3 years today

It was three years today that Neroli passed away peacefully in my arms,
just short of 10yrs old. She had lost her mobility over the past 3
months - first back then front legs, due to spondylosis.

All bunnies leave a bunny-shaped hole in your heart when they go, but
there is often one very special one. Nelly had been found hopping around
a car park near Manchester, just a few weeks old, and rescued by the
RSPCA. We adopted her just before Christmas, and brought her home to
Kent. Just under 3 months later our first baby boy arrived. She saw our
2 other children come into the family, and each of them took their first
crawl and first steps towards her!

Looking back, we gained so much during those last difficult weeks with
Nelly: we met many caring, knowledgeable, bunny crazy friends
(especially at the RWAF, UKCR and Disabled Rabbits), learned so much
about rabbit medicine, and found a fantastic rabbit-savvy vet, so she
left quite a legacy.

And next month it looks like we will be enjoying a bumper crop of plums,
from the little tree we planted when we buried her.

Shampoo-poo

 

The late Spring cleaning spree continued this week - carpet shampoo with the carpet cleaner. We have a through living/dining room, and so as to cause minimum disruption to the bunnies, I decided to clean 'our' side first, so the bunnies could stay out for longer, before putting them in the cage to do 'their' side.

The cleaner is horribly noisy, it didn't seem to bother Mabel, who came close to inspect the work, but Dijon retreated to a corner near the piano and did a huge pile of poos (see photos). They were not impressed when I put them back in their cage to do their side of the carpet, especially as they had to wait for it to dry a bit before being allowed out again.

It had to be done though - we try to do it once a year, as 3 children and 2 rabbits take their toll on the carpet.

Anyway, Dijon decided last night that it was far too clean, and re-marked his territory by doing a total of 73 poos!!

And this morning, my younger son spilled his Ribena over the carpet.

Whobunnit #2

The picture says it all...

 

(The guilty rabbit has the same colour fur as the stain.)

Whobunnit

On our way to bed, we were stopped in our tracks by an example of wanton rabbit vandalism. This time, it wasn't perpetrated by a bunny; no, this was a defacement perpetrated by a young human.

Why did she draw it on the bureau rather than on paper?...

Mabel: Update

Poor Mabel, she's still not eating, though she is drinking a little.

When I came down this morning, there she was lying flat out in her cage. As soon as the door was opened, she sprang out, hopped to her 'safe place' by the arm chair, and sat with her sides held in. She does seem a little better - when stroked she gave a few happy grinds - but she refused to eat anything.

We've given her a little Infacol, but if she's not better by 9a.m. then it will be a trip to the vet. No doubt this alone will shock her system back into activity... We'll keep you posted.

Unwell Mabel, and a Recalcitrant Dijon

All day Mabel has been her usual daytime self, sleeping next to the arm chair, standing on her hind legs when demanding a treat, andut returning to her cage when beckoned. But this evening when it came to tea time, she was flat out in one of her litter trays.

We've been trying to coax her back, but she's been quavering and shuddering with pain. We think she must either have a blockage (she's been moulting recently) or trapped wind, though we can't think what she has eaten to cause this.

So, we've just given her a dose of Metacam. I would post a photo of her taking her medicine, only Dijon, annoyed that he wasn't the centre of attention, has just bitten my only micro USB cable into three, so there's no way for me to transfer the picture!

Edit: thank goodness for Bluetooth! Here's Mabel taking her Metacam:

Happy Birthday Mabel!

Today is Mabel's 3rd Birthday. Another round of 'Happy Birthday' on the piano before school, and a corner of toast. She says she's going to have a restful day, in preparation for extra mischief later on...

Here is a picture of Mabel as a baby, with one of her 3 brothers. She had a chocolate brown Dutch mother, and yellow Dutch father (same father as Dijon). She was the only black baby, but sometimes we can see some blond streaks in her fur.

This was taken before she met her monstrous half-brother, Dijon...!

Happy Birthday Dijon!

Dijon is 3 years old today. Boy 'servant' #2 played 'Happy Birthday' to him on the piano this morning, and he is feeling very important. I think that extra treats will be necessary later!

Here is a photo of him when he was just a few weeks old.

Spring clean

Yesterday, I continued my late Spring clean by washing the long curtains from the patio door, which hang right next to the bunnies' cage. Not that there's much left of them - the bunnies tend to prefer lacy edges on the curtains. To be fair, this is the work of several previous rabbits, not just Mabel and Dijon - we've had those curtains for over 15yrs (it seems pointless to buy new when they would be ruined within minutes).

Anyway, having washed and ironed the curtains, it seemed a shame to hang them back next to the dusty rabbit cage. So I cleaned the trays and inside the cage, then tempted the bunnies back into the cage - I didn't want them investigating behind it, and besides, I would be vacuuming.

With great difficulty, I moved the cage. Those cages are extremely heavy and awkward to move, especially with just under 5kg of curious rabbit inside!

Behind the cage I had to wash and vacuum - there was fur, dust, piles of hay, the odd dried up spray of wee... not a pleasant job. The bunnies were not impressed with me vacuuming, and I had to keep stopping so that they didn't create more mess by weeing on the floor of their cage.

Another struggle to move the cage back into it's place, a rather poor vacuum of carpet (due to completely blocked Hoover - tube, container and (filter), clean curtains were re-hung, and then Mabel and Dijon were able to come out again.

Just under 3 hours of work. And were they grateful?! Hmm...

Super Grass

It's 9:15 on a lovely summer's evening, the patio door is open, and the bunnies are looking out into the garden. They have just returned inside after having a feast of fresh, lush, green grass from a section of turf we recently a few weeks ago, and had been saving especially for Mabel and Dijon.

Dijon loved it, and munched his way to Nivarna. Mabel was less impressed and merely sniffed a few blades before hopping back inside, into her cage, and onto one of the litter trays.