Tuesday 31 December 2013

Peepers And Poopers

"Topaz? Don't look now but there's a human peeping through our window. Get me my poop gun. I'm suddenly very glad I ate so much hay yesterday…."

Monday 30 December 2013

Warm Fur Sure

"Hey Bunches? Do you think the other bunnies are jealous of our extra-floofy winter coats?"

"Yes Bow, although it's not all great being us. Take my ears. I mean, someone may well have done, I wouldn't know, I haven't seen them since November!"

Sunday 29 December 2013

The Scrappy Chappy and the Fluffy Stuffy

We had a little incident on Friday night. Whisky and Neroli seemed to be hanging out together fine with a mesh barrier between them so I allowed them into the same space to see if Neroli would be less violent now she knows him better. Big mistake. I don't know if it is her character or whether the space wasn't neutral enough, but she didn't so much go for the "I'm gonna dominate you" stance as (once again) the "I'm gonna rip your ears off" one. She latched on with her teeth and went nuts. A few seconds later there was a lot of Whisky's blood all over Whisky, me and the house. In case you've not experienced this before, rabbit ears bleed a lot.

Well anyway, no permanent damage luckily, just a few tooth shaped wounds, but it's got me thinking I probably don't have the stomach to risk it with Neroli again. Much as it saddens me seeing him alone, I might have to give up on the idea of bonding him until we get another girl at the Rescue so eager to find a friend she will be more friendly and less chompy! In the meantime, I've added another member to his little gang to try and cheer him up…

"She doesn't say much, but then she doesn't seem to want to steal my breakfast, so that's cool. But she looks a bit thin, so she'll be needing double portions of snacks in her bowl…"

Saturday 28 December 2013

Can't Top That

"Er, excuse me? Did I ask for a soggy brown topping on my lunch? No, I did not. I demand that you change the seasons immediately!"

Friday 27 December 2013

Thursday 26 December 2013

Boxing Day Recovery

"Thanks for linking to posts with me in yesterday but erm…you do know I've never been on your blog…?"

Easily rectified Scamper, easily rectified!

Wednesday 25 December 2013

Merry Xmas 2013

Well I *tried* to get a classic festive family shot for you but somebun wouldn't play ball. So, Merry Xmas! From me...

...and Whisky's butt!

Oh well, guess it's a job for Photoshop then…

"Merry Xmas readers! Now go give the bunnies in your families their presents or us bunnies will start unwrapping yours!"

Merry Xmas everyone and everybun, from me, Caroline, all the trustees and volunteers, from Whisky, Neroli, Archimedes, Boadicea, Welly, Pico, Montana, BC, JJ, Boz, Silvio, Noelle, Houdini, Mars, Bandit, Pipkin, Betty-Boo, Wilbur, Delta, Scamper, Ferguson, Mira, Starburst, Hoppy and all the other bunnies in our care. Thank you for following along with our tales of big-eared fluffsters and special thanks to everyone who has supported the Rescue this year, whether through donations, volunteering or just spreading the good word. May peace and love find you this holiday season!

Tuesday 24 December 2013

2 Wet 2 Windy 2 Wooly

Well this morning was exciting - I stepped out into the garden with Whisky only to discover part of the fence down, blown over in last nights blustery weather. Curious though he was at this sight of extra space, I think his survival instincts kicked in because he decided not to go bounding straight into this as-yet-undiscovered country. So we had a very short and stressful playtime in the garden until I convinced him snacks indoors was a far more interesting adventure.

One temporary fix later and the garden enclosed again, Neroli still wasn't too impressed. Something about being super-floofy in the wind and water-logged garden…

"I know I suggested coming out here but… New plan - Sofa, Muppet Christmas Carol, warm carrot malt. Sound good?"

Monday 23 December 2013

This Winters 4 Wettest Tips

"For the sake of our ears, I say we loaf-'n'-nap here til there's no weather left in the sky."

Sunday 22 December 2013

The Cable Try

So it turns out the memory card slot in my laptop has stopped reading the cards from my camera. It's quite straight forward taking the card out of the camera and sticking it in the laptop, which is why I transfer files that way, whereas my camera has a flimsy, fiddly plastic panel covering the slot where you can connect it by cable. So using the cable to connect the camera to the computer is risking broken bits of camera and grumpiness. Assuming I can find where I put the cable of course.

Oh well, while I figure out what to do about that, here's todays cable-transferred picture of Whisky.

"Did you say cable? I know I don't have incisors, but would you mind if I had a quick chew? I've heard it can be quite fun!"

Saturday 21 December 2013

Yuki Tho

I seem to be having some technical problems with my technology today, so I can't access any of my new or most recent photo's. While I sort that out, here's a picture from last week of a former foster from last year who came back to the Rescue a short time ago, my own dancing little Yuki!

"Dance? Hmmm… doesn't SOUND like something I'd do on an empty stomach..?"

Friday 20 December 2013

Thursday 19 December 2013

Interception

"Wellington! Get out of my photo!"

"Wellington! Get off my snacks!"

"Right, Mr Photographer, let's try that again. I suggest this time, more parsley, less husbuns!"

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Back With The Boys

My four recent foster boys are still at the Rescue. It is a strange feeling seeing them every week on the one or two days I am on site, a mixture of joy and sadness, seeing and hanging out with my little friends again but knowing that they are still without proper homes.

Boz and BC have at least found partners. BC you will remember is bonded with Montana, another super-floofy bunny like himself. And he is now SO floofy in his massive winter coat! Just so adorable, it is such a struggle to stop myself from begging Caroline to let me take them home with me, I just have to keep reminding myself that Whisky would quickly veto that plan!

Boz's ear eventually healed so well you would barely notice he once had such a chunk of it ripped and wrecked by his brother. Being a red-eyed-white rabbit, a breed regularly ignored by people looking for partners for their bereaved and singly bought buns, Boz was bonded with another unpopular red-eyed-white bunny called Polar. While easy-going BC and Montana are in snuggly happy-land, Boz and Polar have a more moody, tempestuous affair going on, though when they are away from other bunnies and competition for the best snacks they are getting on well enough.

JJ's hyperactivity and super-violent never-back-down attitude have kept him single, despite several visitors taking a shine to him and us trying him out with their buns. I'm starting to think he might be on commission with our local vets, so quick is he to try and send them there. As for people, (not including me) he's only bitten one volunteer that I am aware of, but then she did make the mistake of putting her hand in his cage without asking first! This week he has been out in a bigger space so he can burn off some of that energy. We all love him to bits, he has so much character and fun in him. I'm blaming the hyperactivity for why I STILL haven't managed to take a decent photo of him since he went back.

Silvio's loneliness, not having been chosen yet, is possibly also a red-eyed-white thing. But he is such a softy (with people anyway) I think anyone who spends any time getting to know him will want to take him home, so hopefully he will find a family soon. Following a few weeks of difficult bonds, Caroline does have somewhat of a backlog of bondings to get through over the coming weeks so who knows.

Anyway, there you go, my fab four former foster boys, all happy (in their own way), all conning me out of parsley whenever they see me walk by!

Tuesday 17 December 2013

Don't Ignore The Signs

"And this 'Mr Floofytail' you claim invited you to our bun-party, he was curiously tall with floppy ears that look suspiciously like they were bought in a joke shop as well was he?"

Monday 16 December 2013

Ankles In Danger

"First comes the sudden and unexpected lower-leg pain, then the dropping of the snacks, then the wondering where the snacks went…"

Sunday 15 December 2013

Leave No Stone Unchinned

Of course, with Neroli back there was only going to be one important job on Whisky's "To Do" list for the weekend. Re-claim EVERYTHING.

"…and THIS is mine, and THIS..."

Saturday 14 December 2013

Short, Back and Hides

So guess who's moved back in…

Neither her nor Whisky are overly impressed with the arrangements. Again. It's hard to tell which one is grumpiest about it. Neroli didn't seem too bad last night, Whisky was VERY angry, today Whisky has calmed down but now Neroli is hiding. And mostly they both hate me because it's medicines all round.

It really is emotionally tiring being a bunny parent. [sigh]

Friday 13 December 2013

Thursday 12 December 2013

Freshly Squeezed

"Breakfast here I come! Woo-hoo! [ehn]"

"What the…? Has this gap got smaller? No?"

"Er…Just the salad for me, thanks!"

Wednesday 11 December 2013

This Is The End

People who don't live with rabbits often don't realise they have proper tails. Even from fairly close, most bunnies look like they have a ball of floof stuck to their butt, but what you are seeing is just the end of the tail. Like most animals, our little fluffy friends have proper tails they use to aid their balance, it's just that theirs are mostly tucked underneath out of sight

At the Rescue, we are of course well aware of the true shape of a rabbits tail because we deal with so many sick and mistreated bunnies needing them trimmed or cleaned. When the tail becomes wet and the floof flattens down, you see an entirely taily-looking tail.

For all my experience and time around rabbits though, I must admit I don't see this all that often - as Einstein relaxed into his dreamy mega-afternoon-nap, his big floofy tail just rolled out flat behind him! How cool (and slightly weird looking) is that??!!

(Note - keen-eyed readers will have spotted that this is the other end of what we saw yesterday.)

Tuesday 10 December 2013

Eyes Tight Shut

Did you know that rabbits sleep with their eyes partially open to spot approaching predators? (Or annoying humans wanting to photograph or cuddle them while they are asleep!) Or at least, you know, they can do…

"[...zzzzzzzz…]"

Monday 9 December 2013

Heist

I found another slight flaw in my method of securing the veg from piggy-bunnies. Its effectiveness assumes the veg makes it into the breakfast barrow in the first place.

"YOUR shopping bags? No, no, no, I am afraid you must be mistaken. These are most certainly ours."

Sunday 8 December 2013

So Sofa Sunday

"Did I not explain this? *I'm* the only one who is allowed to spend Sunday on the sofa. Now get up and get my dinner."

The Saturday Update

I promised you an update yesterday, forgetting I was going to be away from a computer all day, so apologies for the delay.

Neroli's dental went ahead Friday morning. It turned out she did have sharp tooth spurs at the back where they were difficult to spot until she was under anaesthetic. They had damaged her tongue and gums, causing her pain and explaining why she wasn't eating. The vet removed the spurs and she is now recovering at Caroline's house, where she is being syringe fed and receiving proper care. It looks like these issues in Neroli's mouth are likely to be an ongoing thing, so now we just need to decide on how we manage them in future.

I am sad to say that Caroline did have to say goodbye to our dear Rocket Friday evening. I don't think there is another rabbit in the history of our Rescue that has had such a reputation as Rocket. Whether they sought him out to give him attention or gave him a wide berth hoping not to be the subject of his attention, I think all our volunteers loved him in their own way. The Rescue is not going to be the same without him, his death has left a big hole in all our hearts.

Friday 6 December 2013

Calendars for 2014

Uh-oh - did I forget to tell you guys about the Rabbit Residence Rescue calendars this year? Boy am I going to be in trouble. Well anyway, we do have a few left to sell, prices, formats and contact details are as last year:

bunniestotherescue.blogspot.com/2012/11/calendars-for-2013.html

The theme for the 2014 calendar pics is sponsored, long term and special needs bunnies. So no Whisky, but you do get Rocket and plenty of our other crazy characters in there. If you are interested, best email us (see link above) asap!

Thursday 5 December 2013

The Friday Post

So here is where we are so far.

Neroli had a dental a couple of months back. Although her teeth didn't look too bad at the time, she had blood and ulcers in her mouth, seemingly from the small spurs she did have. The dental made a huge difference, suddenly she was back to regular old Neroli and the sores went away. However, the day she arrived with me she had tiny poo and her eating was less than enthusiastic. A trip to the vet turned up no problems, nothing obvious in her mouth, but her eating over the weeks has been erratic - sometimes enthusiastic, sometimes little interest in food, rarely ate any hay. Always seemed lively though, despite extreme shyness, and certainly when Whisky was anywhere near. The vet suggested if her weight started to drop she should go for a dental anyway and see where we go from there. Her weight had been up and down in small amounts along with the enthusiasm for food and the poo size, she had a few great days at the beginning of the week, but then over Tuesday/Wednesday her appetite almost disappeared. So late last night (Wednesday) she went back to Caroline for overnight care before a vet appointment today, where they kept her in for a dental. I am currently waiting to hear the outcome from Caroline.

Poor Whisky meanwhile started to sound unpleasantly snuffly over the weekend. I had been hoping to keep him off antibiotics for as long as possible, I suspect this long 3+ month stretch he has had without meds is one of the reasons his digestion has been so normal (he now eats a fair amount of Timothy Hay!), but this latest bout was louder, wetter and sneezier than usual so back to the vets we went. This was interesting, we got to see the new exoctic-specialist (his old magic vet moved away over the summer), and the good news was the sounds seem to all be nasal not in the lungs, but he is back on antibiotics and eye-drops again. He also had his eye flushed as much as possible, which he didn't like too much. When the vet put him back on the table he said to Whisky "There you go, all done, you can go have a cuddle with mummy" (he did apologise for that after - I guess he's not so used to guys bringing bunnies in) at which point Whisky instantly leapt off the table onto my shoulder. This is a not-uncommon bunny thing to do, as they desperately seek the security of the one person in the room they know, and is not to be confused with affection, of which you will get none of all the way home and for the rest of the day. So now we are back to the daily Whisky "he-hides-I-seek-and-medicate" routine.

Then there is Google. Unfortunately, after we raised the extra money for his treatment, he has been too ill to start it. Caroline is currently battling his breathing problems hoping to get him to a point where he is healthy enough to be operated upon.

There are a few other less serious and some ongoing issues with various bunny residents in our care, but the most saddening is probably poor Rocket. Amy went to give him breakfast yesterday and found one of his eyes bulging out and him generally in poor condition. He's such an in-your-face little guy we all interact with him frequently, I am certain we would have noticed any warning signs, so this seems to have come on very quickly. It is very similar to what happened to one of Rocket's relations, Neroli's former partner Cecil, who because it was felt became too weak to survive abscess (and eye) removal surgery we had to say goodbye to. We are absolutely devastated and have sought the advice of several vets about what is the best next step.

Well hopefully that gives you an idea of what we have been through this last week. I thought I would put this up now in case we hear more news before the morning and I don't get time to update this post.

I will leave you with a photo of our dear Rocket from earlier this year, looking (as usual) like he's ready to bite your knees off (he usually is). If I'm not mistaken, in this picture he's even trying to turn his ears into pointy weapons! Such a special soul. We love you Rocket.

"I don't have weapons. I AM a weapon."

Day Off

I was going to have a day off from the blog today as I am feeling stressed about all the bunny issues we are having this week. I will hopefully be in a better frame of mind to fill you in tomorrow, but it didn't seem fair to leave you with no post today, so to keep us all going here's a random picture I just found of Megan and (a much younger looking) Whisky. This is them enjoying the garden back in 2009 while I was fostering them.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Displaced

"What the…? When did I stop being able to see my own tail?! Man, I GOTTA lay off those sugary carrots!"

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Google Day

Today is Google's vet appointment for his CT scan. Please wish him luck!

Also, I would like to say a big 'thank you' to all the supporters who have donated towards his treatment. If it were not for kind and generous people like you we would not be able to help all the bunnies that we do. Our sincere gratitude.

Here's a picture of Google from a few weekends back, when I took my eye off him for a moment to take a picture of his partner Liberty and he seized the opportunity to help himself to the bag of parsley I thought I'd hidden...

"Call that hidden? I'll show you hidden..."

Monday 2 December 2013

Unusual Closure

I was looking through some pictures from last month and found this one that I quite like. I like it because it is unusual. Usually I would find Boadicea either stalking the breakfast snacks or asleep in or around their shed. So it's unusual to find a photo of her chilling out in the long grass off one of the paths taking a nap. Unusual to find her here with not only her eyes closed, but also her mouth!

"Well actually, if you think I stop eating when I'm napping, you might want to come back and check how much of this grass is left when I wake up."

Sunday 1 December 2013

Roll and Repeat

OMG! Remember when Whisky did that lying-on-his-side-slurping-his-feets thing last year? He totally just did it again right in front of me, on his blanket on the landing, and threw in a sort of cute rolling motion! It was freakin' adorable! And I even had the camera next to me but STILL missed it! D'oh!

"I told you - NO UNDIGNIFIED SLURPING PICTURES OF ME ON THE BLOG!"

Saturday 30 November 2013

Neroli Elusive

"Do you mind? It's naptime, so you need to leave me alone. And for future reference, unless you're carrying food, always assume it's naptime."

Friday 29 November 2013

Thursday 28 November 2013

Google Buck

This is Google, a sweet and friendly resident at our Rescue. Although his name is Google, Caroline sometimes calls him "Google-buck" and I sometimes call him "Google-too" - this is because of Mindy's girl Google that came before him (we wouldn't normally re-use a name).

The reason we came to have two Googles is because he wasn't ours. Having re-homed our own Google, this was an owners rabbit who came in to be bonded with one our girls. In fact, just as I was considering taking then-single-bunny Liberty home to meet Whisky, Google swept in and chose her for his very own. The owner's situation at the time was such that they wanted the new couple to stay with us on a little holiday for several months after bonding, but when the time came for Google to return home the owner's situation had changed and they couldn't take him (and his wife) back. By this time we had all become used to calling him Google, so that was that.

This was all some time ago now, and the odd minor health issue aside, Google and Liberty have been living together very happily at the Rescue ever since.

Sadly though, there is more to Google's story. Last week during a routine health check Caroline found a lump in Google's jaw. Our vet has told us this one appears to be a very serious problem and has referred Google to a specialist for a CT scan and probably difficult surgery. The first appointment with the specialist will be next week.

We have had the first bad news already - the scan and treatment are likely to cost between £400 and £1000. Yikes! This is more like what the Rescue would usually spend on a months worth of vet bills, all in one go for one rabbit's treatment. However, we really believe it will be worth it if it gives him a good chance of a long and happy life.

So today I ask you to send prayers, healing vibes and good wishes to our little boy Google. (Donations are also gratefully received of course!) We should have more news by the middle of next week.

Thank you.

Wednesday 27 November 2013

Floof Facing

Sometimes with super-floofs, all you can do to find out which way they are facing is put to the food down and see which side of the floofy mound it disappears into...

"[…chomp.chomp.chomp…]"

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Winning Stroke

"Hello up there! Could I get a nose-stroke down here?"

Monday 25 November 2013

Clogs

I've not posted any "helpful advice for new bunny parents" for a while so here's a handy tip from me. If you are planning on introducing rabbits to your house, there is a good chance you are going to need one of these:

Can you guess what it's for?

Available from DIY stores and larger supermarkets, this device can be useful for extracting from this:

the big clumps of clogged up mess (fur, shavings, hay) produced by this:

"What can I say? Living with bunnies is expensive! If you didn't want to replace your vacuum cleaner, carpet shampooer, washing machine and floors every two years you should have adopted some fish!"

Sunday 24 November 2013

Sounds of Sunday

Whisky is in a bit of a mood today. Not only did I give Neroli the run of the landing for much of the evening instead of him last night but I ruined his naptime repeatedly today with the vacuum cleaner. There has been some serious glaring. And that was just cleaning the rest of the house, I haven't even started on his and Neroli's rooms yet…

"Well wouldn't you look at that? Somebun, possibly crazed from lack of sleep, has been in and thrown hay all over the floor! That'll take someone AGES to pick up..."