfortable a time as we can. dd

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Thankfully there has been a thaw over the last few days and, although the fields will now just be mud, at least we have water in the outbuildings and the animals are less cold. The bad news is this isn't supposed to last very long. All the guttering on the outbuildings have fallen down, but it seems we have escaped lightly compared to many.

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Friday, 12/11/10

A lot has happened since I last wrote. The saddest news being that we lost Tabitha, the FIV study cat. She had become more and more anaemic and her kidneys deteriorated very quickly. Over the course of a month, she went into complete renal failure and had a very low red blood cell count. Gemma the vet came out a week last Monday to put her to sleep at home. It was very peaceful and she was ready to go.

We also lost Pipkin, our 4 year old guinea pig who we have had since she was 4 days old so it was a big upset. She came from a litter of very inbred babies, 2 of her siblings had no eyes and one died at 3 months. I suppose she did well to get to that age, but it was sad to lose her. This leaves Nipper on his own, but we are planning to integrated Pheobe with him and Lola and Popcorn can become a pair.

The other cats are doing well and Urchin has now joined the rest of the family. He is getting less wild every day, although will still scratch and bite if you try to pick him up. It will take time but we will get there.

Deli the dalmation has had a few ups and downs and we have started her on acupuncture to see if that helps her legs. We think we can see a difference but it will take a few sessions before we can be certain.

Betsy is now outside and the plan is to have her and Katie spayed very soon and then introduce them to each other.

The Kakarikis are in their new cage and seem very happy. It is nice because we see much more of them and they are not so cold. The bluebirds were funny when the Kaks first went into the same room as the bluebirds scolded them for about a day before they settled down.

4 of the goats are in their new pens and our pigs are inside. The pigs were so happy to get out of the mud as they just walked straight into the horse box and then straight into their bed without any of the usual high jinks. They knew exactly what was happening. My brother-in-law Gary built the pig pen and again we are very grateful because it was horrible in the mud for them.

Last week was a real slog because we both had the flu. We are still recovering and having to catch up with the mucking out. It didn’t help that we agreed to some new arrivals. I know I said no more but I couldn’t let these animals die. They are 4 wild boar cross pigs, a family group who have been together for 6 years and are very friendly. The only alternative offered to them was to go to slaughter. Their rescuer contacted us and, after a lot of work on her side to get them transported, they arrived last Monday. We were out all day Sunday cobbling together a shelter and fencing a paddock for them. If anybody wishes to donate towards their cost, please contact us. They are called Olive (mum), Patsy, Kerry and the son (castrated) is Wilbur.

We also have another small newcomer - Marty the wood pigeon. He was badly injured by a cat and ended up having to get the end part of his wing amputated. This means he cannot be released, but I have been assured by informed people that he will adapt to a domestic lifestyle. It helps that he is this year’s young. He was operated on Wednesday and is as bright as a button and once he is fully recovered, we will put him outdoors in an aviary and possibly look for another pigeon who cannot be released.

Finally, thanks to a fundraiser on the Rabbit United forum, we have ordered 5 x indoor 6ft by 2ft by 2ft hutches. These are stackable and will make things so much easier when cleaning out the rabbits and it will be more space saving and organised.

Sunday, 17/10/10

Winter is on its way and we are noticing the dark mornings and dark evenings. It is so hard to get up, and we will have to get up even earlier once the horses come in. At the moment, we get up at 6.00 am, but it will become 5.00 am to give us time to get most of the mucking out done in a day.

We ordered a new cage for the Kakarikis to come into the house as they are in a flight in a caravan, but, as it gets darker, we can’t really check them properly and the caravan gets very cold in the winter. The quail who live with them will go into a large 2-tier hutch in the kennels for winter. We think the outdoor quail will be fine as long as we pack their coop full of straw. If it does get very cold, they can come into the kennels too.

Polly the rat had to go in for an operation on Thursday to remove a lump in her groin area and she was looking great until I checked her on Friday evening but she had pulled out the stitches. I called the vet and we decided it would be better to leave her until the morning and get her in to be stitched up. The vet said she had chewed away some skin as well and her wound was quite tight now and would limit her movement. The bigger concern is that if she does it again there won’t be enough skin left to cover it. We are checking her regularly and even getting up through the night to keep an eye on the wound. We are also putting bitter apple around it to try and put her off even nibbling. Unfortunately, this has held up our ratty introductions and it will now be another fortnight before we can try.

Betsy is well settled and is waiting for her VHD vaccine. She is very active and friendly and we are now thinking that she and Katie would make a lovely pair if they get on.

One of our foster dogs is back for a couple of months while his owner is in hospital and he has settled in again well. It is about 4 years since he was here so quite impressive that they are all getting on.

Urchin was also in on Thursday to be examined by our vets. He was x-rayed and has a broken pelvis, but it is healing well. The wound on the nape of his neck is also well healed. He is FIV/ Felv negative and was also castrated at the same time. The vets were quite ‘impressed’ with how wild he is, so I think we will have an interesting few months ahead of us. He is only a baby, about 5 months, so I think it should be possible.

Jimmy is doing OK but we had quite a fright because he started to throw up his food and then last Friday didn’t want to eat at all. We took him into the vet and I wondered if he had just become severely constipated but the vet said she couldn’t feel much of a problem and, at that point, Jimmy did a big pooh on the table. He was given meds and perked up again. We are now feeding him a small amount every 2-4 hours a day and raising his food bowl. He is also on Zantac to keep his stomach acid under control and also stimulate his colon muscles, because Zantac also does this.

Levi the lab has sore eyes and is on eye cream, while Lady the smooth-coated collie has a slight chest infection. The other dogs are fine but moulting like mad, and we end up with tumble weeds of dog hair blowing down the living room and collecting under tables.

We have to say that we are now full and, for the time being, cannot take in any more animals. We don’t have enough suitable housing, time or money to save anymore. With winter coming, things will take longer and we will spend more on food. I don’t really know what I will do if faced with an animal that is going to be PTS if we don’t take it, it will be a very hard decision.

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Sunday, 10/10/10extra

We have 2 new animals in the family - a white bunny called Betsy, who is 5 years old and very sweet and she’s so friendly. Her owner went to University and his parents didn’t have the time to spend with her so decided it would be better to re-home her. Due to her ‘getting on a bit’ we decided that she would like to come and live with us.

We also have a young, black, feral cat and we have called him Urchin, who is very scared. He was handed into a local vet with bite wounds, but because most of the rescues are full and he is likely to be hard to re-home, the ones contacted weren’t keen to take him. My friend who works there asked if we would take him, so he has arrived. He is quite young, less than 6 months and has bite wounds on his neck. He will not let us handle him yet, but he will come round I’m sure. Soon we will book him in for FIV/Felv blood tests, castration and a thorough examination. We just want him to be allowed to settle first. The other cats are OK. Jimmy is not great, but we know his time is limited and the main aim is to keep him comfortable until he is ready to go. He is very keen to eat, but thin, and over the last few days, although wanting to eat, seems uncomfortable when he does. He saw the vet tonight, who can see nothing obvious, other than his tongue looks a bit sore. He got a steroid injection but if he doesn’t improve he will have to go in for a sedation so they can have a proper look, but, in his condition, this is pretty risky. I am hoping so much the injection helps and I am going to put him on Spice’s diet pate-type food blended with cat milk as it kept her going for months. I am now feeding Jimmy and Misty four times a day, and Fluffy gets to finish off what’s left. She is very happy with this arrangement.

The rats are still in individual groups at the moment, mainly because Polly has developed a lump, so I think we will get it removed and her recovered before we start intros. I am hoping all will go well when the time comes. The new rats are all so friendly and curious and I think if they all get on we will have a lovely group.

Mike is working away welding doors for the new goat pens. I am rather hoping we can move them this weekend and get started on the pig pen. I would really like everybody to be inside by the time the clocks go back. This will give them time to settle before the fireworks start going off.

The quail with the lumps is still here and they have gone down a bit. A friend, who knows about birds, has suggested it may be a virus, and, if that is the case, we just need to let it run its course and just keep an eye open for any secondary infections.

The race is on to get things organised for winter and the main things are to clear the hay shed and get goat rugs because some were torn last year, otherwise I would just like to get the place tidied up and make sure everywhere has its place. Bet I’m saying the same thing at the next update!

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Monday, 27/09/10

We are plodding away over the next few weeks preparing for winter as the days are much cooler now and the first frosts aren’t far away.

Tonight, we moved the sheep back into their winter paddock and they knew exactly what was going on and some even overtook Mike and his bucket of food. Some have very sore feet, until you try to catch them, then they are off. Things will be much easier in the winter paddock because they go to bed in an old railway carriage and we can corner them in there to deal with their feet.

We have taken in the 4 girl rats and also 2 neutered male rats. The boys, called Wart and Merlin, were being re-homed because the owners’ jobs have changed and they are working long hours. They were neutered because they were fighting and Wart still has some wounds that are taking time to heal. We are hoping that the 4 girls - Lucy, Luna, Eliza and Greta will bond with the boys and Polly. Apparently, mixed sex groups of rats are more settled than single sex groups so no doubt we will find out soon.

We were very worried that Jimmy and Misty were not doing well. Jimmy is very thin and Misty had gone off her food. Misty then started to go to the litter tray a lot. The vet saw them on Friday for their acupuncture and their bloods are no worse than last time, which was a great relief. Misty had cystitis and is much happier after an antibiotic injection. Jimmy has lost weight but was a bit snottery on Friday morning so we think he may have been starting another infection. We have also taken a blood sample to test his thyroid because we are worried that he may be hyper again. We started to introduce Donald to the family yesterday and it all seemed quite settled. He is ready and we have another cat waiting to come in - more about that next week.

One of the quail is a bit poorly. She developed a lump on her head and got a sore eye so I took her to the vet and we are not sure whether she has a bacterial or fungal infection. We have initially treated for a bacterial infection, but if there are no signs of improvement, we will treat for a fungal infection instead.

Other than that, things are ticking along quietly (thankfully) and we may have news of more animals next week. We really should say NO, but it is very hard sometimes.

Wednesday, 06/10/10

A lot has happened since I last wrote.

Tuesday, 21/09/10

It has been a busy few weeks and we have some nice news and some not-so-nice news.

Sadly we lost Ashley. She responded well to her treatment for a week and was almost back to normal, but deteriorated rapidly last Tuesday. We took her into the vet and she had to be PTS. We were sorry to lose her but knew it was near, and she was 28 months (a rat's lifespan is from 2-3 years old). We were very worried about Polly because she was on her own again, so started looking for some company. Polly is scared of people so doesn’t like to be handled so human company wasn’t an option. After asking around, the New Arc replied to say that they had 4 younger girls in and were expecting 2 older ladies in on Friday. We decided the older ladies would be better to take, and, as they were not human-friendly, were unlikely to be rehomed. We went to collect them on Saturday, but sadly one had died before being taken to the rescue. The other, we called Agnes, had severe breathing problems, so we called the vet and started her on medication. She gradually improved and was very bright last night, so it was a real shock to find her dead in her cage this morning. We are going back to the New Arc to collect the 4 younger girls tomorrow. Keith was saying that they don’t expect to rehome many animals before spring now, so we feel comfortable taking in these younger girls, after all the 6 months from now to spring, is a large part of a rat's life.

Donald, the cat, has really surprised everybody. The fluid in his abdomen has gone and he looks so much better. So well, in fact, that the vet thinks he may have a much longer life than expected and we will start to introduce him to the rest of the family soon. Jimmy is not doing so well and is very thin and quite weak, but he still looks bright and interested and is always keen for his food. He gets his acupuncture session on Friday and I will have a chat with the vet to make sure he is happy with Jimmy’s condition.

We have had another small addition to the family - a mouse! He had been dumped in a garden by some students, but luckily their neighbour caught him and knew where he had come from. He confronted the students and asked for the cage (which was tiny). He did not want to keep him and contacted PAWSS, who contacted us. We have called him Murray, because he is the colour of murray mints, and he is a lovely little thing, nervous but cute. We bought him a bigger cage with a wheel and he went mad that evening, the wheel squeaked the whole night - we’ve oiled it now!

We have a couple of thankyous to give today, Firstly, to Alan at Diack Motors for his greatly appreciated contribution to the charity. Our little car was in for some work and, out of the blue, when we went to collect it, Alan told us there was nothing to pay as this was his donation. We were deeply humbled and cannot recommend him enough. We have been customers of his for years and have always been happy with the service.

Secondly, Sara Dyer, who designed our new logo (coming soon) held a fundraiser on the Rabbit United forum for Halfpenny Farm. She made some fantastic bunny baubles for Christmas trees and we received a cheque for £50 today. This will go toward buying some new indoor hutches for the bunnies over winter.

Next of course, we need to thank Gary Chisholm (my brother-in-law) who gave up 2 weekends and built 6 goat pens and took no payment. It will make winter so much easier with the way they are now and also gives the pigs a better space with outside access.

Violet the goat, has been sponsored by the Fin Fur Feather forum, they will be running raffles etc to raise money towards Violet's upkeep. Violet is a very lucky girl.

Finally, Katie the bunny, would like to thank Kirsty (her sponsor mum) for the gifts she received last week, they were thoroughly enjoyed!

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Tuesday, 07/09/10

It is September and we are starting to think about winter. We need to get the horse and goat rugs dug out and washed. We will also have to get the horses’ stables ready for them coming inside soon as there is supposed to be snow forecast for here this month.

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My brother in law, Gary, was out this weekend starting to build new goat pens. After the goats have been moved in, we can start to rebuild the pigs’ winter pen. We hope to have a much bigger area for them and also give them some outside access when the weather is good. Gigi has been a bit temperamental with me so I have been making a point of talking to her. I suspect she was feeling territorial with me - of course she is fine if food is involved.

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Our friend, Alan, is coming over on Friday to help Mike get the sheep shed sorted out for them in the winter. They are in the summer paddock at the moment, but will move back into the winter paddock very soon.
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Donald, the cat, is settling in and is a lovely old boy. We have no idea of his history but the vets think he is about 17 years old. He was covered in fleas when first picked up but this has now been dealt with. He is hyperthyroid and is retaining fluid in his abdomen and this is a real concern. He is also drinking and peeing a lot, although his kidney function didn’t seem bad when he was blood tested. Our biggest concern is that he has a tumour, and, if this is the case, there is nothing much we can do. Jimmy and Misty are now both on anabolic steroids and we are very worried because Misty is continually losing weight over the months. She is 21 but if the steroids help, we’ll give it a go.
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Ashley, the rat, is not doing so well. She is 28 months old but has rapidly gone downhill. She is very disorientated and lethargic. She is going into the vets tonight but we suspect she may have a pituitary tumour. Sadly, there isn’t much we can do if this is the case. We can try to alleviate the symptoms, but the prognosis isn’t good.
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Deli has had a change of arthritis tablets and is doing quite well. She has stopped having diarrhoea though, so we do wonder if the old tablets were causing the problem.
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We were lucky enough to get three 9ft hutches for £150 from a lady who was selling them, and she very kindly gave us a discount when she learned that we were a sanctuary.
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The next thing we need to think about is a cage for the kakarikis to come into if the weather gets bad. We want the same one as the bluebirds have as it’s more like an indoor aviary, but we will have to do a bit of saving before we can afford it.
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I can’t believe we have to start thinking about winter again as it seems like only a short time ago we were looking forward to summer. I just hope it is not like last winter!
It has been a quiet week thankfully after the last few weeks.

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Tuesday, 31/08/10

It has been a quiet week thankfully after the last few weeks.

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Jimmy is doing very well and looks much brighter. I am feeling a bit more positive about him again. He and Misty are in for their acupuncture tonight and he will get another course of injections. Fluffy is also recovering well from her op and gets her stitches out and blood tested to see what effect the op has had on her thyroid levels. Mr Tomsk and Sooty are enjoying being outside again, although Loki is less keen. He enjoys going out but wants to come back in after an hour or two. I guess if you have been in a house for over 3 years the big outside world is a bit scary. Helga, the fat cat, has lost lots of weight, she was 8kgs on arrival in May and is now 6.14kgs. She is like another cat and obviously feels pretty good because she is very playful now.

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Katie, the rabbit with the sore eyes, was also very overweight when she arrived in May. She was 3.66kgs and is now 2.80kgs, so we hope she will be able to get speyed very soon. Runt is much better and seems back to normal and Xena is less worried about him. Treacle’s urine infection has also cleared up.

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Deli the dalmation has had some results back from her sample but there is nothing showing up yet. She is much better but still has the odd bout of diarrhoea. She is on another painkiller for her arthritis and is much more comfortable. We have started feeding her a mix of wet and dry hepatic food as she was getting a bit fussy with the dry and kept leaving her tablets in the bottom of the bowl. Deli looks like a little old lady but her jaws snap shut like a crocodile when you give her a tablet, so I prefer to give them in her food - saves a finger.

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We lost one of the girl quail as she had an infected wing and didn’t survive the attempt to find out what the options were. She had to be sedated to have a proper look at it. The 2 girls in the house are now living in the same cage, so it is much nicer for them. Both are doing well even if they are a bit wobbly on their feet.

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We have started to put rugs on the horses at night as there has been a definite change to the weather and a very autumnal feel. The days have generally been nice, but it is quite cold overnight now.

We do have another animal coming tonight to join the family. He is a very old cat who was picked up as a stray, and nobody has claimed him so far. The vets have named him Donald and it turns out he is hyperthyroid. He also has a very swollen stomach filled with fluid, so he may not have very long with us, but the vets feel he is so bright and happy it would be a shame to have him PTS just now. Hopefully we can make whatever time he has left happy and, if we find out what is causing the fluid, we may be able to extend the time he has left.

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Friday, 20/08/10

Tuesday, 07/09/10

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Donald, the cat, is settling in and is a lovely old boy. We have no idea of his history but the vets think he is about 17 years old. He was covered in fleas when first picked up but this has now been dealt with. He is hyperthyroid and is retaining fluid in his abdomen and this is a real concern. He is also drinking and peeing a lot, although his kidney function didn’t seem bad when he was blood tested. Our biggest concern is that he has a tumour, and, if this is the case, there is nothing much we can do. Jimmy and Misty are now both on anabolic steroids and we are very worried because Misty is continually losing weight over the months. She is 21 but if the steroids help, we’ll give it a go.

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Ashley, the rat, is not doing so well. She is 28 months old but has rapidly gone downhill. She is very disorientated and lethargic. She is going into the vets tonight but we suspect she may have a pituitary tumour. Sadly, there isn’t much we can do if this is the case. We can try to alleviate the symptoms, but the prognosis isn’t good.

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Deli has had a change of arthritis tablets and is doing quite well. She has stopped having diarrhoea though, so we do wonder if the old tablets were causing the problem.

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We were lucky enough to get three 9ft hutches for £150 from a lady who was selling them, and she very kindly gave us a discount when she learned that we were a sanctuary.

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The next thing we need to think about is a cage for the kakarikis to come into if the weather gets bad. We want the same one as the bluebirds have as it’s more like an indoor aviary, but we will have to do a bit of saving before we can afford it.

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I can’t believe we have to start thinking about winter again as it seems like only a short time ago we were looking forward to summer. I just hope it is not like last winter!

It has been a very stressful, hectic week and a bit.

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We had Deli into the vet due to diarrhoea again and need to get a sample to send off in case she has an ongoing bacterial infection. Because of this we have had to stop her arthritis tablets and she is very stiff - poor thing. Once we get the results back we can then try her on some new tablets in the hope that they help more.

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On Tuesday night last week we had a thunderstorm and when I checked the rabbits the next morning I found Runt had a head tremor and nystagmus in his eyes. I got him into the vet and we were concerned he had either an ear infection, E.cunniculi (a nasty parasite that is similar to toxoplasmosis in rabbits) or he had concussed himself when the thunderstorm was on. He is being treated for the ear infection and E.cunniculi, but I suspect he got a fright with the storm and ran into something. He is still not quite himself but much better than he was. I also had Treacle in because she was suffering from a very wet bottom, and this can be dangerous for rabbits, not only because they obviously have something wrong with them, but it also puts them at risk from developing flystrike. She was given antibiotics at the vet and it seems to have cleared up.

The cats have been causing most work this week. Sooty and Mr Tomsk are both going out again since Mr Tomsk’s op. I did worry that Mr Tomsk would disappear and only be an occasional visitor, however, he was most offended when put outside and comes running back to come in when called. I guess he knows where home is and likes the luxuries of life now. We are starting to introduce Loki to the big, bad world, but he is quite scared about it so we are taking it slowly with him and I’m sure he will love the exciting things he can get up to outside soon.

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Fluffy has had her thyroidectomy and is amazingly bright after it. The vets only removed one side, although we may have to consider removing the other side at a later date. She is in a cage at the moment so that her stitches don’t get played with by anybody else. Jimmy has not been so lucky this week and we had to rush him into the vet at 10.00pm on Monday night. He semi-collapsed and it turned out he had a high temperature and was dehydrated. We dripped him at the vets and left him overnight, not sure if he would still be alive in the morning. It appeared he had an infection, but we didn’t know why he had reacted so badly to it. The next day the vet did blood tests and it turned out Jimmy was very anaemic and wasn’t producing new red blood cells either. This is not good news and it is usually a symptom of long-term chronic illness, like chronic renal failure. Jimmy does have signs of some renal damage but it is very slight and not severe enough to cause this. We think it may be due to his lifelong problems with constipation. There is no real treatment for this problem. although we are trying vitamin supplements and anabolic steroids which will hopefully sustain any red cell production he has. It is now a waiting game with Jimmy and of course we need to cure his infection, this will, we hope, make a big difference to his well-being. Jimmy is very weak and the next week will really be a deciding factor as to what his future holds for him. We will obviously look after his best interests and make him as comfortable as we can.

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We lost 2 hens last week as well, one of the new hens developed a cough and went downhill very quickly, she died on the way to the vet. Sadly, we also lost Jemima, our 7 year old auracana hen, I found her dead in the hen house. She will be sadly missed as she was a gentle bird but had lots of fighting spirit and survived quite a few illnesses in her lifetime. We released Thistle the hedgehog this week too, he came back to his hutch for a couple of days but has now left us, I suspect for good. I hope he copes OK in the wild and survives the winter.

Sunday, 08/08/10

Another busy week, vet visits and mucking out as usual.

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The little quail is still with us and, after 2 steroid injections, is able to walk. She is a bit tottery but can get around - we have called her Beth. The 2 quail who were scalped by their ‘mates’ have been put in the kakariki flight beside 3 other girls as we decided to try them together as there is plenty of room to run around and the 2 girls are now big and healthy. We have had to take in another girl - she has a deformed leg and was coping well, but recently she had started to struggle in the runs so she is in an indoor cage. Hopefully, the fact that it is warmer inside will help her - we have called her Meg. We haven’t named any of the others yet because they are still growing feathers so there will be no chance of recognising them as they recover.

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The new hens are all growing feathers, some still have bare bottoms, but their backs and necks are now well covered.

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Deli is still a bit wobbly and has had an upset tummy again, we think it is because her immunity is reduced due to her liver damage. She is still a happy girl and lives for her food.

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Mr Tomsk has now officially joined the cat family. We have shut him out of his room and he is having to live with the others. There have been a few set-toos but no damage. Pudding is now fully vaccinated and Jimmy has finally been fit enough to start his, although today I have had to give him an enema because he is constipated again.

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The rabbits have all been enjoying the weather outside and we need to start thinking about bonding Mallow and Sorrell soon. We are now starting to move the guinea pig runs beside the quail houses. It is taking a bit of time as we have to clear a rockery area but hopefully we will get it done so the guineas can still enjoy some of the sunshine as they are in indoor runs at the moment.

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The large animals (pigs, sheep, goats and horses) are all happy and fat and enjoying days lazing in the sun. We have put a fly rug on Cirrus though as she is being badly bitten by flies. We also need to buy a couple for Pixie as she has started to show signs of sweet itch. We have been applying cream 2-3 times daily but really need to get her rugged up, although I know it will be torn within minutes!

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The kakarikis are lovely little birds and are much more settled, they wait for their morning bit of fruit or veg and are straight in there once I leave the flight.

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The charity organisation is ongoing - our new logo will be decided this week and we are sorting out public liability insurance and will get a health and safety assessment done. We may then be able to have volunteers and maybe a couple of open days next year. So much to do, but with the help of friends were are slowly getting there.

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Finally, a thanks to Raymond for finding an alternator for Ernie, the landie, and putting it in for us, he even managed to do it with Mike’s help, which is amazing in itself!

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Sunday, 01/08/10

We moved the quail houses to the side of the house this week because they are more sheltered for the winter and there are lights so we can see what we are doing as the darker nights draw in. We have a poorly one in the house because we found her on her side unable to walk so we will take her to the vet tomorrow. The usual treatment is a steroid injection and it seems to work very well. This means she will stay in the house for now. We already have the 2 girls who were scalped by the others in the house. They are fully recovered but I’m not sure where to put them as I can’t return them to the colony or they will be attacked again. They are old birds so these things are to be expected.

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Jemima, our old hen, who was very poorly last week, has recovered and has been returned to her group. She seems to be doing well. She is such a character and shows real spirit so she must have more lives than a cat.

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The cats have had a few ups and downs. Candy has had a flair up of her IBD so we put her in for tests to make sure nothing else was adding to the problem. It looks like it may be her IBD, although there is a slight chance she may be hyperthyroid. We will get the results next week. Mr Tomsk has had his second vaccination and is slowly integrating with the rest of the group. Jimmy was in to start his vaccinations but had a snotty nose again, so ended up on antibiotics instead. He and Misty get their accupuncture session this week so we will get Misty’s booster and start Jimmy's ones at the same time. Pudding has recovered from her bug and has started to put weight back on, so we are very pleased with that.

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Deli the Dalmatian has been very wobbly on her legs lately, although she still manages to get on the sofa and has a great appetite, but still it is worrying. Levi has had a dodgy tummy over the weekend and, if he is no better, we will take him into the vet on Monday.

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The large animals are fine, except that some of the sheep have sore feet but they can still outrun us though, so we need to somehow corral them and have a proper look at them.

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We will have our new logo very soon and many of the animals are available for sponsorship. We spend over a £1,000 a month on vet bills and another £1,500 on feed bills - we pay for nearly all of this ourselves so every little helps.

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Sunday - 23/7/10

Sorry there has been no udpate recently, so many things have been happening, I didn’t really know where to start.

We have again lost a few animals, and as always they leave a gaping hole. We lost poor Una the rat, it turned out she had a skin cancer, and as soon as she showed signs of discomfort was had her put to sleep. Ashley and Polly are doing well though. We have also lost Spice, our 19 year old cat, it is amazing the spirit she shown in her last years but her kidneys finally could no longer support her. She was put to sleep at home and I miss her sleeping on my pillow. Our lovely boy Samson was put to sleep 2 weeks ago, again due to his kidney deterioration and we suspect the lymphoma he was suffering from had spread into his lungs.

On a happier note, Helga, the 8kg cat, has lost one kilo and has recovered from the urine infection she came with. She is a much happier cat. Pudding, the starving cat, was doing very well and had doubled her weight. Unfortunately, she had developed a upper respiratory tract infection and has dropped weight again, she is on 2 types of antibiotic to try and clear it. A stray cat who has been hanging around all winter has been taken into the family fold after we have found no owner to claim him. He is a lovely tabby and he has now been microchipped and vaccinated, as well as castrated. We are slowly introducing him to the rest of the family, and once they are all friends he can go outside again with Sooty and Loki. We have called him Mr Tomsk. Thanks to the CPL who helped with advice and his treatments.

We took in some more quail, although Harry quail died suddenly, the others are doing well. We managed to take in some ex-laying quail and they are living in small groups with the boys. We have also taken some ex-free range commercial hens from the New Arc, although to look at them you would think they are battery hens, they were so bald. They are starting to feather up nicely and love their food. The sheep have been moved onto new grazing and are looking very plump as we get concerned because some of the oldies get very thin over winter, so it would be good if they got a good layer of fat to help them through it. The goats are also enjoying the sunny days and grazing in the sun. The pigs, on the other hand, prefer to sleep.

We have also added 2 Kakarikis to the family, they belong to the same lady who had the bluebirds, she has had to re-home all her birds due to ill health. These were the last to be re-homed. They are called Fiona and Mango (Mango was called Stanley, but is a girl and I can’t get my head round her having a boy’s name, so we called her Mango). Fiona is green and very cheeky, Mango is yellow with green bits and is quieter. Mango only has half a beak and a damaged eye, so is slightly special needs.

Mallow the bunny has been spayed and, thanks to a fund raiser on the Rabbit United Forum, we received a generous donation which paid for all her vaccines and neutering. Katie, the bun with the bad eyes, is looking amazing and has turned into a happy little girl. Her eyes get a lubricant twice daily and look so much better. We need to get her weighed next and see if she has lost any weight as I hope so because she will be next for the op - her vaccines have been done.   We have also bonded Molly, who has been alone for quite a while now, with Snowy and Jessica. Jessica took some time to become friends, but Snowy was in love with her quite quickly. It is really nice to see Molly with company and someone to cuddle up to. The next bonding, we hope, will be Sorrell and Mallow (once she recovers from her op) but we are not sure if it will work because Sorrell is so nervous but it is much better that she has a friend.

One lunchtime a couple of weeks ago I was walking to the chicken runs to give them their corn, and nearly stood on a baby hedgehog. If a hedgehog is out in daylight, it needs help, so I picked it up and put it in a spare hutch. It didn’t move all night so I put it on a heated pad and tried to offer it some food and water. It took some food and water and the next night I had to tip it out of its food bowl because it was so hungry. We are now fairly confident it is recovered, so will make a house and runs for it to live in, until it is fully ready to be released. We have called it Thistle, and hope once it is back in the wild it will continue to use the house.

Finally a big thanks to Carole, who is taking over writing the update, we will send her news about life here, but she will write it out, making sure spelling etc is correct and will nag me to keep in touch so that the news is kept up to date.

FINALLY- the big news, we are now a registered charity, charity number SC041616. More news of what this means will follow soon.

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Sunday- 9/5/10

Another busy time here at Halfpenny Farm, but the weather has finally started to improve (well, it has finally stopped snowing, although it is still quite cold and frequently wet). We lost Ollie, our little east indie drake, he seemed fine but we found him dead when we went to put him to bed one night. He was 7 years old. We also lost Bunhilda the hen, although she had been poorly for a while. Poor Karly the rat developed some breathing problems, but still came through an op for a tumour, however, her breathing continued to get worse and she then started to retain fluid, so she had to be PTS.

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For a change, we have quite a lot of additions to the family. We collected a black, elderly silkie cockerel from the New Arc to be a companion to our older girls. He lives with the group containing Jemima, who surprisingly recovered from both another respiratory problem and a prolapse. We are now checking her daily to make sure another one doesn't occur. The New Arc also supplied a drake to go into Ollie's group, he looks a bit like a miniture sliver appleyard and has been called Kermit.

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Cossitted Critters asked us if we could take in a female rat, her friend had died and they had no other females. Polly has now settled in with Una and Ashley. We are a bit worried about Una because her nose had swollen up on Friday, she has had some medication to bring it down and antibiotics. The swelling does seem less so hopefully she is on the mend.

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The biggest changes have been to our cat and rabbit numbers. We have taken in another 2 cats- Pudding and Helga. Pudding was found in a terrible state of dehyrdation and starvation and taken in by the SSPCA. She was held and looked after for 7 days (legal time limit for an owner to reclaim their pet) and we then took her in. Pudding turns out to be hyperthyroid, although there were no signs of her being blood sampled and medicated. She was VERY thin, 1.7 kgs on arrival to us, the vet thinks she should be about 3.5- 4 kgs. She is now on medication and is gradually putting on weight (2.33kgs at last weigh in). After being Felv/FIV tested, and finding she was negative for both, she has been intorduced to the rest of the family and is settling in well, if perhaps a little demanding for attention!

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Helga is the other extreme, she should also be 3.5-4kgs, but she weights 8kgs! She cannot clean herself, walk very far or play. She now has cystitis and was going to be PTS because the owners couldn't cope. We offered to take her and thankfully they agreed. She has a very sore bottom and is badly matted. We have to try and reduce her weight gradually, but for the meantime she is in our spare room until she settles, her cystitis is cured and we find out Felv/FIV status. Spice is still with us and maintaining her weight, her head tilt is less pronounced, so after worrying we might lose her very soon, we are happy that she is comfortable for the time being.

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2 rabbits have also joined the family, Mallow was handed in as a stray with a badly wounded eye and back. The vets held her for 2 weeks, and treated her wounds, in that time nobody claimed her so we offered to take her. She is a very pretty cream lionhead, but is a bit territorial in her hutch. She has been given her myxi vaccine and is booked in to be speyed on Friday, after she has recovered from that she will be given her VHD vaccine.

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Katie has recently arrived, and is in a bit of a mess. Katie is overweight and cannot clean her bottom either. While trying to clean her bottom, Katie's third eyelids heamorrhaged and flilled with blood. In the past she has had problems with her eyes, but neither we or the vets have seen anything like this. The owners decided they couldn't cope anymore so we took Katie home too. Katie is a 2 year old black lionhead and will be vaccinated and speyed as soon as her eyes recover. They look a lot better today but the stress of being handled causes then to bulge again, the vet thinks it may be caused by high blood pressure due to being so overweight. This means Katie also has to go on a diet, and she certainly cannot be speyed until she drops a kilo in weight!

The other rabbits are doing well. Snowy and Jessica were in for a dental together and came through the ops with no problem, we were fairly worried about Jessica because she is now 6. We had a couple of poorly sheep, they had just been blood sampled because they were very thin after the winter, but Sheba and Foula both stopped eating. They were given antibiotics until we found out what the blood results were - they had a high worm count for a particular species we discovered. The vet wonders if we have an immunity problem and the wormer we use no longer has an effect. We will be moving the sheep into the summer grazing soon, and although we wormed them when we got the results of the blood test through, we will worm them again at this point with a different wormer.

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All the rest of the animals seem fine, however, with the types of animals we take in, you never know what is round the corner and next month will be no different. What I do hope for is that the sun finally begins to shine and the beasties can relax and enjoy a warm day lazing in the sun.

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Sunday- 21/3/10

Sorry for the long time in writing but it has been a hellish couple of months. Snow, snow and more snow. It has set us behind with all our plans and we have so much clearing up to do. The animals coped fairly well with the weather, although the goats were going stir crazy by being inside for so long. Violet lost a lot of condition but is getting an extra feed and starting to look a bit better again. We lost water at one point due to the pipes silting up (we are on well water) and had hardly any for 4 days but thankfully our neighbour let us take water from him in containers to make sure all the animals had enough. Very stressful and tiring, and we had to dig up part of the field to get things fixed. Then the supports for our rayburn chimney fell off, lifting some ridge tiles on the roof with it. It happened on the Saturday and we had to wait until the Tuesday until the company came to fix it. It was an anxious wait because it was wet and windy, each morning we woke up wondering if any bits of the roof had blown away.

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We have lost a few animals and some very long termers. Perhaps the most shocking, in a way, was Smudge, who although nearly 18 was looking really good. She was the best she had been for a long time, the acupuncture had made her feel so much better. However, I noticed her sitting in the litter tray for a few minutes longer than normal and when I picked her up found she couldn't walk. We rushed her to the vet and by the time we got there she was practically unconcious, the vet thinks she had a brain hemorrhage, and that there was no hope. So we lost our little 'cart horse' who we had for nearly 18 years. Mustard, another mainstay of the family, left us a few days before so to say we are devastated is an understatement. He was diagnosed the week before as having gone into heart failure, but had responded well to the medications. We found him unable to stand as Mike was leaving for work. We rushed him into the vet, and the vet diagnosed a saddle thrombosis, which is painful and fatal. He was helped on his way. The same day we also had to get Scary Spice, the house quail, PTS as she had started to lose lots of weight and was sitting puffed up, a sure sign that they are uncomfortable.

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Chicken-wise, we lost Molly and Bandicoot too, but Brunhilda is still with us, coming into the house at night, along with Jemima. Jemima has developed a respiratory problem, although she has aways been prone to this. She does seem a bit better, and once the weather warms up, we will leave them outside overnight. We also have a couple of new boys to introduce. Edward has replaced Garcon and is now living with Buffy and Silvy - they are all pekins so he is a better size for the girls. Edward was supposed to be a girl, and his owner isn't allowed to keep boys, so once he started crowing he had to be rehomed. I think the girls are very pleased with their new, handsome young man! Garcon has joined one group of the bigger girls and we have just taken in Truffle who will join the other group. We got Truffle form the New Arc - we like to have a boy with each group of girls for 2 reasons. We think the girls like having a man around the place and to give another male a home. Many males are unwanted because they don't lay eggs, often fight if there are too many in a group and they make a noise. This means they are often 'disposed' of in various ways, some not very nice.

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On the cat front, as well as losing Smudge and Mustard, Spice is quite poorly too as she developed an ear infection and it has really set her back. Her teeth are also a problem but we can't operate because she is now so frail. I did think we may have to have her PTS too because I couldn't get her to eat. I have managed to kick start her again by blending Hi-life pate with cat milk and her tablets into a soup. She is doing much better with this and looking brighter. It does look like she will aways have a head tilt and we do know the time is drawing near to say goodbye but at the moment she is happy to drink her soup and snooze on the pillow and get extra cuddles. Fluffy is still a concern, and we have to get her blood tested again next week to find out if her latest medication increase has helped at all. If not, we either have to try other tablets or go for the thyroidecomy. I am fairly sure the tablet change hasn't helped but must wait and see what the results are.

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Poor Pumpkin was looking a bit lost without Mustard as Jimmy was without Smudge; but a newcomer has given them all something to think about - Loki. Loki is a handsome ginger and white 3 year old neutered male cat, who was homeless. Sadly he was loved dearly but his owner has to go into care and he had nowhere to go. It was starting to look like he would have to be PTS. A friend of ours, who is also a nurse, called us and asked if we could help, we said YES. Loki was called Yogi, but because we already have a Yogi we decided to change it to a name which sounded similar - it seems very appropriate as Loki was a norse giant who got up to all sorts of mischief!

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Wednesday- 27/1/10

Firstly, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and wish you all a belated Happy New Year. Gosh, it has been a long time since I've last been on here and lots of things have happened. The worst bit of news is we lost Mousa, our brown shetland sheep. We don't really know what happened but we found her collapsed in the field one night when Mike went out to put them to bed so he carried her inside and the vet came out. He thought it was some sort of pneumonia and she was pumped full of medicines. We settled her down in a pen with snugglepads and a duvet, and checked her throughout the night. Sadly, she died somewhere between 6 and 8 am. She is the first sheep we have lost so it was an awful feeling. She was about 8 years old so quite middle aged but she just wasn't strong enough to pull through.

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We have also have a worrying time with Samson, our ginger boy cat. He is 15 and hyperthyroid, but was coping very well. However, one night I discovered some very hard lumps had appeared on his back and sides. I took him to the vet and, after a biopsy, it has been discovered he has a highly malignant, slow growing 'cancer', which may be a lymphoma. I had noticed he was also looking a bit bloated and asked the vets to check for fluid in his abdomen and there was. To me this is a very bad sign, but he is on diuretics and is happy and bright. We don't know how long he may have but we can only do our best to keep him comfortable and let him go if he becomes too sore.

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The good news is that Spice, Misty, and Smudge, cats, are all doing well and showing no great deterioration with their renal problems. Jimmy cat has been diagnosed with hyperthyroid too, but is now stable with the tablets.

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Due to the horrible weather we also lost a couple of quail - an elderly girl and a boy from an unwanted hatch, who had been the runt of the clutch. Nutmeg has been castrated and Tansy (guinea pigs) wasn't pregnant so they are now back together and settling down to life on the farm.

We have also lost a couple of chickens to various problems - Mulberry and Velvet both had problems with growths on their legs due to a reaction to scaley leg mite. The damage was too great on Velvet so she was PTS and Mulberry died under the aneasthetic while the vet was trying to remove the 'tumour'. Brunhilda is still with us and wheezing so we sent off a sample to check for psitticosis and it came back negative so the vets are at a loss We don't want to risk sedating her, but she is bright and eating so we will look after her until she becomes uncomfortable. Rusty also passed away as he just wasn't strong enough to recover from the illness and now Bandicoot is unwell, something different again. She was looking a bit 'weary' so I took her to the vet, but nothing was obvious except that she was very thin (the chickens have access to food all day), and she was put onto metacam because the vet thought she might be a bit arthritic. A couple of days later she was feeding and I saw clear fluid running from her mouth so I took her back to the vet and the only thing they can think of is that she has a fluid build up due to a heart condition. She is inside just now to stay warm and is on various meds to see if they help. I was getting very upset about all these losses, but if I think logically, they are all over 7 years old and it has been a very hard, cold spell of weather for any animal slightly under the weather or elderly.

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Corrie the collie has started to have fits more regularly so he is now on Epiphen to try and control them. The vet did say it would make him dopey for a couple of days but we noticed no real difference, but only time will tell whether they have helped or not.

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The snow here over Christmas was incredible as we had over a foot and all the water outside froze and eventually we could barely get doors open to see to the animals. We had to carry 25 litre containers of water everywhere, about 10-15 a day. This all meant we couldn't clean out the animals very well as a wheel barrow wouldn't push through the snow, even if you could open the doors. We had no rubbish collection for about 6 weeks so you can imagine a lot of catching up to do. We are slowly getting there but it is hard work. Mike has taken next week off to dig out the goat beds and I have lifted a couple of the horses beds so I'll finish the rest this week. The pigs are nearly done, and most of the rubbish has been carted to the skip. I can't believe more snow is forecast this weekend, as long as it isn't like last time!

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Finally, Fluffy has arrived and she is lovely, a long haired, grey and white cat, who is very loving although a bit timid at the moment. She is a bit matted, but won't let me groom her properly so I think I'll book her in for a shave at the vets and start anew. Hopefully she will be much more comfortable with that. She's a wee flirt though, because she has decided she will eat with the boys, while Jimmy prefers to eat with the girls!

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Friday- 13/11/09

It has been another eventful month, although I suppose that is normal. The horses had been doing well, but a couple of weeks ago we noticed Pippin was walking a bit funny. I called the blacksmith first, because even if we needed the vet, the blacksmith would have to remove Pippin's shoes. He came and looked at Pippin and we removed the shoes. He has a bit of bruising on his sole, so it looks like a stone has managed to get under the shoe and bruised his feet. He is looking much better now, but still a bit tender, but we think he is on the mend.

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The goats have started to wear their rugs outside as the weather is getting colder and wetter and I think I will have to start increasing the oldies' food soon.

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We had a couple of sad days at the end of last week as we had to have Charlie-quail PTS on Thursday. He was 6 so a good age, but it was still very hard to lose him. He started to lose a lot of weight and I we took him inside and gave him a drop of metacam daily after speaking to the vet. However, one day he stopped eating and looked very poorly so I took him into the vets to be PTS. The vet thought he looked a bit jaundiced so perhaps his liver had given in. The next day Rusty, the cockerel, was gasping again and was taken in for an op to remove the growths in his throat. The vet found a feather down there, so perhaps that had been the problem this time. He recovered from the op and is eating well, however he is still losing weight. I am giving him a tattie a day to try and bulk him out, but sadly if this continues we will have to have him PTS. He and Molly (his lifelong friend) as well as Velvet (with the sore leg) are sleeping in the hall at night because we think it is too cold for them in their condition.

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Saturday got no better, because we found Ziggy, our black lop rabbit, in a terrible way. When we went to give the rabbits breakfast he was cold and sitting in a corner. When Mike picked him up, he screamed. We rushed him to the vet but he was dead on arrival. He seemed fine the night before, so we don't know what happened. We are very upset by this in case we missed something. Now poor Sorrell is on her own again, so we are going to try her with Molly, the slow bonding process has begun.

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On Saturday afternoon we found one of our quail girls dead. She she was one of the ex-laying birds and had never done well. She was an awful lot smaller than the others so I wasn't surprised, but it was sad all the same.

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Finally, on Saturday night, Mustard, our blind cat with toxoplasmosis, began to shake which meant another emergency dash into the vet at 11.30pm. The vet thinks the fireworks (big local display on Saturday night) had over-stimulated him and brought on a turn. The toxo makes him hypersensitive to things. He was given a diazapam injection, a steriod and an antibiotic. We were told to keep him very quiet. Mike eventually got thrown out of bed and had to sleep on the sofa because his snoring was disturbing the cat. We all had a very restless night. Mike kept getting pestered by the dogs, Mustard wouldn't settle and kept trying to walk and I kept worrying he would fall off the bed and bring on a seizure (the vet's main concern). He is much better now, but still not himself. I am hoping this hasn't caused any premanent damage but only time will tell. Jimmy, the newest cat, has been settling in well but I have been worried because he is losing weight. It turns out he is also hyperthyroid, so he is now on tablets as well. Hopefully he will feel better and start to put on weight now.

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We also have a couple of new additions - 2 guinea pigs called Nutmeg and Tansy. We were asked to take them in by PAWSS as sadly PAWSS is cosing at the end of the year and need to find homes for the animals still in care. Nutmeg and Tansy were used for breeding. Nutmeg was dad and Tansy was mum. Tansy may well be pregnant, so we are waiting to see if this will be the first births at Halfpenny Farm. We are excited and terrifiedas there is always the chance something will go wrong. Nutmeg is booked in to be castrated next Friday. At the same time Treacle, our 6 year old lop rabbit, is getting a dental. There will also be arriving soon another PAWSS animal. She is called Fluffy and is a long haired cat. She is coming home a week tomorrow. Fluffy has suffered periods of neglect due to her owner having mental health problems. Her owner died recently and the Council asked if PAWSS would take her. Fluffy also has an uncontrolled hyperthyroid, and at 12 years old she will not be easy to rehome, especially as it can be quite costly to stabilse a thyroid cat so she is coming here. She will be cat number 11, and the 6th cat to have with this condition. I am hoping they all continue to get on with each other!

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Monday- 12/10/09

We have had quite a stressful time of it, and I can't really remember what has happened in which order. We almost feel like giving up and walking away, but have all these animals to look after.

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Firstly, we lost Mia, our lovely hooded rat, due to some awful circumstances. She started to show some blood around her bottom about 3 weeks ago, last Thursday, so I took her to the vet. The initial conclusion was she had cystitis but we couldn't really tell where the blood was coming from but as cystitis is fairly common, we decided to treat for that. She perked up and was a lot brighter. However, on the Monday she had gone downhill again and when I got home at lunchtime she was passing a lot of dark, pusy blood. The next thought was it was a pyometra - yes, rats get them too, so she was givien an op that day to remove the infected uterus. The vets found an almost full term fetus in her which had started to break down and had poisoned her system. This is what really upset me, she had been bred from either accidentally or deliberately and died because of it. We had Mia for 7 months, have no males so it had been sitting in her for at least 7 months. Poor Karly was left on her own and became very depressed so we asked all the local rescue centres if they had any older females, but there doesn't seem to be many rats in rescue up here. We checked in Pets at Home adoption regularly, and on Friday 2 girls came up. They are 18 months old - Ash is a fawn hooded and Una is practically white. They are much bigger than Karly, and she is a bit intimidated, but they seemed to have settled well.

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Gigi, our pig then became very ill 2 Sundays ago as she just lay in bed groaning. Gemma the vet came out and her temperature was up so she was given metacam and we attempted to give an antibiotic, but Gigi got up and ran away. She ate a wee bit and did seem a bit brighter for a short time, but as the day progressed she went downhill again. Andrew came out this time and she got one big injection of various meds to knock any infection on the head. Scarlet had to be taken out of the run in case it was something infectious and Gigi was bedded up and left for a while. Thankfully, by midnight, she ate some potatoes and had a good drink. I checked her at 2 and again at 5, and by 8 she was pretty much back to normal. Two days later we put Scarlet back in with her. I have to say it must have been one of the worst days we had. We still don't know what was wrong, but we did worm her with some new wormer which could have upset her on the Thursday, or she had pneumonia, as Andrew thought she was quite chesty. We have had a very sudden change in temperature and high winds, and quite a few animals elsewhere have been having problems.

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Then we had sickness in the chickens. Velvet developed some strange growths on her legs, they had been treated for scaly leg mite, and they appeared to get better, although Velvet's legs never looked right. The vet had a look and it seems the keratin in her skin had gone into overdrive due to the mites and grown into huge lumps and an infection had set in. We have washed her legs daily and picked off all the scabs and she also has have antibiotics and metacam. One big lump came off leaving a large wound so at the moment she is also being bandaged every second day until it starts to heal. Brunhilda became very wheezy and it turned out had a very high temperature so she went onto antibiotics and metacam, and after about 2 weeks was given the all-clear. When Raffles, one of our silky cockerals, started to look like he was struggling we assumed he had the same thing, but a couple of days after starting treatment, I noticed something in his throat. I took him back to the vets and his whole throat was nearly blocked. The vets operated but his throat was too thickened and he was PTS. They phoned another local vet who tends to specialise in birds and he suggested it was most likely aspergillosis, a fungal illness. We are not sure why it has hit us, maybe a combination of things such as old age, warm and damp, becoming very cold so stressing the birds, living with the ducks, which made things even more damp. Whatever caused it, Rusty was the next one to exhibit symptoms. Rusty was operated on as well, but was less badly affected and is looking pretty good at the moment. He is in a small run with Molly as they have always lived together, and apparently, the disease doesn't spread between birds. We have juggled all the birds around and moved the ducks away from the hens. We put Galaxy and his girls in with Raffle's girls, and although worried in case the stress might add to the problem, all seemed quite settled. Today, Galaxy was very flat and died before I could get him to the vet, I can only assume it was this horrible illness again.

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The birds are all being treated with 'sporanex' which is a human medication for this illness. They are all getting a dose once a day, except for Rusty who gets it twice a day. From the reading I've done since this outbreak, it seems to affect male birds more than female, and this medication acts as a preventative, as well as a cure. We have decided to treat those showing no sysmptoms for a week, and Rusty, as well as any others who deveolp symptoms, may well need treatment for months. We are determined to give them all a chance as to many people I know they are only chickens, but to us they are pets and why should one pet's life be more important than another's.

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Sunday- 13/9/09

It has been a busy moth and this week has been a very sad one. After nursing Jess for 2 months, we finally had to accept she was not going to get better and she was PTS on Friday. The vet also PTS Fliss as her breathing was no better and she had 2 rather nasty tumours. After consulting with the vet, we decided the best thing was to let her go, this was not after trying almost everything we had read about or could think of. They were both PTS at home so there was no stress involved for them.

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We also lost Charlie pig, our lovely tortoise shell guinea pig very unexpectedly. He had bad diarrhoea on Tuesday and was rushed to the vet. We got loads of meds, was back on Wednesday, and was dead by 3.00 am on Thursday morning when I went to give more subcutaneous fluids. The vet now thinks something sinister was going on, but whatever was going on, it was very hard as he was less than 2 years old and looked a happy healthy piggy. We are upset and exhausted to say the least. Previous to this, and thankfully everybody is recovering, Violet the goat had a skin infection and Bumble the horse was lame. Corrie the collie had another turn and Levi the lab had a haematoma in his ear.

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Deli's latest blood sample was great though, her liver enzymes had halved, from being 10 times above normal they were only 5 times above normal. Spice and Misty's kidney results were no worse than before and Tabatha's thyroid results were back to normal. We also have been informed of 2 new treatments for kidney failure in cats to try, and we will try Spice with some acupuncture for her arthritis.

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We have 4 new additions - 4 quail that somebody had hatched and then decided they were not for them. There is one female and 3 males and they are all living in seperate hutches now, as the female was getting too much attention and the males were starting to fight. We now have to sort out some long-term housing for them and get a few more females to keep the males quiet. Not what we had planned, but that is how things work out here.

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It looks like we will have a parrot coming, another cat and 2 buns, but things are getting tight and finances are getting low, so we need to stop. It is so hard when you hear of an animal being PTS when it is capable of living a prefectly happy life with a bit or care and some meds!

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Sunday- 16/8/09

I can't believe it's now August. We have had a very busy and stressful time, mainly because Mike has been away for almost 3 weeks out of the last month so this left me to do everything, more than a enough to deal with without sickly animals.

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So who has been ill? To begin with, Jess, the rabbit (with an abscess) has taken a turn for the worse and it began to grow at a vey quick rate so she was given another op to remove as much pus as possible, and we have been keeping it open since (about 3 weeks) to drain it every day. After it has been drained, we inject it with manuka honey (umf 25+) and she still gets the anitibiotic injections every 3 days. She has lost a lot of weight and eating hay etc is a problem for her. We are now soaking excel pellets and mixing with organic baby food to get as much into her as possible. I don't truly believe Jess has much longer with us, so from now on she will be a house rabbit so we can keep an eye on her more easily.

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Molly, who is on her own, will now hopefully be bonded with Jessica and Snowey. Treacle, another bun, had a urine infection but it seems to have cleared up after a course of antibiotics. Fliss, rat, is now on corvental and an inhaler, much like Smokey the rabbit was. She is also thin but seems to be coping with her meds and is active and eating well. The rats and Jess are now in a 'new' room we have sectioned off from the living area. We spent a weekend putting in internal patio doors and side panels as this will ultimately be for another addition who may be joining the family in September! The cupboard in the front hall will be knocked out to make a utility room where the rats will finally go to live.

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Corrie, the collie, looks to have epilepsy. He has had his 3rd fit in 3 months which his a bit of a worry, but so far they haven't lasted long, clustered or been very frequent. The cats are doing generally OK, considering their various ailments, and we have one of our foster cats back for his holidays. It is so nice to see him and how well he is doing in his new home.

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I had a terrible weekend while Mike was away. Firstly, Charlie the quail broke his beak and I rushed him to the vets because he was bleeding heavily. By the time I got there it had stopped, but we had to see if he could eat, as about a third was missing. After a few days of hand feeding, he finally figured out what to do and is fine. I got a big scare though. That evening, I went to call the goats in and Pepper didn't move. After everybody was in, I went up to get her but she was very poorly. I finally got her in, although I thought I might have to carry her. I called the vet out again, and we both thought she has pneumonia as her breathing was very laboured. She was given anti-inflammatories and antibiotics. The next day she was worse, so I called out the vet AGAIN. This time, after another check, he discovered she had mastitis. She has never had a kid, is 11 years old and has never produced milk, so this should not have happened. However, it did thanks to the flies. Steve was a real star that weekend, especially as he was iminently going to become a dad! She had to be dripped in the pen as she had gone into toxic shock, given loads more injections, had to be milked as often as possible for the next week and drenched with a probiotic. She didn't eat for about 3 days, but finally started to get better and is back to normal - I did think we were going to lose her though.

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The wet, warm weather has been a real problem for the outdoor animals. The sheep and goats' feet have been sore due to the humid dampness and we have been spraying them with foot spray as often as possible. Elsie the sheep also got flystrike, luckily we caught it early, but it has been a problem this year and I have heard of animals dying from it. It has also been causing mastitis thanks to the flies spreading infection.

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We are both very proud of our animals because we had some friends come to visit with their grandchild and the grandchild spoke to all the animals and they were all very good. Gigi, the pig, did get a bit excited and wanted to run round the pen with the wee girl, but was very good otherwise. Bournville was a star and let the girl ride him round the yard, even though he has only been ridden once this year!

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While Mike was away, somebody had heard he wanted a roof rack for Hector, the landie, and they knew somebody who was selling one, so Hector is now fully equiped.

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Finally, the strangest vet visit we have had so far - Quaffle, the saxony drake, had a willie prolapse and has had to have it amputated. He is doing well, but the poor lad was very uncomfortable beforehand, and at a big risk of infection!

We are now hoping we can get into a routine and finally get things finished, eg the rabbit runs and we have to prepare for a couple of more arrivals, and, after that, close the doors due to time, money and space. Still, I'm sure we will have plenty to keep us busy.

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Sunday- 19/7/09

Midway into July, and Mike has had 3 weeks holidays. We have had a few days off and a few long lie-ins, to be honest they were much needed. I have been at work over this time and Mike has done all the mucking out, a welcome break for me. Mike has been plodding on with the rabbit runs and just has to put the mesh on the first 3 runs. He has also laid the concrete for the next 4 runs. He has also built a flight in one of the static caravans for the bluebirds (parrotlets) and we introduced them to it today. We have put them inside it, in their cage with the door open. They can then choose to leave it when they feel confident,

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We have had our first quail/guinea pig run delivered, and it has been painted and is now waiting for some mesh over the bottom to stop any predators into them.

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We did take in a newly-fledged sparrow, who had been caught in garden netting, he seemed to be doing very well and we put him out into a flight to allow him to build up some strength before releasing him. Sadly he died and we can only assume he went into shock because he died between 4.00 and 5.30 pm, so a very short time indeed.

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Misty, our 20 year old cat, was in for blood tests and she is now suffering from chronic renal failure, the same as Spice. We have booked her in for a blood pressure check and I need to get a urine sample from her to decide whether she needs to go on to fortekor. Smudge, Samson and Tabatha all tested hyperthyroid again, so they need their doses increased. The vet is quite concerned about Tabatha because her thryoid is so large, this means an op to remove it and would be extra tricky and this is added to the fact she is FIV positive.

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Fliss the rat, had us very worried in the middle of last week. Her breathing has got steadily worse, but she refused her breakfast on Wednesday morning and her breathing was even worse. We got her into the vet and he wasn't very happy with her. Her temperature was very low and her breathing was pretty bad. He gave her a steroid and a baytril injection, but didn't really think it was an infection. We discussed things and I made a search on the internet. We are now treating her with baytril, corvental and a bronchiodilator (both of which we used in Smokey, our asthmatic rabbit). She seems to be doing well, and we have her back in with Mia and Karly, as we feel she will be happier. Saying that, every morning is a worry, in case we find she has passed away overnight.

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Deli seems to be doing well, although her liver enzymes are very high now so all we can do is look after her and call things a day when she starts to get uncomfortable. Jess, our bunny with an abscess, is in the same situation. She is getting betamox injections every 3rd day and, although her abscess isn't getting bigger, it doesn't seem to be getting smaller. She is eating well and I guess that is all we can hope for. I will take her in this week again, but don't really think there is much more we can do.

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Finally, after months of searching, we have found Charlie-quail some girlfriends. We discovered somebody who breeds quail and he had some older females he wanted to get rid of. We have 5, and although they are a bit bald, they seem to be in good health, so once they grow a few feathers again, we will introduce Charlie in one of the big new outdoor runs!

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Tuesday- 30/6/09

It is the last day of June and things are starting to tick along again. I nearly wrote the last time that we hadn't lost any animals for a while, but decided not to tempt fate. However, it made no difference. Sadly, Sky, our minature swedish blue duck died. She suffered a prolapse, and although we tried to give her a chance and Andrew, the vet, operated and tried to stitch the prolapse back in, she passed away the next day. Violet, the goat, was also very ill for a few days with diarrhoea. The vets thought it might be coccidiosis as the warm weather seems to have caused a few cases. Thankfully she has recovered and is back to normal.

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The rest of the animals seem to be doing fine. Quite a few of the cats are due back in for blood samples and Deli is back tomorrow for a check up and bloods.

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The parrotlets have settled in well and I enjoy listening to them chirping.

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Fliss's (rat) breathing has deteriorated again, so she will going back to the vet for another check-up.

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Mike is on holiday for the next few weeks so the heat is on to get things built.......

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Monday- 22/6/09

Lots of happenings over the past few weeks.

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We have had 3 more animals operated on: Firstly, Deli had a big wart removed from her eye again, thankfully she has recovered well, but her blood levels are up again. We don't really know how much longer it will be before she starts to show signs of liver damage, but we are making the most of her time with us. Mia the rat also had a big operation to remove a tumour under her left armpit. She was as bright as a button after the op, but we kept her seperate from the others until yesterday to allow the wound to heal. If she was a human it would have gone from the top of her shoulder round the front of her arm and down to her waist - HUGE. I was worried she would be bullied, but after an initial scuffle, they were sharing a hammock before bedtime. We now have to wait and see if it will return.

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We put Jess the rabbit in with Snowy and Jessica, when they went to be clipped, and asked for her teeth to be checked and the vet found a large abscess at the back of her bottom jaw. Unfortunately, it looks like it is a tooth root abscess which is going to mean a tough fight for her. Scott cleaned the lump out as best he could and she is back on betamox injections and manuka honey. Amazingly, she is still eating although hay seems to be a bit of a problem for her, so we are giving grass instead.

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We had to get Snowy and Jessica clipped because they were starting to mat. With Mike being away so much, and me being ill, their coats were being neglected. It was awful when we picked them up as they are lovely when groomed and now they look like scruffy little vagabonds.

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Fliss the rat still has breathing problems and, even after a long course of baytril, betamox injections and a steroid injection, she is no better. I don't really know what the next step is so we will probably get her in next week for a re-examine. Thankfully, she is very bright and eating well, just thin.

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We had some excellent news about Spice. After having her blood pressure reduced with meds and being on a renal diet, her bloods are back within the normal perameters for her kidneys. I know eventually they will deteriorate, but we have at least slowed things down a bit.

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Hector, the landie, passed his test after a wee bit of work by Mike, and we were told he was a good solid car, even if he looked a bit rough!

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We have also to introduce 2 new members of the family - Yogi and Zelda. They are celestial parrotlets and we are quite taken with them. Their owner has to rehome her birds due to ill health. These 2 are hard to rehome as they can only be kept together, although only the size of a sparrow, they will attack anything and wound them quite badly. They were possibly going to be PTS, so we said they could come here. They are in a cage in the bedroom at the moment, but we plan to build a small flight in one of the caravans. It is not a huge space, but we hope they will be happy there. I have to admit, I never thought we'd end up with parrots, so I've had a lot of reseach to do over the past few days. I am slowly getting there but there's a lot to take in.

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Thursday-11/6/09

There has been a confirmed outbreak of VHD in the montrose area.

If you have not had your rabbits vaccinated against this disease, please do so. There is no cure once your rabbit catches it.

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Monday- 1/6/09

it is June already, and things are moving on slowly. Mike has been away a lot over the past few months which means that I am just managing to do maintenence rather than progress forward. However, now most of the animals are out all the time we should be able to get going.

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The sheep were sheared yesterday and our original sheep moved into join the new rescues in the summer paddock who have now also been vaccinated. They are keeping themselves to themselves for the moment, but will gradually integrate, I'm sure. Now that the original sheep are out of their winter paddock, we have moved Pippin and Pixie in there, with a hay bale. There is a little grass but not enough to cause any problems with Pippin and his laminitis, I hope! This makes things much easier, as they were in the sandschool, which meant access for riding was a bit of a faff, and Mike had to fill 6 hay nets a day. We have also started to give the big horses access to the 'spring' paddock initially for a few hours a day, until they are on grass full time. This will save us a bit on hay over the summer.

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The goats have been out all day so are starting to get some condition on them and they are enjoying the sunshine. Nookie and Incy, the new boy guinea pigs, were castrated last Friday and seem to be recovering well. Nipper has a few more weeks to wait before we try introducing him to Pipkin as we must make sure he is fully sterile before we do it.

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Spice, our 18 year old cat, has been a cause for concern over the last few weeks. She was in for her yearly blood test and it showed her kidneys were starting to deteriorate. Thankfully they are not too far gone and she is on a special diet. She also had her blood pressure checked as this can cause kidney problems and sure enough it was raised, so she is also on medication to reduce her blood pressure. She goes back in to the vets on Friday to have her bloods taken again and her pressure checked, and we hope things have improved. I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise as we lost her sister to kidney failure 6 months after they arrived. Tabatha, the 13 year old FIV cat was also a bit under the weather this week. She was a bit sneezy/ wheez, because she is FIV, and has a lowered immune system so we whipped her in and she was given antibiotics. She will go in once she is over this for her routine yearly blood tests and thyroid check-up - she is also hyperthyroid and we want to make sure her levels are fine.

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Smudge, another elderly hyperthyroid cat was given her routine blood test this month as well. She came back normal so is now on metacam for her arthritis and she seems much better on it. Mike has been busy working on the rabbit runs and has got the frames up for the first 3 so we are hoping they will be finished it 2 weeks time. I will feel much happier when the rabbits are out and secure.

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Hector, our old landrover, failed his MOT, but it wasn't by anything serious. The power steering wasn't working, back door wouldn't open and the exhaust needed replacing. Mike has been working away fixing things so we hope he will go back in at the beginning of next week and PASS! I wish I was working as well. I have been very tired and had some bloods taken today, mainly to check my thyroid levels. I have an underactive thyroid and it appears that I may need an increase in my medication, however I wil only get the results on Friday, and, at the moment, I'm struggling to even get up in the morning - either that or I've become really lazy!

Saturday- 16/5/09

Another update and more news.

The only loss we have had is Sputnick, she was a black rock hen and had become very lame. She was given antibiotics and metacam from the vets and after being rested seemed better, however after putting her out into the run again she relapsed. We got her x-rayed and she had dislocated her hip, the x-ray also showed she had a deformed pelvis, because of this we had to get her PTS. The rest of the birds seem well, although Ollie the drake is back to chasing feet and almost got stood on this week, he still didn't learn.

We do have some new family members, firstly 5 sheep who were going to be PTS if a new home couldn't be found before the 1st of May, this was when the blue tongue vaccine had to given by. They still have not been vaccinated on the vet's advice because they are extremely thin and malnourished and were on the verge of developing pneumonia. We are hoping to get them vaccinated next week. There are 3 castrated boys and 2 girls, so we have called them Noggin, Issac, Zog, April and Ester, and from what we understand they are about 7 years old.

We have also taken in 7 guinea pigs, a family group of 4 whose owners were moving away and couldn't find a suitable home. They are a lovely family of 2 girls and 2 boys, the boys are already neutered and they are settling in their new home. They are called Charlie ( that's 3 charlies now), Phoebe, Lola and Popcorn. We also have taken in 3 boys, the owner was struggling with them due to lack of space. Nipper is single and has been aggressive to other pigs and humans, we have had him neutered in the hope it quietens him down and he will bond with Pipkin. The other 2 live together and seem to get on fine, although we plan to neuter them too, mainly to try and avoid any fall outs in the future- they are called Nookie and Incy.

You will see we have set up a paypal account if anybody wants to donate to the animals, we've done this because many people have ask us to do so, we will also be setting up a sponsorship scheme. We already have 2 long term sponsors, Lorraine and June who sponsor some of the rabbits, this means the bunnies can get a few extra treats!

We already have been given lots of things to help out at the sanctuary, Raymond and Carole have donated a trailer, some friends at Mike's work donated a laminater and another from St Fergus has given us a hand cart. The owners of the 4 guinea pigs have given us mesh and hutches and Marie, who became Honey's owner ( Honey was a rabbit we fostered a couple of years ago) gave us some hutches a few weeks ago.

Thanks to everybody who has donated anything to us, every little helps.

Wednesday- 29/4/09

I can't believe its been so long since I've written, but lots of things have been happening. The weather has been pretty good lately, so we are trying to get on with things outside.

The foundtions are dug and the hardcore is down for one set of rabbit runs, the next step will be to lay the concrete and start building.

We have lost a few animals along the way, poor Pip the guinea pig developed ovarian cysts, it was a difficult decision as to what we should do because she was 6, but we went ahead with an op to remove them, One was full of blood and the vet also found one of her kidneys had gone cystic so it was removed too. She handled the op well and we were very hopeful, but she wouldn't come out of the aneasthetic. After trying to revive her for quite a while, we called it a day and had her PTS.

We also lost Daffodil the duck, no obvious cause and Dots the chicken, we think she had a heart attack.

We have had Treacle speyed, and she is the last girl bun to be done, for the time being! She recovered really well and is back outside with Oddeye.

Pippin has had his feet x-rayed and bloods taken. His blood results were pretty normal but his feet are quite back and he has rotation in all of them, the blacksmith has put cytek shoes on his front feet and he is now in the sandschool, with Pixie as a friend. Now that was a match made in heaven, they are great friends and he is so anxious when he can't see her, this could cause problems later on when we want to work her.

Violet the goat did get very thin, and we took bloods to check she didn't have Johnnes disease, thankfully the results came back negative, so she is now being fed twice a day and is also on danilon for her arthritis, she is actually doing really well now.

We got some friends for Mia the rat, they came all the way from 'Furry Friends' in Surrey, we knew somebody down there and they we coming up to Dundee, so she tok them by train and we collected them from Dundee. They are both hooded rats and are now called Fliss and Karly, Fliss is like Mia and very friendly, Karly is a bit more nervous and territorial, they are living happily together though and its not uncommon to find 3 rats sqeezed onto a hammock, only really fit for 2!

Sunday- 1/3/09

We have been trying to get a bit more organised for the last month, and I think we are slowly getting there. We had a terrible fortnight of snow, which held things up tremendously and every job was a major effort. The snow was about 6 inches deep and we had temperatures down to -12. All the water outside was frozen, so we have to fill up containers in the house and carry them as the snow was too deep to push a wheel barrow through. We were concerned about the birds and goats, especially as they feel the cold, but they all got by, except for one of our ducks, we think she stayed in the paddle pool for too long and got hypothermia. She was fine at lunchtime, but Mike found her dead lying beside the pool, she wasn't old, but was an ex-commercial layer so maybe wasn't quite as aclimatised as we thought.

Sadly was also lost Creme brulee, a chicken, due to egg peritonitis. One day she looked very poorly and when I picked her up yellow, oily stuff came out of her mouth. She was whisked into the vet and x-rayed, and it turned out her whole abdomen was full of this fluid, and they diagnosed peritonitis. It is fairly common in older birds and they are now starting to lay eggs again after the winter so it is a risky time for things to go wrong. Dots, another chicken has suffered a prolapse (again due to age and hormones), we have her in the kennels, and she is on antibiotics, so hopefully we can pull her through.

Grouse and Turtle dove, our pair of quail, also had to be PTS, Turtle dove had been ill for a wee while, and was on antibiotics, she was eating very well but was still losing weight, we suspect she had a tumour. Grouse had always been lame since we got him, and had laterly been on metacam, however he went completely off his legs and it wasn't fair to keep him going. That leaves us with a lonely Charlie, so we are going to build an outside aviary and get him some girlies, hopefully this month!

The final bit of sad news, is we lost Bear, our boy guinea pig. We don't know what happened, he was bright the night before and eating heartily, but I found him dead the next morning in the hutch. I can only guess that he had a heart attack, he was at least 5, so not a young boy, but looked very healthy and was very active. He was a lovely piggie, and he even went with Scott the vet, to the local brownies, when Scott did a talk on rabbit and guinea pig care.

Now for some good news!

This is the rabbit news.

Milly got speyed 2 weeks ago and came through without a problem, we were worried, as she was a bit fat!

We are in the process of bonding Runt and Xena, and it looks like they will be fine together.

Sorrel and Ziggy are running alongside each other, but i can't really tell if it will work yet, they are both highly strung rabbits.

We haven't decided yet what we will do with Milly, whether to try and have another trio, or find her a boyfriend.

The goats are doing well and have been able to get out for the last few days, and are very happy to get a change of scene. They still need to have their beds dug out, so Mike is going to do them over the evenings this week.

Gigi and Scarlet, the pigs, have been looking a bit depressed lately, so we put them outside yesterday as I think they were bored. I'm still not sure Gigi is fully herself and if she gets no better over the next couple of days I will get the vets top check her over.

Pippin the pony, is getting his feet x-rayed on the 20th and will then have special shoes put on, this is the next step to his feet being fixed, after that he will be out and introducing himself to Pixie.

The other horses are well, if a bit bored, but the blacksmith is coming on Thursday, and he is putting shoes on Bournville and Bumble, and IF the weather stays good I will be able to start working them.

That's the main bits of news, we are busy getting things up and running for the spring and have so many jobs to do, we are getting up at 5, so most of the daily chores are done before we go to work and once the evenings are a bit brighter we will start to move forward.

Sunday- 25/1/09

Well a lot has happened in the last 2 months and things have been a struggle. The main thing to happen is that Mike's father died on Wednesday the 14th of January. He became ill with a heart attack on the first week of December and because his heart would not settle into a 'normal' rhythm he was kept in the hospital for 2 weeks. Sadly as they were doing tests they discovered secondary tumours in his liver, they suspected that the primary one was in his bowel. He left hospital to come home and went downhill very quickly. This is the reason that things haven't been updated.

However, the animals still needed looking after, although we were not as thorough as we usually are.

Misty (20 year old cat) has been off her food again and after blood tests, which came back clear, we put her in for x-rays. Thankfully there was nothing to see, she also had an ECG, again all clear. The only thing the vets found was some spondylitis in her back and arthritis in her sternum (breastbone). This is perhaps why she is hugging the radiator in this cold weather, she is eating fish only, so I have to do some research to see what additives I need to give her to ensure she has a balanced diet.

Candy (13 year old cat) has also caused us worry and has also had blood tests and x-rays. Her intestine was very thickened , but the blood tests ruled out pancreatitis, so she either has IBD or a diffuse tumour. The only real way to find out if it is a tumour is to do a biopsy, but there is no treatment for it, so we have decided to treat her for IBD, and if she continues to lose weight we will probably have to PTS. Charlie feels it is more likely to be IBD as she is also losing hair, which along which high eosinophils in her bloods, indicates it is allergy related. At the moment she is on zantac and antepsin, to settle her tummy and we are feeding her fish, but Scott is looking a various foods so we can try to give her a balance diet and one she can eat.

Jess, our one eyed rabbit, ended up getting another dental. She gave us a scare, because she was wet at the side of the face and we thought she had developed another abscess. Thankfully she is fine, although she took a couple of days to recover.

Oddeye also gave us a scare by going into stasis last Monday, we rushed him into the vets that evening and Kevin gave painkiller, gut stimulant and an antibiotic as a cover. The next morning he was fine, we have no idea what brought this on, but it is a worry when they go off their food.

Deli, our 13 year old dalmation, has an ulcer on her eye, and it is taking a long time to heal. It looks like she may have to go through another op, as her eyelashes are turning in and we think this may be, if not causing the problem, at least preventing it from healing. She was blood sampled on Friday to find out how her liver is, and unfortunately her ALT results have risen again, so she will, have to have a few more tests done to decide how we progress from here.

Many other things have happened, but they are just a blur, all the animals have been fine, except for the few I've mentioned and we are hoping to catch up with our work here over the next week, so we can start to plan ahead for the spring.

Sunday- 23/11/08

Sorry I haven't written for so long but we have had quite a traumatic time.

Sadly the week after the last entry, we lost Smokey. He developed a head tilt, which can be caused by either an ear infection or E. cunniculi, a parasite that can damage many of the organs in various ways, but often shows as a head tilt. We nursed him for nearly a week, and he was given antibiotics and panacur, and the little fighter that he was he continued to eat and get on with life. Over the Friday night he began to lose balance and couldn't keep upright, and he bacame distressed, so we called the vet out, and Gemma put him to sleep at home. Poor Milly, didn't quite know what had happened, and became withdrawn and quiet. She seems fine now though.

Last week we lost Kizzy, not sure what was wrong with her,but suspect she had a cancer. We had noticed she'd had a wet bottom for a couple of days and took her into the vet, on the Friday, as we were planning to get her spayed. The vets couldn't operate as she was too dehydrated, so we took her home and started to inject her with subcutaneous fluids and antibiotics. On the Monday they decided they had to open her up, as they thought she had a mucometra ( a mucus filled womb), but they also found her ceacum was very distended with fibre and her pancreas was abnormal. They spayed her and stitched her up. We took her home and she seemed to do very well, eating the next day and she was very bright. She was bright all week but the next week she became subdued and quiet. We took her back in and I spent 36hrs giving her sub-cut fluids every 2-3 hours, along with various other treatments. On Wednesday morning she was very dull, wouldn't even lift her head, so we called the vet out and had to have another bunny PTS within the month. To say we are gutted is an understatement. The vets were very good and tried every thing but I guess their time had come.

To add to the worries Bumble, Mike's horse became lame, the vet suspects she has a abscess and we just have to wait for it to burts, we had been tubbing it, but it is so cold just now we've stopped as I'm sure standing with soaking wet feet in freezing conditions can't be good for her either. Mind you she may have pulled something as they all broke out, into the summer field a couple of weeks ago, and were running around like IDIOTS.

Copper, the goat, has also given us cause for comcern this week, she has become very sore on her legs. We called out the vet (again) and he thinks she has arthritis, and the sudden cold weather has caused her to stiffen up. She is now on bute and has a rug on to keep her warm. We think she is a bit better, but we are quite worried, because she is very sore. We don't know how old she is, but we think she is a good age. Saying that I spent Friday night sewing the surcingles on 6 dog rugs so all the goats could have something on overnight. The temperature got down below freezing and we have about 2 " of snow here today.

We do have a new addition to the family, Ziggy, he is a black, lop bunny who was advertised free to good home due to an allergy. It turns out he is quite aggressive and I know its not just because he has been rehomed. He is in quarantine at the moment, but we plan to pair him off with one of the girls. Sadly we had planned to pair Runt with Kizzy, and we knew they would get on as they had been together already. We will now start again and perhaps see if he and Xena will make a go of it, we have 3 girls to choose from Xena, Milly and Sorrell, mind you Sorrell is a very nervous girl, and I'm not sure if she will ever bond with another rabbit.

Misty, our 19 year old cat, was taken to the vet yesterday, as she seemed to not be eating. She would go up to her food,take a small bit, wander around and then leave it, she had also been sick a couple of times. Not wanting to take any risks at her age, we took her in, the vet could find nothing obvious, so we took some bloods, and thankfully they were normal. She's still not eating well, but I cooked some salmon and it appears that it is quite acceptable.

We will just see how she is tomorrow and take it from there, if her feeding doesn't pick up, the next thing will be x-rays and scans to make sure there are no tumours.

Sorry it has been quite a depressing write up this time, but its the way life goes here, and we find that winter is the hardest on the old and poorly animals. I do hope things settle down though as it is very stressful and draining.

Sunday-11/10/08

The weather has certainly changed and we have had a few frosts already, in between we have had lots of rain, to the extent that we took the horses in for a couple of nights.

Pippin was quite excited to find out there were other horses around. He has had some major trimming to his feet and it is amazing to see a different pony emerge from the sad wee thing that arrived. The blacksmith, Les, has been twice in the last week to do his feet. He did the back feet first and the front feet a couple of days later. The vet, Andrew came out to see him before Les did anywork and was quite shocked, he did warm us there might not be a happy ending. He is worried about the damage already done to his feet and the tendons, and we will be getting x-rays done in a months time once his feet are of a more natural shape. At the moment his feet are so deformed the x-rays wouldn't show us anything. Other than his feet we had a big concern about the worm burden he was carrying, as worming a horse with a very high worm burden is very risky and can kill it ! We sent off a sample and it came back not too bad so we will be worming Pippin soon. He has been eating like a clydesdale and a fair amount has been coming out the other end, as he is staying in for a couple of weeks, while in quarantine and getting used to us, it means a lot of mucking out. It turns out he is coloured and has a white patch on his neck and a brown and white mane, little hooves when they are the size they should be and perhaps he has a bit of welshie in him. I think he will be quite a character when he settles, and for a pony who hasn't been handled, he has been very good and lets me groom his whole body, we also do some exercises on his legs and he tolerates it all very well, although he is very nervous.

We got Pepsi, Samson, Smudge and Spice their vaccinations and while they were in the 3 cats and Tabatha got blood samples taken for their thyroid levels. I was horrified to find that they were all high again. We checked with the company who does the test and they re-ran it, again high. Mike has been giving them the tablets, while my hand recovers, but I know he hasn't missed many days, maybe the odd one, but it seems strange because we have lots of people take cats into the vets and the only get the tablets ever other day, and none of them are that high! I don't know what to think, I have started to give them tablets again, so we will get them blood tested in a couple of weeks and see what happens. Its very frustrating.

Pumpkin got his stitches out and is now also getting exercises and a wee walk around the room at feeding times. He is doing well and Scott is pleased with the op, the only concern is, he said the stitches will dissolve after a month or so and sometimes the kneecap can slip back. We just have to hope he is fine.

Mike has been doing all the mucking out for the past 2 weeks, while my hand had stitches. They came out on Thursday, so I can start to get on with things again, I just need to be careful, because the wound is still very tender and you only remember it when you hurt it.

I spoke too soon last time as we lost Rhea the quail, she was one of the first ones and came with Grouse. We have decided to wait before we get any more until we get some outside runs for them, then we will get a couple of more girls for Charlie and some more to join Grouse and Turtle dove, its so sad because they are lovely little birds, but they don't live long at all.

Sunday-27/09/08

Good news first, we haven't lost any animals since I last wrote, it feels like a long time since I last had something like that to write, and i do worry I might be tempting fate.

Tabatha has finally settled in and is now coming up for cuddles, even though we are ramming tablets down her throat daily. Pumpkin is doing well and seems happy enough in his cage, bored but not frantic, he is back in next week for the stitches out and an assessment.

The new ducks are outside now and we are getting less eggs for some reason- I think that reason might be called CROWS! saying that, we are still managing to have plenty of eggs for breakfast. The chickens are moulting so they are not producing much at all.

We have a new member of the family, called Pippin, he is a pony in quite poor condition. He has had laminitis at some time and his feet are now very overgrown, in fact his back feet are like turkish slippers and he is very thin. We got him today, but i know once we get his feet sorted and a bit of weight on him he will be very handsome. It just depends on his feet and if they will recover.

I got an op on my left hand on Friday to fix the carpal tunnel in it, it will be great once it has fully healed, and at least it has been done before the horses start coming in and all the mucking out needs to be done. Mike has taken next week off, so my hand can heal without being in animal dung. It is just as well because Pippin will be kept in, on quarantine for the next fortnight and he will need to be held for the vet tomorrow and the blacksmith on Wednesday and daily mucking out.

We will have to close our doors for a wee while after this, as we don't have the time, space or money to cope with anymore animals. It will be difficult but we need to ensure the animals already here are safe and secure. This month alone we have 3 cats, one dog and pippin to vaccinate, 4 cats to be blood sampled for thyroid levels, we would like to get Kizzy spayed this month, never mind what Pippin may cost. Our feeds have gone up by nearly 40% and we haven't had time this year to even build rabbit runs, something that desperately needs doing to make their lives better. My hand problems have held us back a lot this year and we are now looking after 100 animals, I don't want any of them to suffer so, hard as it may be we have to stop.

Smokey is still with us, he is amazing, and has been on a 3 weeks course of baytril which finishes tonight. he seems much better. Kizzy and Runt have been introduced and we think they will make a happy couple. So we want to get her spayed, a bit tricky at her age, but if it catches any cancer or stops her developing it I think it is worth it and she coped with the dental very well.

Now a warning to rabbit owners in the area.

There has been a myxomatosis outbreak in the area. If your rabbit has not been vaccinated, please do so. In a high risk area it should be done 6 monthly. Vaccinated rabbits can still catch myxomatosis, but they usually survive and the risk of catching it is lowered. An unvaccinated rabbit will DIE!

Your vet should inject 10% of the vaccine intradermally, and the rest subcutaneously. Some vets withdraw when injecting into the scruff and put the last wee bit into the skin, others will inject a small amount into the ear. This is important and it increases the effectiveness of the vaccine.

I'm going to stop writing now, as Tabatha has started to dance across the keyboard again, she is a little cutie.

I will , hopefully have some more news on Pippin next time I write, I just know there is a lovley pony in there.

Thursday-11/9/08

Firstly, Tabatha has arrived and what a lovely little cat she is. She's a brown tabby, purrs all the time and very affectionate. So its easy to say we're very glad we took her. She is still very thin, but her thyroid levels were over 300 when tested, they should be between 10 and 55. Anyway she has settled very well and seems happy enough.

Pumpkin got an op yesterday to fix his dislocated kneecap, Scott didn't end up doing the op he planned as Pumpkin's ligament was so stretched it wouldn't have worked, so he deeepened the groove for his kneecap to sit in. Scott is pleased with how it went and we have to hope it will hold. He is on cage rest for 6 weeks, but has settled well today, he was a bit upset yesterday though.

Sadly we lost Blossom, our scots dumpy hen, we think she was about 7, so it was probably a good age. Still we will miss her as she was such a cutie.

We went to the rare breed sale last Saturday, and ended up buying 6 ducks. 5 were ex-laying commercial duck and we bought a saxony drake who was on his own. They are in quarantine in Cirrus's stable at the moment, and we are busy setting up a pen with some electric poultry netting on an area we want cleared. In the 5 days we've had them we've had 21 eggs!

Smokey gave us a fright again on Monday, and we thought we might lose him, spoke to Nicola and we've put him on baytril again, but for a bit longer. Thankfully he is much better, but I worry it is his system starting to fail, he is very thin, but eating like a horse.

Kizzy's eye is a bit sore so I'm giving her some fucithalmic to see if it helps, if not its back to the vets. Her behaviour is improving, and you can put your hand in the hutch now and stroke her head. There is still a 50/50 chance she will try to bite you when you pick her up though.

Our van, Widget, has seriously failed his MOT, so badly infact we have to scrap him, he is being taken away tomorrow. We are now left with the Hector, and are debating going down to 1 car, and trying to think about the number of journeys we do. We can afford to buy another car just now anyway.

We have both been ill with gastro-enteritis for the past couple of weeks, so it has been a difficult time, but we feel enthused again and want to get on. We had a wee phase of feeling tired and fed up, but are better now.

We have bought this years stock of wood, so we will be having weekend trips to the forestry to collect our logs for cutting, even using our diesel, it will be cheaper than any other form of heating this year.

Must go and feed cats and give medications- so many tablets to force down so many throats.

Finally, we may have a new addition the next time I write, not sure if it is happening yet, but it will involve a lot of work and commitment, and the building of a new stable. Will update you as soon as I know the full details.

Friday-29/08/08

I can't believe a whole month has gone by and I haven't written, but to be honest we were truely disheartened after losing Triger. We have since had 7 of the cats tested for FIV and they have come back negative, thankfully. Pumpkin is still to be done, but he will be in to the vets on the 10/9 for his knee op and we will get him tested then. Most of the cats were very good, even Mustard, but Candy was a nightmare. She scratched and bit me, at which point we decided to sedated her. At the same time we took samples for her thyroid and general bloods, because for such a feisty beast she is little and thin. Thankfully everything came back normal.

We also lost a couple of chicken this month, Grizabella suffered another prolase and although we washed her and gave antibiotics, she developed flystrike and at that point we decided to call it a day. Even if we could have saved her, it was only going to happen again. We also had Sprocket, our disabled chicken PTS as she was starting to find walking difficult and was beginning to get a pressure sore.

Jess's abscess appears to have returned, but we caught it early and she is back on her antibiotic injections and is doing well. She was a bit unhappy for a few days but perked up quickly, so we're hopeful she will recover.

Smokey isn't looking very well, and he seems to have a secondary respiratoty infection, so he is on baytril injections, his breathing is much better now, but he has lost weight again.

Kizzy went in to have her tear duct flushed and her teeth checked, a few spurs were removed, but her teeth are pretty worn down, and the duct could not be opened, Nicola thinks it is because it has been left untreated for so long, poor wee thing.

Gigi had a sore ear, and we think it was mites, Kevin, the vet, looked at it and we decided to clean them out and give her a dectomax injection. I have to admit, I wasn't looking forward to doing that, however with just cleaning her ears she seems fine again, so I will leave of the needle for the moment.

Mike has been away a lot this month so things have slowed to pretty much a stop as far as anything but the routine, I did however cut down all the plant growth inside and outside the chicken runs, I was covered in nettle stings and got a tick on my back-EEEEEEW. We can now see the birds and the electric fence is working again, now the undergrowth has been removed.

Finally, we have another cat coming, a but of a dilemma this one. She is a 14 year old, hyperthyroid, FIV+ cat. We have decide she can live in the study, Mike is always in here working and I'm always popping in and out to find books, check e-mails etc, so she will still get plenty of attention. We will obviously keep her seperate from the rest of the cats, and if she seems unhappy we will look for a more suitable home. At the moment her only other option seems to be PTS, and she is a fairly healthy gir at the moment, so to me it just doesn't seem right.

Sunday- 20/7/08

This has been a heartbreaking week for us, we had to get Triger, our 3 legged cat PTS. He was not quite 5 and was a wee character. It has been a long time since we've been so gutted by something. It was, perhaps, because he was so young and it all happened so quickly.

Last Wednesday, i knew he wasn't quite right, so we took him into the vet on Thursday. While there I noticed his back leg was swollen, so he was given an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory, for either a cat bite or a pulled muscle. Although he brightened up over the weekend, the swelling did not go down and by Monday his front right leg had started to swell, he was taken in and given a load of tests. Strangely, I realised quite recently that he hadn't been tested for Felv/FIV and said I wanted him tested for that too. It came back positive for FIV. Fiv is like HIV in humans and is passed on by cat bites (no other animal can catch it, only other cats) and it appears Triger must have had it before he came he as we've never seen a cat bite on him. FIV can sit dormant for years and many cats live a full life as long as any infections are treated quickly. Triger on the other hand had started to show immunosupression and his blood was leaking fluid into his body, this may have been caused by another virus called FIP, which attacked him because he was weakened. Either was there was no treatment so he was PTS on the next Wednesday, he didn't suffer and went peacefully, but will be missed. We will now have to get all the other cats tested, as it would be unfair to let an infected cat out for 2 reasons, 1 being so it can't infect any other and the other being, it may itself pick up infections from outside.

We did add a new member to our family this week, Kizzy, an 8 year old bunny. She has spent her whole life in a hutch and her hutch was filthy, her nail were about an inch and a half long, she has a sore eye, maybe due to blocked tear ducts and she is very thin, she had no food or hay in her hutch. She has never seen a vet or been vaccinated. She is very aggressive, but that's no surprise but we will work away with her and she will settle.

Sunday- 6/7/08

Its been a week of ups and downs.

On Wednesday we finally got the sheep sheared, and my biggest fear was confirmed, Doris had flystrike. This is not as bad as in rabbits and is very difficult to see under a full fleece, ours were sheared very late which was why I was so worried. However it is only a slight infestation, so she is fine, and otherwise I am very pleased about the general condition of the sheep, the young ones aren't too fat and the old ones aren't too thin. We have been able to give away all the fleeces, so they aren't wasted.

On Thursday we lost Amber, one of Rusty's girls (chicken), she wasn't very old and had shown no sign of ill health, she was pecking around at teatime and was dead at bedtime.

Friday got no better as we lost Motley, one of our little guinea pig girls, she had survived longer than we expected, but it was still a shock. When she came to us she had a head tilt, which she never quite lost and had strange bone conformation in her hips. Last year she had an ovariohysterectomy because of ovarian cysts and we didn't think she would live. Laterly she has been on metacam for her hips but it was still a shock to find her dead in the run, she was 5.

Both will be sorely missed as they were part of our day and life.

Now things get a bit better, the pigs are finally out, and after all the stressing over them and how the horses would react, it was totally uneventful. They hit the electric fence about twice each and then kept away from it. They had a run around and started ploughing. They are so happy, we keep going out just to look at them. Raymond gave Mike a grinder which helped him build a new pig arc for them, so thanks Ray! Again, Sharon and Mike came round to help with the moving of them, many hands make light work!

Today Sharon bited Pixie and she was quite good, but she seems to be a sensible little girl, we now have to work on this and get her long reining.

I got the stitches out of my palm on Monday but had to wait until Thursday to get the stitches out of my wrist. They were very tight by this time and it is quite tender still, hand writing is very uncomfortable, as is the twisting action of taking off bottle tops. I will not ride gain this week, but next week I think I can give it a go.

We had lettuce, potaotes and rocket from our garden for tea tonight, and after spending today cleaning out Alice the rayburn it tasted really good. It was quite cold because Alice was off,so I put on the open fire, and Deli went frantic. She hid in the kitchen whining, I don't know why she's scared, but its something I'll have to work with. Luckily, Mike has just bought a sawhorse and a log splitter, because we will need to have a fire going every night until she gets used to it.

Sunday- 29/6/08

my typeing may be even worse than normal tonight, as i have had an op for carpal tunnel syndrome, so my right hand is not fully working.

the last time i wrote, i mentioned another dog, her name is deli, a dalmation, and she had been taken into the vets to be pts, as the owner's grandson was allergic to her, and they could find nobody to take her. she had a large wart on the inside of her eye, but apart from that seems to be in good health for a 12 year old dog. the wart was removed a couple of weeks ago and she looks so much prettier with it gone. she is now on metacam as she was a bit stiff and will be taken in for her vaccinations to be started next month, we also think she may be deaf. she has settled in amazingly well with the rest of the dogs, they seem to give her a bit of respect as she is an older dog.

xena, the stray bunny, has now been spayed and is out of quarantine. our thoughts are we will bond her, sorrell and runt; a rather brave decision as they are all active, strong willed characters.

jessica seemed to go into a major moult after being spayed, and ended up with slightly sore hocks, but we put aloe vera gel on a couple of times a day and she has healed up nicely.

9 of the rabbits got their myxi vaccines, yes another 6 months have gone. i think i am going to try and get them all done at the same time, that would now be 12 at a time!

we had goldie, the quail, pts a couple of weeks ago, she had got very thin and it was for the best, the vet agreed that it was probably a cancer. on friday we had to get blackcap, another quail, pts, she had gone off her legs, we nursed her for a week, giving her painkiller and antibiotics as well as feeding her and cleaning her, but she was getting no better. so we are down to 4 quail, we need to get a couple of friends for charlie, as he keeps giving out a sad cry and is obviously lonely.

sooty, mustard and pumpkin all had their boosters this month and sooty has finally started going out. he is very keen to go out in the morning, but comes in about dinnertime. we were so worried the first couple of time, and still are a bit anxious, when he goes, but so far he's always come home again. samson is due a blood test next week, but we feel he has done really well on this new medication and are hopeful we don't need to get him operated on.

we have decided we will not break cirrus in for riding, she now has a "splint" on her foreleg, this is basically a chipped bit of bone, but we don't think it is worth risking anymore damage. we had got her a saddle, so are going to sell it and use the money to buy rubber matting for her stable, to give her legs as much protection as possible.

the other horses are being worked by my friend ,sharon, as i can't do anything too heavy with my hand. i was very pleased because she thinks pixie is coming on really well and we are going to get her used to wearing a bit this week. sharon has done lots of horse work, so she's done this all before.

bournville and pixie got their vaccinations this month as well, we got pixie microchipped at the same time, that means all the horses are done so if they ever go missing, at least we can prove they are ours.

finally we are waiting for the sheep to be clipped, ian, who does it has hurt his leg and has also been off to the highland show. we are hoping he can come and do them soon because they sorely need it and i and getting very stresssed out about it, they look so funny when they have been done, they seem to loose half their body weight.

Tuesday- 3/6/08

Well Cirrus ended up having a abscess in her hoof, which was a relief, because it is easily treated with antibiotics and soaking the foot in warm water. I was very worried that she was going to have long term problems with her legs, but she is fine now. She was very good, because we kept her inside on her own for a day and had her foot held in warm salty water twice a day for a week, and I had to do it myself because Mike was away.

Misty, our old cat, ended up having a dental done, thankfully her bloods were really good for a cat her age. She was going to be dripped before during and after the op, but the vets couldn't get near her to drip her until she was sedated as she got very angry! She's fine though and after a night to recover was as bright as a button. Spice, Smudge and Samson, were all blood tested again for their thyroxine levels, Spice and Smudge were stable, but Samson is now overactive! He just won't stabilise, and is now on a new medication which is given once a day to see if that helps, otherwise it may mean an op. Sooty has had a touch of cystitis, and it doesn't seem to be clearing, so he will be back into the vet this week to see if we can sort it out, I need to try and get a urine sample, but that isn't easy.

Sorrell has recovered from her spey, and is back outside, she will be, hopefully bonded with Runt, but we may wait because we might try for another trio. Yes, there is a new rabbit at Farthing Croft, she was found in a playpark in Inverurie and the people who found her called the vets, to see if they could help. We took her home, well I took her home as Mike was away, another surprise for him! She is so like Bertha I gasped, however she's not the cuddly bunny Bertha was, she is very aggressive, so I suspect she has been dumped. If she hasn't been claimed by tomorrow, 7 days, she will stay with us and she is booked in to be spayed on Friday, we've called her Xena. It is very complicated, she was near wild rabbits so she could be pregnant, she could have myxi. She is in quarantine at the moment so I think we will spay her and hope she doesn't have myxi, she behaviour is very hormonal so it think neutering her is the best for her and us. After she has recovered and spent 2 weeks in quarantine we may try to bond her, Sorrell and Runt. Luckily we are on holiday for 2 weeks starting the 16th.

While Charlie was out to see Cirrus we got him to look at Jack and Violet. He doesn't think we can do much for Violet, other than continue trimming her feet and letting the bad horn grow out. Jack has a touch of contact dematitis so has had an antibiotic course and we will treat him for mites. Last Sunday we had to get Gemma out to see Walnut, she wouldn't get up and when we finally got her to rise she was very sore. We had put the goats into the paddock the pigs are going into, to let them eat down the long grass. I guess Walnut gorged herself and then spent the hole night lying down with a sore tummy, she then stiffened up. She may be older than we first thought, anyway Gemma gave her a metacam injection and we gave her pro-rumen and she is back to normal.

Goldie, our quail, seemed to get better but is poorly again, I wonder if the metacam is helping mask a tumour, or something. You can't very well operate on a wee bird, so as long as she is comfortable and eating we will look after her, once she stops eating we will get her put to sleep. Poor Charlie, her mate, is missing her, we've seperated her because he keeps trying to mate with her. We are now on the look out for a couple of girls to keep him company.

Hector, our landrover, came home yesterday-HE PASSED HIS MOT, YEAH. It cost us £2000 to get him through, but hopefully that is a lot of structural work we won't need to get done for a good few years. We will also not be drinking or eating much for the next few years while we recover from the bill!!!!!! The rubbish has just piled up everywhere because we couldn't get it to the skip- lots of waste from the rabbits and birds- so it will be fine to get everythin cleared up and tidy.

THe garden is coming on well, we have neeps in for the sheep, and a whole host of veggies for us. I just means there is a lot of weeding to do.

Fizzywig the hedgehog is outside now, he is in a run, but this weekend we will let him go, we will open the door to the run and hopefully he will come back and use it as his nest.

Finally, we are off to the vets after work tonight to pick up another dog, who is booked to be PTS, no health problems so she's coming here. Will update you all later.

Friday-9/5/08

Yet another busy week, or so! The weather has been pretty good and most of the animals have been enjoying the warm sunny days, especially the goats. They have been out every day and Violet has now joined the herd, she is still a little on the outskirts, but nobody is bullying her. Her foot is sore again so I'm thinking we might have to get her on antibiotics, she how she goes over the weekend.

We have also bonded Snowy, Jess and Jessica over this week, they are in a large indoor run and seem to be settling in happily. Usually there can be a lot of running around and hair pulling and mounting, but it was a very quiet meeting. Snowy totally loves Jess, it goes to show he is not a shallow bunny- Jessica is a plumpshish, lovely bun, whereas Jess has one eye and no front teeth, she must have a good personality! When I give them their food in the morning they run up to the front of the run together and share the same bowl without any bickering. Smokey has been struggling in this heat though, Mike bought another 2 airconditioning units so we have one for each room, that was another £140, but it is helping cool the rooms down. Smokey goes into an indoor run in the morning and out into a big hutch during the warmest part of the day, he seems to quite enjoy the change of scenery, and Milly is just happy being with him. Sorrell was spayed today, 3 down 3 more to go, I was quite worried about her as she is so nervous, but she recovered from the sedation very quickly and has eaten a few dandilion leaves, the most important thing after any rabbit op is to get it eating again or the guts shut down and they can die.

The horses are now out at night, which lightens the load tremendously, they still expect to come in for tea though! Les, the farrier, trimmed Cirrus and Pixie's feet on Wednesday, Cirrus was doing a bit of hopping around, so ended up aggravating her arthritis. She was on anti-inflammatories for a few days and is now fine. I'm hoping to get all the tack cleaned this weekend and then get on Bournville and Bumble.

Grizabella's bottom is causing us some worries again, I think it has torn with laying eggs, so we've seperated her until it has healed up, we don't want the other birds to peck her again. We spent last Sunday wormimg/de-lousing, wing clipping and nail trimming the birds. We will do it again this weekend, again next weekend and must leave them for another 2 weeks before we can use the eggs, but at least the birds will be comfy and parasite free!

2 of the quail are a bit poorly, Blackcap, jumped out of the cage and hurt her leg, we took her in to see Scott and he gave her some metacam, she seemed to improve but has now completely gone off her legs, I have been giving her metacam and baytril (antibiotic) and she seems a lot better today. Goldie then became ill, so I took her in to see Scott and he thought she had a respiratory infection, so she's on baytril as well, Andrew was saying that the infection can linger in the bird's air sacs, so I must give her antibiotics for about 2 weeks after she seems better. So thats another fortnight of treatment and hopefully she will be fine. She's eating now and so much brighter, so we are hopeful she will recover, she's an older bird so it a bit more worrying when she gets ill. Her mate, Charlie has been a bit quiet today though, he usually attacks your hands when you feed him, so I think I will start him on baytril tomorrow, just in case its an infection he's now caught.

I've booked Misty in on Monday for a check over and a blood sample, she's a 19 year old cat and doesn't seem to be eating as well as she was. Now it maybe the heat but at 19, I'm taking no chances. If I get a blood sample it will rule out liver, kidneys etc, and we lets us know if she is fit enough for an op if needed, if it turns out to be her teeth,she may need an op. The rest of the cats are fine, we did try to encourage Sooty to go outside but he's not keen on the idea, he sat on the window sill for a minute and then ran back to bed. Never mind we will persevere and hopefully he will be outside but July!!!

Finally, Ollie, the drake, is feeling frisky again, whenever we go into the run at the moment he goes for your feet. Its a nightmare, because you have to be very careful you don't stand on him or kick him as he has no fear. Its funny and the only time he will let you pick him up, he is such a lovely bird, and a real character.

Sunday-27/4/08

What a glorious week it has been, lovely and bright. The first swallows arrived here on Thursday, and are already checking out the barns for nesting in, suddenly there are dandelions in flower and the grass has started to grow, much to the animals' delight.

Jessica is back outside in the kennels, we'll give her another weeks to recover and then start the bonding process with Snowy, Jess and her. I gave the kennels a good clean out this week and we have made the four tiered hutches into 2 doubles for the pairs, that gives them a lot more room when they are in. We also bought a fly zapper and an air conditioning unit to put in the kennels now the temperatures are rising. We have started work on the runs, but it will be a wee while before everyone can go out at once. I was quite worried about Smokey and the heat, but I've set a hutch up outside where he can go during the hottest part of the day.

The chickens are really starting to lay now and I think we'll have to start giving eggs away soon. Ollie, our drake, has started to chase our wellies again, he does this in the spring, I'm not sure if he is being amorous or aggressive, but when we pick him up he dosen't seem upset.

Hector, the landie, has gone off to get some work down and then go through his MOT, hopefully he will pass. The guy fixing him thinks Hector has been abroad and has had some very unusual modifications done to him in the past.

Jim was up and planted our tatties today, we have 5 varieties- Arran Pilot, Pink Fir Apple, Yukon Gold , Majestic and Rooster. The neeps will be going in at the end of the month and I've bought some more raspberries and strawberries to plant.

The goats have had agreat week, they have been out most of the day and the horses have been rugless, in fact they didn't even have rugs on in the stables last night, it was so warm.

And finally, yet again Alan came to our rescue, by taking home 6 bales of hay for us while Hector is away being fixed.

Well, I can't believe its 3 weeks since I last wrote, and sadly we've had a few losses.

Firstly, we lost little Apache, the quail, we just found her dead in her cage one morning. Its was so sad,as she had come through so much and was such a sweet little bird. We thought we were also going to lose Blackcap, as I found her staggering around the run one day. I took her into the vet, by which time she was fine and had laid an egg! She did the same thing a few days later, but was looking really ill, couldn't lift up her head, thankfully Andrew had given me a steroid injection and she was fine after that. Steroids are often used to reduce swelling, so she maybe had a wee prolape and that has fixed it for now. I am a little bit concerned this will be a regular problem, which may mean the end of her, we will just have to keep an eye on her.

We also lost beautiful, big Bertha, our longest resident rabbit. She had just recovered from an abscess in her jaw, and although she wasn't quite herself, I put it down to after affects from the abscess. However, when we rushed into the vet, it turned out she had uterine cancer. Charlie scanned her and saw the tumour, so she was x-rayed and it showed that she also had tumours in her lungs. We had to put her to sleep there and then. I hadn't realised it was so common in female rabbits, apparently 80% of unneutred female rabbits, over the age of 5, get it. This leaves poor Snowy single for the time being, but we hope to bond him with Jess and Jessica. Jess is the only unspayed rabbit we have, all the boys are done, however we will get all our girls done now. Jessica was done last Monday, it was a big op for her as she is nearly 5, and she took a couple of days to recover. I had to inject her with anibiotics and painkiller for 2 days, and a gut stimulant every 8 hours over a 48 hour period, she wasn't too pleased at being woken at 3 in the morning so I could stick a needle in her! Charlie said she was a bit fat, which made the op a lot more difficult and dangerous, so Treacle is going to have to be cut right back and get pretty much only hay, as she is very chubby.

I got up to put out the horse last weekend and Bournville was a bit slow coming out of his stable, when I actually looked, he couldn't put any weight on his back ,left leg. I caslled the vet out and Gemma came. She gave him a good check over, we couldn't understand how he had hurt himself in the stable, as he had walked in OK the previous night. The only thing it could be was an abscess in his hoof or a pulled tendon. Gemma injected him with an antibiotic and a painkiller, and we kept him in. I knew he was really sore as he didn't fuss too much, while the girls were out. Gemma came back the next day and injected him again, we kept him in for the next couple of days and gave him painkiller and thankfully he went back out on the Tuesday. We can only think he has been pratting around in the field and slipped in the mud, and then stiffened up in the stable overnight.

The ground is so wet here,and we had snow last week, this week has been glorious and I have managed to catch up inside, Mike was away and the house always suffers.

We have been trying to encourage Sooty, the cat, to go out, but he's not keen on the idea. Every morning I open the window, and out go Samson, triger and Mustard, I then pick up Sooty and set him on the windowsill, he sits on the ledge for a minute and then runs back in. He did walk along the outside of the ledge today, so we are getting closer.

Samson, Spice and Smudge were all in for their bllod tests to see how their thyroid levels were. Spice and Smudge are fine, yet again Samson is too low, we just can't get him stabilised, he's back in another month, after having dropped his levels again. He's fine within himself, just a bit sleepier than normal.

Tuesday - 25/3/08

I've spent the Easter weekend in bed, what a pain! Went to the doctor on Friday, after waiting for 10 days for my appointment and it turns out I have a chest infection. I'm really fed up as we'd both taken the Friday and Monday off to try and catch up on things. Mind you at least the weather has been horrible, we've had snow and wind all weekend so the poor goats have been stuck inside and the horses have been wrapped up in their rugs again.

On Thursday I went out to feed the birds and found Jemima, our lavender auracauna, just not right and panting, so took her into the vet and she had a chest infection too, so she's on antibiotics as well. It has certainly been a winter of injections, but we usually find that we lose the old and poorly over the winter period, no matter how hard you try.

Amazingly all the rabbits are fine, I'm almost scared to tempt fate but its such a relief to see them all eating and happy, mind you every morning is a worry and I'm almost scared to look at Smokey.

Our wee quail, who was scalped by Goldie, is fine although I have a feeling she isn't quite right mentally. She is on her own now that Souix has died and we're scared to put her in with anybody else in case she is hurt, however she likes to get picked up and have a wee stroke and usually pops out of her cage to see you.

We got our first duck eggs this week, I haven't had one yet as I don't feel so good but Mike has eaten them with delight. I also pickled some quail eggs a few weeks ago, we haven't tried them yet as they need to sit for 2 weeks, if anybody thinks peeling hen eggs for a salad is a chore, try quail eggs they take forever and you need heaps to fill a small jar! They had better taste good.

We have had friendly cats lately, I caught Sooty and Spice sharing a bed a couple of time and I've also found Misty and Pumpkin in the same bed, it was quite cute, its like the old girls have found themselves toyboys. Still, nobody has been brave enough to curl up beside Candy yet!

I had been thinking is was coming about time to release the hedgehog- named Fizzywig- but this turn in the weather has decided me to hang on for a few more weeks, just in case we have a last snowfall. We will let him go in a run first and once he seems settled just leave the door open and he will hopefully stay around, especially if we put out some food for him.

Mike has discovered we have another little visitor, a small tortie cat, not sure if she is a neighbour's cat or if she is a stray, but she enjoys hunting in our hayshed. We will keep a eye on her and maybe ask around to see if she belongs to anybody, after I've recovered. Mike been a star, he's had to do all the mucking out and look after me (I'm a pathetic invalid as I feel so frustrated) so when I'm better I suppose I'll have to buy him a nice bottle of wine, once I'm better I'll help him drink it!!!!!

Well, I can't believe its March and I haven't written, there is just so much to do and we are both not feeling very well. However we have to get on with it, I phoned last Wednesday to get an appointment with the doctor, as I can't get rid of this cold, the first appointment I could get was the 21st! I hope I just need a course of antibiotics and its not a post viral exhaustion thing.

We had good news today, Jess has been given the all clear and can now stop her antibiotics, the vets are amazed as they were sure she wasn't going to make it. She back to hopping round the run and grooming herself and she's put on 600grams in 2 months- she's increased her body weight by 20%.

Bertha was in for her op and the infection was in her jaw and the vet, Gemma, couldn't remove it, so she was on antibiotics as well, but her abscess is gone and I'll take her in tomorrow to get a final check by Scott and hopefully the all clear. We were really woried about her but she seems fine, even though she took a wee while to get over the op.

Smokey is still with us, and we think also feeling better, he is on the inhaler and watching the one way valve on it, his breaths seem stronger. He still has bad days, but I think it is when he is being handled or excited, if left to settle he seems almost normal. He is still skinny, but having discussed it with the vets, they think, if he is eating, drinking, grooming (sitting up ) and having a wee hop around we shouldn't give up on him. We have taken him off his antibiotics also and will see how he fares, I suspect the biggest problem will be his low immunity and risk of other infections. I was cheered up this week though as I saw him eat hay for the first time in a while and he pushes my hand away to get into his grated carrot in the morning.

Grizelda has also pulled through, and is back out during the day, in a rabbit run for protection until she is fully healed, with the other birds. Her bottom, now looks like a bottom should, for the first week it was just like a swollen mush, not nice. I will take her in to see Andrew tomorrow and again hopefully get the all clear!

So, maybe you will forgive my not writing, but on top of all the usual work, we've had 3 rabbits to inject and specialist feeding and care to give, a bird's bottom to wash and give daily injections to, we also have 4 cats to give metacam to in the morning and 3 to give tablets to twice daily and a guinea pig to give metacam to daily! No wonder Mike walks about in a daze sometimes, his memory is rubbish at the best of times.

Now for those interested in cars (Raymond), Mike took Hector, the landie, for a pre MOT check and he appears to be a bit of a puzzle. The guy, who works on landies, was quite confused, apparently, Hector has a few extra features and his colour- not a landie colour- is his original colour. The guy took his chassis number and can't find it on the computer. It is a proper landie but it looks like it might be a specially comissioned model. He is going to try and find out more. How cool would it be if Hector had driven across a desert or something.

Anyway, he is going to give us a price to get him through the MOT, hope its not too much!

Back to animals- all the rest of the beasts are fine and the horses even got out rug free a couple of days last week. The goats go out and spend the first 10 mins cavorting in the field, so spring must be in the air, even though we've had light snow showers today.

Gigi and Scarlet are fine and getting on like best buddies, we had to put a belfast sink into them as they kept tipping over their water bucket. Gigi is much more agile than Scarlet and is always standing up on her back legs, looking over the pen door to see you, Scarlet is much less flexible and sits down so she can look up at you. They both love a tummy rub, almost as much a eating your boots, and I have to admit to pinging their ears to get them to stop as they don't realise you feet are inside the boot and it can be quite sore!!!!

Sorry I haven't written for a while, been a bit hectic. Mike was away last week, so I didn't have time until now. This week we both have a bug, so its a bit slow getting round the animals, we really just want to lie down and sleep. Not an option!

Well Smokey is now on his inhaler and is doing well, he is still thin but eating well and grooming regularly (a good sign as it means he is feeling stronger)

Jess is back outside in her hutch and enjoying time back in the run, the vets are amazed she is still here.

Unfortunately, Bertha now has an abscess under her chin, so she is in for an op tomorrow. We are very worried because she is an old girl and we've had her the longest, so she's a bit special.

We lost Souix, one of our young quail, I can only guess she had something wrong with her from birth. It was sad because she was so young.

For a few hours we had a 100 hundred animals, we had just welcomed Garcon, our bantam cockerel to the family, and just 6 hours later Souix died.

Garcon, was a cockerel looking for a new home as his owner had too many males, so we thought we could give our bantams and Sprocket a protector. Its so funny, the bantie girls, are like buxom, country wenches, fawning around the young squire. They never leave his side.

While feeding the chickens today, I noticed Grizelda wasn't her usual self, on closer inspection, she had a big bloody bottom! I took her to the vet and Andrew was very kind but said he didn't think she would survive, however he would give her a chance. He thinks she maybe had a wee scratch and the other birds have had a go at her. Unfortunately this is a thing chickens will do if they see blood on another, they just peck and peck and peck! She got a painkiller and antibiotic and we have to worm her and clean her bottom. She also needs antibiotics for the next 5 days, here's hoping.

AND FINALLY- We have a friend for Gigi, and she is called Scarlet. We got her from a farmer who grows pigs on for a butcher, they are well kept while he has them but then go for meat, so we feel a bit better about taking her, although we wanted to take them all. Scarlet is a tamworth cross gloucestershire old spot ( we think) and is a lovely chestnut colour with a couple of balck spots. What was really spooky, was when we went the farmer gave us a choice of 2- one much smaller and Scarlet who had been marked by the farmer with a red "S" sprayed on her back. It was meant to be! ( I mentioned the name Scarlet on my last entry)

Anyway, the farmer said, "just put them in together, there may be a bit of nipping but they will settle down", so we did. We didn't stop to think that Gigi didn't realise she was a pig, she was terrified and after a few nips we took her out. We seperated the pen into 2, so they could see each other and touch but Gigi could escape if she wanted to. Mike was away that week, and I couldn't spend too much time around them, which meant they had to rely on each other for company, last night we took away the partition, and they are fine. eating out of the same bowl, we don't know if they are sleeping together because whenever they hear somebody they are up looking to see who it is. Its a cold, windy night here so I think they will be snuggling up to keep warm. Scarlet was very nervous when she arrived but has tamed quickly, and Mike has had 2 pairs of jeans torn by them while working in the pen, they just love grabbing bits of material and tearing them, shoelaces aren't safe either. They are so much fun!

I thought we'd lost little Smokey this week, and we're not out of the woods yet. When I got home from work on Tuesday, after the morning shift I found Smokey really struggling for breath and a discharge coming from his eyes. I rushed him into the vet and Gemma saw him almost straight away. He was put into an oxygen tent and given antibiotics after a check over. What we think has happened is he has developed a secondary respiratory infection, which nearly killed him when combined with the initial breathing problem. He is now getting daily baytril injections (antibiotic) and "fibreplex" to protect his gut bacteria while on the antibiotics. I haven't been sleeping very well at the moment, as I have problems with my hands but it means I can think things through,uninterupted, and eureka, how about an inhaler!! I knew you got them for cats, why not use it on a rabbit, so today it arrived at the vet. We will start giving him a "squirt" twice a day tomorrow, here's hoping it works, still don't know if we will even get a seal over his nose but we'll give it a go. The more pressing concern is his weight loss, after looking at a few forums I found one that suggested porridge and bananas. The problem with porridge is it can continue to swell in the rabbit if not properly prepared so I'll hold off from that for the time being, but Smokey loves bananas.

Jess on the other hand is still doing well, I scared to say too much incase I tempt fate, but each day the swelling under her chin gets less and there is less heat in it.

Gigi is now going into her pen during the day, but will soon have to stay out all the time as she is getting too heavy to carry and too big for the dog cage. She is so cool, I just can't describe what it is about her but she is so playful and is she hasn't seen you for a while so happy to get attention and a scratch. We are now on the lookout for a piglet as a companion, there is no way we can keep her on her own.

So next week we could have another pig to name, what do you think of Scarlet?

Big step today, Gigi went into her new pen, only for a couple of hours, as it is too cold to just chuck her out fully. She is now sound asleep in her dog cage in the office, after a good feed of milk and brown bread, she will not eat pig pellets! I think she had a good time in the stables but was a bit lonely, she's used to having the cats for company.She's getting so big now, about the size of a big cocker spaniel and is very strong, she likes to play pushing games. The plan will be to put her out from about 12pm- 3pm, between my working hours, until the weather warms up anyway.

Jess is still going from strength to strength, although I am too scared to get my hopes up. There is still a hard, hot lump under her jaw, but she will be on antibiotics long term to try and kill off the infection. She is hopping around and eating well, so can only assume she feels well within herself.

Sprocket, our disabled chicken, has spent the last few weeks under the henhouse as she is being bullied, so we decided to take her in on Friday as it is so cold here (we've had snow and a bitter north wind) We will feed her up inside for a few days and move her and the bantams into the big rabbit run with a makeshift house. We have to move the bantams as Rusty is too big a cockerel for them and may injure them with his advances! He's not bothered at the moment, but spring isn't far away and then he will start to feel frisky. We feel Sprocket will be too big for the banties to bully and they are quick enough to get away from her. It also means we can take on a bantam cock, and save one from the pot, maybe.

Violet, the goat, has settled in well, although they haven't been out much this week as its been so cold, infact Jack and Pepper have had their rugs on most of the day.

Mustard was in to see Kevin (vet) on Wednesday as he had lost hair on his tummy and had overgroomed a bit on his leg, leaving a sore spot. As we looked at his tummy we noticed a round wet sore and were concerned it was ringworm. I had to bring him back the next day to check with a "woods lamp"- ringworm glows applegreen under this lamp- it did look like it had a greenish glow about it, so Scott took hair samples to send off. I really hope it isn't but it is quite possible as cows and hedgehogs commonly carry it.

Our hedgehog is doing very well and has doubled in size since he got here, but doesn't have ringworm, all his spines are present, my poor fingers can vouch for that!

Well its been a quiet week this week, Mike was away Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday which was a bit exhausting, but I got everything done. It didn't give me much time to get anything but the basics finished but at least I coped.

Jess is doing really well and is eating all her veg and her rabbit food, tonight I'm going to cut up some hay, into short lengths so its easier for her to chew. There is a big swelling under her jaw, but we will just keep giving her antibiotics and hopefully this will kill off the infection. She is still getting manuka honey, which is fine except everything becomes sticky, and with Jess being a lionhead it is even messier!

The chickens have stared laying eggs again and we had our first omlette, of this year, tonight. This weekend was like spring and I see the rabbits are feeling a bit frisky too.

Its so muddy the sheep are having problems with their feet, thankfully Elsie's back feet are fine, but Foula can hardly walk, Elsie's fronts are sore and I see Sally is a bit tender on the front, Mike is cleaning them at night and spraying them with alamycin spray. It usually takes a couple of days for them to clear up but they come right in the end. They are getting about 20 neeps a day for lunch and they now have a bale of hay in the field, I'm hoping the oldies don't loose too much weight over the winter but with hay quality being poor its going to be difficult.

Its been a quiet week at the vet as well, only Pepsi and Jess were in as far as I can remember, mind you it seems a long time ago now. Hope it continues for the rest of the month, but doubt it somehow!!!!

We took Jess back to the vet on Monday, as I wasn't happy with her, she was taken in on Tuesday for a sedation and examine, turns out she has an abscess under her tongue. The worst prognosis ever, impossible to clean out and keep open (rabbit puss is like cream cheese, so is very difficult to remove and keep clear). So we were left with very few options,if she wasn't eating by Thursday,it was a "put to sleep". After talking to Charlie, we decide to try her on a penicllium based antibiotic (not recommended for rabbits, but recently has been found to help with abscesses). So she gets an injection of BetamoxLA every 48 hrs, she also gets "Fibreplex" which has pre and probiotics to avoid tummy upsets. I have also been giving her a quarter teaspoon of "manuka" honey to fight the infection, I bought 15+, which means it has a high level of antibiotic effect. She is eating veg- spinach. carrot, parsley, grass and apple, not much but it is a start. I don't really think we will save her, but it is worth a try, and we have to give her a chance, I feel she hasn't given up, so why should we!

Pepsi was in to the vet next, she had a hole in her hip, we think she ran into wire, however she was determined to lick it, so she has a buster collar on and is on antibiotics for the next 5 days. She isn't impressed with the collar and it is now a very funny shape, with her walking into walls!

Gigi is still taking milk, although I have got her eating bananas, thanks to advice from Fiona Oakes at Towerhill Stables, she rescued a 1 day old piglet, so I think she may be my advisor for any Gigi problems. I'm very impressed she got back to me, as she has 300 animals to look after and many are old or poorly, and we know how much time it takes.

At the moment we have- 3 cats getting tablets twice a day, Smokey( rabbit) getting medication in the evening, Jess getting fibreplex twice a day, manuka honey once a day, an injection every 2 days and tempted with food every couple of hours, Gigi getting fed every 3-4 hours: and that is on top of the usual daily cleaning, feeding and general check over everyone gets.

Violet arrived today, she is like a hornless Primrose, not a young goat but seems like a nice girl, she was a bit stressed after her journey, so we will give her a couple of days to settle before we do any major introductions, she can see the other goats, so thats a start. I think she will settle in nicely.

Bournville was galloping around when we came back with Violet in the horse box, we think he was excited as he thought there was another horse coming. I though, if your that full of energy you need some work, so weather permitting, I will be on him next weekend, mind you I will be as stiff as a board afterwards!

Well, happy New Year everybody, hope you all have a good one. We're glad to see the back of last year after all the upset, we lost a few pets along the way and the carry on with the cars, almost finished us off financially!

We are looking forward to the year and are planning to get our new rabbit runs finally built, we have to re-organise the goat pens, sort out a pig pen, continue with updating the fencing and we are determined to get back on the horses, as we hardly rode last year.

Sadly, we lost T-rex, my favourite quail, she seemed very puffed up one day and was not keen to eat. I put a hot water bottle in with her and decided if she was no better the next day to get her to the vet, however she died overnight but I feel happy I put in the bottle as we found her sitting on it dead. At least she was warm, I think she was an older bird as she was a rescue bird. Still upsetting and so soon into the new year.

Jess (bunny) has also been unwell, she was drooling from her mouth and wasn't keen to eat, she got her front teeth removed a month or so ago. I got her into the vet and she is on a weeks course of antibiotics,she is eating grated carrot and finely sliced cabbage, it also looks like she was in her cereal food today. Poor girl has pus coming out of her lower jaw, but hopefully the antibiotic will sort it out.

Gigi (piglet) is asleep in a cat bed in the office at the moment, she is a wee tearaway!

She has both eyes, a huge scab came off and there was a bright little eye underneath, what a relief. She is drinking about 4 litres of milk now, but showing no interest in her pellets. She goes into her cage to do the toilet, when she's out and will try to use a litter tray if her cage is off being cleaned. She is now in a big dog cage, when we're out. We have to shut her in because although she knows the word "NO", chewing cables is just too much fun, we think she is teething. She is like a small labrador puppy and for anybody who doesn't believe they are intelligent, take our word for it they are. I am even more horrified at the conditions they keep these animals in, when I see how clever and gentle they are! Next week we will start to put her in the outbuilding, in a small pen during the day so she can have a she run around and then we will take her in at night as it has been really cold here.

Mike is going to be busy next week as he has a pen for Gigi to build and a pen for another goat- Violet- her friend died and she has been very depressed so we said we'd take her, she'll have plenty of company here, we already have 10!

So at the last count we have -29 chicken, 4 ducks, 8 quail, 12 rabbits, 4 guinea pigs, 10 sheep, 10 goats (11 next week), 4 horses, 6 dogs, 9 cats, 1 pig and a temporary visitor, the hedgehog.

you just never know what is around the corner do you, we keep saying no more and another animal turns up, what can you do.

By the way, thanks Teresa for leaving a message, we were on the verge of taking off the contact page, its nice to know you enjoyed reading about the animals, I do promose I will try to add more pictures and update the animal bit this year. New year resolutions, do I ever keep them, we'll see!

Its been a funny 2 weeks since last time I wrote, lots of worry and tears. Sadly we lost Fudge, our little mad professor. He was a lovely little lionhead lop rabbit, who came to us with his mother in a very poor state. He was about 8 weeks old and extremely thin, but grew up to be a cuddly, gentle fluff ball. We paired him off with Jessica and they were very happy together, snuggled up at night and running around the run during the day. I must admit though, I was always unsure about him and thought he wasn't as active as the others, but whenever he was checked at the vets, nothing seemed wrong. He was eating , doing the toilet, heart, lungs and tummy were all fine. Anyway, Mike found him over a week ago, dead in the hutch, he didn't realise to begin with as Fudge looked like he was asleep, and it was only when he didn't come out for breakfast that Mike looked closer and found him dead, he was only 2. We can only hope it was a heart condition, like Scotty, and he didn't feel a thing. i wonder how may sudden deaths occur in rabbits?

Smokey, who is the one I always expect to find dead is still with us, in fact we think he is a bit better on the new medication. We saw Charlie last week and he says Smokey's chest is still very noisy, but he has stopped losing weight, and is eating really well now.

Smudge and Spice were both in for dental ops last week as well, I worry whenever one of ours is in for an op, but its even worse when its oldies. At the same time they were both blood tested, Spice to check her thyroxine levels and Smudge for a full blood test, as she hasn't been well lately. I was very concerned, in case it was her kidneys, but it was, again, an overactive thyroid, that's now 3 cats on medication to bring down their thyroxine levels, it just goes to show how common it is in older cats. Anyway, good news about Spice and Samson (who was also tested), there are both stable, what a relief.

We've taken Elsie, the sheep, in for a couple of days, as the frost bothers her feet and she was quite sore. We are hoping to crack on with the sheep winter field and shed this week, so they can all come in at night. Its much easier to look after her feet when you don't have to chase around a field!

We got our own little Christmas miracle on Christmas eve, we have a piglet!

She was found running on the road and was picked up by somebody we know, she had just been avoided by 2 cars when he stopped to save her. There are no pig farms near where she was found, so we think she has fallen off a lorry. She seems sore on her back end and has a badly bashed eye, she may have lost it, its too swollen to tell yet. She has seen the vet and Andrew (vet) thinks she is about 2 weeks old, she's thin and was very cold- she must have been out at least one night in freezing conditions. We have taken her into the hall and are feeding her replacement milk, she has a radiator at one side and a radiator in front of her, she is in a dog crate and seems to feel secure in there. The first night she struggled to drink out of a bottle, but after warmth and good sleep and an antibiotic injection, she is drinking huge amounts out of a bowl. We've called her Gigi, and luckily we are already registered to keep pigs, as we always had a hope of getting one some day- typically we end up with a one eyed stray!

Finally, hope you all had a merry Christmas, and got as nice presents as we did!

Sorry I didn't write last week but its been a bit hectic! It was another week of workmen and dust on the 3rd. We also had 2 leaks in the loft, we only found out when water started to pour through the light fitting. We found them just at bedtime, so we were late going to bed- about 1 am, as we crawled about the loft space trying to fix them. It was worth it though, and after a few teething problems the house is cosy and we have hot water by the bath load.

We've even cooked a few fine teas on it.

Smokey, our wee grey bunny, is still unwell. We've tried all the usual options- antibiotics, wormer, steriods: he's been x-rayed and blood sampled and we still can't find what's wrong.

So we are trying another treatment, not usually used in rabbits but as he is losing lots of weight we must try something. He was 2.15 kg in may and he is now 1.7 kg, that's a lot for a small animal. Sadly, my gut feeling is we will lose him, but at least we gave it our best shot!

We have heard the "New Arc" in Ellon have had an outbreak of VHD, a very nasty disease of rabbits, for which there is no cure and most rabbits affected will die. It causes internal bleeding, but sometimes there are no symtoms at all except for a dead rabbit. We have not vaccinated, until now, as it hasn't really been heard of up here before. If you do have rabbits, we would recommend you vaccinate for VHD, but don't forget about myxomatosis, it is also a killer and much more widespread, it is also very prevelent at the moment.

Thankfully all the other animals seem to be doing well and our quail has survived the attack, she is still a mess but healing, amazingly quickly. We've finally named them all-

Colony 1- Grouse (the boy), Rhea, Blackcap and Turtle Dove.

Colony 2- Charlie(the boy), Goldie and T-rex

Colony 3- Apache (the one who was scalped) and Souix.

I've started to think of names for some of our new chickens as well, Mulberry, for one of the cockerels , Velvet, Sputnik, Freckles, Dots; there are a few whose names I can remember from their old home- Creme brulee and Sprocket. Sprocket is a bit disabled, she is very upright and her wings don't seem to work, but when I go in with the corn, she toddles up and eats it quite happily out of my hand.

Well, all hell broke loose last Monday, the work on the rayburn started! The radiators were ripped out on Tuesday and we haven't had central heating since, we didn't have hot water for 2 days until Mike rewired the immersion. Thankfully we have a coal fire and we bought some cheap oil heaters to keep the chill off the rest of the house, its still cold though. I am quite pleased with the dogs, we were quite worried about their behaviour, but they haven't been bad and the workmen have been very tolerant with them and the cats. We got a delivery of wood on Friday, 2 trailer loads, so that should last us until we get our own chopped and dried.

Levi's X-rays, ECG and blood tests came back clear so the diagnosis is he "faints" when being sick- its call vaso-vagus disorder and is quite common in people, but less common in dogs. There is no real treatment for it, so we just have to live with it.

A few of our rabbits haven't been well, and we think there is a wee bug going around them, a big problem when you have a lot of them. Fudge and Odd-eye haven't been right and Treacle had an upset tummy on Friday. They have all been given antibiotics and we will keep an eye on the rest.

We found one of our new quail in a bad way, she has been, nearly, scalped by the big golden girl we have. We've removed her and her sibling (for company and incase she is next) and she is being kept warm and given antibiotics to try and save her. Poor wee thing must be so sore but she is still eating and running around so we are hopeful. What a mess she is, and it came from nowhere.

Its really too cold to write much more and the house is in a mess (don't see the point of cleaning up for it to be a mess again tomorrow) so i'm off back to the fire to warm up again.

Lets hope, next week the central heating is running and we are toasty warm and I will be learning how to cook.

Sunday - 18/11/07

We've spent this week running to the vet with rabbits, mainly for vaccinations. We have an outbreak of myxomatosis in the wild rabbits around us and although ours are vaccinated, it is recommended to do it 6 monthly in high risk areas. Some of our rabbits were over 6 months and others are due their yearly needles this month, that means we have 10 rabbits due . We have 8 done, just Bertha and Snowy left on Monday.

Smokey (rabbit) was in for tests this week to try and find out why his breathing is so fast, he was X-rayed and had blood samples taken. His X-rays were clear but his bloods showed signs of either an allergic reaction (asthma) or a parasite, we are treating him with wormer and if that doesn't help, he will be injected with a steriod for the asthma. Thankfully, rabbit wormer has recently become available on the market, problem is I will have to treat them all eventually, some may be easier than others!!

We are also worming the horses this week, I just need to catch up on clearing the droppings, its just so difficult when it so muddy and the muck heap is so full, never mind, will get cracking next week.

Our new chickens are quite settled now, I had worried that the boys would spend all their time posturing in front of each other, but they don't bother- too grown up! 2 of the girls are laying, but thats it, the quail on the other hand are giving us 30 eggs a week. Mind you they are inside with a light on, which encourages laying and they are young. One of the older girls is really tame, we call her T-rex, because as soon as she hears the mealworm tub she is throwing herself off the cage bars, she will jump out and then back in again, onto your hand, where ever the mealworms go!

Got a real scare last night. Levi (dog) was sick, and he usually passes out when he is sick, have spoken to the vet but problem is having a vet around when he is sick to assess him. However last night he was really bad and when he came to he was growling and after that couldn't walk and was shaking badly. We called out the vet, although I felt bad about it as it was 10.30 pm. Bruce came out and of course by the time Bruce got here Levi was pretty much recovered ( we couldn't drive into the vet as we'd had a glass or 2 of wine!!). Bruce checked him over and found his heart beat was irregular and his pupils were quite unresponsive. He is now in on Tuesday for blood tests and an ECG reading, Bruce was very nice about having to come out and said it was good to have seen him so soon after the fit, it could be caused by a number of things including the heart or the liver. Once we find out what's wrong we can then treat it. We were upset for the rest of the evening and I hardly slept.

Have spent today preparing for the workmen arriving tomorrow, the time is finally here and our rayburn goes in. We called Calor gas and told them we were no longer using them, we got a letter back saying we have to pay them £120 to remove the gas tank- which we are renting from them for £14 a quarter, BUT they can't refund us for any gas still in the tank. Will be so glad to be a bit more independant from these big companies! Roll on next week!

Well, what a change to the weather, it seems winter is upon us! Just in time for us to be without central heating for a few weeks when the new system goes in.

We've spent our free time this week trying to tidy up the yard and stables a bit as they are just a mess at the moment. Hopefully, the local farmer will come and remove our muck heap, which has started crawl all over the yard. It will cost us a few bob, but we think its worth it, as we produce a lot of muck over the winter.

We spent Thursday, hiding from the winds, as did the animals, thankfully nothing was damaged and all the animals had shelter and food. We took the horses in at 6.30pm, much earlier than I like, but they we were standing at the gate, not eating, so we decided they were better off inside. Since then they have been in their heavy rugs and we've stared to feed Cirrus some haylage. She is quite lean and we are worried that she drops too much weight over the winter, the hay is generally so poor, it doesn't have a lot of goodness in it.

Jess is recovering well from her op, and is eating plenty, the only thing we have to do is clean her gums, as puss is still coming out of them, she is also getting antibiotics. Smokey's breathing is no better, so he is in on Tuesday for a X-ray, to see if we can find out what is going on. If its his heart, we're not sure what we can do, but Charlie (vet) has a few new ideas up his sleeve!

Scott (vet) saw Pumpkin again to assess how his knee is doing, the cruciate repair has gone very well, but the kneecap is still slipping a bit. We knew this might happen due to the complication of the cruciate damage. He is quite stable on that knee now, but is very lame on his left leg, so that is the next step, hopefully in December. Scott is going to do that kneecap, using another method, and hopfully Pumpkin will be a lot more comfortable after all this.

All our chickens have arrive, and we have them all in their new pens. We spent yesterday finishing off the fencing and shed, in the pouring rain, but it was quite satisfying albeit freezing. This morning, before breakfast, we sorted out the groups into their houses (sounds like something from Hogwarts!) and that will be them settled, hopefully, after a few days.

Our hedgehog is still doing well, will get him in next week to be weighed, but I think we will have him until the spring now.

I need to add an update on Misty, our 18 year old cat, after clipping her nails she has been much more active and is now coming up for a cuddle. Her claws weren't digging into her feet, but they must have been long enough to be uncomfortable, as she is much more mobile now. She is a lovely old girl and we are both becoming very fond of her, she's the office cat and keeps Pumpkin company, while he is recovering. Spice, our other old cat (16 Years) is a cutie too, it seems such a shame that these older animals don't get a second chance, they still have so much to give, and if we only have them for 6 months (like Chokki) at least we've had the joy of knowing them.

Well off to put the horses to bed as its going to be another cold night and I need to fill my hot water bottle!

Sunday - 4/11/07

We've got the horses feet done, at last, Les came out on Tuesday and trimmed them. It was all he could manage as he is still very sore and we do appreciate him coming. I feel much happier now their feet are tidy again. It has been a stressful time for them, and all the other animals, because of all the fireworks. Personally I would ban them, or at least private ones. We've had bonfires Friday and Saturday near us, a concern when you have a yard full of hay, and fireworks going off all round us for about a week, some right next door to us tonight.

We've had 2 bunnies in for treatment this week, Smokey is very wheezy and has been on antibiotics, but it just doesn't clear up. Our biggest concern is that it is his heart as there isn't much we can do for it. He is in again tomorrow to see if this last antibiotic has helped. If not we may have to risk a sedation and x-ray to see whats going on, it will be very high risk as his breathing is so bad, at the same time we will get his teeth done as he also has spurs on his back teeth. Every morning I wake up and my first thought is whether he is OK, it is very stressful, which is why I prefer to find out what is going on and then we can deal with it.

Jess was in to get her front teeth removed, Nicola (who did the op) said it was a nightmare, it took her an hour to pull the teeth out intact, she also trimmed some spurs off her back teeth as this can lead to abcesses. I was really worried about her as it must be difficult to eat when her mouth is so sore, however she has been tucking into grass and grated carrots, she has also been in her food, but I can't tell how much she has managed to eat.

I also trimmed to old cats nails, it stops the nails growing into the pads of the feet, they don't wear down as well when the cat is less active. We got up this morning to find Triger lame on his front, left foot, not good when he only has 3 legs to start with. We got him straight into Nicola (she must be sick at the sight of us ! ) and he got antibiotics and painkiller, poor wee thing, he can just manage to balance on 2 legs.

Our hedgehog is still eating well and I will get him weighed this week to see how he's doing, he is very smelly and noisy. Small hogs seems to be a problem with the weird seasons and late litters are being born. They are then not big enough to survive hibernation.

Alan was over on Thursday to help Mike with the fencing in the chicken run and he also helped collect and build the chicken houses on Saturday, he's a DUDE. Anyway, we took home 15 hens today, 2 escaped and we left one of the cockerels until we get things fully finished- we've got some fencing to finish and gates to build. We will keep the birds in for a couple of days, so they are totally settled in their new house, if we just let them out there is a good chance they won't go into bed at night. The youngest birds are 3 and the oldest ones are between 8 and 10, I think hens can live to about 15 so hopefully they are happy and healthy here for a good few years.

The goat rugs arrived, so in any spare time I get, I will lengthen the belly straps and that will be the goats sorted for winter. Pepper and Jack have been out with their rugs on already and they are both a bit arthritic and keeping warm helps them and although it has been warm lately, its pretty chilly tonight!

I even bought a hot water bottle today for the frosty nights- especially when the rayburn is going in- only 2 weeks to go!

Tuesday - 30/10/07

Well another busy week, had the horse dentist out to look at the horses teeth. I was horrified when I looked back and saw it was 2 years since they had been last done, in fact I doubt if Pixie and Bumble had ever been done. I was a bit stressed about them in case they were bad but they were very well behaved, in fact Brian, the dentist, used an electric file/drill on Pixie and Bumble. Really pleased they are done and they should all be yearly after this, except for Cirrus, who has a hook which he couldn't get to without sedation, so in 6 months I have to get him and the vet arranged to get it seen to. Boy, will I be uptight that day!

We didn't end up getting the chickens this week as we need to arrange some housing. Their henhouse didn't like being taken down and has decided not to go up again! There is a lovely mix of colours and I think Rusty will be getting a few new girlfriends. We have been busy splitting one run in half and now think we will do the same with the other, that will give us 4 runs- 8m x 5m, hopefully big enough for 8 chickens in each (at least for the winter). I spent Saturday going round the outside with a set of shears, cutting down the undergrowth, to give the electric fencing a good kick! I did try the strimmer, but mechanical things don't like me and it broke.

I have ordered some rugs for the goats from the Robinsons catalogue, they are actually dog rugs with the belly straps adapted, nicely lined and waterproofed. They are a bit worried when they first get a rug on, but once they realise they are warm, they stand and wait for you to strap them up. When they go out for the first time the sheep run away as they don't recognise them as their friends.

Thankfully we found our stray dog's owner on Wednesday, so a happy ending.

Pod, our visiting cat went home to his owner on Sunday night.

Finally, we have a little winter visitor, a small hedgehog. It is too small to hibernate so I have him until the spring, assuming there is nothing else wrong with him. Nicola, the vet, had a wee look, but we couldn't unfurl it, it has been eating so we are assuming it is from a late litter and just too young. I have some wormer for it and once it is a bit heavier we will de-flea it, it is in our spare bedroom just now as I don't want it near the rabbits until it is fully treated for parasites.

Tuesday - 23/10/07

Late again, but have a valid excuse, but will get to that later.

I had my mum and nephew, Gordon, out at the beginning of the week. Gordon worked really hard but when I asked if he would like to stay, he said it was OK for a break but too much work to do all the time! We lunged Pixie and afterwards, I got Gordon to lean over her and then take his legs off the ground. She wa a bit worried but not too upset, so I was quite happy.

We have been asked to take a friends chickens as they are being picked off, one by one by a fox. So next weekend we have 18 (at the last count ) arriving!

On Friday we ordered and paid for our Rayburn, so thats it, we are committed. Sadly we also lost one of or quail- Maddy- I think she was an older bird, but doesn't make us feel any better. I don't know how old she was but they only live to between 2-2.5 years.

Andrew was out again to look at Elsie's feet and also her sister, Doris. Elsie now has growths on both feet and Doris has an abcess, Andrew says its because they are older and we just have keep an eye on them. They have had antibiotics and Elsie got the growths removed again and was bandaged up for a few days. Both seem a lot better now and we will put them out tomorrow again.

We spent Saturday cleaning out the rabbits and goats because we had a busy day planned for Sunday.

What happened on Sunday, well we were off down to Perith to pick up our Landrover Defender, a G reg, a bit rusty but it goes, and it was all we could afford after the fiasco with our jeep! We caught the train down and drove the car back, Mike bought it on e-bay and told me when he got home on Thursday night, so as you can imagine I was more than a little bit worried about getting home! However, it chugged home without a hitch.Thanks to Sharon and Mike for pet sitting and thanks to Alan for taking us to the train station.

We were just settling down after Sharon and Mike left, when they appeared again with a lab they had found running on the A96, they decided to take it to me as I could scan it for a microchip at the vet's the next morning. No Chip and claims. It doesn't have a collar, but seems a lovely dog, we have imformed the police we have it, but they haven't got back to us either. It will be on NERC and Northsound tomorrow and a lovely lady who comes into the vet is making up a poster to put up in the village, how nice is that! I will contact the police again, and hopefully we will reunite it with its owner. I'm so proud of my dogs, yet again, they may jump up, bark and run riot, but a so good when another dog arrives. After initial introductions they are fine unless the visitor gets a bit pushy and they are promptly put back in their place, but they are very laid back when it comes to newcomers- they are BRILLIANT

Last night we were off to collect another chicken house, for our birds, and it came with 2 birds, so we now have 2 pekin hens, and they have fluffy feet!

Sunday - 14/10/07

What a lovely week it has been, better than summer. I have spent the time lunging Pixie, I can't do anyhting with the others as they still haven't seen the blacksmith. It turns out Les has also fractured his collar bone, as well as dislocating his shoulder, poor lad!

We have Brian, the horse dentist coming on Wednesday, so I will maybe then start to get Pixie used to a bit and bridle. We have one bought and it is really cute, being so tiny. I have had a saddle cloth on her back and walked her around, and she was quite happy with it, I now just have to get her used to a girth around her tummy.

Lots of boosters this week at the vet, Samson, Smudge, Spice and Pepsi. Samson and Spice also had their blood tests for thyroxine levels, again Samson's came back too high, it is starting to look like he might need surgery to sort him out. We are still waiting for Spice's results, she will also need a dental as her teeth are quite bad, it is a bit more of a risk with an old lady, but bad teeth can cause lots of problems too.

We had Jess, the bunny, in to get her teeth clipped again- its only a month since the last time- and Gemma (vet) said she had hooks on her back teeth, so she also needs a dental, at the same time we should just remove all her front teeth!

We had Elsie (sheep) in last week and it looks like she has a growth on her left back foot now (we had one on the right cut out recently), so I will get a vet out to do that next week. At the moment we have her sister, Doris, in as she has a split on her front foot, we think it must be an age thing as they are both about 10-11 years old. They are also thinner than they used to be, they were huge, mind you it is probably better that they don't carry too much weight at their age.

We have been injecting Smokey (rabbit) with antibiotics this week to see if it helps his breathing but not really sure if it has helped, he's eating and his coat is glossy and clean, so maybe we're worrying about nothing.

We got the quote for the rayburn, more than we expected, but we're going for it anyway, it just means we will have to get a really cheap 4x4, and save up for next year to get a better one. All we need to do now is wait for the mortgage money to go in, they didn't get a form from us, although we're sure we sent in, so we've sent it off again. We're so excited, we can't wait!

Sunday- 7/10/07

We've been getting ready for winter! The weather has been lovely but the nights are drawing in and it is fairly chilly in the mornings now.

We had the survey for the rayburn this week, so must now wait- on tenderhooks- to see what the quote is and if we can afford it. We will be so disappointed if it is too expensive!

We got a delivery of 16 bales of hay and 6 bales of straw, thanks again to Alan Denny and Overton garage, who allowed the use of their lorry, they also let Alan use the lorry to take home 3 static caravans, for storage, over the summer. Many thanks! Hopefully, that will last us a few months.

We also picked up another load of wood today, we need to start getting it home as we have to get it removed by Christmas. Which, much to our horror, isn't that far away.

At the end of this month I am going to be taking on the evening shift at the vet's as well, so I am really going to have to get organised. I will get home at 11.30 ish and will have to get ready for work again at about 3.30 ish. The main aim will be to get as much outside work done as possible in that time, mainly doing the horses, getting the horses' droppings lifted, dogs exercised, goats beds done, sheep beds done and bird houses done. The rabbits toilets can be done at night because there is enough lighting to see in the dark.

Les didn't appear this week, turns out he's dislocated his shoulder, will phone this week and see how he's doing. He was going to come on Friday, but cancelled as he was too sore, not surprised really! Just frantic to get the horses feet trimmed as they are quite overgrown and I don't want to work them while their feet are like that.

Snuffly animals this week as well as lame ones. Jack, the goat, has the snuffles and we got the vet out on Friday to check him. He got some injections and seemed brighter today, he was actually pulling on his lead when we put him out this morning, hasn't done that all week. While, Andrew was here we got him to look at Smokey, the rabbit, his temperature is fine but his breathing is fast and a bit laboured, again we got antibiotics to give him. The main worry with him is we have no idea of his history, he was left in a house with 9 guinea pigs and was only saved when the neighbours hear them squeaking. They would have starved to death otherwise. The guinea pigs were all rehomed, but we fostered Smokey and took to him so decided to keep him, he's such a nice little rabbit but we don't know how old he is.

We are going to try and catch Elsie, the sheep, tonight and take her in for a few days, she is very lame on her back leg, the growth isn't a problem, but we think she gets mud in the area and it rubs, causing a sore bit. When they are in their winter field, they come in everynight,so it is much easier to catch her, clean her foot and spray it with an antbiotic spray.

We put the horses in the winter field today, it has quite a bit of grass and we feel the horses have dropped a bit of weight this month so we want to get some back on them before the weather really turns. They are getting fed a hard food and coming in at night to 2 haynets each, but Cirrus so easliy drops weight we need to be careful of her, also she gets grumpy when she's hungry!!

Hopefully our mortgage money will be in next week and the quote for the rayburn should be through, so we will know how much we have to spend on a car, and then we will be looking for one. I'm hoping we get it before I start working in the evenings.

Tuesday - 2/10/07

Even later this week, mainly because we had a busy weekend, but will get back into updating on a Sunday.

Its been a week of lame animals, Cirrus, Samson and occasionally Bruno! Firstly Cirrus, she's been a bit stiff with the colder weather and when we were taking her in for the blacksmith on Thursday, the neighbour's dog started barking behind the fence and she got a fright. She must have twisted her hock as she came through the gate, luckily she was very good, as I could have been given quite a knock. By the time Les came to trim her feet she wouldn't lift up the opposite leg as she was too painful to put weight on her sore on. We've put her on horse metacam and Les is coming back to do the last foot.

Samson has hurt his front, left leg. He didn't come in at his normal time on Saturday and I found him burrowed into the straw. I carried him into the house and when put him down he couldn't put any weight on his leg. We took him to the vet and don't think it is broken but he may have done some ligament damage, not good when you're 13 years old. He is in the office (intensive care unit!) with Misty and Pumpkin.

Bruno seems to be slipping his kneecap ocasionally, it appears to go back in quickly and unless it causes real problems we don't think the vets will do anything, but he does seem a bit tender afterwards.

Pumpkin can now come out of the cage, but seems happier in it, especially as he now has Samson and Misty for company. If we take him out, he sits for a stroke and then heads back in, we have to be with him to make sure he doesn't try to jump, so he has to be shut in then. Another couple of weeks and he is back in for his second op.

We had the guinea pigs in today for a panomec injection as they have mites, they will get another injection in 2 weeks time to kill off any hatchlings.

Jack has got the snuffles, so that may be another vet visit, goats are very prone to pneumonia, so we have to be very careful.

We have to keep a diary of which animal is due to the vet when, and who gets what tablet.

At the moment, Samson and Spice get tablets for their thyroide, twice a day.

Samson is also on metacam for the next 5 days.

Pumpkin is in metacam long term and a joint suppliment daily.

Smudge is also on metacam.

Cirrus is on metacam this week. (maybe we should buy shares in the company)

Pepper, the goat, gets a homeopathic spray for her arthritis.

This month Pepsi, Spice ,Samson and Smudge are all due their vaccines.

We have put the quail into their 2 groups and they all seem happy, nobody gets picked on and they are all eating and drinking, so we're chuffed. The boys are being kept very busy! Now we just have to wait for the young ones to start laying. Our hens and ducks, have stopped laying. They are moulting at the moment, so look a pathetic bunch, we just hope the feathers grow in before it gets really cold. We had a frost this morning, and it is so much colder in the evening. The drive is on to get the sheep/ goat winter field finished by the end of this month. We are trying to stretch our grass out for as long a possible to cut back on hay usage. It is going to be a real comcern this year for many people, and our guess is there will be a lot of large animals looking for new homes over the winter, as people just can't afford them!

Monday - 24/9/07

Bit late with things this week, we were just on our way home from shopping, just now, when the exhaust broke on the van! Yet again we had to call Raymond to borrow his jeep (we were going to ask for it tomorrow anyway, as we need hay again!) Mike has to go into work tomorrow morning so needs a car to get there. We are sort of looking for another 4X4 but don't want to buy until the money from the mortgage is in the bank.

We've started taking the horses in at night, its kind of nice to be back in the winter routine, although I'm sure we'll be sick of it by Christmas. They could probably still be out, but when the ground is so wet they just end up ploughing the field up, at least this way they aren't on it all the time. It also means their legs get a chance to dry (we wash and pick out their feet as they come in) helping to avoid mud fever. We took them in on Monday last week for the first time this winter, they were a bit excited but by 11pm, Bournville, Bumble and Pixie were flat out asleep. By morning, Cirrus had also been down. They have quickly settled into their routine and we're glad they were in on Saturday because there were some huge fireworks going off at about 11pm. We are usually up at 6am, put out the horses, I then muck them out while Mike does the other animals. I then feed the indoor animals and take the dogs out, while Mike gets ready for work and I then get ready for work. Its funny, but on a miserable night the horses are lining up to get in, they come in in pairs- Bumble and Cirrus first, then Bournville and Pixie- yes, the shetland pony comes in as well!

We had 8 dogs in the house this weekend, we had Becky( a black lab) and Carrie (a dalmation), 2 different friend's dogs. It was really confusing counting them as they came in, we're not used to thinking about 2 labs and 2 "spotty" dogs. Happily they all got on well, we knew Carrie would be fine as she knows our lot, but didn't know how Becky would cope- she settled in very quickly.

Last bit of news this week, we got another 4 quail girls, they are only 4 weeks old but should start laying in a coulple of weeks. We put them in a seperated hutch for a week, mainly as a form of quarantine and to give them a chance to settle. I need to start thinking of names, but first I have to figure out who is who!

Sunday- 16/9/07

We haven't done much this week, except make some future plans. We've decided to scrap the jeep, it really pains us to do it, and we're really annoyed that we have to do it because of a garage which couldn't do the job. The reasons we've gone that way are, its MOT is due in October and its been sitting for 3 months, and water has got into the electrics. We've told Overton to forget about a new engine and we went and emptied the car today. It was really sad to give up on him, but we can't afford to throw good money after bad!

This in mind, we've added some money onto our mortgage and some of the money will get a car, the main part , however will go towards new central heating. We are on LPG and it costs us between £2000 and £3000 a year, and that is only using the heating when really needed. We are so excited because, depending on cost, we want to go for a solid fuel rayburn which will also do the water and heating. We bought 5 cubes of 2 meter lengths of wood from the forestry commission for £50. It is a huge amount and as long as we are organised, preparation shouldn't be a problem. We already have an open fire, and use it a lot because the gas costs so much.

The animals are all fine at the moment, hoping it stays this way for a wee while.

Samson's thyroxine is within the recomended limits, so hopefully he has stablised. Pumpkin got his stitches out and Scott is pleased with his leg. Next week he can come out of the cage for a wander about, as long as he doesn't jump.

We had Jess the bunny in to get her teeth clipped, this is the first time since we got her, so we'll take note and see when they next need doing. It will give us an idea, how often she will need to go in.

Our quail are all settling in, the trio we got from Marilyn are fine together. We tried Maddy (the single white female) in with Rhea and Flash (the 2 we bought) but Maddy was terrified of Flash. We have taken him out for the time being and Maddy and Rhea are fine. Once we get a few more females we will put Charlie back in. He is so frisky Rhea never got a moment to herself. They are quite tame and if we shake a tub of dried mealworms, they are straight over to get some.

Heidi and Charlie are penned next to each other and we are hopeful that we can put them together soon. Charlie seems to have recovered from losing Indy, the weather has been fine so he has been out with the rest of the goats.

I thought I was going to have to go to casualty on Monday, we moved the horses in another field and after I took Cirrus's headcollar off she spun round and kicked up her heels are she ran off. Unfortunately, her heels caught my elbow, it came up like a huge duck egg, and i was a bit worried she'd broken something, but as I could move my arm in all directions, I figured I was fine.

The swelling went down quite quickly and I'm left with a little bump and a bit of bruising, its still really sore though. I'm a bit disappointed as I was hoping to have a purple and yellow arm to show off. The thing I'm glad about is Cirrus wasn't being nasty, she was just excited and I wasn't paying attention. I must take better care next time!

Sunday- 9/9/07

its been a very emotional week, the sad news is we lost Indy. We found she couldn't get up on Tuesday morning and called the vet out. It seemed she had hypothermia, now Monday night was cold, but not that cold. If it was chilly, we would put a rug on her. Anyway, we carried her into the office and wrapped her up in a duvet. Andrew, a new vet, was very kind and did all he could, she had antibiotics, painkillers and a multivitamin injection as well as being hooked up to a drip. She seemed to pick up over the course of the day and had started eating again.

She had lost a lot of weight in the past fortnight and I had been trawling the internet for clues. Finally I found an article about hairballs in goats which showed the same symptoms as Indy, I spoke to Scott and although he was worried about her condition, he agreed to operate.

We told him, only if he found something treatable to try, otherwise put her to sleep, while under the anesthetic. He found a tumour and damage to the nerve which enervates the chest and gut. There was nothing he could do, so she was euthanased. Poor little Charlie has been looking for her since we carried her out on Tuesday morning, so we have put Heidi in next to him, with the plan being to stable them together eventually. We didn't quite realise how fond we were of her, we are both gutted to lose her. She had true grit and was a fighter to the end!

We hutched Snowy and Bertha together yesterday for the first time and it seems to have gone well. We're amazed, as we tried to pair Snowy off with a girl, called Missy and he was really mean to her, but Bertha just uses him as a big pillow and he seems quite happy with that. They are a really cute couple and she is much happier. Now we have to go back and try with Runt and Sorrell, we're a bit worried it just won't work, if not we will maybe try Runt with Jess. She has been speyed so maybe it will work a bit better, I think Sorrell has too may hormones flying around!

On Monday, we rehomed another 4 quail from a lovely lady, who has Runt and Odd-eye's brother. She rescues birds and I contacted her about some info about keeping quail. She gave us a single, white female to go in with our 2, and another trio. Male quail must be kept apart or they will fight, they are also very frisky and need a lot of females to prevent one being picked on too much. As we drove across to collect them, we had to make a detour to the vet as we found a young, black-headed seagull, which had been hit by a car. His wing was hanging off so we caught him, contacted the vet on call, Nicola, and she met us at the surgery to put it to sleep. If there had been a chance of saving it we would have tried but it would have been unfair to keep it with one wing. We spent yesterday trying to find someone who would sell 4 more females- we want one male to 4 females, that should keep the boys occupied! Nobody has any ready, a few are putting some eggs in an incubator but no adults. I suppose we'll just have to wait.

Still no jeep, but we might have better news next week, fingers crossed.

Sunday- 2/9/07

Well its now September and we will hopefully have the jeep back next week with a new engine. Can't wait as we need to get more hay and straw, and have a load of stuff to be dumped at the skip.

Pumpkin had his operation on Wednesday, it was a worrying morning. Scott called as soon as it was finished and let me know how it went. He was happy with the cruciate part of the op, but is worried about his kneecap staying fixed, apparently it was permenantly dislocated and Scott was limited as to what he could do because of the cruciate op. He must have been quite sore. The wound is about 6 inches long and he is on cage rest for about 4 weeks, a couple of weeks after that to recover and back in for the other kneecap to be done. He has been very good so far and not frantic to get out, I think he is quite stiff and sore so is quite happy to lie around. Hopefully he will be as good as new for Christmas- not long now! We will probably keep him in over winter and let him out in the spring.

Jack has had the snuffles this week so we got some antiboitic injections to give him. It was a bit spooky because the day before, Charlie texted me to say he'd had a dream -he'd had to do a post mortem on one of my sheep, it had died of pneumonia! Thats some service from the vet, dont' you think!

We went to the Rare breed sale at Thainstone yesterday, we weren't going to buy anything. It was a nice social event and we met people from work, from the village and from the "Neeps" website, it was really good. We did end up buying something, we got a pair of spanish quail, they are in a hutch at the moment until they settle and we have a rabbit arc they can go into during the day. I've had a wee hankering for a while, especially after we had some quail eggs at a friend's house. I think we need to get a couple of more females and we will be sorted. They can lay up to 300 eggs a year, and they are so small they don't take up any space. It seems they are battery farmed abroad so I will feel better eating our own. We also, nearly, ended up with a turkey. It was a big stag, who looked really sad and had a sore leg, we did bid for him but someone obviously wanted him as well so we gave up bidding. Really wish I'd kept going though. Its given us a bit of a push and we've been planning where to put our goose pens and turkey pens for the spring! I've always wanted turkeys and pigs, Mike's always wanted geese and donkeys. We live in the strong belief that some rescue ones will come along some day.

The dogs seem to have recovered from their kennel cough and this month we will get them in for the vaccination against it. I'm also undecided about vaccinating the rabbits for VHD, a horrilble disease which kills rabbits quickly with no cure. It isn't widespread in Scotland yet, but has been carried into domestic rabbits via pet shops selling bunnies bred down south. It seems that rabbits don't die from it if they get it before 8 weeks of age, but then carry it, without showing any symptoms. With the fact that we quite often have new rabbits coming in and you can get ones who carry the disease, I think the time has come to vaccinate. I'd be horrified if we infected ours by taking in a rescue.

Sunday- 26/8/07

We have taken our jeep back, unfixed, and it is now at Overton to get a second hand engine fitted. This will cost us £1000, and God Knows how much our bill from the garage will be, but the rate they were going at we could have bought another car. They didn't know what was wrong and just kept trying one thing after another- how long do you wait? Its going to be a tough winter!

We have paired off Thumper and Molly now, they are skipping about in the run together, they are just not hutched together yet. Mike's sister is very kindly sponsoring them. Runt and Sorrell still have the odd disagreement so they are not hutched together either yet. It will be good once they are all paired off as we will have less hutches to clean out. We still haven't plucked up courage to put Snowy and Bertha together yet, she is such a gentle soul we worry for her. I will just have to set aside a couple of days where I can spend most of my time in the shed to keep an eye on them.

We wormed the chickens this week and cleaned out their houses with diluted Jeyes fluid, this is to kill any mites living in the housing. At the same time we cleaned any dirty bottoms and clipped any long nails, we got the cockerels' spurs trimmed as well. They were not amused.

We clipped one of Sky's (duck) wings, as she has grow hers in quicker than the rest, they are all moulting and are a real mess, they've also stopped laying. We will have to go back later and clip Iris and Ollie's wings when they have fully grown in. We have to do this twice a year after they moult, otherwise the light birds can fly out of their run.

All our dogs are being treated for kennel cough, don't know where its come from. We have had a few dogs to stay but they were all healthy and the last visitor was about a month ago. They never really see any dogs as they run around the croft all day so never wander or meet any strange dogs. It had to be Levi who got it first, everybody else would have coughed quietly and lain down. Not Levi, he sits at the hall door coughing all night, so we are kept awake in the bedroom as he makes sure it carries all the way down the hall. Scott has suggested once they recover we get them vaccinated for it (we've never bothered before as they are never in kennels!) . We are wondering the best way to do this, it might be quite entertaining to take all 6 in at once!!!!

Elsie got back out today and it was really cute, all the other sheep were baa-ing and surrounded her when she went in, she had gone running up to her sister first them mixed with the rest. We have given them a big chunk of field to graze on so they are all very happy. It was good to see her run without any lameness, so we will have to keep an eye on her and maybe get the growth trimmed more regularly.

We went to the New Arc with our friend, Sharon, who was looking for a small rabbit as a companion for her netherland dwarf bunny. We had a lovely day looking at all the animals and it was nice to talk to people who realise how long things take to do when you have so many "dependants", of course , they have a lot more than we do! We would like to thank Keith and Pauline for the cup of coffee also and Sharon went home with a cute grey netherland dwarf for her wee girl (she also went home with 5 gerbils).

Finally,Pumpkin is in for his operation next week, I am worrying already, poor wee man!

Sunday- 19/8/07

STILL NO JEEP!!! Will not say anymore incase I swear!

We have a new bunny, she's called Jess and her owner is moving to America. We took her because she is probably not rehomable, she is 4, has one eye and teeth problems. She seems a nice little girl though and we hope she will be happy here.

We've tried to get some riding done but the weather has been against us, I don't mind riding in the wet but when we're just getting the horses going again they can be a bit lively in windy weather. Today we are putting up electric fencing in the other field so we can move them to some fresh grazing, we will worm them at the same time. They are in the stable at the moment to give them a break from the rain.

Elsie, one of our original sheep had to get a growth between her toes removed, so she is in for a few days with a bandaged foot. She has lost a lot of condition this year, and we're trying to think of a way to solve this, her teeth are fine, but at 10 she's quite an old lady and we find this often happens with the older animals.

Charlie, our wee pygmy, is doing really well, Charlie, the vet came to see him this week and was very pleased with him. The goats have been in for a couple of days as the weather has been so bad, I must really get organised and buy some rugs for them, that means they will be kept dry and cosy over the winter. Pepper, our arthritic goat, especially needs it.

We were out last night with my best friend, Liz, from school, we lost touch when we were 18, and got back in contact this spring, so we met last night for the first time in 23 years. She hadn't really changed and although I was a bit nervous, we seemed to have plenty to talk about. It was a very late night for us and I wasn't in best of health this morning. Liz and her family came out to see the place this morning and, as usual, the dogs were all over them. I think her wee boys enjoyed seeing the cats and feeding the chickens. I'm always a bit embarassed when folk come as the house is never tidy and we are always in the middle of some kind of untidy work outside. People are very kind and never say, "what a mess".

I guess they never get a chance to notice as there is usually a pile of animals jumping all over them!!

Sunday- 12/8/07

Still don't have the jeep back, that will be 6 weeks on Tuesday now. We need to get hay and straw today, so we have to drive to a friends house collect their 4x4, buy the hay and drop the car back at our friends. This will add another hour onto our journey and it is now getting very annoying. Lucky we've got friends who will lend us our car.

Our own hay is pretty much ruined, we've put the best of the bales inside, hopefully they won't be too bad and the sheep and goats can pick through it outside. We will have to buy good hay for feeding inside and the horses.

We went back to work on Monday after the holiday and we've ended up taking an animal of ours into the vets each day.

Monday- we had Misty, our new 18 year old cat, she had blood tests for FELV/FIV, and kidney function. Both came back fine and, in fact, Scott said he would have guessed she was about 12, if he hadn't been told she was 18. We also had Triger in for his booster and Molly in for her myxomatosis vaccine.

Tuesday- Misty was back for her booster.

Wedesday- Smokey was in because he was a bit quiet and seemed to be breathing a bit heavily.

His temperature and heart were all fine so he got an antibioic injection and a painkiller and was as right as rain. Maybe I was being a bit too careful, but after Scotty I didn't want to risk it.

Thursday- Pumpkin was in to get his knees checked and its not good news. Both kneecaps are slipping and he has fully ruptured his right cruciate ligaments. This will mean 2 big ops, first one will be on the right leg. Scott will try to stabilise the cruciate and cut a deeper groove in the knee joint for the kneecap to sit in. After he has recovered the left knee will be operated on to again stabilise the kneecap. Poor wee sole, I hate it when they go in for ops.

Friday- Thumper was in for his myxomatosis vaccination.

We have finally put Runt and Sorrell together in the run, I expected a lot of excitment and we were concerned Runt might be very aggressive. He wasn't, but Sorrell certainly tried to taunt him. She would sniff him and then jump over his head, and he would give chase. This would go on for about 5 mins and they would then rest. After they recovered it would start all over again, Sorrell would then roll on her back, teasing Runt. It has gone much better than we could have hoped, and next week we will try them in a hutch. We get them used to each other in a large space before trying them in a more confined one, it seems to work well, if a little time consuming.

Its been a great week for wildlife, we saw a lizard in the yard, I saw some bright blue damselflies walking home from work, I also saw a horntail flying past the kennels and to top it all, we were at some friends for tea and they have badgers who come to visit every night. We saw 4 feeding out of a trough only a few feet away from us. It was amazing!

Finally, somebody has deleted all the messages in our guestbook, why anybody would do that, we just don't know. Sad really!

ps- thanks again Allan, Raymond and Jim for their help.

Sunday- 5/8/07

We, eventually, got the van back yesterday, the 4x4 is still in the garage( a month now and starting to get very stressed ). We go back to work tomorrow and both cars taking so long to be fixed has put a real damper on our holiday.

Some good news, Indy doesn't have Johnnes disease, we were very worried about this as its a wasting disease and apparently incurable as well as infectious. The next step is to test for liver fluke and kidney problems, so we have to take a urine and more faecal samples. oh, what fun!

We've decided to keep Thumper, the bunny, to pair off with Molly, she's lonely without Scotty and he is a lovely bunny. We were dreading rehoming him anyway!

My nieces were out for a few days, and did some horse riding, Mike even got on Bumble for the first time this year. Due to lack of time, weather and her losing shoes, Mike and her have never got together. He looked as proud as punch to be back on. Bournville was, as usual, prefect, he walked around steadily and did exactly what the kids told him to. He was pretty bored by then end of it, and showed it by heading for the gate every chance he got.

We went fruit picking with Callie and Louise (nieces), and took home strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants and gooseberries. That night we had a chocolate fondue with strawberries, next night a stawberry and raspberry pavlova (made with our own hen eggs!) and we made blackcurrant ice-cream and gooseberry ice-cream. It helped keep the kids entertained for quite a while.

They also "helped" when our hay came home, 51 bales are now sitting in the yard, not good quality, but good hay is now £20-£25 a bale already. Some are heating up, but we hope no more go the same way.

I am trying to type this with a chocolate brown, bengal kitten called Kaos stting in front of the screen trying to catch the cursor. He is not here to stay, but we are pet sitting him for my cousin ,Elena, along with her 5 guinea pigs. He has the loudest meiow, and is almost screaming by the time you go in to feed him in the morning. He is now pulling all the shedded paper out of its box!

Our friends ,Alan and Ava were up a couple of times this week to help, Ava with the horses and Alan helped clear the garage/hay store. He also helped level the sandschool and was teased for being soft as he now has massive blisters on his hands with raking it. we were grateful though.

We've had a good weekend , we were out to see friends, Jacqui and Paul, for tea on friday and had a really good time, on saturday we were at Alison and Stan's for a buffet, also a good time and I drank too much sparkling wine, so was no help with the animals by the time we got home. Poor Mike!!

Finally we have welcomed a new member to our family, she's an 18year old cat called Misty, who's owner is ill in hospital and has had to rehome her. Most people wonder why take on such a old animal, but don't they still have a right to live out their lives peacefully.Yes, they can cost in vet bill but the pleasure they give is worth it, we may only have her for 6 months or 4 years but we know she will be cared for and happy.

ps- we've added some more pictures and stories to the animal section.

Sunday-29/7/07

What a week! We've been on holiday and the plan was to try and catch up with things, its not what happened.

Our car is still in the garage, the cylinder head has been replaced but there is now a knocking noise when the accelerator is pressed. Its a real pain as it is used for towing things and we have had to borrow cars to get hay etc.

The vet was out to see Indy again, she has had a faecal sample and a blood sample taken for more tests. We are worried as to what the results will be, we are looking after her by drenching daily and giving her oil twice a day. If she's looks cold she gets a rug on, she's still eating well but just won't put on any weight. Hopefully the results will be in on Monday.

While Gemma, the vet was out, we blood tested Samson again. He's still not stablised, his thyroxine levels are now too high, so his dose has been increased again. It happens sometimes, they take a wee bit of time to get regulated.

Les came to put front shoes onto Bumble, she'd managed to pull both off in the field. As usual she was naughty and we were worried Les would struggle to get ones on as she has pulled off a lot of her hoof as well. However he managed and we've put over-reach boots on to try and stop her pulling them off again.

Friday was a miserable day, Scotty, our rabbit, was found dead in his hutch, there was no sign he was ill and had been normal at bedtime. He was only a year old and we'd had him from 8 weeks of age. It was very upsetting and I can't write any more about it. We decided to get away for a time and as we got to the Tillyfourie junction on the Alford road the van broke down! 4 hours later and a lot of tears on my part we got home with a car loaned to us by the garage. We hoped it was just the radiator, but no, it was the cylinder head gasket as well! Talk about depressed. The good thing was, that so many friends offered us help, it made us really apprieciate what we have.

Sunday-22/7/07

We had Bruno into to the vet this week as he had a sore bit on his back. We think he'd been bitten by a flea, the dogs and cats are regularly treated against fleas, but Bruno has a flea allergy as well as a gluten allergy. He went on antibiotics for 5 days and had to have cream put on his back,Gemma (the vet) also clipped off all the hair and he's now got a bald patch.

Corrie was in for his booster as well, I was a little bit worried as he is quite nervous and had growled at Bruce when he was in to be castrated (just after we got him). However he was really good, we could see he was a little bit worried but he showed no aggression.

We've had to give the goats and sheep more grazing as they have munched down the first bit very quickly, and Conker has started to give milk, we guess its because she's on such lush pasture. We have started to milk her to reduce the pressure on her udders and to try and prevent mastitis. She had it last year and must have been very uncomfortable . We're also a bit worried that Waffle is going the same way, she's quite nervous and we don't imagine she will stand quietly to be milked, unlike Conker.

Charlie latest abscess seems to be on the mend, but Indy is giving us quite a bit of concern, she's started to bloat again. We give her oil when we see her go up, and have started to drench her with a probiotic called "pro-rumen" as this seems to help.

One exciting thing this week, we have had a spinach omlette and all the ingredients came from our land, later on we had our first tatties, beetroot, turnips, and carrots all roasted together.

Both meals tasted soooo good!

Sunday - 15/7/07

Its been a tough week, Mike was away all of it so I was left on my own. Things kicked off almost as soon as Mike left. I went out to check the goats and found they had eaten some honeysuckle. I looked on the internet to see if it was poisonous, and got conflicting information. One site said it was highly poisonous, another said it was slightly toxic and another said it was loved by goats and fed to them. I phoned the vet and he phoned the London poisons unit, they had no recorded poisonings of goats but it does have a substance which could give them severe diarrhoea. I had to take them in, feed only hay and monitor them for 3 days. On day 3 Waffle have the runs, I drenched her with a probiotic for goats and she is fine.

In the meantime Charlie has another abscess, that's number 3, he's very sore but hopefully this is clearing out his foot for the future and once this is all over he won't have anymore problems.

Our hay was cut on Friday, hopefully the weather will be good to us and it is dried and baled, ready for taking in next weekend. We have a big barn waiting for it, but it needs to be emptied of Mike's tools and cleaned out.

Spent today adding electric tape to the sheep/goat field as we found Heidi had stood on the fence, pushed it down and then hopped out. We've added tape half way up the fence so she can't stand on it and escape- goats their too bright for their own good!

Sunday-8/7/07

This week has been a bit depressing, our car's cylinder head has blown, and its going to cost a huge amount to get it fixed. Its been in the garage for a week now and it may be another week before we get it back. It a bit of a financial knock, but it just means we will have to tighten our belts.

We had to take Pepsi to the vet on Tuesday, the dogs were out chasing a ball and somebody's tooth got her instead of the ball. I didn't realise there was a problem, until I went to take them in. It's a very deep cut on her lower eyelid, in the inner corner, she was very lucky her eye wasn't damaged. She's on antibiotics for a fortnight, and I have to clean it daily, my biggest concern is if she gets any grass seeds stuck in it.

This year we've hired 2 fields to cut hay off of, we will get somebody in to do it as we have no tractor and no real idea about haymaking. We are just a bit worried about the weather, its not been very promising so far. As far as we're aware ,you need a couple of dry days, so the hay can be turned and dry out fully. If it is baled whilst still wet it can get fungal growths in it and you can't feed it to the animals. Its a bit of a gamble for us.

Charlie our wee goat has another abscess brewing, this will be the third one to date, his foot is boiling and he's not walking on it, once it bursts it will be a lot better, but Suzie, the vet, thinks it could take a year before it fully settles. Poor wee mite, he's very patient and stands with his foot in a bucket of warm, salty water, twice a day, to try and draw out the infection.

Here's hoping next week is a bit more positive!

Sunday-1/7/07

Well , we've not achieved too much this week ,the weather has been so wet, its hard to get much done. We have however had the goats out together all day and they are getting along fine, no real fights and today they were grazing as one group. Pepper is the only one who seems to have an upset tummy, so we'll treat her with a probiotic until it settles.

The blacksmith, Les ,came and shodBournville and Bumble, he says they are the horses from hell. Bournville likes to entertain himself by leaning on Les to see how much weight he can take. If Les copes, he starts to sway and if he still copes he rests his nose on Les's back. Give Les his due, he never really loses his temper and manages to hold him up. Bumble on the other hand is just lazy and doesn't really see the point of being shod when she can be outside eating.

We have a couple of holiday pets at the moment, we have a friend's dog for 2 weeks ,while they are away, and we have one of our foster cats (when we fostered for PAWSS) back for 10 days while his owner is away on work. We took him because he has had quite a rough time and thought it might be better for him to go to a place he already knew. It’s nice to see him again and see how well he is doing, spoiled rotten!

We had Pumpkin, Sooty and Mustard in for their vaccinations, we also got Pumpkin checked over as he has damaged his cruciate ligament and is on house rest. However ,the vets now suspect he also has loose kneecaps, and they are constantly slipping out of place. This could mean 2 operations for him, one on each knee. We must go back in 3 weeks for another check over. We booked the appointment on Tuesday for Friday evening, and Mustard (who normally comes in every night) didn't come in from Tuesday. By pure luck I caught him eating a rabbit in Pixie's stable and got a hold of him at 4pm on Friday, the appointment was for 5.10pm. That's just cats for you!

We've also started decorating the second bedroom; it will also be laminated, in case of any animal visitors and a double bed for any human ones! We thought we might as well do something today as it is wet again.

Sunday-24/6/07

It’s been a busy old weekend.

Firstly we have "built" an office in one of our spare bedrooms, we've put down laminate flooring (much easier to keep when we have visiting cats), put in the desk, removed the bed and put in some bookcases. This is for Mike when working at home and will make maintaining the website much more pleasant. We hope to get a bed settee in the future for any visitors.

Secondly, we moved the sheep into a new field, newly fenced for them. It is about a acre and is also for introducing the goats to each other. Jack, Bluebell, Pepper, Primrose and Indy all know each other; Conker, Walnut, Waffle, Copper and Heidi are another group and Charlie only knows Indy. This may sound silly, but goats are really aggressive when meeting for the first time and it is best to do it on neutral territory. We've put them into a lot of long ,browsing grass in the hope this also entertains them, and stops them from being so focused on fighting, so far its worked, although they've only been out an hour at a time. Goats are very prone to tummy upsets when first put onto lush grazing, so we try to wean them onto it gradually.

Anyway, moving the sheep was fun (decided to lead them with halters, won’t do that again!), but they were happy in the small fenced off bit we gave them (again to avoid tummy upsets). The shelter was in the middle of the field, with no access for the week or so until they had adapted to the new grass, "no problem", we thought, "its summer!!" I woke up this morning, at 4 am to hear the rain, so got up to check on them and found them cold and miserable. Oh well, better let them into the shelter, first I'd better put in some straw, so there was I between 4 and 5 am, up to my knees in wet grass feeling like little bo peep as the flock followed me down to their shelter. I just hope there are no gut problems with them having access to such lush grazing, will let you know

This has been quite a quiet week- our hay is still lying outside, trying to dry: our car is still in the garage and the wee van has had 2 slow punctures.