The Great Parsley-Giving Hand From Above

Stress and Medicine

"I thought I told you not to take photographs from my bad side?"

This is nearest I've gotten to being bossed about by Whisky today as he is not feeling too well. His respiratory issues a few weeks back seemed to start a period of not eating much hay which affected his digestion, the antibiotics to treat the respiratory issues just seemed to make his digestion issues worse. He is now mainly ticking along eating a terrible diet of carrots, muesli mix and syringe food (and he hates syringe food). He flat out refuses to eat the good quality pellets that he loved his whole life until now. His eyes are weeping as well and his tail end needs multiple cleans a day due to the goo that comes out of him. Basically, he is a bit of a mess.

We do have a new medicine to start today, so we will see how that goes. In his mouth and then his tummy, is what I am hoping, but with the week I'm having I'll probably end up just wearing it.

You Lose Some

When I went to put the fresh veg into the snackbarrow before breakfast I found not only a small amount veg left over from yesterday, but also a large number of poos. Almost like somebun had spent a fun afternoon just grazing the rest of the veg away.

So todays task: Keep Mr and Mrs Tubby-Fatbottom out of the barrow.

I think I succeeded, but it didn't feel like much of a victory. Probably because, after leaving the barrow unattended for a few minutes to retrieve some special diet snacks for sick bunnies from the other end of the Rescue, I returned to find this:

"...nom.nom.nom..."

"Uh-oh."

"Erm...we were just helping you clear up this veg that...er...fell out the snackbarrow entirely of its own accord. So, really, you should probably thank us for helping...with some treats?"

Well Boadicea, I would give you some carrot tops, but strangely none of the carrots in the snackbarrow appear to have tops anymore. I guess they fell off the carrots of their own accord too, did they?

The Flanders Reversal

I Promise

"And so concludes the demonstration. Now, if you don't get with the snacks pronto, it'll be more than just a plastic stool I'll be putting on its head."

Family

As many volunteers will know, some of the rabbits at the rescue have a greater link to me than others- four of the residents, Beyonce, Kylie, Christina and Cindy, are in fact my 'granddaughters'.

I adopted their father, a little black and white Netherland Dwarf called Oren (RRR name Mr Jinx) in 2008 when his twelve children were only babies, just a couple of months old but the same size as their father due to the interesting choice of mother- Amelia was a large breed with a lithe frame, absolutely nothing like her partner at all.

Both parents have since passed away (coincidentally within a week of each other) but their legacy lives on. I find the result of the crossbreeding to be vaguely entertaining... what do we call them, Netherland Giants? It's clear to see that they get their larger size and, in the case of the trio, dark colour from their mummy but not one actually looks like her whatsoever. I see Oren in them far more because alongside the shorter ears, every single one of them is round and fat like their daddy.

"Hey, did you hear what she just called me?! Are you going to let her get away with that?!"

"Hey, be careful how you talk to my lady! Now, if you don't mind, I'll just hoover up this lot so she doesn't get any fatter."

Miley

One rabbit that has featured in the blog in the past is Miley, alongside her big and popular husbun Nelson. Both rabbits lived in one of our fancy Special Needs Units, mainly due to Nelson's continual poor health that often was a consequence of his previous mistreatment, and ruled the grass area alongside. Whenever their door was opened they automatically assumed it was time for them to run around, regardless of whether or not it was actually their turn. With Nelson requiring a lot of exercise as a large breed rabbit and to build up his weakened muscles, they usually got their wishes and so they became two of the more well known characters around the rescue.

Unfortunately, after Nelson's unexpected passing at the beginning of August, Miley had to give up her coveted SNU in favour of various other special needs pairs and was clearly lonely and anxious without him, however as well as the summer months being by far our most busy time of year in other areas, her chronic dental issues and development of ear abscesses requiring daily treatment meant she was not considered suitable for putting through bonding at that time.

Sadly, after surgery that was designed to correct her ear abscess issues, complications arose that meant that last Saturday a decision had to be made and I regret to inform you all that despite our good intentions in trying to prevent a lifetime of daily health care, she is now reunited with her Nelson.

Binky free Miley, I hope your new grass area is big and lush.