Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the people and rescues making a difference in the lives of animals. Today's guest is Hannah Lorio Falgout, and she is the small animal adoption coordinator at the Jefferson SPCA. Hi Hannah. How are you?

I'm good, how are you?

I'm great. Can you tell us about yourself and how you became involved in small animal rescue?

Yeah, so I I got involved volunteering, funnily enough. Rachel, who is my boss she had posted a picture 'cause I had adopted my cats from there but she had posted a picture and we were friends on Facebook of a new bunny set up. Asking basically if anybody wanted to volunteer to play with rabbits and whatnot. And I was like I'll volunteer. Like I've always had rabbits pretty much my whole entire life actually. Because when I was in fifth grade, I actually went to Jefferson Feed, which is where our adoptables are Jefferson. SPCA is inside of there. And. My first bunny was from there. I actually adopted him. His name was Frosty, and he started my whole journey. So I really started researching and all of that. And just got like super into rabbits. So then I started, watching YouTube and advocating for bunnies and stuff so that's how I got involved. I was in another job at the time and I was telling her how I was ready, to move on with my life, get a new job, and she mentioned that she needed an assistant. So I got hired with them. So now I'm like the program's director's assistant and the small animal adoption coordinator. So that's how I got to where I am now.

Now you said that you had first found out about them through adopting cats. Do you still currently have cats as well?

Yes, I do. I have four cats. Two of my cats I adopted 2020 I believe. And they are older cats. I didn't want kittens. I love kittens, but. I wanted older cats 'cause I just freak out with little things. So yeah, so we have two cats that came from there and then a couple years later I always wanted a black cat, so I ended up adopting another cat at that time. And then recently, like in the past year, I trapped a cat that was unfixed fairly easily. Like I literally just picked him up. And I took him home 'cause I was like texted Rachel. I was like, Hey, like I need to get this cat fixed. And I was in the bathroom with him 'cause that's where I was keeping him at the time. And he just crawled in my lap and just sat there. And I was like, you don't wanna be a street cat. So I ended up with a fourth one because of that.

That's good And I'm glad to hear too that you adopted adult cats. And also a black cat because those are the ones that are the hardest to get adopted. Everybody wants kittens. I like kittens, don't get me wrong, but getting a cat, it's so much easier. You know what you're getting into already

right? Kittens are so cute. Anything, any baby. Animal is cute. But I just, I, my heart goes out to older animals in general. I always adopt even with rabbits, like all of mine were like moms. I never adopted, the babies if they were found with babies. I always adopted the mom rabbits 'cause I always fell in love with them. Always drawn to that for some reason.

So do you allow the cats to interact with the rabbits or do you keep 'em separated?

I do and don't. So one, I have a bunny room where five of my bunnies free ro. So I actually have seven rabbits and two free ro in my bedroom. I keep my bedroom door closed only because one of them will run into the other bunny room and start fights. So I have to keep them separated. But I do leave the bunny room door open most of the time because they don't. Venture out of their room really. And my cats will go in there and hang out with them and it's funny, but one of my bunnies really loves the cat that I recently rescued from the street. They will literally share like vegetables together. Like they will sit on the rug and both eat their veggies together. And it's so cute.

Yeah. I'm glad to hear too that, 'cause I, I think there's a lot of people that don't realize that cats and bunnies can get along.

They're, they can be dangerous in a sense. Like recently we did rescue a bunny at the World War II Museum and it had abscesses all over, and we recently found out that the bacteria was from cat saliva. But that's usually not really common for it to happen But yeah, that's a very slim case most of the time. Like I think domesticated indoor cats can get along with rabbits fairly well.

So now, what types of small animals does your organization primarily rescue?

We rescue all kinds, mostly rabbits and Guinea pigs. But recently we took in two chinchillas from L-A-S-P-C-A and two gerbils from J Paws, which is the shelter. So we just take whatever they have. I don't think we would ever do like snakes or anything like that, but I've, they have never gotten that. 'cause I don't know anything about them and I don't really do reptiles.

So Do most of the animals typically come from the shelter?

Yes, most of 'em do. More recently, like within the year since I've been working there, I was rescuing a lot from parks around Jefferson area. Like Lafreniere Park is one big one that a lot of people in our area know about, where there was just a surge of white bunnies. White bunnies are actually the least adopted bunnies because their eyes are red, reddish blue, really and people don't like that for some reason, which I get, but I actually find them the sweetest. But yeah, they are the hardest to adopt out. But there was so many living there, they just kept breeding and breeding. And so us and two other bunny rescues, Lola Bunny and Friends and Bun Again Rabbit Rescue, they had helped us clear out that park. And then we also recently. Cleared out Kenner Park, which was another big one that was took forever. And all the bunnies there were very sick with parasites and just all kinds of injuries from just living the rough life, but yeah, mostly now we take from the shelter but it just depends.

What are some of the biggest misconceptions people have about small animal rescue?

I think people just don't know it exists. That's the thing I think when people think of rabbits, they think of baby bunnies. They don't think that people rehome them or that, if people have a bunny and they decide they don't want it, that it can just live outside. Because wild bunnies live outside. And the truth is domesticated rabbits, they have some instincts of a wild rabbit. Their brain has actually decreased since we've domesticated them. So they don't have the ins as much of the instinct as a wild bunny and they don't survive. I think it's also just like another thing, like we recently did a bunny bunko, 'cause we've been raising money to. Build the rabbits at the rescue, new enclosures that are more standard size for what they should be living in, if they're going to live in a cage, which I always advocate for free roaming. If somebody feels they need to have a rabbit live in some type of enclosure, I'm totally okay with that. But I think there's a total misconception of spaying and neutering. Like at the bunny bunko, this lady argued with my boss. And was like, you can't spay and neuter bunnies. And she just kept arguing with her and my boss was like, yes, you can. Like we do it all the time. So there's a lot of misconceptions where people just don't think that vets, exist for small animals, but they do.

Yeah, when I had Lola and friends on, we were talking about the bunny reproduction and how every 28 days, and I knew Bunnies had a lot, but I had no idea it was that close together and and the fact that people just go dump 'em and don't spay a neuter him, it causes a really big problem.

It does, and it's a huge problem, especially like during Easter. We even have people granted that we are in a store that people think, oh, you can just go buy an animal from the store that we're located in, and people will come during Easter time, which I actually stop adoptions a few weeks before Easter, and then a couple weeks after as well to prevent people, just bunnies getting in. People that don't have the right. Intentions. But yeah, people will walk in all the time and just be like, so we can't buy a bunny today. And I'm like, no. Like we, we do this because we're trying to save them. We're trying to give them their second chance, and a lot of the times, the rabbits that are bought at Easter end up on the street a couple months later and people just don't realize. There's way more care that goes into rabbits. So you think most people think you can stick 'em in a hutch outside and they're gonna be fine and thrive, but they can't thrive in that environment. I think also the misconceptions is that they're boring animals, which they really aren't. If people would just actually research and set up the right environment for them in their home, they could see just how much personality a rabbit could have.

Yeah. I've seen videos on YouTube where they have bunnies that are jumping all over the bed and running around just like a cat would.

Yeah. They're crazy little things, but they're so funny. They make me laugh. And today I, we just put a new enclosure up actually today, and one of the bunnies had been looking just really depressed. 'cause we have adoption tanks that we're trying to get rid of so we can sh. Educate people more on what they should be living in. And so it's like a glass tank and it's almost like a fish tank, really. And I, when I started working there I knew that was something I wanted to change, I just knew that wasn't a good environment and people couldn't see the bunny's true personalities. And then again, the normal looking bunnies were not getting adopted. You get a lopp or a fuzzy lion head or whatever. Those go quick because people want cuteness. And I always tell people like, come and meet the bunnies. Don't just go off looks, come and meet the personality. They all have different personalities. But yeah, that was just something I wanted to do to help educate people on. What they should be living in. But anyway, it's funny we put him in the enclosure and his little butt was wiggling his, so like when they get excited, like their little tail wags almost and it's so cute.

Uhhuh. That's cute. Now, how do you assess the temperament or personality of each of them? Or how would you tell people who are prospective adopters that they should spend time with the Bunny to learn the Bunny's personality?

So most of the time I tell people to set up a meet and greet, and then I ask them what they're looking for. Now, a lot of our, my emails actually come from Petfinder, which it's really hard. For people to really know a personality through a picture online. So a lot of our bunnies, like the one right now that we have is like an Angora lionhead mix. Her name's Twix and I've gotten a bunch of emails on her and I'm like, I know she's beautiful, but she's also really shy and because she came from an abusive case so she's really shy and it takes a while for her to warm up to people. So I always tell people I'm like you wanna make sure that's what you're really looking for, and sometimes people do change their mind on rabbits and they're like, I really like this personality and this bunny. And I'm like, that's what I want. I want people to meet the animal before they take it home most rabbits, they do take time to get used to their owner. They're not like gonna be totally your best friend the day you bring them home. And I think that's for any animal really. It's just because they're prey animals, I think it takes a lot longer. But once you earn a bunny's trust, and I always tell my husband this, I'm like, once you earn a bunny's trust, it's like the most rewarding thing because they are prey animals. And something about that just feels good that I could earn that trust of that bunny,

Do you have fosters too?

I do somewhat. There's a few groups, a few people that I like, really trust to foster, but a lot of times people don't ask to foster. I would be more willing to let some, like right now I'm fostering one the one from the World War II Museum with the abscesses. And she's doing really well now. But yeah, I usually keep my small circle of people that I know because I don't really have a lot of people that I know that wanna foster rabbits. It's an overlooked animal in the foster system. But I would like to grow it at some point,

yeah. It's hard to find fosters for dog and cats too, and so I can imagine it's difficult to find it for bunnies as well.

And you don't want them just going anywhere. Most people know the education on dogs and cats. I say that there's still a lot of people that don't. It's, it, there's a whole thing. 'cause rabbits just have so much education that's a little behind. I say rabbit tears advanced a lot, even in the last 10, 15 years. So much has changed, even from when I started having rabbits to now I've changed like a lot of the stuff I do to take care of them,

What are the, some of the common health issues that you could see in rabbits?

Mostly we see parasites. That's probably the number one GI stasis, which I called a silent killer. Parasites are fairly treatable, but most of the time the rabbits that have 'em are just from outside. But most of the bunnies that have come outside from outside that we've rescued have had some type of parasite. So that's the one thing I see the most in rescue as far as like owning rabbits and having rabbits. As well as in rescue, GI stasis is a pretty serious thing. It can be caused by another illness or it can just be from inadequate diet. Sometimes they just eat something they shouldn't. And sometimes just random things will cause it. Like teeth issues, that's another illness. Teeth issues. But. So it's basically when they stop eating and rabbit's, guts need to constantly move. So if they stop eating, they can't throw up. If they ate something they weren't supposed to eat, so basically get stuck in their digestive tract and they can't get it out. So sometimes you have to do like an emergency surgery. You usually have a 12 to 24 hour window for GI stasis. And the signs of it are usually like hunched over. They look really depressed almost. And they're not eating, and they're not eating their favorite things. That's the biggest one. But a lot of times it is caused from teeth issues. Like recently, one of my bunnies started not eating and I took him to the vet and they were like, oh, he has some spikes on his teeth because their teeth, they eat hay. To grind their teeth down. But sometimes genetics play a role in their teeth issues, so they'll have to shave the little spikes off their teeth. 'cause it'll hurt them when they're eating.

And that's just on the teeth. Is it like a gum thing? 'cause I know in cats get the stomatitis, which is like a inflammation of the gums that causes a whole bunch of issues. And cats don't eat.

So it, it's literally just like on the teeth. It's like a growth on the tooth basically. And they'll just shave 'em off and then it fixes pretty much most of the time fixes it. But yeah, the hay is just is so important. And actually a lot of people think that rabbits should be eating pellets, but pellets actually make rabbits fat, basically, I call it. The meat rabbit logic because if you're RA people see that and people think, oh, rabbits are supposed to have pellets, but like people gave rabbits back in the day, pellets to gain weight to make them better, to eat, if that makes any sense. As much as that's morbid. But. Yeah, so I always, I do give my rabbits pellets sometimes, usually as a little treat. But they have access to hay 24 7 and they get veggies twice a day, which is about a cup for each of them.

For a new adopter, a person new to bunnies, what should they be Feeding the bunnies?

Depends on the age of the bunny under four to six months, they usually eat alfalfa hay because it's rich and calcium and it's fatty. So it'll help them, gain weight and grow. And they'll also have junior pellets. Which they can eat pellets at a very young age and really should. Same goes for a nursing mother. They should have access to pellets as well because it helps them to produce milk for the kits. I'm saying that because we've had rabbits that gave birth in our rescue and I had to learn that. And then for older adult. Bunnies, they should be eating Timothy hay. And a little bit of pellets. About a tablespoon to a fourth. A cup of pellets is a day. A day is okay. And then baby bunnies should never have access to vegetables until about four months. Adults can have it really anytime.

Are there certain vegetables that are better than others?

The one vegetable. I always tell people, 'cause they're surprised when I tell them that bunny should not have is actually iceberg lettuce. It is poisonous to rabbits. And a lot of people don't know that 'cause they think of, that the bunnies can eat all kinds of vegetables. But yeah, no carrots also sugary. So if you give a carrot to a bunny. The misconception of Bugs Bunny, you should really only give them like a pea-sized amount. Same goes for fruit and stuff. It really should be small amounts 'cause it's so sugary. But they can eat things like my bunny's really like cilantro and parsley. They also like dill and I give mine a lot of romaine lettuce as well.

So romaine lettuce is okay, just not iceberg.

So romaine lettuce is okay. I guess iceberg is not good because of the high water content. It really has no nutrients. I don't know exactly what makes it poisonous, but I just know people that have fed their rabbits before they knew iceberg lettuce and the rabbit would just die. And I'm like, what? I didn't know that either. And I did a lot of research, when I, every vegetable I fed my rabbits when I first started

Yeah. I didn't know that, that's, I would've thought that they could have could've eaten that. I did not know that at all.

Yeah, I mean I've gone to like the park before we rescued the rabbits and there would just be carrot sticks and iceberg lettuce one time and broccoli. And I'm like, oh my gosh. All those broccoli causes like gas build up in bunnies, which can also lead to GI stasis. So I'm like, all the improper veggies were on the ground and those bunnies were like, they survived. And it's crazy to me because I guess they were so used to eating. Such random food that their gut just tolerated at much more than a rabbit that lives in your home, if that makes sense.

Yeah, definitely. So now when you adopt the rabbits out, of course you're gonna spay a neuter. What other kind of vetting do they have done?

Regular, normal checkups. They should be getting yearly exams just because rabbit hide illness. And we also have been vaccinating for RHDV2. It's just like this thing that erupted like in the eighties, I believe. And it's finally made its way to the United States, but it's basically contracted from deceased animals, but can be carried on human clothing, human shoes into your home. And it's, doesn't go away just by washing your clothes. And it lasts about, like the germs will last 40 days. On your items. And basically if a rabbit contracts it. There's no warning signs, they just die. So I recommend it, people get them vaccinated. We haven't had too many cases in Louisiana. I think there's maybe been like one but somebody recently told me that it's starting to move into our area more so I'm like kinda recommending it way more. But yeah, so I do recommend that I get mine vaccinated. Because I work around other rabbits and you just never know. But I do

What kind of post-adoption support do you offer to adopters?

I always give my adopters for rabbits, at least my phone number, because I want them to be able to text me. If they have a question or a concern, because I wish there was that support for me when I adopted my bunny. And I know it's helpful because, for dogs and cats, obviously you can totally reach out to the rescues and ask questions. Rabbits are a little bit more on a time basis. Like for example, a GI stasis. It's such a timely, area where you need to get the bunny to a vet. You wanna make sure. Things. I also don't have a lot of adopters that are first time rabbit owners and have never owned a small animal. And I want them obviously I educate all my adopters before they adopt. We always have a meet and greet. We talk about the care, we talk about, common illnesses how rabbits should be living. I want them to be able to, because that's a lot of information at once. I want them to be able to ask me for advice or whatever. So I do provide that for them.

And if it doesn't work out, do you take the bunnies back?

I do. My one thing is I, it sounds terrible, but I tell every adopter this, I'm like, please do not dump the animal. I'm like, please do not dump the bunny. I was like, it takes a lot to catch them, and they really don't survive outside. I was like, I don't think you're gonna do it, but I have to warn you, I want you to bring it back to me. If things aren't working out, bring it back to me. I don't want you to bring it to the shelter. I want to come back to my rescue. 'cause I know them and I know I can get them to adopt it out again eventually, because I know their personality,

and that's the good thing with adopting from a rescue. 'cause I know on social media. I recently just saw a story about somebody giving away a rabbit with their hutch because their child lost interest. Yeah. And that's just so upsetting. So it's a good thing that rescues do take their animals back if it doesn't work out.

And it's a super common thing too, that people get rabbits thinking they're starter pets. It's and I always tell people, I'm like, you'd be do better getting your child a fish than any other animal. Not even a hamster. Like they even require a good amount of care. I always tell people, like they come in and they'll be like, Hey does this, do you think a rabbit's a good pet for a three-year-old? And I'm like, absolutely not. If your kid wants a pet, and I really don't think you should get your kid a pet in general because they're going to lose interest. That's just how kids are. Get them a fish. It doesn't live as long. They can live a long life, but they don't live as long. They're pretty easy, low maintenance animals. You gotta clean their tank and feed them, but they're pretty low maintenance, so I always tell people, I'm like, not a rabbit, not any small animal. And they're just so fragile, like Guinea pigs and rabbits can break their backs just so easily. And kids love to pick up animals and hold them very close. And small animals are just not into that.

Because they're prey animals.

Like I get scratched even. I'm used to carrying bunnies, but even I will get scratched by their back feet sometimes. And it hurts. I'm not gonna drop them, but a kid holding a bunny may drop an animal if it starts to scratch at them, because that hurts,

definitely. Now you've gone over, the challenges with people like dumping bunnies, of course. So do you have any heartwarming stories about people adopting bunnies and getting, before and afters?

There's one, one of my good fosters and adopters, she loves red-eyed white bunnies. And so she's adopted a lot of the ones that have been harder to adopt out. One of them was a big giant, like 11 pound red-eyed white. Oh, wow. Funny. Before my boss or I even worked with the J-S-P-C-A. Was adopted out from us. So it was microchip to us. One day somebody texted me, they're like, there's a big white bunny and LA near park. Can you go out and see? So I went out and saw, and somebody had dumped the bunny in the pouring rain because nobody was in the park, obviously. So I went out in the pouring rain and I, it took me five minutes to catch this bunny. I noticed so she was a big white rabbit. She had some, I believe, neurological issues, which were undiagnosed at the time. But had a little bit of trouble walking and didn't like getting off of rugs and stuff. But she was also dyed pink and she was overweight and had sore hocks, which are basically from improper flooring. The hocks of a rabbit will get sore. So they need a lot of cushion. But anyway, so we checked for a microchip and she was registered to us and she was about five years old and I just couldn't believe it. Like somebody, somebody had an attention to adopt a rabbit and then proceeded to give it all the wrong things and then eventually dump it. But she took, Lacey took the bunny from me because she knew it would be a hard adoption for me to have, and so she adopts all of the red eye white bunnies. She just loves them and I love that because there's not many people that do. We have four red eye white bunnies right now that are sitting in. Our enclosures that were born in our rescue back in December of 2023, the day we rescued their mom, she gave birth. So they're very much overlooked. And then recently that, that bunny unfortunately did pass away the one that we rescued from Lafreniere Park because of neurological issues, I think. She recently also took in another white bunny that has tumors all over. And she's fostering that one basically until he crosses over Uhhuh. So sweet. She's like falling in love with him and it makes me so happy that she can give him that love,

I hate to see the ones that are overlooked like that just because of the way they look.

Yeah, so she's my best foster slash adopter probably because she just, she does so much for, the ones that get overlooked and she really cares. And I love that about her.

So what are your most pressing needs?

Probably my pressing needs would be volunteers. I really need more volunteers. The bunnies don't get a lot of socialization in rescue and it's hard for me to provide that for them. And I do have a couple of volunteers, don't get me wrong, but a lot of the times I need help with other things. Organizing things, cleaning rabbits just things like that. Giving meds, clipping nails, whatever. Just upkeep, right? But yeah, I really need, more volunteers to help socialize them and make them more comfortable with humans. Because a lot of the times they do come from a bad environment where they didn't get much socialization or interaction. And so they need to learn love and interaction with humans and that it's okay,

now, would that be at the store? Is that where people would volunteer to help with that?

Yes. So all of our adoptables are inside the store, so it'd be mostly inside the store. We recently moved the bunnies upstairs, so it's a little more quiet now. Like people with carts and stuff would often scare the bunnies when they were downstairs 'cause it's loud, it's like a warehouse building. Being upstairs, I do find it's quieter and the bunnies can more relax, which is good. And I feel like they can interact more with a human if we had more volunteers. But like I said, I do have a few I. And two of them are older. And I do have one that's still in school, and she does help on Fridays and she'll groom them and do that kind of stuff.

And do they get volunteer credit for that? For school?

They do, yes. The only thing with volunteers is I do have to be with them at first, especially if they're on the younger side. Just so a lot of people, again, they don't know about rabbits, so it's just, it's good to have the hands-on experience. I usually will sit with them and show them everything and you know how to handle the bunnies, and then I'll show them other things so they can help in other areas, such as helping with the cats or washing dishes and doing laundry, which kind of contributes from all the animals,

Where can listeners learn more about the bunnies that are up for adoption before they would set up a meet and greet?

So most of our buns are on petfinder. You can also sometimes find them on Facebook if we post them, but most of them are on Petfinder. You can also just come to the Jefferson Feed store that's on Jefferson Highway in Jefferson. Mostly we just post on Petfinder, but you can always email me too as well. And then we'd also have a website for the Jefferson SPCA that I think links to the Petfinder.

And what is that website?

It's jefferson spca.org.

Okay. I can include a link to that too in the description and I'll go see if I can pull up the Petfinder and put that in the description as well, so that way people will be able to easily find it. In Jefferson Parish we have some really good programs to spay and neuter at low cost. So is there a specific program for the rabbits in Jefferson Parish?

There is, and also for the male Guinea pigs. Most of our rabbits do get fixed at avian and exotic. I know there's other vets that also fix,. Two clinics are on our program and only one of them fixes both males and females, and that's avian. I want to, in the future, get more clinics to help us because there is a lot of rabbits, and I know Avian has. A lot of patients and I'm sure it would be nice to have some more clinics to help out as well. But for male rabbits, it's $40 if you live in Jefferson Parish to fix a male rabbit. And then for females, it's. 60 And then for the male Guinea pigs, I don't remember the price exactly 'cause we don't really get that many fixed. Recently we just had a lot of girls. I think it's also $40 to fix male Guinea pigs. I'll have to double check on that. But yeah, so we do the male Guinea pigs and then male and female rabbits. The reason we don't do the low cost for female Guinea pigs is it's very invasive surgery and they're so much smaller than rabbits. And it costs a lot more to spay a female Guinea pig. We have done it simply because they can get cancer

So if you get Guinea pigs, then don't get a male and female Guinea pig and put 'em together unless you neuter the boy first.

Correct. Yeah. Yes. And it's also just easier, to bond. Small animals are vicious, not gonna lie. That sounds crazy, but rabbits do well in pairs and they're, they really should be in pairs, but. They will not want to accept that at first sometimes and will fight, but I always tell people it's like humans. Like we, we're not gonna every single person we meet, you just gotta find that right person. It's the same for the small animals too. Like I just think rabbits need to find their companion. Like you can't choose it for them. They have to choose,

so is there a way to acclimate 'em? If you already have a rabbit and you're thinking of getting a second rabbit. I know like with cats, what we do is we'll keep 'em in separate rooms and they smell each other through the door, and then after a while you bring them in one in a carrier and let 'em sniff each other through the carrier and stuff like that. So how do you acclimate rabbits?

So it's different. So I always say spay and neuter is the most important thing. If you're gonna start trying to introduce rabbits, you need to have them both fixed. Obviously if it's a male and a female and they're unfixed, they're going to wanna be together. But because we don't want any more babies, I always tell people to spay a neuter 'cause we don't need anymore babies. That's right. Yeah I usually just set up meet and greet. So if people have a bunny, I'll set up a meet and greet. They can bring their bunny and we'll do what I call speed dating. So we'll just pull out, some, so usually I always recommend male female bond. Sometimes a female and a female can work in even a male. And a male. It really just depends. But I usually always start with a male and a female because that's usually the easiest way to go about it. And we'll speed date. So if it's a female that comes in, then we'll do all the eligible males and see which one, matches the best which one's the most interested, that kind of thing. And then there is a bonding process. Sometimes you're lucky and they're gonna love each other right off the bat, and that's gonna be it. You don't even have to do anything, but other times you have to work on them to make them want to be friends and. For example, some of mine I had to work months. I have two males that are bonded together and it took me nine months to bond them together. Oh, wow. Yeah. So it's a lot of sitting watching them. Seeing how they interact because they will bite each other and scratch at each other. Another thing they do is hump to show dominance. So you just want them to learn to trust each other basically. Right now, yeah. So that process it really depends. What I recommend is starting in a small space such as a small X pen just to see. Okay. Are they doing okay? And then gradually making it bigger until they can fully get along.

Yeah, that, that's a lot different from acclimating cats together. Something that I didn't know. So tough.

It's a lot of work.

So now before we end the call, is there anything else you would like to add?

I think the one thing I wanna say is adopt, don't shop and spay and neuter your pets. That's like the biggest thing we just don't need anymore. It just feels many of the animals we get off of the street are always in heat or pregnant Definitely. Get your animals fixed.

Absolutely. I agree with that a hundred percent. Thank you so much for joining me today. I learned a lot, I appreciate it,

and thank you. I appreciate you talking with me.

All right. Bye.

All right, bye.

And that's all the time we have for today's episode. If you are in animal rescue, or if you know someone that has a story that should be told, please contact us. We would love to have you or them on the show Thanks for listening, and please join us next week as we continue to explore the world of animal rescue.