Dispatches from the Hallway by Spazz (a rather charming gerbil)
Hi all, my name’s Spazz (not the prettiest name for a cutie like me) and I currently reside in the hallway at the animal shelter in Brockton. I bet you are wondering why I am writing the small’s blog … Oreo got adopted! Obviously based off his talents at writing his new family saw his potential and scooped him up. So, for this week you have me. Now living in the hall-way I am not as intimately acquainted with many of the other small residents here, but I do get to hear a lot, being that my cage is located right next to the front desk.
So, let’s start with wishing all our new adoptees good luck in their new homes. Oreo, Bowser, Luigi, and Fluffy all found new homes, you would think our guinea pig population would have therefore shrunk but I saw Brockton Animal Control drop off two piggies earlier this week (Toffee and Fudge), and I overheard several staff talking on the phone to people that need to surrender their animals. My hallway has been pretty crowded these past couple of weeks, we had a sugar glider come and go quite quickly, as we were able to place him with an exotic rescue center. But that same cage was soon filled by those fun-loving ferret friends of mine, Adonis and Athena. These two were the friendliest ferrets I have had the pleasure of meeting, so no surprise to anyone when they were quickly adopted by ferret savvy humans. I have been woken by the trill and song of three lovely little birds for a little while now, but they too found homes this past week. Leaving only myself and Gumble, a cute but elderly hamster. Sadly, Gumble’s time on this earth ended this week, but I know that this little guy was well loved. Evidence of this love could be seen in the amount of glitter stickers attached to his penthouse like hamster habitat that came with him when he was surrendered into the care of our loving staff and volunteers. So that leaves little me, alone in the hallway … hoping that Oreo’s luck at being named writer of our little blog will rub off on me and I will also be going home soon.
As a gerbil of the world, I thought I would use my time this week to let you all have a sneak peek at what goes on at the front desk! You may think that being here would be hard, day after day watching people surrender their pets, but I live in a surprisingly joyful place. Of course, I would be lying if I said it wasn’t difficult to hear of families having to give up pets due to changes in circumstances, but I love the fact that they called because they know that here is group of people who can take care of their pet. A group of staff and volunteers who not only feed, walk and clean the animals in their care, but give us the attention and love we all require too. There is a lot of laughter at our front desk, I mean there is no mistaking Katie’s laugh. My favorite time in this little spot is when potential new families call to inquire about an animal they have seen on our website, then I know we will be seeing new faces which is always exciting. Appointments are made and people arrive to meet their potential new family member, and with any luck take them home. It is wonderful to see new bonds being made and be able to wish all my animal friends here good luck in the next part of their lives. Because let’s face it, we all love the humans here at the shelter, but it really isn’t the same as having a home of our own, with our own special humans. Another thing I love about being right in the heart of the action is that I get to see all those kind and generous folks who stop by to donate items. Blankets, towels, toys, and of course food are regularly dropped off by kind individuals, or those great guys driving the Amazon, UPS, FedEx and postal trucks. We do get boring deliveries too, like bleach, laundry detergent, litter and paper towels, but all of these items are essential to the everyday running of this place. This past week I have also had the honor of being right next to the thermometer that has been tracking our Giving Tuesday donations, it was the highlight of my day to see that little red line move higher and higher! Team cat won, but I would like to think that the push for Team Small’s Saturday and Sunday is what pushed us over the edge.
I am going to end with a little bit about me, not that I want to toot my own horn, but I am a rather sophisticated looking lady. Sleek black fur and an irresistible personality, I mean what isn’t there to love.
I know gerbils are often overlooked when families look for that great first pet, but we are just as fun loving as hamsters, in fact I have heard it said that we might be a bit better!! This comes down to the fact that as desert critters we drink very little, therefore we pee very little. I am certainly not suggesting that regular cleaning is not necessary, but we are a bit less whiffy than some of our other rodent friends. https://www.gerbilwelfare.com/least-smelly-rodent-pets/ We are also great recyclers, nothing thrills us more than filling up our habitat with paper tubes, egg boxes and other types of card board, we can then tunnel, dig and burrow to our hearts content. Just like any animal when handled with care we rarely nip and are generally very friendly. There, I did my sales pitch now I will let the powers that be determine my fate!
As always please check out the bios of all my friends here at the shelter. https://www.apcsm.org/availableanimals Not sure who is going to be writing next week, but what I am sure about is that some of my friends will have gone to a furever home and some new friends will have arrived.
