Rabbit Science

The amazing Dijon transformer... pellets are fed into the transformer in
cylindrical form, travel through, and seconds later emerge as spheres.

Autumnal Update

It's a beautiful sunny day, very warm for September, and the patio doors
have been open all day. However, instead of making the most of the last
good weather, the bunnies are indoors, fast asleep.

Mind you, they are still very quick to hear anyone coming into the
living room, and race to the edge of 'their' area to beg. Here are some
recent photos of Dijon being impertinent, sticking his tongue out, Mabel
being nosy, and both bunnies shamelessly scrounging.

Dijon does 'Jaws'

Well, his teeth are powerful and can certainly cause damage...

Melting bunnies

As temperatures soared last week, coming close to 30C here, the bunnies
spent most of their day flat out on the floor. Here are some photos of
Dijon as he melted on top of poor Mabel.

Peppermint Tea = Peppermint Wee

Just four days after the big carpet shampoo (see post for 2.7.14), Dijon
decided everything was looking and smelling much too clean, and that a
big wee on the carpet was required. Not any old wee though... no, he
waited until he'd eaten a large sprig of black peppermint...

We were relaxing on the sofa, and had just started watching our
favourite television programme, the one we'd been looking forward to all
day... 5 minutes in, we became aware of a pungent minty smell, wafting
up from our feet.

Sure enough, a large patch of wee beside our feet, just enough to soak
into the skirt of the freshly washed sofa cover. Favourite programme was
abandoned, bunnies put safely back in cage, and wee soaked up with
tissues then Oxycleaned.

Five days and two Oxycleans later, we can still smell peppermint
whenever somebody walks over that patch. We have decided to keep the
bunnies in 'their' side of the living room, the part they use all day,
rather than extending their area into 'our' area in the evening - maybe
it has been confusing Dijon, and he is marking territory each evening,
or maybe he is just too lazy to go back to his tray!

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.