Boomer is most interested in the possibility of eating; he’d prefer pumpkin pie and a nap.
Freckles wonders why everybunny is having their pic taken with this big orange thing.
Peeper is rather unimpressed with the Halloween decor.
“Happiness seems made to be shared.” – Jean Racine
Maybe, just maybe, I’ve finally found a bunny that will pose for pictures, rather than running underneath the nearest piece of furniture when the camera comes out. Peeper likes to sit beside the window on my hope chest and that’s where I took this pic today. The afternoon light streaming in the window does wonderful things for her brown fur, don’t you think?
It’s almost two months now since Peeper *showed up on the doorstep* with the help of a kindly neighbor. Just about a month since she was spayed. The change in her personality has been quite dramatic in that short period of time. She no longer peeps at me like a little lost bird; she doesn’t often have reason to be frightened now. For a while she would peep and growl at the vacuum cleaner, but now she just boxes at it if I get too close while cleaning her cage. She doesn’t peep when I touch her, but is frightened when she thinks I might pick her up.
She’s learning to like being petted and loves to explore in the evenings when she’s out. I’ve had to set up an x-pen to confine her to the office and hallway, otherwise I’m sure she’d take run of the house. With Dora, who used to live here in the office, I never had to set up a gate at the doorway because she would not cross the threshold; Peeper has no such fear and a moment of inattention on my part found her down the hallway in our bedroom, under the bed.
She’s a very unassuming rabbit; a lot like Freckles. Very quiet though; she hasn’t learned to throw things the way Freckles likes to do. She’s happy sleeping the days away, eating greens, hay and the occasional baby carrot I hide for her somewhere, and exploring and contemplating by the window in the evenings. One at a time I’m introducing her to the treats that most house bunnies love. Most she likes and will grab from my fingers and run away with. Last week I gave her a small piece of what had to have been her *first ever* banana. Most bunnies love bananas. Not Peeper… not yet. She curled up her lips and backed away suspiciously… then she ran and thumped at me. Silly rabbit, not liking nanners!
Yesterday was Missy’s 5th Gotcha Day – I woke her from a sound sleep early this evening to take a photo of her. She’s not awake enough yet in this pic to be mad at me, but before long she was giving me the evil eye, or as I call it, her *Attila-the-Bun* face. She is a very tolerant rabbit, but isn’t afraid to nip me when she thinks I need it.
Two days (and a trip to the vet) after bringing her home from a pet store I brought home Freckles to be her friend and living companion. For most of the first six months with them I questioned my sanity on a daily basis. I was miserable with these two messy, timid (yet very headstrong) rabbits who wanted nothing to do with me. Little by little I learned how to *manage* normal bunny mischief. I gained their trust and fell in love. Five years and six more rabbits later I couldn’t imagine a day without them in my life and in my home.
In her five years here, Missy has lived with (and lost) three rabbit friends. She has health problems and needs heart meds twice a day and is forever on and off antibiotics for a respiratory infection that never really goes away. She sleeps and *loafs* a lot these days and breathes heavy at the least bit of excitement. But, she loves to play and does the most fabulous wobbly binkies of any rabbit here. And she loves her salads and her hay. I love you Missy Bun – Happy Gotcha Day!
Clover of The Hay Diaries has gone to the Bridge. Tripod.com doesn’t seem to be allowing comments on the post, but I’d appreciate if you’d stop by there and send comforting thoughts to a dear NJ friend.
Freckles has been having a “bad hare day” for weeks.
I’ve never seen her shed this badly. She looks this way despite daily plucking and combing.
I take her outside for this treatment so her fur can blow in the breeze, rather than all over the house and in my eyes and nose. Only her fur bothers me for some reason.
Looking a bit better and less like Pigpen.
Blogger is not my friend. I had an informative expose written on rabbit bot fly that just went poof! and disappeared.
;-(
Probably a good thing because a discussion of rabbit bot flies is probably not what you were expecting.
So instead I offer this old pic of Freckles, Missy and Mr. Bean. I tried to bond the three of them after little Peanut died. They made an adorable threesome and Missy loved Mr. Bean, but Freckles was not happy with the arrangement. She doesn’t seem to like boy bunnies. So, for a few months after Peanut died and before Mr. Bean passed away, the three would visit together. Mr. Bean would get it into his head that he wanted to play and would sprint out of his homebase in the bathroom and venture onto the sun porch where the girls live. I’d open their pen and the three would play together peacefully for a little while. Missy washed Mr. Beans ears which he looooved! Before long, Freckles would get jealous and pick a fight with Mr. Bean, who was at least twice her size. Mr. Bean always looked all wounded and confused that this girl bunny didn’t just melt for him the way Missy did. Soon enough he’d wander back to his spot beside the bathtub, the rejection forgotten until the next visit.
Peeper the stray bunny had her spay yesterday. She’s feeling much better today and has started eating a little, but is spending most of her time flopped on her side in the litterbox like you see here. She’s dug most all of the litter out (and onto the floor, thank you) and pushed the hay up to the opposite end so that she’s got a clear spot to flop. She’s peeping at me a lot and lunging whenever I put my hands in her cage – poor cranky thing!
I used a new vet this time because my regular vet would have charged a huge amout for the spay (nearly $500.00!!) and this vet spays/neuters for the rescue I adopt from, so I felt I could trust her. Everything went okay, but I think the vet was a little startled with just how stressed out Peeper was by any handling. She quickly checked to see if she was a boy or a girl, listened to her heart, palpated her to check for babies after I told her about Peeper’s nesting behavior, and then put her back into the carrier and whisked her away. I returned a few hours later to pick her up, after an hour of frantic unanswered phone calls, to discover that the animal hospital had lost power in the thunderstorm.
Some people might wonder why they should spay/neuter a bunny who lives alone – Peeper is a perfect example. Her hormonal behavior probably would have continued, making her a less than enjoyable pet. The reproductive urge is very strong in rabbits (you know their reputation!) and her nesting, circling, and mounting, plus her cage aggression would have gone on forever. There is also a very high likelihood of uterine cancer in unspayed females. There is a risk to any surgery with a creature as sensitive as a rabbit, but the benefits outweigh the risks associated with the surgery.
So Peeper will be cranky for a few days, but I’ll spoil her until she feels better. Then we can go about getting to know one another, without the threat of babies in our future. Thank goodness! Over the next month, as the hormones leave her system, I can expect her to calm down and learn to be a loving house-bunny. Welcome home, Peeper!
Dutchy cuteness for those of you who have baby bunnies on the brain – not including myself in that lot! These babies were born in a shelter in California and a PetBunny member sent along a link to their “growing up” photos taken by a volunteer foster mom back in April. I saved this pic back then because I thought it was so cute!
Making a nest, just in case 
