New friends! After adopting Gingerbread a while back, her family came back to adopt a friend for her. Nutmeg was the lucky one chosen by Gingerbread.  Their family sent us this sweet update.  "Hey! Just wanted to let you know how Gingerbread and Nutmeg have been doing! Nutmeg has gotten very used to her new home (she loves hiding under clothes or hay) , and Gingerbread has definitely warmed up to her. They love cucumber, by the way."

This pair of black hooded females was recently adopted and we were thrilled to receive this note and photo from their new family! "The girls are settling in very nicely. We used some large pieces of cardboard and the original pen to construct a version of "the Great Wall" for a play area.  My boys had a prolonged discussion, but have settled on the names "Firefly" and "Serenity".  Firefly is the one that gives kisses. She sat on K's lap and boggled when he pet her. The girls are using a little fleece bed as their preferred sleeping space, but are slowly building a paper towel lair to stash their lab blocks.  Such funny things !"

Mr. D, one of our previous guinea pig adopters, decided to venture into the wonderful world of rats, and after a lot of research, he adopted a sweet trio. Skittles, Stanella and Snowflake were looking for a forever home where they would be loved and cherished, no matter their personality quirks. Stanella had a tumor removed and was spayed. Her very outgoing personality and affectionate demeanor made her new daddy fall in love with her right away. Fortunately, their daddy understood how very social rats are and that they should not be separated from their friends. Well, and as we all know, 2 rats or 3 rats is not really that much of a difference, so their daddy adopted Skittles and Snowflake too. Skittles is a hairless girl who is half-blind and who did previously bite due to her blindness. Snowflake does not like to be picked up but she does enjoy full-body massages and a facial courtesy of her humans. The girls now live in a gigantic 5-foot cage and come out for playtime every day.These three girls are very, very lucky to have found such a wonderful and understanding daddy who loves these girls no matter what.

Trio of ratty girls! One sad day, Wee Companions received a call from a lady who had lost her job and her home. She asked us if we could help by taking in her rats. It was a very heartbreaking moment when one of our volunteers met the lady when she relinquished her three beloved rat girls to us. It was very obvious that she truly loved them, but sometimes life puts up a hurdle and it was in the rats' best interest to be re-homed. These three girls were in Wee Companions' care for a few months until a wonderful home came along. The adopters fell in love with all three of them, and we are happy to say that these girls went from rags to riches: they have scored the lottery with their new family! Their new owners report the girls love to play and rearrange their new rat mansion as often as possible.  They like to play "spider rat" and climb all over.  They love to keep their owners on their toes by running in every direction possible when out of the cage.  And occasionally they get in a pile and take a nap together.

This young pair of female rats was abandoned in a vacant home and turned in to the animal shelter on Camp Pendleton. Wee Companions received a call from the shelter and they were transferred to us.  They are wonderful girls who love to greet everyone with kisses and explore their surroundings! Peanut and Chocolate are getting to know their new family, and you can see how excited this family member is to get to know the girls too!

A girl and her rats!!
Dylan and Dart, two of our baby rats that came to us as newborns with their mom on April Fool's Day this year, were recently adopted by a wonderful family.  They keep us updated regarding the boys progress and activities and sent this fantastic photo to us.  Truly a heartwarming picture of the bond between rats and their human!

Check out this great update from one of our awesome volunteers!
Hi! I have had my guinea pig Millie since she was just a few months old and now she's almost two. I came to an adoption event with a few guinea pigs in mind that I wanted to meet from the website. Fenella put a little black and white girl into my lap and told me she had a large personality so to always keep a hand on her. The little guinea pig fell asleep in my arms, and I knew she was the one. Fenella was right about that huge personality part! Millie is the sassiest guinea pig, but she loves her human cuddles. I have had so much fun with her, and couldn't have asked for a better guinea pig. She makes me laugh all the time with the funny noises she makes when she hears the veggie bags, how she popcorns when I fill her hayrack, and I love the little kisses she gives me. She has a nice big C&C cage with fleece bedding and comfortable beds, but she has decided she likes to sleep under the fleece...Oh, Millie! Thank you Wee Companions for rescuing all of these animals, and for my little princess, Millie :)

An update from the family who adopted a trio of rats from us nearly a year ago:
"Just in case you ever wonder how or what happened to the Bohemian Artist Colony is up to these days, here is Rembrandt, Milo, and Leonardo yesterday at Ratty Recess. Still squishy, still all together!"
"Squishy" in this context means they are very people friendly, easy to hold, huggable, snuggly rats. It was the way these boys were described by their foster mom to tempt this family into meeting them.

Hi Everyone!!!

Yes, three exclamation points because I am so excited!  I am finally home!

For those of you who don't know, I am Bertolina.  For those of you who have met me and decided not to adopt me, it was all a ruse.  It was all  perfectly calculated by me because I just knew my right mommy was out there.  Forgive me, but I had to make you all dizzy and pretty much ignore you when you met me because I waited for the only mamma I wanted: Maria!  She came to meet me on March 24, 2012.  You might wonder why I am being so precise here.  I will explain: It's a special day, a very happy one because I was finally united with my family.  I even have a daddy too! I am so lucky!  That day is such a happy day, I think you should mark it in your calendar and celebrate it every year.  As a matter of fact, I think it should officially become Bertolina Day!!  I am telling you, it was LOVE at first sight! Mamma (not a typo! I say it in Italian because my foster mom has taught me Italian and I'm fluent now) and Papa (that means Daddy in Italian - told ya I'm fluent!) saw me and I saw them, and I just knew I had to go home with them.  I impressed them with my jumping and flying abilities and kissed my daddy right away to seal the deal.  My foster mom was worried I would be too much for my mamma and papa, but she didn't know at that point that they were the ones I had been waiting for! They understand my special needs, they understand I need free range time and a big cage, and most of all, their unconditional love because that's exactly what I will give back to them.

So everyone, I just wanted to make your day and let you know that I am finally home! While you read this, I am probably going for a walk at my new place, licking my papa, cuddling with my mamma or snoozing in one of my masterpiece nests I build.  I do love you all, but I love my mamma and papa more. 

Ciao,
Bertolina 

We receive letters from adopters and volunteers, but occasionally we receive a very special letter written by one of our animals! Check this out: "Hi Fenella- Just wanted to thank you for placing me with Miss V. We are getting along great! I was a little nervous my first day and didn't drink much water, but I snacked on apples, hay and pellets. Yesterday, Miss V's mom gave me broccoli- I LOVE broccoli. I also started drinking regularly from my water bottle--- my family was relieved! I snuggle with Miss V after school and we watch TV together. Miss V likes it when I purr and squeak. I explore the bathroom when Miss V is taking a bath. I like to hide in shoe boxes and tunnels. Blankets are fun, too. I think I've found my forever home... 
Thank you!
Pierre, the guinea pig (and Miss V and family, too!)"

Where's Waldo?....With Mr. E and Marbles! Waldo was recently adopted by Mr. E who sadly had lost his other rat boy. Marbles, a very shy rat around 1.5 years, was very lonely and sad without his brother, so Mr. E contacted Wee Companions. We had just taken in Waldo, who had also lost his last brother. Waldo and Marbles have many things in common besides sadly losing their brothers: both are around the same age, are very sensitive to noises and are shy in nature but once they are comfortable, their beautiful soul shines through. Mr. E came to an adoption where he first met Waldo. Waldo was immediately comfortable with Mr. E and enjoyed Marbles' company, too. To be sure the boys got along, they had another visit at Waldo's foster home.  Yes, a match made in heaven! Waldo very happily went home with Marbles and now enjoys a life of freedom. The boys not only have a very loving daddy but they also have free run of Mr. E's room! Now these are some very lucky rats! Our deepest thanks go to Mr. E and Marbles for taking Waldo home.

Volunteer Michel sent in this lovely letter and holiday photo: "Hi, my name is Michel and these are my two boys, Sammy and Moke. Sammy is the all red boy and Moke has white on his face. One day I was volunteering for Wee Companions and took a little boy home to foster. After two weeks, Fenella called me and asked if I could bring him back for an adoption on Saturday? But by then I loved him too much and said that I would like to adopt him. That was Sammy, in Oct. of 2010. After I had Sammy for a couple of months I realized he was under his blanket all the time, so I thought he might need a friend. We tried a couple of boys the same age as Sammy but he wouldn't have anything to do with them! Then we tried a baby boy, Moke, and we have been happy ever since that day. Some days my boys will sleep near each other, other days they like their own space. Some days, when Moke is snuggled in my t-shirt, Sammy likes to sit on his head! Luckily they have plenty of space to do their own thing. Happy New Year!"

Joy has so much love to give, she has adopted 4 of our hard to place singles and gives them all quality one on one time. She is pictured here on the day she adopted the guinea pig formerly known as Shakespeare. She writes:"....I am technologically challenged, so I need one of my daughters to take some pictures. However, I did want to let you know that all three [4 as of this posting] are doing well...Shakespeare, is now Derek Zoolander, a male super-model. I had been warned that he is a biter, but I have had no trouble. When I put him into his new cage, I thought I heard him purr, which I thought was strange. Now that I am re-thinking it, I believe it may have been a rumble, due to the fact that the previous tenant of the cage was a female guinea pig who passed away. Even though I cleaned the cage very well, perhaps he could still smell her and was looking for a hot date. The only problem I have had with Zoolander was when he crawled up onto my shoulder and tested my ear to see if it was edible. I told him the story of Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. I explained that was a very unfortunate situation which did not end well. Zoolander seemed to understand and did not pursue my ear anymore.
Since Zoolander is a super-model, he needs to learn how to negotiate the catwalk. His cage has a ramp in it, and I don't think he had ever been on a ramp before, because he kept falling off. It's not easy being beautiful!"

Norman's new family sent this update shortly after adopting him."Norman is doing wonderful. He’s such a love bug and so sweet. The kids absolutely love him and spent all day Sunday building forts and houses for him out of shoe boxes. We’re still learning his routine and found out yesterday that he doesn’t like raspberries. But every time we enter the room he pops his head up to say hi and waits to get some scratches behind his ears or on his back. So he seems to be settling in very well. I’ve attached a few photos from the weekend. Thank you again for helping me find such a great companion for our family!"

These three young females are on pregnancy watch because they came out of an animal shelter with a male. They are only a couple of months old, so we hope they are NOT pregnant, but must be sure.
Their new foster mom, Tina, reports: "They seem to be settling in. They keep giving false alarms, though. The other piggies know the feeding schedule, but the babies will set up a hopeful wheeking any time they hear plastic rustling and set all the others off." If you look closely, you can see that Isabelle, the white one, has her mouth open wheeking in the photo.

Fat Albert (all black) and Alfred (orange and white)were adopted in November 2011, at just 5 weeks old. Their new family had this great C&C style cage all ready for them! They report: "...as of now the hay rack and that ball seem kind of useless (I don't think the little guys really want to work for it yet). So far, the boys love endive, parsley, cilantro, red leaf and green leaf lettuce as well as arugula and baby carrots…they are not a fan of yellow bell pepper or raspberries. I'll just weigh them in a few days to make sure they're gaining.....they both love the tunnel upstairs and the fleece tunnel below. There's also a water bottle on the second floor so they don't need to travel far if they're thirsty."

This is Albuquerque, a male Syrian adopted out as a youngster in March 2011, now a full grown, much loved family pet! Here are a couple of excerpts from the letter sent to us recently by his owners.
"....He’s enjoying his new home and he gets lots of attention as well as plenty of opportunity to play.....such a pleasure for us and has a sweet disposition. Not once has he ever attempted to bite. His temperament has been perfect...makes perfect little hammie beds and stays very cozy and warm. He’s been getting the best of everything since we brought him home. And we’ve even got a couple of little Christmas presents for him under the tree since we’ll be celebrating his first Christmas as well as his first birthday here in the coming weeks."