Home Sweet Hammy Home (2025)

28/07/2025

Thank you to everyone who donated to my unofficial birthday week fundraiser last week! Benito and Skunky had their wellness exams yesterday. Poor little Nito did not like holding still for his nail trim at all! Skunky however was a perfect gentleman during his exam. He's always been quite calm, but I wasn't sure how he would react with someone else holding him, so it was a relief he didn't squirm and put up a fight too 😂

I am super thankful to have been able to get these vet visits checked off of my forever long to do list!

2 exams down... 4 more to go!

24/07/2025

It's a scary thing when you are responsible for the welfare of rescued animals, feeding, housing, and providing veterinarian care over the long term due to not being adopted out or medical issues. Many rescues with animal numbers in the hundreds survive on donations and I've always refrained from using every post as a fundraising effort simply because so many other rescues need a LOT more help than my little rescue does. I usually manage to get by on just the bare minimum needed for my rescue to survive, and I don't take in more animals than I can handle...

But still, expenses add up. So at the beginning of this week I asked for help and the support was immediate and amazing! I appreciate every one of you who has donated, through PayPal and by sending physical supplies, it's been such a relief to be able to place orders and make vet appointments. I already had a vet visit scheduled for Skunky, but now there is enough in the account to cover his exam. Once I get his visit accomplished, I am planning on getting Twilight and Morning Glory scheduled in for their exams.

It's all about budgeting and juggling, and with the help I received I'll be able to keep doing both! Thank you everyone who has made my birthday week so so so special! (I wanted to tag everyone who has been so supportive, but I wasn't sure if that is ethical to do, so if one of you sees this, just know how grateful I am)

23/07/2025

Thank you to everyone who has made donations to my unofficial birthday week fundraiser, you all are so very appreciated!

One of the lovely people who received my thank you email replied letting me know they ordered some items off of Rupert's Amazon wishlist and I couldn't be more grateful! I've already received three of the items and when I snapped the picture he was right there in the background outside doing his thing, making it look like I planned for it to be that way 🤭

21/07/2025

Happy Monday Morning Everyone!

I went to place my weekly supply order a few minutes ago and remembered recent vet visits left my rescue bank account low, so I checked the balance before I ordered aaaand.... I'm going to need some help.

In the five plus years of my rescue existence, I've always juggled expenses in between donations, but supply donations haven't come in as often as usual.

I very rarely ask for financial help on social media, but with a wait list of intakes and the current animals here needing supplies and vet visits... if anyone can help, I'd be super grateful AND I'll issue you a tax deductible receipt.

It's my birthday this week and I was planning on doing this post about some type of birthday fundraiser but I have so much animal care to do this morning and nooooo time to create anything clever so this is just a simple post asking for help from the community.

Links to Paypal and Amazon Wishlists in the profile. I know a lot of rescues have all of their donation information in every post they do, I've never done that. Maybe I might in the future but for now everything's located on my rescue Linktree.

12/07/2025

This post isn't to bash anyone. It's only to bring the realization that in rescue operation we hear the same stories.

Over and over and over and over....

There are other reasons for surrender requests, but these are the most common. I always feel deflated trying to work with people to figure out a solution, almost every day, when there are very few options available for pets people can no longer keep, and I can't intake them here.

In the middle of the collage is Twilight and Morning Glory, a bonded pair of female guinea pigs who have been here in my rescue for nearly 2 years. They are available for adoption, but the older they get, the less their chances of actually being adopted become. Very rarely do people ask for the older animals in the rescue, in fact when people reach out to adopt, they almost always request baby/young animals.

For surrenders, I make it a point to ask where they got their pets from; 90% of people get them from pet stores or someone who is breeding, which means they received babies or very young animals. Which also means by the time of their surrender request, the animals are no longer young.

And this is what myself and other rescue directors, shelters and volunteers compete with every day. Petstores and breeders....

12/07/2025

One year ago Rupert was returned to my rescue for the third time after another unsuccessful adoption and happily ever after. Was I prepared financially, mentally and physically? Absolutely not!!!

Can words express it appropriately? I'll try. We settled into a good working routine, despite a month after his return when he had seizures and was diagnosed with Valley Fever, a fungal disease requiring rather expensive daily medication and supplements plus costly blood draws every few months. I've not once slept past 5:30 a.m. this entire year. My very little free time that existed in between rescue operation has become obsolete with him here. Everything in my life is juggled around Rupert and his feeding, exercise, training and medical routine. I was already accustomed to the care of our own 4 family dogs, mess is not avoidable when you have animals buuuuut... with Rupert, it's super extra. Think lots of gigantic poo piles outside and daily p*ed on kennel bedding, some of which is typical for an excited but a lot of it can be blamed on his medication too, and trust me, the dog can p*e an amount equal to a river! Between him and the guinea pigs, my washer and dryer are in continuous use!

Well meaning friends have recommended to adopt him out again (which is easier said than done), or drop him off at a shelter, or surrender him to an actual dog rescue, (they are FULL by the way). But no. I made a commitment to him and I've kept it. It was my choice to bring him into my hamster rescue after he had been abandoned and was nearly starving. None of this is his fault.

Rupert is featured on a lot on my rescue Patreon account posts, yesterday morning's was of him watching a hawk 😂

$5 a month, which would really help my rescue operation a lot, unlocks the posts, plus you get to see behind the scenes of Home Sweet Hammy Home.

Links to Patreon, Rupert's page on my rescue website, and his Amazon wish list are all in my social media profiles. Any support would be greatly appreciated 💜

Everyone else, please pray for my sanity during this next year 🙏

27/06/2025

Despite all my years of hard work teaching families in my city how to upgrade their cages, competing with local pet stores and online retailers who sell inappropriate setups, people rarely reach out to adopt a hamster with an appropriate sized cage already in their possession buuuuut I am seeing a reoccurring theme where.....

People are getting these kinds of cages for guinea pigs they hope to adopt from my rescue because they read the reviews and see the advertisements and think this kind of cage will fit better in their space and will be kinder to their bank accounts for the guinea pigs they want to bring into their families 😭

I've had more than one person say they are happy to start out with a hamster in this cage but then when it passes away they'll adopt Guinea pigs. Well that's a Big nope!

Guinea pigs and hamsters are two completely different animals with different habitat space requirements. It's important to learn to ignore what the manufacturer of cages say, they aren't really concerned about your pet as much as they are about selling their product and marketing it to as many people as possible!!! I am happy there are so many large hamster cages now out on the market but...

These people who make these cages are just as bad as Kaytee who makes critter trails. It's all about the 💲💰💵🤑

24/06/2025

Bumble never ceases to amaze me with his happy nature and illness resilience. He was surrendered in 2021 while healing from bumblefoot, then within months we battled random outbreaks of ringworm which eventually cleared up but pops up every now and then sporadically, probably because he's hairless.

There are literally hundreds of other guinea pigs who look exactly like Bumble being sold in pet stores, so his adoption chances were always super low. Now he's been here for three and a half years which makes him about 4 years old, so definitely not adoptable.

His diet has been limited to hay only after he was continuously p*eing white chalky sludge, but I've added back in fresh bell pepper daily because he developed an upper respiratory infection recently and was seen on emergency. That's all cleared up now, but at the end of his antibiotics, some of his urine had blood in it. After multiple attempts at flushing him out, we got clear urine, no weight loss, never stopped eating and has been his gentle sweet self throughout it all.

Sooooo... his extensive care regimen has been in between care for all of the other animals here as well as managing rescue operation, responding to people reaching out, conducting phone interviews for potential adopters and helping people who are requesting surrender etc.

So much more goes on behind the scenes of small pet rescue, but I can't post every little thing and because Bumble gave me such a cute picture, his story gets told today 🥰

30/05/2025

Huge thank you to the several people who've reached out with advice, asking questions, and offering support! I think I've replied to everyone, but if I missed someone, so sorry! I ended up juggling some other things along with this as always is the case in rescue operation, which is why I am posting this update late.

But wanted to share with everyone this beautiful girl, who is still unnamed because her adopter is getting to know her, received the TLC she needed and is doing well, I'm sure totally enjoying her new life! I was sent a picture right after her nail trim but I haven't gotten permission to post it yet, once I talk to the adopter again I'll make sure it's fine and then share that too 💜

Overall I am just grateful for the outpouring of support, thank you everyone!

25/05/2025

A shelter supervisor has reached out looking for assistance. If anyone is able to help, please reach out through DM, or email [email protected]

21/05/2025

Giving all the hamsters, mice and guinea pigs some extra enrichment this week 💜

Pictured here is Surprize, one of the female sanctuary mice who was the first to awake last night and discover the surprise in her cage. I sure thought it was sooo cute how Surprize discovered her surprise 😂

Surprize was graciously transferred here from another rescue in September 2023 when there weren't any adoptable female mice in my area to bond with a single female mouse here who had lost her sister. Both girls are doing incredibly well despite their old age. You can't tell by looking at her in this picture, but Surprize turned 2 years old in March! And she's still going strong!!!

13/05/2025

Although Sprinter looks similar to a hedgehog in this picture with his little cheek pouches so full, he is a Robo, I promise 😂

Benito has had a few interested applicants but nothing solid that led towards his adoption, Morning Glory and Twilight on the other hand have had over 100 applicants, but not one approval, people either back out, don't ever contact again after I have provided them with proper care resources or I have to deny the adoption, so..... they are still here.

And lastly Skunky, well he's had a few people interested. Not many though, not sure why. But it's difficult to adopt out a single male guinea pig anyways especially if someone doesn't already have a single boy to attempt a bonding. Small animal rescue can be challenging in that aspect, and quite different from dog and cat rescue operation.

If Interested in adopting please reach out by email to [email protected] or send a message and I'll set up a phone interview with you ASAP

Home Sweet Hammy Home

28/07/2025

24/07/2025

23/07/2025

21/07/2025

12/07/2025

12/07/2025

27/06/2025

24/06/2025

30/05/2025

25/05/2025

21/05/2025

13/05/2025

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