Yesterday was the first Saturday in a very long time I didn't need to throw myself out of bed early in the morning to go feed and water 200+ eagerly awaiting bunnies. I only needed to feed three. But instead of being met with the usual happy furry faces when I finally rolled out of bed, instead of Whisky following me downstairs to direct my chopping and grating from the kitchen doorway, they all scarpered. Whisky hid in his kennel, Anouska and Bobbit in their bolt box. It was a very disconcerting way to start my day at home.
The lagomorphic distrust, which continued throughout yesterday, was no mystery. It was sustained in part by the change in routine - they are not used to me getting up so late, or to me being at home all day filling the house with the sort of bleachy smells you might associate with a clean bathroom. Bunnies have a natural, quite sensible fear of the unknown and the unfamiliar. My bathroom is rarely so clean. But that wasn't what started it.
This morning as I went to greet them and collect the bowls they all came running like nothing had happened. Why? Because this morning, having had several days of not needing to leave the house, I had showered. For an animal whose idea of a wash is to lick their self all over with the same tongue they used to lick their bottom just minutes earlier, they expect a surprisingly high level of cleanliness in others.
Does everyone else get this kind of stick from their bunnies or did I just strike 'lucky' in Whisky?
Well, I checked with all of our bunnies to see if any of them remembered having heard a discouraging word passed from bunny to human. They assured me that their memory was as mine - no naughty repartee over here. They suggested that you had struck it "yucky, mucky, sucky" with Whiskey and that your failure to see this clearly was probably the result of his hitting you over the head with that weight thingy. They claim all this emerges from the soccer hooligan mentality which they apparently believe encompasses the British Isles. I am sorry, but you did ask. I am very proud of our sweet, genteel, cultured bunnies, but even they could not resist a sigh and a shake of the head knowing that their washing method was the envy of all livingness that for one reason or another could not follow their example, and that you were awfully spiteful.
ReplyDeleteFollowing your comment I asked Whisky if HE remembered a discouraging word from bunny to human and, after a short interlude singing about roaming buffalo and playing antelopes, he told me its occurrence is 'seldom'. Frankly, I don't think these tiny fluffsters can be relied on to recount the past where their own involvement is concerned.
DeleteMy two were endlessly disgusted with how poorly trained their human was. She was forever mucking everything up. Good help is so hard to find, but they decided they'd put up with a lot for a slave with opposable thumbs.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds about right! Anouska always gives me very stern glares for sweeping up the mess she makes.
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