Out!

Since the vet extracted the remainder of his elongated bauble, Dijon has discovered that there is a brain in his head... he has learned how to pull the chain which hangs from the edge of the fence separating their area from the rest of living room, so that it makes a gap just wide enough for him to sneak through.

He has also realised that he stands a great chance of escaping and exploring if no adult human slaves are in the room.


And he knows exactly where to go to maximize his chances of prolonged freedom (amongst the shoes, in the hall, by the front door.)

Warren Peace

We've been away for a few days, returning yesterday.

The bunnies were attended to by a trusted source, and were - apparently - very well behaved and seemed quite content.

We were a little worried that they would be cross with us for having left them, but when we returned home, we received a very warm welcome. Both Dijon and Mabel expressed their happiness with lots of skips and runs, and coming to sniff us all over, give us licks, and generally take advantage by crawling up and down us.

And that is how they have been today, too. They have been very attentive towards us.

What has surprised us more than anything is how much they seem to have grown during our absence. Mabel in particular appears to have grown a lot. She is no longer a cute little bunny, but a but a big grown up doe.

Vet

Dijon has been to the vet. Twice in as many days.

Silly boy began to tug at his stitches yesterday... All credit to him, though, he did manage to last a week without being bothered by them. The problem was that one of the knots must have come loose and this began to bother him. But instead of gnawing it off, he began to tug at it.

Kate, the vet who operated on him, had done a wonderful job of tying the sutures which meant, alas, that they loose one wouldn't come out no matter how hard Dijon tugged. We could see the flesh on his abdomen stretching in a most alarming way. We didn't really have much choice other than to turn him upside down (not a recommended move unless absolutely necessary), and cut off the knot.

Unfortunately, Dijon had managed to cause a little damage to himself, and the end of the incision had begun to bleed. Not knowing how he would react to this, we called the vet and it was recommended that we take Dijon in for a quick examination.

The good news is that there is no real harm done, but the vet suggested we give Dijon a course of antibiotics, just in case of an infection. And to come back after 24 hours for another quick once-over. £7.90 the poorer,  we returned home. Dijon showed no sign of being interested in his wound. So we decided we wouldn't give any antibiotics, yet. (Some of you may tut at us, but we reasoned that the antibiotics would probably cause more problems than they would be worth - all those good bacteria in Dijon's gut could be killed off, causing digestive problems.)

Well, all was fine today, but Dijon and I nevertheless returned the vet. Thankfully, the wound is healing nicely, and so there is no need to return for another few days.

P zero zero

The bunsters were out for about 14 and a half hours today, and NOT A POO in sight! The were let out of their cage at about 7a.m, and remained out until the children's bath time, twelve hours later. And then they were allowed out again from just after 8 until about 10:45. And there wasn't a stray poo to be seen.

It's incredible how less than a week after the elusive testicle was removed, Dijon (and Mabel) are now completely settled, house trained, and considerably less destructive than they were. Dijon, especially, is more snuggly than ever. He'll bound over to us and as soon as he's touched will flop out for a long stoke. Legs out behind him, grinding happily away, and very very licky. He permits us to touch his toes (forelimbs only) and doesn't mind if we tease his tail.

And both Mabel and Dijon have discovered the joy of sunbeams. Lovely to see them basking in the rays that shine through the French windows.

Tranquility

Dijon is much calmer. He still mounts Mabel every now and then, but this seems to be out of habit (whenever we approach the cage with food) rather than through any biological urges.

The number of poos outside the cage has dramatically reduced, the spraying appears to have ceased, and he is a lot less frenetic.

Mabel appreciates it too. She can relax safe in the knowledge that she is not going to be pursued. If it continues like this, then we will be able to give them the run of the entire living room without fear of 'water damage'.