Wow, I am sure I am not the only guinea pig or human in the world who is shocked by the fact it is December. Not really sure where 2021 went, but I do know I have spent many months here at the shelter being cared for by a great bunch of volunteers and staff.

So here we are the week after Thanksgiving, all the buzz at the shelter is about our current fundraiser, Giving Tuesday (although I have it on good authority that your Giving is welcome any day of the week). I have also heard that when you donate you should specify it you are Team Dog or Team Cat. So I have taken it upon myself to designate this weekend Team Small’s Saturday and Sunday … all you need to do is follow the link and donate. Let’s see if we see a sudden surge of donations this weekend, and we will all know that you are doing it for us in the Small’s room!!! Click https://www.apcsm.org/givingtuesday or https://www.facebook.com/donate/1037125470465635/ (link in bio) to help us raise funds for our homeless pets.

We have some Small’s updates, after patiently waiting for way too many weeks, Cottontail, our youngest bunny, finally went home to his new family. Buster and Spice also found homes this past week and we in the small’s room wish them all the best. Now to new arrivals, Daisy, a beautiful little piggie arrived earlier this week, along with Athena and Adonis, two ferrets that have wisely been kept in the hallway as they do rather unnerve us smaller animals. But do not let that fool you, I have it on good authority that these are the friendliest pair of ferrets ever, not only do they love to explore their cage, but also run around in the Ed room. Midweek you could find them trying to pull presents out from under the Christmas tree in there, these two would make a wonderful addition to any ferret savvy home. Finally, we had a bunny brought in on Thursday morning, Cilantro is a little cutie. So as anyone who is any good with numbers will tell you we have gained more animals than we have adopted out. Which to be honest has been a bit of theme in the small’s room this year.

Drawing on my over 2 years of life experience I would like to talk about giving pets as gifts for the holidays … please don’t! However, that doesn’t mean you can’t adopt one of us in the month of December. The shelter is full of cats, dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, ferrets and birds right now all looking for a home to call their own. I hope you will consider spreading the word about our little part of the world to friends and family. Encouraging them to come here and check out all we have to offer. I know if you are in the market for an animal to love you will be able to find want you want here. And I speak for all the animals in the small’s room right now, it would be nice if we had a few less dogs as they can get quite noisy at times and we do like our peace and quiet.

Finally, I wanted to give a shout out to some of our behind-the-scenes volunteers. Those that foster animals in their own homes. This group of individuals take in pregnant and newly born animals, animals that need a bit more TLC and time because of illness, and those that just don’t like the shelter environment. These volunteers wake in the middle of the night to feed newborns, drive to vet appointments, spend hours socializing animals that are just not used to people, and spend time working on behavioral issues. I know Thanksgiving has passed, but there is never a wrong time to say thank you for all you do to help support the staff and shelter within your own homes. I for one can tell you that the small’s room is supported exceptionally well by its group of foster families, who this summer have willing turned their homes into maternity units for multiple sets of guinea pigs.

So that is it for this week but don’t forget to support Team Small’s on Saturday and Sunday and let’s smash that fundraising target together.