Rescue Round-Up June 2013

June was a very busy month at the Rescue, with usual re-homings, bunnies being given up, site maintenance and events. But it was also a very sad month.

In the first week of June we had to say goodbye to dear Joseph.

Then Lara, who had been having problems for a few months that our vets could not resolve, went downhill over a few weeks and passed away from what a post-mortem revealed to be liver problems. This hit me quite hard. Lara was a really sweet and shy little Dalmatian Rex who had been at the Rescue from when I first started volunteering. When her previous partner died in 2011 we tried her with Whisky and she spent about 6 weeks living in my house. For reasons I never really understood, they absolutely hated each other and when put in the same space would charge aggressively at each other and fight. I was really sad to have to give up on bonding them, but it clearly wasn't going to work. After getting to know and appreciate her so well over that time, when she was back at the Rescue I would always take extra time to interact with her during the breakfast rounds. Though she wasn't really a big fan of human attention, she certainly appreciated getting her pick of the morning vegetables! It is awfully sad not having those moments with Lara anymore. I do miss her.

Lara surveying my garden in 2011

The following weekend I was delivered more bad news when Vicki arrived at the Rescue to board her bunnies. It transpired that the very same day we lost Lara, our dearest little Cora also passed away. A black and white Dutch with cute little stubby ears and distinctive markings, I can't really explain why I had become so attached to her. Perhaps it was her slightly unusual looks and terribly sweet nature, and perhaps on some level she also reminded me of my own little Megan. Cora and her partner Clarence had only fairly recently been adopted by Vicki, one of our key Trustees and fellow author on this blog. They had been staying with her on and off or the last year as Vicki had been fostering some of the special needs buns of which Clarence is one. I had been looking forward to seeing Cora while she had her holiday at the Rescue and was absolutely devastated to hear of her sudden passing. Binky free little one.

Cora

Then last week we suddenly lost Goldilocks from what appeared to be some sort of digestive impaction. Goldilocks had come to the Rescue via volunteer Hannah and quickly after arrival was bonded with special needs bunny Flin. A perfectly happy and healthy bunny her whole time at the Rescue it was a shock to suddenly lose her so quickly.

Goldilocks

But life goes on and all those other bunnies at the Rescue still need us to keep going regardless. All we can do is look forward to what we hope will be a brighter, warmer, happier July.

Thank you for reading this post and giving thought to all the dear souls we have seen leave for the bridge this month.

Love a Cookie

Please send some love for our dearest Cookie who is currently recovering from his umpteenth operation to remove abscesses from his mouth and jaw.

"Thank you for your thoughts. As well as those, you could also think about sending some more of that tasty mush my way...."

Tail End of the Week

Sofa So Good

"Let's see...TV on, got my spot on the sofa, got my snacks ready...now, something missing... Oh yes, that's right - you! You should be missing!"

The Good Grass

Something very exciting happened this week. If you are a bunny. In my house.

Because, finally, after months of low quality dried grass, our local pet store finally got in a fresh new batch of tasty, new-season ReadiGrass!

Seriously, it's crazier than when kids hear the ice cream jingle or someone dumps cash out of a helicopter. I put a tiny handful in the little ones litter tray while they were having their breakfast and they abandoned their tasty pellets to dive headfirst into it.

Whisky of course is older and more sensible. He didn't wait for it to reach his litter tray.

"[...nom-nom-nom...]"

"Quicker next time, OK? Gotta nom me some grass!!!"

Houdini, That's Who!

Congratulations to all our readers that spotted who yesterdays bunny was! It was of course our very special Houdini Bunny!

Houdini was one of the bunnies resident during my first year volunteering at the Rescue. I also remember Caroline leaving a couple of us in charge of the Rescue one day and, perhaps not surprisingly, Houdini was the first bunny who ever escaped on us after slipping past Helen as she opened his gate. He didn't get that name for nothing you know!

If you are still wondering why I thought you might recognise him, here's another photo from 2008:

That's right - along with Megan and Whisky, Houdini is the only other bunny who is here every day! And if you STILL don't get why you should recognise him then I can only guess you only ever access the blog on your mobile device - check out the full blog website and all will become clear!

:-)

Guess Who?

A very special elderly bunny has come back to the Rescue. If you are a regular reader of this blog he should look very familiar - comment below if you think you know who this delightful character is!

;-)

"Wait - I'm who now? I've got myself all turned around again."

A Shlurp of Whisky

Sunday. A garden. Snacks are present. A bunny appears centre stage.

"[shlurp]"

New Arrival: Currant

Meet one of our latest arrivals, a pretty Dutch doe named "Currant". As with many of our rabbits, Currant arrived with a story!

Once upon a time in a land really not very far away at all, a family went to a pet shop and bought a baby Dutch rabbit. Their rabbit was a little boy which they named Alfie and they kept him in a small single storey hutch. It was in this little hutch he stayed, never let out, until a friend of the family came around and asked about him. "He can't be handled at all" they said. The kind friend offered to take him home and they agreed.

In his next home he was renamed Charlie was moved to a 4ft double story hutch and allowed to romp around the garden. He was also allowed to run around the house he left little "currants" on the floor. He was nicknamed "Charlie Currant Pants". This home also had 2 cats and Charlie wanted to play with them. He would always follow the cats around and lay near them. The new owner soon realised that Charlie needed to be bonded to another rabbit and she didn't have to time to look after a pair of rabbits, so the second owner contacted Rabbit Residence and we took him in.

When Charlie arrived at the rescue he went to Caroline's office for a health check. This is when we discovered that he was a girl! We named her Currant after her old nickname of Charlie Currant Pants. Currant passed her healthcheck and went to hop around the floor of Caroline's office. She then decided that she'd had enough of exploring the floor and jumped onto Caroline's lap...then Caroline's shoulder...

...then Caroline's back! 

She sat on Caroline's back for about 10 minutes checking out the office and her new surroundings. Then she hopped down onto the chair where she had a rest!

With a character like that, I'm sure you'll be hearing more about the antics of this little girl in the near future! Big thanks to Amy for the snaps!

Can You Hear Your Toes Wiggle?

"No, seriously, I can! The whole foot, in my ear! Look, I'll show you..."

I Bet You Look Good...

"Come on, don't be shy human, get your groove on! I've even asked the DJ to put on some Kenny Loggins!"

Goldeneye, Nose and Ear

"You know, we've been together so long now that I can't remember if her head was this colour before I started eating my carrots off it."

Top and Bottom

So there I am, having taken the day off work to rest my mouth, slouched virtually horizontally on the sofa when I suddenly feel a nudging at my arm. I look down and there's my little fluffy boy seeking some attention (or, more likely, snacks). I feel suddenly cheered as he hops up onto my stomach, plonks himself down and looks at me adoringly. Cheered, that is, until he hops off revealing the trail of bottom goo he's left across my sweatshirt. Ho hum, just another day with my digestively-challenged little Whisky. [sigh]

"What? How was I supposed to know those were clean clothes, they all smell of me!"

My Face Ouch

No bunny post this morning I am afraid, as following a trip to the dentist yesterday I have been taking it easy and trying to stay as horizontal as possible.

If I can get through the morning without bleeding out the big hole in my gums where my tooth used to be I will try and post something for you later today!

Chompy McChomperson

I spoke too soon. While trying to ascertain how recent a small wound on his head was, Rocket decided he'd had enough, leapt into the air and latched onto my arm. Which just goes to show, whatever you are doing with him you should never take your eye off the ball. Or his teeth.

"Now let that be a lesson - next time my weight-gain snacky-mix comes WITH breakfast, not after!"

Whitefinger

"So Mr Bond, as you can see it was me running C.H.O.M.P. from the start! No-one ever suspects the rabbit! And now, armed with our newly finished squee-ray, my army of bunnies will take over the world! Mwa-ha-ha-ha!"

But Soft!

Oh Romeo, Romeo!

Wherefore art thou Romeo?

"I'm over here, unlike my breakfast, so how about you put away your poncy literature and get to it, eh?" 

One Star Dining

"Really?  This is it?  You seat me at the back, behind an ugly green plastic pipe, with no chair and a brick for a table, now you bring me this?  One pellet, not even a plate?  Well let's just say I think you'll enjoy reading my review as much as I enjoyed dining here."

Toby and Glamour

This was quite a result. After each losing their partners recently, Toby and Glamour have quickly bonded with each other!

Such a sweet couple! :-)

Scowly McScowlerson

I have a theory as to why Rocket hasn't bitten anyone in a while. Yes, his nervous aggressive days are pretty much behind him, but I don't think he feels we are any less deserving of a good chomping. The thing is, he has so perfected his facial expressions he no longer needs to waste his energy actually moving - these days he can get his way with a simple look. I mean, just look at this face! Oh my!!!

"..."

WE LOVE YOU ROCKET BUNNY!!!!! :-)

Next Stop Colchester

Recent arrival Boadicea, now partner to Archimedes (and yes, we are surprised that seems to be working out!), is finally settling in after an initial reluctance to venture outside. But like many nervous bunnies we encounter, once they've figured out the lay of the land, they soon start trying to rule it!

"Prepare the litter trays.  I just ate a whole tree."

The Unforgiven

Summer 2011 was a long time ago.  I wonder if Spangle has forgiven me for making her and her siblings share a room with Whisky?

Yeah. Maybe not.

Minty Green

"Oh.  You found me.  In the interests of self-development, perhaps you'd like to go and re-consider the level of coincidence involved in the timing of your arrival and my disappearance?"

Chompably Archilimerical

"When faced with a chompable shoe

There's but one thing a bunny can do

Plan set cos he saw it

No bun can ignore it

Homemade sandal will be my gift to you"

Weight For It...

Texas went back to the Rescue on Tuesday night, where I am pretty confident she will find a new home very quickly.  Unfortunately one of her babies seems to have digestive issues, so she was packed off to the Rescue too with one of her sisters for company. She has some odd shaped poo and extra caecal mucus, so she saw the vet and is now being treated and monitored at the Rescue. I was very sad to have to split them up and have those three leave me, but on the other hand, it was very difficult trying to distinguish and monitor 7 very similar looking babies! The remaining 5 are likely to now get better monitoring and even more attention!

Their new excitement for this week was being weighed for the first time (by me anyway).

Now I cannot stress enough how valuable the regular weighing of bunnies can be.  Weight loss is so often one of the first indicators of sickness, which means that knowing your bunnies' healthy weights and regularly monitoring it can literally be a life-saver.  Oh - it also tells you when you might be over-doing the treats!  Tubby bunnies come with their own health problems too.

It is very quick and simple to do. I use baby scales for adults, kitchen scales for the tiny ones, and add a non-slip mat to reduce their stress. If you can't stretch to those (baby scales seem particularly expensive for what they are), luggage scales and a canvas shopping bag are another option. With vulnerable bunnies I try to weigh them weekly, sick bunnies daily, with healthy bunnies I tend to do it every 3-6 weeks.  Once it becomes part of the health check routine, bunnies become used to it and as long as you handle them confidently and calmly they soon accept it. A small treat after to reward their good behaviour (and buy their forgiveness) helps too!

Initially though, bunnies reactions to health-check-and-weight day can be a little...intense...

"Don't.  Even.  Think-about-it."

Or not.

"Hey, what's happenin', dude? Did I get a good score?"

Sweet Joseph

More sadness yesterday as we had to say goodbye to one of our super-special long term residents, Joseph.

After his partner Athena died, Joseph moved in with what became Caroline's bedroom super-group.  He was a very friendly and easy going rabbit, bonding easily with the elderly, frail and special needs rabbits that passed through the group over the last few years.  He suffered a number of health problems, one of the most serious of which being severe head tilt in his last year or so, but it rarely slowed him down and he always loved life (and carrot/pellet puree!).  But this week, at 9 years old, he lost the use of his legs and it was finally time to say goodbye.

I don't have many recent photo's of him because he lived away from the Rescue, but here below is one I did manage to capture during a magazine photoshoot of Mary and her babies last year, plus some of the joyful ones from his younger days lounging around the Rescue.

And then there were four

Hi All. Gary and Whisky's intehweb connection is down this evening so I have been hurriedly trying to see what furry faces I can find for you to enjoy tomorrow morning. Given that Clarence and Cora are likely to soon become permanent members of my furry family, it seems appropriate to mark the occasion with a pic of them doing one of their favourite things. Sitting.

"So we're staying here forever? Might as well get comfy then."

Unusually Scully

Owing to a slight technical fault, in that I planned to do something last night and then knocked a large glass of water all over my desk and gave up and went to bed instead, there was no post ready for this morning.  Sorry about that - if you are anything like me then I know some of you will like to start your day catching up with the bunnies of the blog-o-verse, it can be quite disappointing when those adorable little faces aren't there to stare back at you over your cereal/newspaper/first-drink-of-the-day when you fire up the morning intehwebs.

It turns out I am not inspired enough to be able to interpret bunny hilarity at 8am, but that's OK, because instead I can share this with you.

Mulder and Scully are quite nervous bunnies when it comes to people.  Consequently, the best pictures I can usually get of them are during breakfast and even then they usually look grumpy about having the camera pointed at them.  So Saturday I was pleasantly surprised (i.e. lucky) to capture this great natural looking pic of Scully, momentarily distracted by what Mulder was doing off camera.

From now on: MUGS of water (harder to knock over) only...

Archi-Type Nap

Caroline has been having another go at trying to convince Archimedes that having a girlfriend might be something he'd enjoy.  I am looking forward to the latest update on how that's going - while I was there he showed little interest in his date (well, he did chase her off a couple of times) and was far more concerned about bugging the volunteers for attention.  This was, of course, when he wasn't engaged in his other favourite pursuit - taking naps anywhere he happens to be when he feels a yawn coming on.

The Helicopter Nap

The "I am a piece of wood" Nap

The "I heard you coming, just don't block my rays" Nap

Left On The Shelf

Back in the days when I had a pair of outdoor bunnies, one (Santa/Elvis) regular and one (Jemima) with a mouth like a vacuum cleaner, I trained them to eat separately. One would stay in their house and wait for their food to be put in while the other would jump out and race over to where their food had been placed outside. This meant they could have different diets and the regular bunny wouldn't have to go hungry when, one mouthful in, piggy-bun had eaten everything.

Training them this way and maintaining the separation was always straight forward. If the door was open, say because I was changing a litter tray or water bowl, and one of them finished their food, you only need to worry about that one big target. If they tried to make a move towards the other, often a quick hand in front of the face to stop them in their tracks followed by making a bit of a fuss of them was all it needed to distract them until the other was done.

As you can imagine, trying to do the same with seven baby bunnies and their mum is not so simple. It's like trying to hold back water by standing in front of it with your hand raised - "No!" you exclaim, while most of it flows around you and does as it pleases behind your back.

So faced with trying to give Texas a tasty veggie breakfast while the kids get their healthy-digestion-encouraging pellet mix, I had to get just a little more creative. My solution? I have now trained Texas to jump out and run round to the shelves where I store the hay then jump up to her awaiting bowl, while I place the other bowl with the babies' food in their house. Sure, a couple invariably leap out with mum for a lap of the shed before returning for their snacks, but so far none has noticed the tasty delights located a foot above their little heads!

Not only has this been a success in keeping their diets separate, but Texas really seems to enjoy getting a break from her little ones. Snuggly as they all still are together, she definitely seems ready to let them go and I think she is looking forward to returning to the Rescue next week to start looking for a husbun.

I quite enjoy solving these extra challenges that come with living with fluffy family members, the only downside is that once you've established a funny little routine like this with foster bunnies it makes you miss them all the more when they move on.

[..chompchompchomp..]

"Finally! I can eat my snacks in peace! Now if you could just sort me a private bedroom with a free mini-bar I'll be sorted."

Binky Day 2013

Does anyone know what happened to Binky Day this year?  It was 1st June last year and I thought it was intended to be an annual thing but I've not seen much about it.

As you may remember, Whisky was one of the Official Binky Bunnies for the event last year and his picture was used in the RWAF press release.  The picture I took for them was produced on demand as he was predictably crazy in the garden last summer and it was easy to capture.  Not so this year as these days with the longer grass he's too busy nomming it to leap about!

Well anyway, since we intend to celebrate Binky Day every year, we knocked up this effort from one of the other pictures from last time that we didn't use.

Happy Binky Day!