A couple of months ago I was driving along and suddenly saw two baby white rabbits in a yard on a very very busy road. I thought they were just random stray bunnies. Turns out, they "belonged" to the woman who owned the property. These were not hutch rabbits. They lived out in the open, in her yard, under a trailer. She fed them pellets and carrots. I begged her to let me take them and told her I volunteered for the House Rabbit Society. Of course I lied. I told her to let me take them and I would find homes for them and they would be treated like royalty living indoors and safe. She was hearing none of it.
These rabbits were the offspring of other rabbits that had been "dumped" (so it was told to me) at Eastertime the year before. All the babies and parents had died either by getting run over or predation by local cats and dogs.
When it was clear that I could not remove the rabbits without her losing her mind or shooting me (it IS Oklahoma and she could have shot me and been justified, as I was on her property), I just let it go. I begged her to at least get them sterilized.
A few weeks later, I drove by again. There was a large brown rabbit humping on one of the white rabbits. But I don't know if she kindled. It has been super hot this summer and I drive by that house several times a week and have not seen signs of more rabbits.
This morning, very early, I was going to Wal Mart to get a few things. It must have been about four this morning. I drove by, since rabbits are active that time of day. I saw a white splotch in the road in front of the property. As I drove closer, I could tell it was a white rabbit. She had JUST been hit by a car, she was laid out across the road like she was resting. Of course I knew she was dead. I almost stopped to lay her on the yard and get her out of the road. I am glad I did not. If she was still alive, I would have lost my mind. I had to keep myself from driving by there again. I also told myself to stay out of that woman's business. I warned her, and she knew the risk of the road. Yet she said she loved the rabbits and they brought her joy.
I can't even say "I told you so". I am too sad.
I got my babies safe in the house, in the cool air, big roomy pens, lots of hay and they have each other to love on and me to slave over them. All I can do is for my own.
Minnie Rabbit update:
The fur on her ears is growing back. I guess she lost the fur when it was so hot, since rabbits vent heat through their ears. She is a sweet girl and I think the cat is in love with her because he always go into her pen even though she abuses him and humps him and pins him to the floor while she attacks him. Stupid cat.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Not-So-Skinny Minnie
First, let's talk about Craigslist and my compulsive need to type in Rabbit or Bunny in the pet section at least three times this last year. I do this to torture myself, I guess. There are a few listings and most of them have the cruelest, most ignorant, flippant, "don'tgiveashit" reasons why the rabbits are being rehomed. There are breeders on there, too. I even found "will trade white rabbit for bird or reptile". This rabbit was pictured with what was obviously it's bond mate. There is NO love on CL where rabbits are concerned. Or, that is unfair, so I should say very little love. Very little.
The other morning I was cleaning the bunny pen and was just enjoying the smell of hay and the panicky way they go nuts when things are TOO clean, like when litter gets changed. They are so funny. "MY STUFF!!!". It must be because they are such superior creatures that they feel even their poo is precious. LOL. Bunnies... OK, so I was relaxed and just enjoying how calming and fun rabbits are to have around and that it would be cool to have another bunny or two to make it MORE cool. For some stupid reason I go to Craigslist. I came away utterly disgusted and sad and angry and crying. I did see one bunny that struck me to my little heart. She was a brown and white lop and looked so much like Betsy, and Benji, and Rutherford, just a few rabbits that I adore on several rabbit blogs (one of the only kind of blogs worth reading, IMHO). She looked so lonely in that sad chicken coop-ish looking hutch with the wire bottom. I knew she was left outside in this terrible Oklahoma Summer heat. I thought of her all morning. Then I did it, I emailed the people to ask if she was still available for "rehoming". I was tense and pissy all afternoon and night. No call, text or email. I thought my heart was going to break. Then I got a call from them! She was available and they lived in a neighborhood about four miles away.
I knew she was outside. Her hutch was a big one, but with a wire bottom and way out back behind an out building. I knew she was all alone back there, and lonely. She was outside in a hutch, all furry and floofy in this awful heat. But these people had a husky dog that was inside in the cool house.
They are not bad people. NOT AT ALL. They just have "rabbititis ignorantesis" and just treated her like most non-rabbit people treat rabbits.
She was originally a classroom pet but got too big to keep in the classroom.
She was being fed alfalfa hay
Her water was less than fresh
She was being fed leftovers
She was exposed to stagnant water which breeds mosquitoes
I could sort of go on...
So I get her home and we immediately come into my room,which is dark and cool, and I stick her hot little body if front of my fan. It took about an hour for her very hot ears to stop radiating heat and cool down.
Then she had some Gerber Blueberry Puffs and I took her into the dining room with the other bunnies. Fun times...
They actually got on OK. She is not spayed and neither is my Meany Girl so there was a few incidences of the Humping Challenge. No biting, no fighting, no growling or boxing. Nothing dramatic. A few warning thumps. She immediately took over the potty box and used it and used it and used it... She loved it and would not get out. Then all three would sit in it and dig dig dig.
I built another pen out of closet cubes and put a nice run on the floor, a blanket, a hidey box, water, orchard hay and oats, a ball, paper balls, and I gave her the big potty box and gave the little buns a new smaller box. She has been arranging the cardboard squares around, rubbing her chin on the edges, pushing the hay into piles she likes, the doing it aaaahhhhlll over again. She loves that potty box and she has not had an out of potty box potty moment yet. She did not have one at the other place, just a wire bottom hutch with hay thrown in , so I think she likes having her very own box. Her box and their box are bumped up together with the wire pen in between. They are still grooming and nosing each other through the bars. I think once the two girls are spayed, they will make a fun little trio. Of course, Minnie is about three times bigger than the other two!! She is fatttt fatt fat! Alfalfa hay and leftovers will do that to you I guess. But she is pooping nice normal big poops and eating Tim and Orchard hay happily.
I am so relieved to have her home. IF I CAN EVER FIND MY DUMB CAMERA I will post pics.
Oh and Simon the lab was all casual cuddly with her on my bed, like it is totally natural for big labs to snuggle with the fat bunnies, like in nature...LOL. It was cute. They act like they have known each other their whole lives.
And she is a nose bumper! So cute.
Nose Bumps, EveryBunn!
Brandi, Fatty Bun, Meany Girl Bun, and now Skinny Minnie Bun!!!!! who is not so skinny and definitely not minnie!
The other morning I was cleaning the bunny pen and was just enjoying the smell of hay and the panicky way they go nuts when things are TOO clean, like when litter gets changed. They are so funny. "MY STUFF!!!". It must be because they are such superior creatures that they feel even their poo is precious. LOL. Bunnies... OK, so I was relaxed and just enjoying how calming and fun rabbits are to have around and that it would be cool to have another bunny or two to make it MORE cool. For some stupid reason I go to Craigslist. I came away utterly disgusted and sad and angry and crying. I did see one bunny that struck me to my little heart. She was a brown and white lop and looked so much like Betsy, and Benji, and Rutherford, just a few rabbits that I adore on several rabbit blogs (one of the only kind of blogs worth reading, IMHO). She looked so lonely in that sad chicken coop-ish looking hutch with the wire bottom. I knew she was left outside in this terrible Oklahoma Summer heat. I thought of her all morning. Then I did it, I emailed the people to ask if she was still available for "rehoming". I was tense and pissy all afternoon and night. No call, text or email. I thought my heart was going to break. Then I got a call from them! She was available and they lived in a neighborhood about four miles away.
I knew she was outside. Her hutch was a big one, but with a wire bottom and way out back behind an out building. I knew she was all alone back there, and lonely. She was outside in a hutch, all furry and floofy in this awful heat. But these people had a husky dog that was inside in the cool house.
They are not bad people. NOT AT ALL. They just have "rabbititis ignorantesis" and just treated her like most non-rabbit people treat rabbits.
She was originally a classroom pet but got too big to keep in the classroom.
She was being fed alfalfa hay
Her water was less than fresh
She was being fed leftovers
She was exposed to stagnant water which breeds mosquitoes
I could sort of go on...
So I get her home and we immediately come into my room,which is dark and cool, and I stick her hot little body if front of my fan. It took about an hour for her very hot ears to stop radiating heat and cool down.
Then she had some Gerber Blueberry Puffs and I took her into the dining room with the other bunnies. Fun times...
They actually got on OK. She is not spayed and neither is my Meany Girl so there was a few incidences of the Humping Challenge. No biting, no fighting, no growling or boxing. Nothing dramatic. A few warning thumps. She immediately took over the potty box and used it and used it and used it... She loved it and would not get out. Then all three would sit in it and dig dig dig.
I built another pen out of closet cubes and put a nice run on the floor, a blanket, a hidey box, water, orchard hay and oats, a ball, paper balls, and I gave her the big potty box and gave the little buns a new smaller box. She has been arranging the cardboard squares around, rubbing her chin on the edges, pushing the hay into piles she likes, the doing it aaaahhhhlll over again. She loves that potty box and she has not had an out of potty box potty moment yet. She did not have one at the other place, just a wire bottom hutch with hay thrown in , so I think she likes having her very own box. Her box and their box are bumped up together with the wire pen in between. They are still grooming and nosing each other through the bars. I think once the two girls are spayed, they will make a fun little trio. Of course, Minnie is about three times bigger than the other two!! She is fatttt fatt fat! Alfalfa hay and leftovers will do that to you I guess. But she is pooping nice normal big poops and eating Tim and Orchard hay happily.
I am so relieved to have her home. IF I CAN EVER FIND MY DUMB CAMERA I will post pics.
Oh and Simon the lab was all casual cuddly with her on my bed, like it is totally natural for big labs to snuggle with the fat bunnies, like in nature...LOL. It was cute. They act like they have known each other their whole lives.
And she is a nose bumper! So cute.
Nose Bumps, EveryBunn!
Brandi, Fatty Bun, Meany Girl Bun, and now Skinny Minnie Bun!!!!! who is not so skinny and definitely not minnie!
Friday, August 24, 2012
My Beautiful Baby Boy!!! What Have I DONE?
Update to my Update (see below):
My wunneh boy bunneh loves me again!!! I have felt sick all day thinking of his nekkid little body. He is SOOO tiny without all that floof. I always forget that he is a dwarf breed. Well, he has been the popcorningest binkingest bunny this afternoon!!! I have not seen him binky this much since he was a baby. And Meany Girl, too! I can't even remember the last time I saw her binky or popcorn! Even as a baby she was a little grouch.
I am so happy to see them both happy. I kept telling them "I'm gonna snatch you up mid-binky!!!" in my bunny voice. I think we all the bunny voice, right.
I love my beautiful babies.
I am THE most awful person in the universe. I started to clean the bunny pen, then I checked my baby boy Jersey Woolly for matting/felting and poopy butt. He must have JUST passed a cecal cluster because it was all gooey and sticking to his tail. I am always so afraid to take scissors to him, especially near his genitals. I cleaned the glob with a paper towel, then plucked at the wool near his genitals and scent glands. It came out easy enough, so I continued plucking til his pink skin was showing all over his lower abdomen. I then went to work plucking at a felted area on the bottom of his back leg. That came out easy enough as well, so I kept going. Before I knew it, most of his tummy and his back legs were plucked. His tummy was all pink, all skin. Then I kept plucking and plucking...and plucking. My baby boy is bald and pink as a baby's butt. Well, not his neck, face or feet and there is a long V on this chest to the middle of his tummy. He has NO guard hairs. All that silky wool plucked right on out. He has a few spots of very very short guard hairs that look more like birth marks than anything. He is so miserably angry with me. The last time he completely plucked was when he was about four months old, right before his neuter, but he had long soft guard hairs, so just the longer wool plucked out nicely and he still had fluff-n-stuff to keep him covered.
I think he knows he is naked.
UPDATE: Mi Conejo de mi corazon is eating parsley. I was worried he was going to shut down all enthusiasm for life. He is still not coming out of his box warren, but I can see his beautiful ottery nose poke out for his greens. Meany Girl seems great. She is very outgoing today and even wants me to give her attention.
My wunneh boy bunneh loves me again!!! I have felt sick all day thinking of his nekkid little body. He is SOOO tiny without all that floof. I always forget that he is a dwarf breed. Well, he has been the popcorningest binkingest bunny this afternoon!!! I have not seen him binky this much since he was a baby. And Meany Girl, too! I can't even remember the last time I saw her binky or popcorn! Even as a baby she was a little grouch.
I am so happy to see them both happy. I kept telling them "I'm gonna snatch you up mid-binky!!!" in my bunny voice. I think we all the bunny voice, right.
I love my beautiful babies.
I am THE most awful person in the universe. I started to clean the bunny pen, then I checked my baby boy Jersey Woolly for matting/felting and poopy butt. He must have JUST passed a cecal cluster because it was all gooey and sticking to his tail. I am always so afraid to take scissors to him, especially near his genitals. I cleaned the glob with a paper towel, then plucked at the wool near his genitals and scent glands. It came out easy enough, so I continued plucking til his pink skin was showing all over his lower abdomen. I then went to work plucking at a felted area on the bottom of his back leg. That came out easy enough as well, so I kept going. Before I knew it, most of his tummy and his back legs were plucked. His tummy was all pink, all skin. Then I kept plucking and plucking...and plucking. My baby boy is bald and pink as a baby's butt. Well, not his neck, face or feet and there is a long V on this chest to the middle of his tummy. He has NO guard hairs. All that silky wool plucked right on out. He has a few spots of very very short guard hairs that look more like birth marks than anything. He is so miserably angry with me. The last time he completely plucked was when he was about four months old, right before his neuter, but he had long soft guard hairs, so just the longer wool plucked out nicely and he still had fluff-n-stuff to keep him covered.
I think he knows he is naked.
UPDATE: Mi Conejo de mi corazon is eating parsley. I was worried he was going to shut down all enthusiasm for life. He is still not coming out of his box warren, but I can see his beautiful ottery nose poke out for his greens. Meany Girl seems great. She is very outgoing today and even wants me to give her attention.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Gerber Rabbits
I recently discovered that Gerber Graduates Puffs are great little treats for bunnies and come in a variety of flavors. I wanted to let Gerber know how much my rabbits loved their products. I also give my bunnies baby food treats, especially if I think they are feeling icky sicky. Here is the follow-up email from Gerber:
Hi Brandi,
Thank you for your e-mail.
We were glad to learn of your rabbits' satisfaction with Gerber® Graduates® Puffs. Although our foods are specially prepared for infants and small children, you would be amazed at the uses people find for them! They seem to be especially appropriate for cats and dogs, but we have also heard from people who have used them for feeding birds, squirrels, fish, zoo animals and even pet rabbits. We feel this is a great compliment to our products and their quality.
The selection of products we offer is determined in large part by the preferences of our consumers. Your comments suggesting a larger variety of Graduates® Puffs are appreciated and will be forwarded to the appropriate personnel here at Gerber.
Best wishes from your friends @ gerber.com.
Aren't they cool? I trust Gerber because I used their products when my biological babies were babies and I trust the regulatory factors that go into making baby food, whereas I am not all that sure the same consideration is given to pet food manufacturers.
I suggested to Gerber that they offer pumpkin puree and pumpkin flavored puffs, as well as some veggie flavored puffs.
Goofy of me, I know. LOL. I just LOVE muh Bunnehs!!!!!
Nose Bumps!
Brandi, Fatty and Meany Girl
Hi Brandi,
Thank you for your e-mail.
We were glad to learn of your rabbits' satisfaction with Gerber® Graduates® Puffs. Although our foods are specially prepared for infants and small children, you would be amazed at the uses people find for them! They seem to be especially appropriate for cats and dogs, but we have also heard from people who have used them for feeding birds, squirrels, fish, zoo animals and even pet rabbits. We feel this is a great compliment to our products and their quality.
The selection of products we offer is determined in large part by the preferences of our consumers. Your comments suggesting a larger variety of Graduates® Puffs are appreciated and will be forwarded to the appropriate personnel here at Gerber.
Best wishes from your friends @ gerber.com.
Aren't they cool? I trust Gerber because I used their products when my biological babies were babies and I trust the regulatory factors that go into making baby food, whereas I am not all that sure the same consideration is given to pet food manufacturers.
I suggested to Gerber that they offer pumpkin puree and pumpkin flavored puffs, as well as some veggie flavored puffs.
Goofy of me, I know. LOL. I just LOVE muh Bunnehs!!!!!
Nose Bumps!
Brandi, Fatty and Meany Girl
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