Happy Sapphire

So sadly I did not get my snow video as it had all melted by the next day. To make up for the lack of snow we got Sapphire a HUGE bale of sawdust for in her house which seemed to make her nearly as happy as the snow did!

Sapphire smelt wonderful from rolling in the sawdust! I think we might have gotten too much as it was enough for a stable but she seemed really happy that it was so very deep and she could hide things in it but sadly like with everything else the novelty wore off and she went back to missing Logan.

I really did not think that she would grieve for so very long. Do not get me wrong, I am still grieving his passing but people say that if the animal sees the dead animals body that they will accept it. I think Sapphire just loved him way too much to be able to let him go.

Since Logan's passing Sapphire and I have become really close which is so very wonderful. You see at first, when she was a kit, she loved me but then she very much became my partners fox which was great as that was what she was meant to be but I will be honest, I was quite jealous of their bond. It is not that Sapphire did not like me it was just that my partner could pick her up and he clearly meant EVERYTHING to her.

Well the more time I spent with her even just sitting with her the more fond of me she has become. I spent allot of time with her before but always with my partner but now I was spending time alone with her and she saw that I am actually pretty damn fun where before she seemed to play with me out of pity as she and her human dad would be having such fun and she did not want me to be left out.

On February 28th my partner and I decided Sapphire was ready to welcome a new man into her life to make her whole again and so we welcomed Slush Puppie into our family. We had ordered him before the 28th but we were unsure if we should keep him in her enclosure as opposed to putting him in Logan's with Sapphire.



Slush was named by our 7yr old daughter Audrey who had wanted to name Sapphire and Logan Slush so we though it only fair for her to name this little man.

We have no idea how old Slush is but I am pretty sure he is at least a year older then Sapphire as he is very much a charmer.

When Sapphire first saw him she looked SO very, very happy, ecstatic even! Look for yourself:

As soon as we let him out of the crate they started playing and continued to do so until he noticed the dogs and went to tell them to go away. Once he noticed they were going nowhere he got back to playing.

It was all going very well. Not as well as Logan meeting Sapphire as she seemed a little worried but none the less well. . . Or at least it was until we noticed Slush making a noise like a happy ferret followed by some grunting and the next thing I knew I was having to tell Audrey that Sapphire was giving him a piggy back!

Yep Slush is smooth all right. He is a total little Casanova and when Sapphire climbed on top of her tower where he could not go he started sniffing our Papillon Sprite! I am just glad Sprite was outside the enclosure hehe.

I now feel quite awkward going to see them as if Slush is awake he is randy and poor Sapphire does not know what to do when she is trying to say good morning to her human Daddy and Slush is dragging her rear end off. I was told Sapphire should be in heat in 2 weeks time if not later but it seems we were off by a week or two.

I really hope that if Logan is looking down on Sapphire from the rainbow bridge that he knows that the only reason we got her Slush is as she loved him so much that she would have never been really happy without him here unless we got Slush to try to fill the void he left in her heart. It is so wonderful to see our little girl happy again as in truly happy. It's wonderful to go out and see her playing with him or him grooming her.

The first snow of the year

Today we had the first snow of the year which was very exciting for young miss Sapphire and I feel it was just what she needed to cheer her up.

Since Logan's passing life has been hard for Sapphire. She stayed inside with us for a while as she needed someone to be with her as she was accustomed to Logan being there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. After a while we decided that after her walk we would put her in her enclosure to have a play with us which seemed to really perk her up!

Oddly though no matter how happy Sapphire might have looked she never "talked" bar to call Logan, no happy squeals at all. . .

When the weather started to get properly cold again we thought moving Sapphire back outside would be a good idea due to the central heating making her WAY too warm but she was not happy in her enclosure. I suppose that was as it was where she and Logan lived so we moved her to the enclosure we built for Logan. She seems much happier in there.

So today, as I was saying, we had our first snow!
I love the snow and since the day we got Sapphire I have been excited about this day. As Sapphire sleeps during the day when she is outside it was great to be able to be the ones to show her the snow:



Once she emerged from her house she had a good sniff of the snow:


Then a taste:


Or two:


And then she was running around screaming like all of her Christmases had come at once!

She was having a most wonderful time until she noticed that her toys were gone so she had a break from her excitement to haul them all out from under the snow:



Once she knew Swiper was safe she went to watch the dogs rolling n the snow:


Then continues frolicking:


And being Sapphire there was also a fair amount of kissing, weather her Daddy wanted kisses or not:


I shall try to film her in the snow tomorrow as I doubt I will go out bar to walk the animals as it is my day off and I have fox shaped cookie cutters to try! I got a whole set of woodland animals including a hedgehog, a squirrel, a bear, a snail, a moose and of coarse a fox! I might make fox shaped liver treats for the foxies.





Well I must be off. I have a whole day of playing in the snow with my two snow buddies (Sapphire and Audrey) tomorrow and I will need my sleep to keep up with the two of them.

December 14th - January 14th

On January 14th my partner and I went out to Logan and Sapphire's enclosure to give them breakfast only to find that Logan who was still sleeping will never wake-up. . .
We were at the time and indeed are still shocked beyond words. He was making such progress and was so very happy, even just the night before and now to find him curled up dead. . . It was just so very shocking.

Somehow just looking at him curled up with his tail over his nose, the exact same way that he sleeps I knew he was gone yet I could not believe it. My partner checked him for a pulse and there was none. His body was becoming more and more stiff yet he was still warm from where Sapphire had been curled around him all night sleeping.

I burst out crying. Sapphire started licking away my tears as she was unsure why I was crying. At first I thought that this was as she knew Logan was gone but she had no idea, she thought Logan was still asleep so she went over and licked his face. She then nuzzled his head but she still seems to have believed he was sleeping. . .

We waited for a while with Sapphire before moving Logan's body, if an animal sees their friend is dead it is meant to help the healing process but no matter how long we waited she still did not understand. I called the vet and said what had happened and that I needed a necropsy urgently as whatever had killed Logan could possibly be a threat to all of my other fur babies. They agreed to do the procedure as soon as possible.

When we got Logan to the vet he looked him over and could not see any reason why Logan would have died so suddenly. Our vet had seen Logan multiple times over the mere month he was with us as we wanted to be sure that Logan's weight gain was steady as well as to give Logan both his distemper and parvo vaccines.

That evening when we arrived home Sapphire was sat at the door of her enclosure looking at the house. She called occasionally for Logan. We went out to spend time with her, she was not very interested in us but instead much more interested in trying to look into the house where she last saw Logan headed.  We stayed outside until she dosed off but when we went back inside she woke up again and resumed waiting by the door of the enclosure.

The next day we spent all day with Sapphire. We played with her and tried our best to comfort her yet when  we would cry she would try to comfort us which was very sweet but again whenever she was not entertained she would wait for Logan and call for him. Eventually we brought her inside which seemed like a good idea as we could not really sleep outside with her. . . This ended up being when she began to notice Logan was no longer here. . .

Upon entering the house she ran around looking everywhere for him; under the sofa, in the bath, under my duvet on my bed, everywhere and she started to have a bit of a mental break down. She started looking in all of these places again and again calling for Logan as she ran. She had no time for Sprite who wanted to play with her and pushed her out of her path, she was going to find Logan wherever he was. . . Or so she believed.

Eventually she fell to sleep, she was exhausted.

The next day we went and got her some new toys. We bought her everything that we thought would entertain her; Kong's, bones, chews, squeaky toys, tennis balls, ropes and dental chews which she adores as we decided we would keep her entertained to keep her spirits up. It helped a little but the best toy for Sapphire seemed to be Audrey, her 7year old human sister who apparently is brilliant fun to chase and watch Beverly hills Chihuahua with.

On January 17th the vet finally called with the results of the necropsy. It would seem that Logan's little heart just gave up when he was sleeping. The vet believes that it was caused by Logan's bad diet during the key stages of his growth so well before he came to us. The vet said that there was no way of knowing this would happen and that it is just one of those things. . .

Even though Logan was only with us for 1 month in that short amount of time he very much became an important member of our family.

Sapphire is still very confused but I think she is beginning to feel a little better. She is still not talking which is very, very odd but I am sure she will again in time.

So anyway, that's what has happened.

Before these recent events I really wanted to tell you all about how over X-mas Logan had been highly amusing but as I can't really talk about him without crying I shall past here the post I wrote on Sybil's den for you all to enjoy:


"So I was in hospital for a couple or days, not working which was odd for me as I have only been admitted to hospital a couple of times in my life. It was just very bad tonsillitis so no big deal. I am allot better now. 


ANYWAY when I was in hospital everything went wrong for Mr Elina; he fed my African Pygmy dormice and one got out which he could not catch and even after 24 hours has not gone into the humane mouse trap. He had to deal with Valla being of the belief that he had hidden me so she could not see me so she grunted at him whenever he went near her and argued with him when he put her to bed. Mr Sapphire climbing out of his enclosure. . . TWICE!


Mr Elina saw him the first time and was very confused. When he got over the top he came to the back door and Mr Elina eventually caught him, cut his nails which were quite long as we had not cut them yet as he is a bit freaked out by us and put him back. Mr Elina thought that he had jumped from the platform so he took that out too. A little while later he looked outside and Mr Sapphire was crouched atop one of the panels. Mr Sapphire then quickly got to the floor and ran off and as he had been caught once before he knew how to evade capture a second time. Mr Elina had to spend hours chasing Mr Sapphire around the 2.5acres (approx) he had access too eventually catching him and managing to put him in Sapphire's enclosure which has a roof. 


During this Sapphire tried to follow her man as it looked like he and her Daddy were having a blast but she just fell on her behind so I do not believe all arctics can climb BUT if one can I am guessing this is not some kind of oddity and thus others will be able too so make sure you put roofs on your enclosures. I think one contributing factor to Mr Sapphire's ability to climb is that unlike Sapphire he is underweight and thus it was much easier for him to manoeuvre himself. I am amazed that even with short claws he managed this. 


I just wanted to let you all know as I know a few of you got Arctics this year and though I am sure they are all nice and chunky right now come Summer time they might slim down and I don't want you all to be shocked at your foxes sudden cat like agility. "



Today Logan returned home, allot less furry and allot smaller. I have placed his ashes on the fireplace next to Freyja with his collar atop of him the same way Freyja's is atop of her.
I miss them both so much but at least now I can think that Freyja has a friend to play with while she waits for us at the rainbow bridge. . .

Mr Sapphire finally has a name!

Yes you all read right; Mr Sapphire finally has a name!

After weeks of trying different names out we have settled on a name and oddly enough it was one of the very first we tried. I guess it is like a wedding dress where you normally end up wanting the first one you ever tried on.

So without further a do I shall list our winners!

In third place is Michelle Roderick with Denim.

In second place is Laura Jane Nolan with Hinto.

And our winner of the Mr Sapphire needs a new name competition is

Nicola Carter Barnes

with

If the winners could please send me a message on here or Facebook I will get your badges off to you A.S.A.P. 

Thank you all for your wonderful ideas but there could only be one. 

I have of stuff to tell you all about the foxes over Christmas but I must be off to feed everyone their dinner. 

TTFN! 

Happy Holidays!

I just wanted to wish you all a wonderful X-mas and a fabulous New year and what better way then with a festive Fennec!

Have a great Holiday season everyone!

- The Flashmans

PS: Not chosen a name for Mr Sapphire yet, will inform the winner when I have but keep the suggestions coming!

Mr. Sapphire needs a first name

I am stuck for a first name for Mr Sapphire and would love the help of you all. Preferably something that goes with the colour blue as he, like Sapphire is a blue phase Arctic fox. Person with the best name wins 4 Flashman foxes badges, 4 runners up get 1 each!



So far my other half want's to go for Smurf but I don't see that one happening and my daughter again want's to go for Slush like she wanted us to choose for Sapphire as she likes blue slush puppies but I am not sure. . .

Either reply to this blog post or on our Facebook page with your ideas.

I very much look forward to hearing from you all!

Continued. . .

I am back as promised.

Here are some photos of Sapphire showing "Mr Sapphire" around which I forgot to post last night:

Mr Sapphire looking down on me when he eventually worked out how to get on top of the kennel:

Now where were we. . . Oh yes the next morning.

After waking up multiple times during the night to go and make sure the two of them were getting along I was quite sure and relieved to find that they were very much the best of friends!

When the sun finally came up off I went in my Wellington boots armed with their breakfast and the means to clean up any "accidents" as I was unsure of quite how litter trained Mr Sapphire was. 

Upon my arrival I was greeted by a very soggy Sapphire and the tail of Mr Sapphire as he retired to the shed. 

Sapphire was very happy to see me however it took her a while to get to me as she was attempting to avoid stepping in any of the "accidents" Mr. Sapphire had through out the night. 

When I walked towards the platform I saw quite how many the poor chap had had and felt a tad guilty about de worming him the night before. . . 

I saw lots of cute little beds that he had made of hay from the hay bale however on each bed there was a pile of what looked like Spaghetti. . . Oh no I thought, worms. . . 

Well it explained why a fox with the thickest coat of any mammal whose spine I could see through said coat had a belly and yet I was very confused how two house holds had had him as an inside pet and failed to notice this. . . 

Thankfully worms are easy to fix and as Sapphire is wormed regularly she is in no danger of getting them even though she had spent a fair amount of the night before "kissing" Mr Sapphire. I am so very glad she is not into rolling in excrement like red foxes do when they are young. 

That afternoon Mr Sapphire had his first vet trip booked but before we went I let the vet know about the worms and he asked for a sample which was easy enough. (Very disgusting though.)

Upon our arrival at the vets Mr Sapphire was checked over and I was told that he is very underweight as expected and also has been malnourished which was also as expected. His worms were some of the largest the vet had seen with one measuring 11inches in length so he probably had them since birth and was just never treated. The vet said that Mr Sapphire was very lucky to have found us and that he could think of no better place for him to be which I though was very nice of him. 

Here are some random photos I took of the happy couple. . . normally not together as it is actually very hard to get them to both stay still.

Mr Sapphire exploring me:

Mr Sapphire sniffing Sapphire's Kong, you can see how skinny he is and also his worm belly:

Sapphire at breakfast:

Mr Sapphire says "hi!":

Mr Sapphire looking quite handsome: 

Sapphire stood in the way when I was about to take a good photo of Mr Sapphire:

Mr Sapphire coming out of the shed:

Tails. Sapphire left Mr Sapphire right:

I just noticed I totally forgot to click to post this entry until now which I am afraid is 1 day late, forgive me?