It Lasts for Always

This would never happen with my current group of rabbits - redux

2008-10-10T21:14:00.003-05:00

Not only would it never happen. The perfect example is little miss diva Butter.
She was looking all possibly friendly when I decided to lay down in front of her so I could pet her.

Well, so much for possibly friendly as she snorted and charged.

Luckily my glasses too the worst of it.

However, my head did get covered in rabbit pee as she was sitting in the pee she used to mark the dog bed as "hers".

Nope, don't think I'm gonna get kisses out of this one.

Previous - This would never happen with my current group of rabbits

Those expenses you never think about

2008-08-09T21:33:00.005-05:00

Many shelters/rescues provide or ask you to estimate what the annual cost is of owning a pet.

Everyone thinks of the obvious; food, cages, vet visits, toys. . .

But no one often thinks of:

storage containers
stuff to clean up puke or poop
bedding for incontinent pets (rabbits)
diapers for incontinent pets (rabbits)
baby gates (rabbits, dogs)
new flooring (cat, dog, rabbits - four times)
new bags of aquarium gravel (dog)
ruined treadmill (cat)
ruined air mattress (cat)
new light fixtures (rabbit)
new room fans (rabbit)
new refrigerator cord (rabbit)
new printer (rabbit)
new telephone and answering machine (rabbits)
new computer keyboard (rabbit)
new foodsaver (cat)
new Christmas tree ornaments (rabbit, dog)
baseboards (rabbit)
trim (rabbit)
drywall (rabbit)
furniture (rabbit)
chewed up books (rabbit)

Gratuitous Rabbit Tocks

2008-06-30T06:00:00.000-05:00

Diet with a T

2008-06-29T14:45:00.007-05:00

Garfield by Jim Davis
PAWS inc.

Garfield is right, a diet is die with a T. Especially when a rabbit is given an inappropriate diet. Rabbits digestive system are very delicately balanced. Inappropriate diet can cause life threatening health problems.

For a healthy rabbit, there should be three parts to the diet; hay, pellets, and vegetables.

And right away, some of you are probably thinking, "hey, where's the fruit?"

I didn't list fruit because I do not consider fruit to be an overall part of a rabbit diet. I consider it a treat. Something to be given sparingly.

Thus portends my overall philosophy to how I feed my rabbits. I take a conservative approach. I know that there are people who have rabbits who subsist on only pellets, or even substandard pellets and do just fine. I also know people who live on junk food and still haven't had a heart attack.

But my goal as a rabbit owner is to keep them as healthy as I know how. And this means that my rabbit's diet consists of hay, vegetables, and pellets.

The San Diego House Rabbit Society has a nice food pyramid on rabbit diet.
Hay - rabbits should have hay available all the time. For healthy adult rabbits, I feed timothy. Timothy is a common hay to find. It's high fiber and lower in protein and calcium. A good timothy should be green and dry. A rabbit won't eat the hay if its gone brown.

My favorite brands of hay are Oxbow and for bulk online purchase, Farmer Dave. If you live in an agricultural area, you may be able to find hay locally.

Vegetables - vegetables are the other important part of the rabbit diet. I give my adult rabbits a daily salad of 1 cup of salad per 3 pounds of rabbit. These sites contain good lists of rabbit safe vegetables:
National House Rabbit Society
Carrot Cafe

One vegetable to avoid - iceberg lettuce. Just like for people, iceberg lettuce holds no nutritional value. Some people say it also causes diarrhea. I don't know if it's true since I don't bother with it. But it's a vegetable that's not worth wasting any of your money on.

A note of caution, there is some debate if vegetables are ok for young rabbits. If you take the conservative House Rabbit guidelines, wait until they are a year old before introducing veges.
There is a line of thought that the young rabbit's digestive system can't handle veges until they're older.

This is an issue in which no one is very sure of.

But whenever you start giving your rabbit vegetables you want to start slowly and introduce one vegetable at a time. If the stools soften or you see diarrhea, stop and try again with vegetables at a later date.

One further word on vegetables - Carrots are not a true part of the rabbit diet. They are considered a treat because of the high sugar content. I give a baby carrot as a treat. Never full size carrots.

Pellets - this is such a tricky area for many rabbit owners, particularly first time owners. Not all pellets are created alike. The bags of pellets that contain fruit and/or seeds may look like they'd be appetizing and provide nice variety for your rabbit. Unfortunately, the pellets sold in many pets stores are absolute junk. It would be like you eating fast food every meal. While it may not kill you right away, you will eventually get sick.

Rabbits do not need fruit or seeds in their pellets. They just need a quality pellet.
I follow House Rabbit guidelines and look for a pellet with at least 18% fiber content.

My healthy adults get a timothy pellet by Oxbow.

When shopping for pellets, you want to read the labels and see how much fiber is in the pellet. Based on my experience, locally owned pet shops stock the higher quality pellets.

The other surprising thing for many new rabbit owners is that rabbits only need a small amount of pellets in their diet. A good brand like Oxbow lists how much to feed on the bag. Or you can follow the House Rabbit guidelines listed here.

Dietary modifications - Sometimes a sick or senior rabbit may need to have it's diet adjusted. This is something you should work with your vet on. For instance, it may be a natural inclination to switch to alfalfa to add calories to your rabbit's diet. But the additional calcium and protein in alfalfa may cause more health problems. So this is why you need to work with your vet if you're considering changing the diet or sick or senior rabbit.

Also, some rabbits have distinct dietary favorites. Some rabbits hate pellets. In that case, you would just add more veges or hay to the diet. I usually start with House Rabbit guidelines and tweak as necessary.

If you want a age by age guideline to diet, you can follow this from the House Rabbit Society.

Calcium - calcium is something that you need to be aware of in the diet of your rabbit. For many people with a healthy rabbit on a quality diet, calcium isn't something to worry about too much.

But too much calcium in pellets can cause health problems. And some health problems require a diet low in calcium. If your rabbit has a health issue that requires lower calcium, work with your vet to find out what is appropriate for your rabbit's situation. There are low calcium pellets available for rabbits with that need.

What about vegetables?
Newer research in the veterinary world suggests that the calcium content is not a worry in vegetables. Remember that vegetables are mostly water. It's the calcium in dry foods that cause the problems.

If I feed a quality diet will I avoid digestive problems in my rabbits?
You will certainly limit the chance of digestive problems(GI) occurring. And if your rabbit does have GI problems, you at least know that poor diet isn't likely to be the cause.

There are some health problems that can cause GI upset. Long haired rabbits may also be more at risk as they groom themselves and take that fur into their system. And some rabbits change their eating habits due to stress or temperature.

If your rabbit is having GI problems you want to have your rabbit seem by a vet to determine the cause and treatment. GI problems can be lethal.

Resources:
House Rabbit diet FAQ
CarrotCafe
H.A.R.E. dietary recommendations
Calcium
GI problems

2008-04-28T20:41:00.001-05:00

see more crazy cat pics

Who are YOU?

2008-03-31T20:00:00.002-05:00

2008-03-18T17:30:00.001-05:00

see more crazy cat pics

Bunny Foo Foo

2008-03-15T10:42:00.003-05:00

Today at shirt woot
I bought two

perfect for Easter

$10, free shipping

get one today, otherwise you'll have to pay more

Hmmmmm, rabbit

2008-02-23T08:38:00.002-06:00

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the kitchen

2008-02-22T22:15:00.003-06:00

I bring you Butter
Be careful, she just might kick your ass

She's vicious, and scary, and intimidating, and likes to bite, and charge, and snort, and box, and bite

Seriously

She's mean and nasty

People quiver in fear

Few dared to clean her cage

She bit first and never got around to asking questions

And she's spent the last 4 hours popping binkies

Rabbit Profile - Mumford

2008-02-22T21:08:00.006-06:00

Rabbit Profile:

Name(s): Mumford

Sex: Neutered male

Age: 8 ish

Location: Rainbow Bridge as of February 18th 2008

Background: The sudden death of the no-name rabbit who I owned for a grand total of 9 days left me still longing for a nice bunny. Not one that was offended by my presence, ran the other way, squeaked, squealed, or thumped at me.

So yet another trip to the humane society was in order.

Mumford seemed nice enough, so home he went.

and quickly his body fell apart

Spondylosis
kidneys
pink eye
ear infection
kidneys

Nickname(s):

The Mumf
Mommy's Mummy
The Mumfster

Likes: me, me, and me.

Dislikes: the cats when they were in HIS kitchen. Rufus, after Rufus knocked him down. Twice

Favorite Food: Bananas

If he was a cola he would be: Strawberry pop, sweet and sugary

Distinguishing Characteristics:

old, and looked it
Loved kissing - him licking me that is. Especially my face.

Song: You're the top, sung by Ethel Merman

Most memorable moment: beating up the dog. See here and here

Rabbit Rescue

2008-02-21T20:17:00.003-06:00

yeah it's a plug for a product that I'll only use when they force us to at work

I also would like to point out that if that video was real life

windows would have nagged Amy every 5 seconds to ask her if she wanted to actually use her computer
windows would've crashed at least once
and carrots would not have been what that rabbit left in the briefcase, rabbits are poop machines

The bunny curse continues

2008-02-18T18:58:00.003-06:00

the Mumf passed today from renal failure

He had a tough weekend and passed shortly after coming home from the vet's office

At the time, it sounded like this was going to be a "making him comfortable" as long as we can thing, but things just must've been overwhelmed from the toxins in the system

I owned him just short of 2 months

He was 8ish years old

Don't you know who I am?

2008-01-30T20:40:00.000-06:00

I am the Mumfand I have a vicious streak a mile wide!

I am an old, occasionally infirm fluffy little spitfire

I am sweet, docile, and a lover by nature

but when crossed, I will kick your ass!

Or, if you're a basset hound who knocks me over twice,

I will chase you down and bite your leg

and not let go!

Well NOW What!

2008-01-27T16:02:00.000-06:00

Say that in the loudest, most whiny, and exasperated voice

Mommy's Mummy was in a snit ALL morning

He kept digging at me

I don't know what he was unhappy about

If he didn't like his menu again

If he was mad because every minute of my day wasn't spent petting him

If he was grumpy because the pain killer doesn't kill all the pain

I DON'T KNOW!

But if he's not in a snit, he's needy

I bought him a heat lamp

He ignored it

20 minutes after unplugging it, he ran under it

He periscoped to give a look see at it

Then he comes over to me a digs on my jeans

So I plug the damn thing back in

He intimidates Tumbleweed then snits off to the kitchen

He's damn lucky I like him

Update on the Mumster

2008-01-22T20:48:00.001-06:00

He's kickin ass and takin names!

He tried to be neighborly to Tumbleweed
who was in Mumford's kitchen

Trying to eat Mumford's hay

Mumford was all polite and went up to Tumbleweed and presented his head for licking

But The Weed doesn't speak rabbit and got all bothered by it

tsk tsk

that wasn't a request

Mumford then put the lowly puss in his place by chasing him around the kitchen

Previous -

Mommy's Mummy is sick

2008-01-21T20:53:00.000-06:00

Well no, that would be too easy

he's old

and of course he has old guy kidneys

but he has old guy spine

and it has a bony growth

The Mumster didn't want to move or eat or drink this morning

This is The Mumster on the heated plastic thingy

This is The Mumster later in the evening after his vet trip

He has a flour sack look at the back end

It looked worse when he got home

Now he's running around the living room

It's going to be a chronic thing, probably not get better, possible to get worse and need lots of supportive care

He goes back on Wednesday for a re-check

2008-01-10T17:11:00.000-06:00

moar funny pictures

Mumford's first dead bunny shot

2007-12-25T20:48:00.000-06:00

I seriously hate it when rabbits do this Mommy's Mummy is awake now

Yes, it's another new rabbit

2007-12-20T20:31:00.000-06:00

His name is Mumford

I didn't name him that

It came with him

and he's lived to be 8, so why change it?

He's 8, thin, and has really really small poops
He doesn't have his vet check (including blood work) until early January
at this age, it would not be surprising if something was found

He's a lover, of the "pet me dammit" variety

Yet another in the long line of Why didn't I think of this first?

2007-11-18T12:56:00.000-06:00

Click the bunny rabbit to see.

2007-11-13T17:27:00.000-06:00

moar funny pictures

It is with great sadness

2007-10-24T07:38:00.001-05:00

that I announce the passing of the new no name rabbit at 7:20 am CDT.

2007-10-21T15:03:00.001-05:00

2007-10-20T14:42:00.000-05:00