December - only two rats adopted

In order to have met our goal of placing 5 animals a month into new homes - the goal I had set to make all the effort worthwhile - we would have had to place 20 in the month of December, or 16 and find two foster homes to make up for the four animals adopted by their foster homes (thus closing those foster homes). Foster homes were found, and then fell through. Unfortunately, despite many of our successes in 2006, including the adoption clinics, we had zero growth in adoptions. We hope 2007 will be a stronger year.

My vision for ethical treatment of animals

This is my statement, my view of the ideal, practical, perhaps-one-day possible world.

1. - No one expects to obtain companion animals no-questions-asked, or for free
2. - All homeless animals with a reasonable expection of quality of life being able to find a good home, covered by a much broader geographic area than we now consider convenient
3. - An end to all blood sports, including the feeding of live prey to domesticated carnivores/predators
4. - No companion animal being denied veterinary treatment because "it's just an animal" or because "it's cheaper to buy a new one." No companion animal being denied prompt veterinary treatment because of ignorance or lack of affordability
5. - All pet guardians learning about, respecting, and meeting the real physical and psychological needs of their companion animals
6. - No more vanity- or folkloric consumption of animals and animal parts, or regulatory redundancy that takes animals' lives
7. - Outlawing (or out-regulating) the breeding of domestic companion animals as a gainful source of part-time or full-time employment or small business category. Outlawing of industry practices and recalling of products that are known to be harmful to our pets, yet continue to be practiced and marketed.
   
8. - Licensed breeding becoming truly controlled and licensed, guaranteeing that the breeders care about their progeny
9. - Law enforcement acting on their animal protection mandates and receiving appropriate budgets to take action every day
10. - All hunters learning everything about the ecology of their game and the ethics of hunting and the humane kill well before they learn how to pull a trigger safely. (To be a hunter, one only has to learn how to fire a gun.) Credit goes to those who are already ethical advocates and conservationists
11. - Working animals routinely granted the opportunity to join families as companion animals at a reasonable stage of retirement
12. - Industries that necessarily use working animals give back into causes that directly benefit animals in order to honour the animal sacrifices their industries require – rather back into causes that support their industry's bottom line. By this, we certainly do mean medical research and farming - they are legitimate businesses that are too paranoid of the ethical intentions of animal welfare, and do not contribute back to those whose goods and lives they make their money from. e.g. Cancer research supports ever more cancer research - while our pets and shelter animals are denied drugs and treatments known effective to them, and refuges get no sponsorship from those who profit from research
    
13. - Pet stores become the repository and distribution point for homeless pets, safe and healthy pet products, and real humane education, so they can truly become joyful places, rather than a happy face denying the economic enslavement of animals
    
14. - A clearly defined, educated, and enforced limit to the influence that non-guardians can exert on curbing the behaviour and lifestyles of animals and their guardians. Parks are paid for from public funds dog owners contribute to; breed-specific legislation is not a right to beat or poison neighbour's pets or launch civil suites; leash laws are not permission to surveille, stalk or otherwise harrass dog owners; nor shoot-shovel-shutup and other forms of extermination for animals without guardians. We share the same world, and animal rights and guardian rights should not be subordinate to zoophobias and disinformation.

Animals confer more blessings on us than we could care to count. We need to confer the blessings back.

Babies are growing so fast, almost ready to adopt!

There are 3 boys - one agouti hooded with a fully amputated tail (an unfortunate accident due to an aggression by an adult male) and two beige hooded.

There are 6 females - one beige hooded with a half-length tail (same incident), three other beige hoodeds, and two agouti hooded.

There are also the older siblings: two agouti-hooded boys, and one agouti-hooded and one beige-hooded sister pair. Sicero, the mom, is agouti-hooded.

In the picture above, their coats are kinda messy because baby rats, just like baby humans, get food all over themselves when they eat.

Raffle winners | Gagnants de Tombola

Eliza McCarthy - Bikram Yoga
Vanessa Sarges - Tuscan wine
Marlene Ghazaly - L'Oréal Professional gift basket
Christiane Brault - Salon Gloria certificate
Howard Kiewe - Zen Massothérapie certificate

Congratulations winners, and thanks to all who donated and participated!

Four days to buy your raffle tickets!

We are having the holiday raffle on Saturday, December 16 at our volunteer party. We are going to call the winners that night. You can buy your tickets from the link on our home page. There's about a one in 10 chance of winning, which is pretty good for the price of the ticket and value of the prizes. Good luck!

Cuteness is about to explode!

These are the babies who were born just about two weeks ago. Already, with their eyes not yet open, they are little explorers. They are familiar with human hands, as their mom and sisters are - their mom is the most sociable rat ever!

On Saturday, their older sisters - Blondie and Brownie, I guess they should be called - and two brothers, too, are going to be available at our adoption clinic. See below for details!

help! foster home for boys needed now!

We have a pending adoption for boys but we have incoming and an outgoing foster home (allergies) - so we're short a foster home. We will also need another foster home for either boys or girls, end of December, for the babies that are now nursing and their elder siblings. This is a huge juggle! Also, if you're interested in long-term fostering for guinea pigs, please consider us for the holiday period.

Adoption clinic 09/dec/06 Séance d'adoption!

We're having an adoption clinic on SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 11 - 5 pm at GLOBAL - Pitou, Minou & Compagnons in Plaza Pointe-Claire (corner St.John & Hwy 20). Loving homes are wanted for pet rats, mice, hamsters, and other small animals, and donations and volunteers are needed. We sell cages, and we will be selling raffle tickets for some lovely Christmas presents. For info call 514-691-5263.

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SAMEDI 9 DÉCEMBRE, 11h00-17h00, chez GLOBAL – Pitou, Minou & Compagnons, à la Plaza Pointe-Claire, Boul. Saint-Jean, coin autoroute 20. On cherche les foyers aimants pour les rats, souris, hamsters, et autres petits animaux, et on a un besoin pour les dons et benevoles. On vendre des cages, et on vendre des billets "loto" pour plusiers bons cadeaux de Noël! Pour info appellez (514) 691-5263.

Hamsters in a very cool house!

FOSTER HOME urgently needed for male guinea pig(s)

There is a 5 year old GP boy waiting for a foster home immediately. We would like to help him, and have a two-week foster home available for him. In addition, we'd like the foster home to be ready to accept another single boy so that the boys can be integrated together, as GPs are social creatures and need friends. Boys are supposedly easier to integrate than girls.

A cage and supplies can be provided, of course! Please respond as soon as possible.

Off-topic: film shoot, extras needed, Sunday afternoon!

For all you in the Montreal area, if you can take a few hours out on Sunday afternoon, from 1 - 4 or 5 (no lock-down, you're free to come later or leave earlier), we need people to show up for a bar scene at Le Belmont, on St. Laurent and Mont-Royal. Feel free to write me for more details! I will be there.

My idea of rattie heaven

Jo has adopted several pets through Small Victories, and has been part of the rescue community as long or longer than I have. I recognize several of her boys as being brothers/sons of rats I have had through SV and some of which I still have (the agouti-hooded dumbos, for instance, are the sons of my evil/adorable little pipsqueak Missy); several also came through from New Brunswick (brothers to Missy's cagemate Melonie).

Anyway, Jo has successfully integrated 17 (try to count them!) boys. Adopters who've come to my house consider my place rattie heaven - well, this is my idea of rattie heaven!

(And a very good argument as to why it's fantastic fun to adopt all the same-sex siblings in a litter, hint hint - we have adopted out two of Sicero's four sons from the first litter; girls still available, and 10 pink babies to account for in 5 weeks time!)

We have newborns…we need adoptions!

Mama Sicero, who came in two weeks ago with her two daughters and four sons, has just popped another litter of 10 babies. She is a good mom and the babies will be very well-socialized. They will be ready to go in 5 weeks… her two-month-old sons and daughters all need homes now!

We are having our adoption clinic TOMORROW. Details below.

Nous avons une nouvelle portée des rats bébés - la mère a arrivé avec 2 filles et 4 fils deux semaines passé, et elle a eu 10 bébé tôt ce matin. Ils vont être bien socialisés et prèt à adopter dans 5 semaines!

Notre séance d'adoption est demain, pour les grand frères, soeurs, et autres petits animaux. Détails en bas. SVP aidons-nous!

New Brunswick rat rescue blog

Holly and Linda have a few ratties looking for homes - and their pictures are to die for! Check out the blog with the link above.

A very cute music video with a rat

Tricycle is a song by a British duo called PSAPP. The video is an animation of a lonely rat trying to make a friend.

Adoption Clinic this Saturday, November 26 | Séance d'adoption le 26 novembre

We're having an adoption clinic on SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 11 - 5 pm at GLOBAL - Pitou, Minou & Compagnons in Plaza Pointe-Claire (corner St.John & Hwy 20). Loving homes are wanted for pet rats, mice, hamsters, and other small animals, and donations and volunteers are needed. We sell cages, and we will be selling raffle tickets for some lovely Christmas presents. For info call 514-691-5263.

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SAMEDI 26 NOVEMBRE, 11h00-17h00, chez GLOBAL – Pitou, Minou & Compagnons, à la Plaza Pointe-Claire, Boul. Saint-Jean, coin autoroute 20. On cherche les foyers aimants pour les rats, souris, hamsters, et autres petits animaux, et on a un besoin pour les dons et benevoles. On vendre des cages, et on vendre des billets "loto" pour plusiers bons cadeaux de Noël! Pour info appellez (514) 691-5263.

Introducing our new photo site

Click the link of the title to see our new photo site - we're just in the process of putting it up for public viewing - thanks Vanessa! I will continue adding pictures as I clear out my Flickr and PhotoBucket accounts and back up my hard drive. Expect to see a LOT of cute rat, mouse, and bunny pictures - as well as animals we have/had for adoption.

We have baby rats, ready for adoption now!

We have 4 baby boys, three of them hooded agouti and one hooded beige/blond. Their mom is hooded agouti, and 1 sister too, and 1 sister is hooded beige/blonde. Babies are 5 weeks old and ready for homes now! Mom is available too!

Photo contest for our 2007 Calendar!

I am getting ready to create the 2007 Calendar for Small Victories | Petites Victoires. So of course, I need large, high-quality pictures of your fuzzy friends - and it's no longer just rats and mice anymore! We particularly need theme pictures for holiday months, so if you have anything for Valentine's, St. Paddys, Easter, etc., please send it in.

This year we may be selling printed calendars as a fundraiser on an as-ordered basis. The printing services will be donated, but I think they will agree to a half-sized calendar as a thank you to each photo winner that makes it into the calendar - which I will mail to you - and I will provide a digital version to everyone who participates!

I'm looking forward to seeing your pics! Please make sure they're about 1 - 2 Mb in size to ensure it will be big enough for 8.5 x 11 pages. And finally, don't forget to tell me your pet's name and who the photographer is.

Foster homes very much needed NOW!

We need foster homes for GUINEA PIGS and RATS.

There are many, many GPs at the SPCA whose time is running out. We also receive regular surrender requests.

There are also the following rats:

Four boys, one of them fancy.

A mom with 6 babies.

Please help! They don't have much time!

E-mail me ASAP to apply to foster; read our website for more details in order to be prepared.

The Dominance Pinch for Alpha rats

The following is posted by permission of JoRats, who authored it, in discussing how to show an alpha rat who is being TOO aggressive with others that you are the boss, and to calm down and play nice.

If you are inexperienced at integrating rats and handling rats, DO NOT attempt this. Experienced rat people know how much force to use, while newbies might apply too little or too much pressure, with tragic results to them or the rat. You might get scared and maybe end up hurting the rattie. Also, ratties are really quick, and many will flip around in a flash to bite the hand.

Alpha rats will do two things to their subordinates (minions), they will flip them over and rub their paws on the minion's chest, between the front paws and/or they will get up on the minion and put their teeth between the shoulder blades. This is why scuffles with alpha can result in injury. When the alpha lays his teeth on the minion, they are suppose to submit but many don't, they get scared and try to run off and this may result in a slice, usually on the neck, the shoulders and back. An exceptionally bad attack can seriously maim or kill the subordinate rat by biting the spine.

So what I do, I mimic the dominance over the instigator. You do this when you catch them in the act of being a bully. Rump rubbing, boxing, are normal behaviors but when you see scuffles, balls of fur flying, this is when you need to intervene.

Be very careful when attempting the pinch, it's very easy for rattie to flip around and bite your hand, remember, he's in a highly stressed state when you are doing the pinch.

With one hand, hold the rat by the base of the tail making sure all four paws are on the ground. With your other hand, grab hold of some skin between the shoulder blades and press the rat down into the floor. He will protest and scream bloody murder but you aren't hurting him, you are simply hurting his pride. Let go after a few seconds of this, just long enough so he gets the message that you are the Alpha. He will usually go sulk, give him a few minutes then pick him up for lots of cuddles. I'm attaching pics so you can see what I mean.

On a girl rat, usually all that is needed is for you to flip her over and with your two fingers rub her chest firmly but not hard.

I've been doing this for a few years now and it's amazing how great it works. The Alpha will understand that he cannot go on attacking the minion when you're there to out-Alpha them. He will also understand that while you're the Alpha, you're not there to hurt him. Of course the real aggressive rats, this won't work, neutering is the only answer.

Abandoned guinea pig GIRLS safe now

On Saturday during our adoption clinic at Global - Pitou Minou et Compagnons, we received a call about two guinea pigs abandoned in a box in the parking lot at Kirkland's Wal-Mart. They were delivered to us that afternoon. They are described as two six-month-old boys, though we'll get the sexes checked at the vet, especially as one sounds a little congested. They were terrified, and remained so for more than a day. They are not used to human attention, so it will take a little while - a few weeks, at least - to get them into a friendly routine in preparation for adoption. They are both medium-haired, very cowlicky, and one is orange and one is black. They are not named. We will post more about them as we find out their sex, health, and personalities!

Update: They are girls, and their names are Iggy and Pop! Because I noticed I have a tendency to have musician-named pets.

Feast of St. Francis - get your pets blessed

October 6 is the Feast of St. Francis, patron saint of animals. Take your pets to your local Catholic parish to be blessed!

We hope to invite a Fransiscan from the monastery at Rene-Levesque and Lambert-Closse to come to our adoption clinic to bless our animals.

Adoption Clinic this Saturday | Séance d'Adoption ce samedi

Hi Folks / Salut tout le monde,

Again, another adoption clinic on SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7, 11 - 5 pm at GLOBAL - Pitou, Minou & Compagnons in Plaza Pointe-Claire (corner St.John & Hwy 20). Loving homes are wanted for pet rats, mice, hamsters, and other small animals, and donations and volunteers are needed. We sell cages, too. For info call 514-691-5263.

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SAMEDI 7 OCTOBRE, 11h00-17h00, chez GLOBAL – Pitou, Minou & Compagnons, à la Plaza Pointe-Claire, Boul. Saint-Jean, coin autoroute 20. On cherche les foyers aimants pour les rats, souris, hamsters, et autres petits animaux, et on a un besoin pour les dons et benevoles. On vendre des cages, aussi. Pour info appellez (514) 691-5263.

Adoption Clinic this Saturday | Séance d'Adoption ce samedi

Saturday September 23 from 11 - 5 pm at GLOBAL - Pitou, Minou & Compagnons in Plaza Pointe-Claire (corner St.John & Hwy 20). Loving homes are wanted for pet rats, mice, hamsters, and other small animals, and donations and volunteers are needed. We sell cages, too. For info call 514-691-5263.

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Samedi 23 septembre, 11h00-17h00, chez GLOBAL – Pitou, Minou & Compagnons, à la Plaza Pointe-Claire, Boul. Saint-Jean, coin autoroute 20. On cherche les foyers aimants pour les rats, souris, hamsters, et autres petits animaux, et on a un besoin pour les dons et benevoles. On vendre des cages, aussi. Pour info appellez (514) 691-5263.

Hamster cages for sale - Vente des cages hamsters

We have several hamster cages for sale:
Nous avons quelques cages hamster à vendre. Pour un description en français, aller ici: Collecte des fonds et evenements planifiés

This cage is suitable for a temporary rat transport cage, or for adult mice, hamsters, and gerbils (2 to 3). It may come with a wheel for small rodents. $12.





We have an extra Habitrail, which comes with a few basic parts for $15:

Finally, we have a 20-gallon tall terrarium for $20.

Adopt a Rat, Canada - the other website

Post by Shelagh

Some of you Canadians might remember CanadaRatFinder.

It was a wonderful website where you could literally go into your province and find the shelters nearest you. There would be moderators "taking care of" each shelter and they would post available rats and info, plus any contact info needed. It was kind of like One Stop Shopping for Shelter Rats.

Well that board was sadly abandoned, but a wonderful woman in B.C. affiliated with SARS decided to make up her own website. It's now up and running, I am a moderator for the THS and Toronto Animal Services, and it looks like people are adopting rats using this tool.

The board is in its infancy, and we still need Moderators for many provinces and shelters. There is a post on there if you are interested in helping out. Its not difficult at all, a few minutes a day is all it takes me right now.

So bookmark this page, you never know when someone might need it if not yourself.

http://www.adoptaratcanada.com

CBC radio interview this morning.

This morning I was interviewed on CBC radio about what to do when you find a rodent outside, and why it's not humane to let them go. I thought it would be more about the rescue, and I sort of bombed that question as it was the first "What do you do at the rescue?" and I said "Well, a lot of cage cleaning, to start!" I explained how to manage the smell from male mice, who are odiferous, and our hopes to one day neuter male mice to give them a better chance at adoption and perhaps a better life in company of others. I also explained the life of a domestic rat outdoors, and how it ends in predation, but I also gave positive rat-recovery stories, such as the recent one in Ottawa where a male and female were found and trapped, and had warbles removed (I explained what warbles were in a matter-of-fact, scientific manner: bot-fly larvae).

Unfortunately I didn't cover any of my talking points about how we need adoptions and volunteers.

If I find an audio archive of the show, I will save it and post it here.

Guest post about Toronto Humane Society pet store seizure - letter writers wanted

This post is written by a guest, and it's very informative indeed. We would like to see letters written in support of better animal cruelty legislation. For more information about this legislation, see the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies.

The Toronto Humane Society has had to step in with regards to a closed petstore in the city in the Dufferin/Bloor area. It seems that a couple purchased the petstore for their children to run, the children abandoned it with all the animals boarded up inside and left to die. Luckily, the THS and authorities were contacted and most of the animals were able to be saved.
There is a big story on their website about it, http://www.torontohumanesociety.com/newsandevents/pr/2006/aug17.asp, and they are inundated with animals down there. Including, five PetHarbor pages of rats alone, which seems to be the entire petstores stock of feeders.

Please, please spread the news to as many places as you can, we all know the fate awaiting some of those animals. They are not available until the investigation is done, but then all hell will break loose and those rats are not going to be kept well down there. The THS website says that no charges have been laid in this case yet.

Which brings me to the other thing that I wanted to mention, and again please feel free to spread the word wherever you can.

It seems that Stephen Harper's wife is a very active Animal Activist. They are even fostering for the Ottawa Humane Society. [?T]his might be a good time for all animal lovers to renew their push on getting our revised Animal Cruelty Bill passed. I don't even know what it is called anymore, it has changed and been rejected so often, but I am confident that this might be a good time for it to be the last version of the bill not to be passed.

You can read up on the Prime Ministers website, they have a section about fostering and shelter animals here: http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?category=5&id=1147
I am going to work on a letter to send them myself in the next few days, I was hoping that people could start posting about this where they are members in order to generate some interest in contacting the Conservative government about it. The contact page for the PM is here: http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/contact.asp.

Seances d'Adoption pour septembre - September Adoption Clinics

Saturday, September 2 | Samedi, 2 septembre 2006

11h00 - 17h00

Provigo, 960 Herron Road, Dorval

- just west of the Dorval circle.

Herron est le voie de service de l'autoroute #20.

Saturday, September 9 | Samedi, 9 septembre 2006

Clinique V�t�rinaire De La Promenade

514-383-2345

1567, rue Fleury Est,

Montr�al, QC H2C 1S7

Details to be announced | Details � suivre!

Sunday 6:30, CTV Montreal airs puppy mill report

The reports on Puppy Mills and Pet Shops will be airing this weekend as part of CTV Montreal's On Assignment show. (CTV: Channel 12)

The short version will be on the 6 o'clock News on Friday, August 25th. The complete 1/2 hour version will air Sunday, August 27th, at 6:30pm.
The complete version includes discussion with Mutsumi Takahashi and guests.
If anyone has comments on the show, feel free to send them to onassignment@ctv.ca.
Although 1/2 hour just scratches the surface on the problem of Puppy Mills, I hope that it will provide some education to the public. My research began several months ago, but I owe the completion of these reports to the people who've been helping animals for years.

Thank you all for everything!
Karla

Karla Kaminski
Researcher
On Assignment - CTV News

We're in the West Island Chronicle!

Click the link to read the story!

Adoption Clinic | Séance d'Adoption

On Saturday, August 19, we'll be having an adoption clinic with Secours Lapins Quebec Rabbit Rescue at Global - Pitou, Minou & Compagnons

Plaza Pointe Claire, 245F St-John's Road. (corner Highway 20 and Boul. St-John) (514) 859-9008

Samedi, 19 aôut, on va avoir un séance d'adoption avec Secours Lapins Quebec Rabbit Rescue au Global - Pitou, Minou & Compagnons

Plaza Pointe Claire, 245F Boul. St-John's (corner Highway 20 and Boul. St-John) (514) 859-9008

Seances D'Adoption - Adoption Clinics

SATURDAY, AUGUST 5 2006 | Samedi, 5 août 2006

PROVIGO
(parking lot) (stationnement)

960 HERRON ROAD
DORVAL, QC    H9S 1B3
(Herron Road is the service road for HWY #20.) 
Herron est le voie de service de l'autoroute #20.) 
 11:30 - 4:30

SUNDAY, AUGUST 6 2006 | dimanche, 6 août 2006

NATURAL ANIMAL PAWTISSERIE
WESTMOUNT
11:30 - 4:30