A dear little fluffy friend of mine, Picante, passed away yesterday. She was just two and a half years old. A really sweet and friendly girl, daughter of Salsa, sister of Browncloud, JJ, Boz, Silvio and Noelle, she was not only a former resident at RRR but also a former resident of my own home.
Being such a beautiful and good natured girl, she found a forever home very quickly, so she at least had the last two years being loved by her own family.
Binky free Picante.
My beautiful and adorable foster buns move out today.
Noelle, my pretty little harlequin, such a timid girl who has come very close now to properly trusting me. I think she still has a little way to go before she will readily let humans be a fuller part of her life but once she does you can tell she will make a great addition to anyone's family. I suspect though that Noelle's natural rabbity caution means she will bond quickly with the right buck and then I'm sure he will quickly teach her how to work their humans to do their bidding!
Picante has been a joy to have in the house. She started off so shy and untrusting, quite scared of human hands, now she barely bats an eyelid when I have to pick her up. Picante is much like her mother Salsa in size and colouring. She has such pretty and individual markings too, with her one harlequin foot and one harlequin ear! If we make her available for some lucky buck looking for a wife, I'll bet she'll be first choice for every family who meet her!
I will certainly miss them both and be sad to see them go, but as always happy knowing they are one step closer to their permanent homes.
I had a very long and tiring Friday. So long in fact that it's taken me until now to post about it.
In the morning something didn't seem right with the foster boys. They weren't squabbling or anything around breakfast, but there was an underlying air that something had changed in their relationships. Just as I was about to leave them, I noticed Boz had a small bald spot on his face with a scratch. Everything seemed otherwise OK, but I resolved to check on them as soon as I got home after work.
A few hours later, I was at work enjoying a delicious hit of caffeine when all the subtle and not-so-subtle clues of the morning came rushing back and punched me in the brain. I called Caroline to warn her I might need to bring them back quickly and skipped out of work as early as I could.
I was right. Stupidly, stupidly right, and I can't believe I wasn't quicker to put the pieces together. Back at home, I discovered that during the day Boz was being forcibly kicked out of the little group and was fighting his ground, especially with JJ. The two of them were covered in little cuts, there was fur all over the run and worse still, somebun had taken a chunk out of the base of Boz's beautiful little ear. I could have cried.
So the rest of the evening was filled with a trip to the vets with three of the brothers, a trip to the Rescue to pick up some cages (Caroline had a similarly sudden breakup with one of the groups at the Rescue using up all the conceivable space so I couldn't leave them there), then a couple of hours setting everything up back at home. Three brothers in my lounge now stuck in individual cages for the next few days until some holiday boarders go home and they can return to the Rescue.
They are none too impressed with their new housing arrangements, not surprisingly, and poor Browncloud is all lonely in the big shed and run on his own, but at least there will be no more violence and injuries. Whisky, it has to be said, is also not impressed by the situation what with all the cages in the lounge, especially as it means losing his late evening sessions chilling with his dad in front of the TV.
Meanwhile, the sisters are still trundling along in their room OK, though we did have one little incident last night - it seems Picante is quite the little adventurer and I found her high up on a bookshelf when I went to check on them, having used the space left where the pet carriers had been before the vet trip to get a step up. So instead of bloody ears and faces, let's have a picture of her cute little face for today shall we?
Foster bunny Picante has really come along in the last couple of weeks. Instead of running away when I reach my hands out she'll now stay where she is and let me make a fuss of her. I think she is going to make somebun and their family really happy when she is ready to be re-homed.
There is one slight issue though. The new family will love her as long as whoever brings her breakfast doesn't mind having their ankles bitten when it's delivered late...
After speaking to Caroline yesterday we decided that it is probably safest to return Salsa to the Rescue - one of her boys appears to be physically maturing ahead of schedule and we don't want him to be brother to his own children (or indeed have any children of his own, there being enough bunnies in Rescues as it is).
So one last picture of her before she goes back later today. This was yesterday after I'd health-checked them all (making them grumpy) and fed them (making them less grumpy) then left them to chill out in the hot summer evening (making them all sleepy and snugly, apparently). I should also point out that this is not their area, this is the hay storage part of the shed, but it was nearer their dinner bowls and when you've gotta flop, you've gotta flop.
One of the things we did during my busy Wednesday was swap the foster bunnies around. Goodbye to Linenose, Spearnose, Tiny, Allbrown and Whitemouth (not their real names) who all went back to the Rescue, hello to Salsa and her six kids.
Most of the group were a bit nervous at first, perhaps the ride over sharing the back seat of Caroline's car with 12 wild rabbits didn't help, so I've given them a couple of days to settle in before taking any pictures. Even now, mum and a couple of the others still panic at new things like having cameras waved at them so I only have a couple of pics, but here they are. More squeeful cuteness to come no doubt!
