Hurricane Irene is just starting to wind down here and thankfully, it doesn't seem to have caused too much damage. 

The windows at the shelter were boarded up on Friday night, just in case, and yesterday when my boyfriend and I went to clean cages, we made sure to double up on hay and water bottles, just in case we couldn't get out there today to check on everyone.   There are some power lines and trees down, but over all, the damage is not as bad as we were anticipating. 

In other news, we caught one more baby bunny from the restaurant parking lot in Stratford yesterday!  We think there is only either one or two more still out there so we've definitely made a lot of headway!   Speaking of which, we did a fundraiser at that same restaurant on Wednesday night, where a portion of the proceeds from all menu items purchased between 5-9pm were donated to Hop Along Hollow.    We made $1000 just that one night alone!   We had such a great turnout, we're excited to implement this fundraiser in the future, possibly at other locations!

We also recently started our Yankee Candle fundraiser, which will earn us 40% profit on all of our sales.   It doesn't end until September 27 so we have a few more weeks to sell, sell, sell!

The good news for this week is that we've have a couple of adoptions and no new comers...
the bad news is that we have 3 residents in "sick bay" with Upper Respiratory Infections and one with a pretty big scabby area on his side.  We took him in for a skin scrape yesterday and the results will take about 2 weeks to come back, but the vet has no explanation for it other than it could possibly be skin cancer.

We also have one former resident being returned to us because her owner lost her job and can't continue to care for her.    She's a big silver Giant Chinchilla named Isabella and I would take her in a heart beat if we had the room here (we actually already own the Flemish Giant she came into the shelter with, named Dixie).

The little baby with the eye issues that we took to the vet earlier this month is doing well.  His eye infection has cleared up and although he's not growing at the same rate as his brother Nimbus, he is gaining weight slowly but surely. 

We had two adoptions scheduled for yesterday and they were both no-shows, so that is kind of disappointing.  We have another one scheduled for today and we're hopeful that they are able to bond their male with one of our females.    There is one little girl we have named Fleece who actually just lost her partner to kidney failure and she looks so depressed...hopefully today is her day to find a new home!

Shaylah and Steve are still waiting for their forever home!

This Tuesday will be two weeks since my last post, and we've only taken in 2 bunnies since that update!  They are two little babies (again!), about 6-7 weeks old.  We took them in from a woman who had the best of intentions but was just completely overwhelmed.   We originally only took one, because she has splay leg so bad in 3 of her 4 limbs that walking is not an option.   We ended up taking the other remaining sibling to keep her company.   Little Francesca can "swim" around in her cage pretty well, and we can see that she is trying to stand, but the vet thinks it's too late to start treatment so if she ever walks again it will be a miracle.   Basically, her legs have been splayed out to the sides for so long (all 7 weeks of her life) that the muscles and bones have started to develop that way and setting them right would do more harm than good.   The trick now is to keep her moving so she doesn't get fat, and to keep her from sitting in her own waste.


The other little babies we took in on the day of my last post are still in foster care and doing well.   We ended up taking the smallest one, named Cirrus, to the vet earlier this week to have his eyes looked at.  They were tearing so bad that the fur around them was actually wearing off and bare skin was exposed.   So he's on drops for another week and hopefully we can get him all cleared up.  The other two, Nimbus and Cumulus, are doing just fine!     The 4th baby that was taken, we had originally thought was covered in ticks...turns out, it was some kind of mite but the vet actually had no idea what they were.   We're still waiting to see if anyone can give us an ID on them, but it wouldn't surprise us if what puts Hop Along Hollow on the map is discovering some previously unknown parasitic insect!


Over the last two weeks we've had several adoptions too!  2 bonded pairs (totaling 4), and two singles so all together, 6 bunnies found forever homes in the last 14 days.   Not too shabby!

We'll be hosting a fundraiser at the 99 Restaurant in Stratford from 5pm - 9pm on Wednesday August 24.  A portion of the proceeds from the night will be donated to Hop Along Hollow.   We've also been chosen by ChocolateRescue.com as their Rescue of the Month for August so 100% of their net profits will be donated to us as well.   We're looking forward to our first Yankee Candle fundraiser as well, which will start probably in September or October and run for a couple of weeks.

So, overall, things are looking OK here at The Hollow!  The weather hasn't been too bad, the number of intakes has decreased, and the number of adoptions has increased so we're very thankful at the moment!

Remember, we can always use volunteers (for a wide variety of things!) and foster homes so if you're interested, please find us on Facebook or Twitter and let us know!