How did it come about that we started to keep house rabbits? Well, it all began fifteen years ago to the day...
It was a cold, damp, drizzly Sunday afternoon, when we spotted the most beautiful looking lop-eared bunny. I’d promised my wife I would buy her rabbit, and that day was just the right day to do it. So, one rabbit, a hutch, and all the required rabbit paraphernalia were purchased – coming to a grand total of £18.81 (an amount neither of us has ever forgotten.)
During the drive home, names were discussed, and we came up with ‘Lupin’, and the name stuck.
My understanding at the time was that rabbits lived outdoors in a hutch, but it was such a cold afternoon, and the rabbit had been living inside an enclosure in a garden centre, that it struck me quite heartless to put the poor creature outside. So, I suggested that we keep he indoors until the weather was less inclement.
She never did go outside to live.
The first night she hutch resided on the landing outside our bedroom.
The second night it was in the kitchen.
Thereafter it was in the living room.
It was a bit of a secret, and we didn’t let many people know that we were mad enough to keep a rabbit as an in door pet. Thankfully, times have changed and as a society were are a little more enlightened.
What struck me about keeping a rabbit was just how sociable they were. Whatever we did, Lupin wanted to be involved. When I was ironing, she jumped on top of her hutch to be as close as possible to the ironing bored, and she sat there, calmly watching the iron move back and forth. When we played the piano, she jumped from the roof of her hutch on the piano keyboard.
She was an adorable rabbit, who unfortunately was only with us for eight months before she succumbed to pneumonia. But the happiness she brought, and the lessons she taught us about keeping a house rabbit, have never left us.
For some snippets of Lupin in action, view the Run Rabbit Run in the Videos section.
There are plenty of large boxes for the bunnies to play in dotted around the the living room. they are quite happy to hop inside to rip them up, burrow, and scrabble, though we have to listen carefully to ensure they haven't broken through to the carpet.
It came as quite a surprise today when rearranging the boxes and checking them over to see if they needed replacing, to discover that one of the bunnies had managed to steal a few of our CDs from their shelf and drag them into a box. It was very much like a nest of CDs.
And their taste in music...? Surprisingly diverse: The Smiths, Eddie Cochran, and Alisha's Attic were amongst the discs we rescued.
Despite the abundance of popcorn, it's clear that the bunnies are not enamoured by Doctor Who.
We were watching the 50th anniversary episode last night, the whole family sitting around the television, but Mabel & Dijon stayed well away from us all, not at all tempted to come over and try to steal any of our snacks.
Yet, as soon as it was over, and the children had gone to bed, over they hopped as they usually do of an evening, Dijon demanding a stroke, Mabel just investigating.
Too many pet rabbits are kept in inadequate conditions -- cages that are too small, left out in unsheltered housing, fed a poor diet.
The RWAF has a campaign, A Hutch is Not Enough, that aims to educate owners and potential owners of how to properly provide and care for their rabbits. Here is the video that accompanies a song written especially for the campaign:
Don't know what just gave the bunnies the heebie-geebies, but they've just rocketed around the living room in panic, darting all over the place, knocking their boxes left, right and centre, and upsetting their water bowl.
When I tried to sooth Mabel, she was so tense she was solid.
We did check for foxes and cats outside, but the garden was empty. We've closed the curtains on the patio doors, and that seems to have calmed them a little. They're currently licking the dining table's legs...
Yes, yet again, the bunnies are in disgrace. Well, one bunny... Mabel. We were only out of the room for thirty seconds, but that was all it took for her to make another
sizable hole in the carpet. This time was different on two counts.
First it wasn't a hole at the side next to the skirting; no, this was a
nice big hole right in front of the piano. There's no disguising it. The
best we have been able to do is cover the affected region with a square
of Vet Bed which neither of the terrible two like. Second,
Mabel ate the pile. Not content with ripping it out, she had to make a
meal of it. When we returned to the living room, there she was standing
in front of the damage, munching happily to herself. Needless to say,
she was immediately sent straight back to the cage, where she remained
in disgrace (but only until lunch time.) We are still waiting for an apology.
The bunnies have been unimpressed at the offerings from our garden
recently. There are few tasty green bits to be found now that Winter is
coming, and with the darker evenings it's even harder to find
anything. I'm sure the neighbours watch and wonder if we're mad, going
out in the dark and sometimes rain to pick dandelion leaves... let's
face it, they already think we're crazy having rabbits indoors.
Last
week I had to apologise for the noisy piano playing (piano is against
party wall)... Mabel again. She plays something which sounds like the
soundtrack to a horror movie. For such a nervous creature, I cannot
understand why she enjoys it so much. She has never batted an eyelid at
the thunderous noise she makes as she lands on the piano. She's so
sensitive about other things, but seems to enjoy landing on the piano,
then hopping up and down the keyboard at her leisure. One of our
previous bunnies, Charlie, once leapt onto the piano when he was still a
springy little baby. It gave him such a scare that he just sat there
and we could literally see him trembling with fright! He was terrified
and had to be rescued. Never went there again!
Dijon just
watches - it doesn't particularly bother him, he just sits with a look
on his face like "oh no, not again"! It's about the only place he
doesn't follow Mabel.
Today was annual bunny vaccination day. As usual, Mabel showed the
brains - she spotted the carrier being prepared early this morning, even
though it was done discreetly, and she was obviously preparing for a
chase. However, first we had a trip to the doctor with our daughter, so
the bunnies were sent back to their cage, and when we returned from the
surgery Mabel was scooped quickly from cage into carrier. Despite her
brief struggle and thumping, Dijon still just ambled stupidly into the
carrier to be with her!!
Weight, teeth, claws, vaccinations -
everything fine, thank goodness. £70 for the two vaccininations - we
had to remind ourselves that previously we would have been paying for 2
separate vaccines, twice a year.
They are now busily washing the stink of that HORRIBLE vet from their fur, and giving us the evil eye.
Mabel was unwell yesterday evening. It was very sudden - at lunchtime
she was making us laugh by racing so fast around the room, and
mid-afternoon, when she was called back to her cage so the living room
could be vacuumed, she was happy to eat some treats.
However,
at teatime, she was flopped out on her side, showed no interest in her
greens, instead hopping into her tray and stretching out on her side.
She was panting, and obviously very uncomfortable.
Male servant
was sent out on bike to buy Infacol from Tesco, and a dose was given,
along with a gentle tummy massage, as we suspected gas. Dijon went
crazy over the sweet smell, and seemed to be trying siphon Infacol from
her mouth, he was pestering her so much, licking her lips! No change
in Mabel though, just lots of changing position to get comfortable.
By
the evening she was puffed up, eyes closed, with some grinding from
pain. We gave her some Metacam, in the hope that if the pain went she
would relax enough for her gut to start moving (again, Dijon was
desperate to have some - most bunnies love Metacam).
Within a
few minutes, she suddenly went to her cage looking for food. We gave
her the tea we'd saved (Dijon still managed to steal quite a bit), then
she wanted some Burgess. After that she was back to normal, exploring
and having cuddles.
We were wary that the Metacam had simply masked the problem, but today she is fine.
It
would be useful to know what triggers these sudden bouts of illness -
probably a combination of a heavy moult and consuming too much
cardboard/sofa/carpet/paper... had slowed down her gut.
Whilst having a tidy up of the computer earlier today, I stumbled upon this scan of picture of Mabel and Dijon as created in February this year.