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Life with bunnies

4K views 36 replies 8 participants last post by  tijya 
#1 ·
So, I've had bunnies since 2003. I've been through various illnesses, heartbreak, and joy.

Right now, I've got a six-year-old dwarf-rex cross. She is free-range. Technically there is a 'pen' in the room but it's completely opened up. Over the course of the day, you may find her under a side table in the living room, under the kitchen table, or by the front door.

In theory, she's litterbox trained.

However, she's got E-cunniculi which is a chronic illness that is kind of like an immune disorder in that it will wear her down. She will likely go through bouts of head-tilt, loss of mobility, etc.

We've been down this road with 4 of our other bunnies. Bunny 1 had an abscess that ended up causing issues in her brain (she lived to be about 18 months). Bunny # 2 had E-cunniculi (and other issues) but didn't live long (2 years max). Bunny # 3 needed a dental operation and passed away during the process. And the rest lived to be 7+ years [one might have been 12+]

In Naveen's case, her symptoms are a bit of a loss of litterbox habits - this has improved so much since getting her on meds. But yes, you will find bunny poop in various places in our house. And some bits of hay.

She's also got some chronic sneezing thing, but it's not bad this week.

A typical day:

- husband gets up, feeds her pellets/hay/water
- She sleeps
- I get up, give two meds
- She sleeps
- At dinner time, she begs at the table for food the birds drop
- She sleeps
- At 8 PM, she begs for her veggies
- At 9:30 PM, she begs for her pellets
- At 11 PM, she begs for her meds

Now that she's a 'single' bunny, I do make more effort to spend time with her. When we are rodent-free, this means sitting on the floor. She's not allowed on the couch because she was peeing on it.

She may or may not have couch time once my husband goes to bed. We haven't had any pee incidents. But shhh. No bunnies on the couch. Ever. ;)

When he's around...Naveen will sit on the floor getting attention longer than I'm willing to sit with her. She rewards me with kisses.

In the less fun stuff, there is litterbox cleaning, meds, brushing, etc.

And the highlight of today was cleaning poop off her butt. (this is relatively common in older bunnies, particularly with E-Cunniculi)

So, it's not all sunshine and rainbows.

Pictures in the next post.
 
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#2 ·
Because bunnies belong on bookshelves. This was our mini-rex. He would try to steal food and run away.



And they belong on beds. She was probably the most stand-offish of the bunnies. But if you followed her rules, she'd totally snuggle.



Hope you don't plan to sit on your chairs either.


In our house, bunnies don't belong as a serving on the plate. But that doesn't mean they were never found on the table.



This is the only one who stayed on the floor. But she's also the bunny that was already 6 years old when we got her. She loved her stuff cow so much, we had to get a second one so they could take turns in the wash. Once my husband soaked one in a bucket. Upside down. He was trying to drown it. Very traumatizing.



And our current bunny, as a baby (about 4 months here)



We also lost one in the dryer (not on), the garbage can, off-limits rooms, in the tv stand, etc.

While they are cute, they can also be quite destructive due to their curious nature. We've had holes in the wall (by a bunny not pictured here), ruined carpets, chewed phone cords, computer cords, etc.
 
#3 ·
Cute, when our boys were little we got a mini lop...... our friend had baby bunnies.... nothing mini about that breed lol.

My father in law built a reall nice hutch that we kept outside, it was like a condo for goodness sake.

We brought "smokey" in evey day and he would play with the boys in their playhouse. He was so cute except he was not litter trained and he would sit on your lap let you pet him and then right before your eyes before you could tell he would make a hole in your pants! we had to have rabbit pants because he was ruining our clothes.
 
#5 ·
And an update to show how quickly things can turn.

Naveen has been pretty normal lately. Eating us out of house and home. Ate her veggies fine at 8:00.

9:30, upset tummy and she's off food.

Just sharing that this is exactly why I don't leave her for more than 12 ish hours unattended. You just never know.

I've given her some tummy meds, a belly rub, pain meds, and now we wait. She *should* eat in 2-4 hours. If not, vet bound tomorrow. (I'm fairly confident it won't come to that).
 
#6 ·
Thanks for telling us about your buns! They're adorable. Your bunny's routine sounds very similar to my dog's (he's almost 15, he spends a lot of time asleep, and if he's awake, he's begging for something). I hope Naveen is feeling better now?
 
#7 ·
Thank you for sharing! As a kid my dad brought home a rabbit one day. White with grey tips on her ears and red eyes. We named her Alice. I remember him saying he wished he could have brought them all home.. he had gone somewhere he saw an ad in the Classifieds section of the newspaper and when he got there all the rabbits were in horrible conditions in their cages. When we let Alice out of her box she was too scared to go on the grass.. she'd never been outside before! Anyway we had this HUGE hutch for her in the backyard. It had a sleeping section, a living section.. it even had shingles! It was amazing. She was amazing. She lived to be about 7 or 8 I believe.. reading what you have described here I think she must have had E-Cunniculi at the end. We just figured she was getting old... man if only the Internet existed back then to the extent it is today.
Being from the country you can imagine I was SHOCKED to find out that people kept rabbits in their homes! Inside! Trained to use a litter box! They were always outside animals to us in the country :)
 
#8 ·
This is so great! All your buns are/were so precious. Thanks for the info on the other post too
It's always more helpful reading first hand experiences and stories. I've been leaning towards a rex or mini lop. Its great to know they're generally sweet and fun. I don't mind letting them do their own thing (like our birds) but cuddles are much appreciated
Sounds like I'll need to save up for bun vet emergencies. How do you tell if Naveen hasn't been eating? Just from her behavior?
 
#9 ·
Naveen is eating again. It took about 2 hours after meds, which is what I expected.

One of the benefits of not 'free feeding' is that it's easier to catch if she goes off food. If we offer her food and she doesn't take it, there's a problem. They do need to have hay available at all times.

But we can also tell by her body language. If she is shifting a lot and unable to get comfortable, something is up. There's also a certain position that tells me something is up.

As far as that $600 vet bill, an emergency is usually closer to $400 if you need xrays. This was at a specialist and had extra testing and stuff.

Generally, I'd say there was one 'real' emergency/year - but not always with the same rabbit. Our Dutch only had one I believe, until the EC.

Other things to consider is nail trims if you aren't up for doing it yourself. The hay can be pricey if you do pet store hay.

I might get Naveen a stuffed toy to snuggle with. Not sure she will go for it, but she might. :)
 
#10 ·
It's been a while. I did end up getting Naveen a stuffed toy. She snuggles him sometimes. Humps him others. :p

Around the beginning of December, her peeing issues were back. We had moved her room around, so we moved it back. No real improvement, but I was hoping after being boarded for 2 weeks over Christmas, that would get her back to normal. No such luck.

We took her back to the specialist on Friday. $550 later it might be behavioural after all. We are going to make changes and if it's still going on in 2-4 weeks, the vet will revisit the issue.

And because the specialist is 3 hours away, it throws her off her routine for about a week after. She's still not really eating as she should.

In more 'fun' stuff, I've slept on the couch for a couple of hours here and there because I had a bad cough and wanted my husband to get some sleep. She has to jump up and check me out, and then she races around the living room, happy to have some night time fun.
 
#12 ·
Thanks.

Usually a loss in litterhabits that are behavioural can include bringing in a new bunny or stress. Neither of these apply.

However, my previous bunnies had litterbox issues due to age, so she may have picked up on that. She's never been perfect, but poop is easier to deal with than pee on the carpet.

I've loaded the living room up with litterboxes, gave her low entry boxes in case it's arthritis, etc. It would be great if it's behavioural. I'm just not convinced :p
 
#13 ·
We never really figured out if it's behavioural for sure, but it looks like it might be and this could be her attempt to have me move out. :p

So I was away for 12 days. A few days before we left, she wasn't herself. She'd eat, but very slowly and reluctantly. This can mean teeth issues, untreated pain, etc. This started on a Monday, we were leaving on a Thursday. I made an appointment at the vet, and then cancelled it because she went back to normal.

While I was away, she did very well. Explored upstairs (which she hasn't done in a very long time), had better litter habits, did her happy twitching, etc. My husband told me she must love me not being here.

I got home yesterday. She wasn't as mad at me for leaving as she usually is. Didn't need to bribe her with food to get her to love me again.

I had grand hopes of sleeping in today. After working until 11 PM and waking up at six with the niece and nephew, I needed to sleep in. :p

Instead, my husband woke me up to tell me Naveen's sick. Not eating. Lethargic. She's got a belly full of gas. She will be ok once some meds kick in, but man, I think I need to move out!
 
#14 ·
We’ve got an almost 4 year old bunny named Buddy. He’s a wonderful little boy...well he’s almost 8 pounds. part Flemish giant. He’s free roam in our house and litter box trained. We have bunnyland #1 under the stair landing which has cardboard tunnel, cardboard box with doors cut in it and various other toys. Bunnyland #2 is in the den. Well, bunny room/craft room. He has a cage in there, but never uses it other than he likes to run in before bed and have his before bed snack there. The room has another large box with doors, and toys. Besides my desk, bookshelf, chair and a tv. He sleeps in there at night with the door closed.
He loves running up our stairs and racing like crazy through the bedrooms.
Morning routine is a fresh mixed salad for breakfast. He also gets 2 papaya tablets for digestion and he shares a banana with dad. He has timothy hay to munch on all day. Dinner is another fresh salad. Evening snacks are about a tablespoon of fresh canned pumpkin for digestion. He gets the pumpkin in a little dish on the couch. When finished he lays close to my side for pumpkin snuggles. At bedtime some more papaya tablets and a handful of forage.
If your bunny has a tendency for GI Stasis, a little canned pumpkin helps keep the digestion moving and helps move hair through system. I also give him Bene-bac twice a week which I feel has been crucial in helping the digestive issues he’s had. We almost lost him twice until I started this routine.
 

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#15 ·
Ooh, another bunny! And a big one! I was going through some old photos and it made me realize how tiny Naveen is. She's like 3 lbs.

Yep, pumpkin and papaya are awesome for digestion. We've never done bene-bac but I may look into that.

Pineapple is supposed to be good too.
 
#16 ·
One of my good friends has two bunnies - one is a Flemish Giant. She is HUGE. Bigger than some dogs! She is so awesome. Roams the house like a cat. Loves to flop on her side and snooze. She'll steal banana out of your hand if you're not careful! Sadly she doesn't like snuggles and won't let you pick her up. But you can lie on the floor with her and pet her ears :)
 
#18 ·
So last month, the day before I left on a mini vacation, she needed an emergency vet visit for not eating. She is ok, but so stressful!

Then, this past week, we were dog sitting. The dog wanted to chase her, so we had to keep them separate. Naveen found a 'hiding' spot in her room that made her feel secure, so we didn't think anything of it.

Long story short, she managed to get a strip of duct tape stuck to her foot. Sigh. It's off, but something I never would have expected. Fun times.

Also, dog sitting makes me want to have bunnies forever :p
 
#19 ·
Just worried about my bunny and need somewhere to 'talk'.

The past 2 years she's been poked and prodded at, to find out her issue might be allergies. The fancy exotic vet is unconvinced, despite remarkable improvement on meds 3x/day.

Because of that, and the 3 hours to get to that vet, we are going back to our regular vet to manage her allergies. But in the past, they haven't been able to get the particular meds that she's on.

And since cutting down to twice a day (on vet orders), she developed a weepy eye. I figured it was related but my husband commented that she's not eating much hay.

Which indicates teeth issues. :( She has an appointment at the vet in the morning. I'm just stressing.
 
#20 ·
Feel free to talk about your bunny anytime. I am (along with pretty much everyone else on here) a lover of all critters.

It's so hard, isn't it? Our critters can't tell us what's wrong or where it hurts so we have to hope for a good vet and an educated guess. I've been stressed over the health of various pets over the years; birds, lizards, rats. I feel your pain.

Please let us know how your bunny's appointment goes tomorrow.
 
#21 ·
Thanks. So I'm a bit torn on the outcome.

The vet checked her over (teeth included) and said she's in excellent health for a five year old bunny. Being that she's actually seven, I'd take that as a good thing haha.

I was impressed at how thoroughly he checked her out. He's not the usual vet we see (but at the same office) and maybe it's a good thing since her 'usual' vet generally goes along with everything I think. Which while I appreciate her acknowledging I've done bunnies for a while, I know I don't know everything. :p

He didn't seem concerned about her eye - at all. I was sure we'd be coming home with an antibiotic. So I don't love that. Now, I don't want my bunny over medicated, but this eye thing isn't normal.

It could be related to her allergies, but I have my doubts since she's had allergies ever since we got her (when she was a baby bunny) and her eye has never been an issue.

The good news is that we were able to get the med that she's been on. Had to go to a pharmacy with a prescription, but we have it. We had to get a huge quantity, but it works so well for her.

We are going to try a few things....like wet her hay, switch her from one kind to another, and stop the prescription pain meds for a week. She's on that for arthritis but he's not convinced she needs it.

He's thinking that it might be messing with her hunger. BUT, the porker is gaining weight, so it's a minor concern.

But it's possible that the cut down on hay consumption could be that we mix her meds with food to make it easier on all of us....which means she's getting more food than normal. Then again, that's been the case for six-ish months so you'd think we would have noticed the reduced hay consumption.

So all of that to say, who knows what is up. Hopefully we can figure it out.

Thanks for replying to my rambling. :)
 
#22 ·
OOH, I FORGOT SOMETHING SUPER AWESOME! (disclaimer: there were no injuries)

So the vet's office has a wandering cat. He's always seemed interested in my bunny but usually she's in her carrier so she ignores him. Today, he jumped on the vet table, where Naveen was sitting.

I figured if they let the cat roam, he can't pose a threat to small pets. I expected Naveen to get scared or stomp at the cat. They sniffed each other nose to nose for a few seconds. Long enough that you'd think "ah, it's all good".

And then she growled and lunged at the cat....who ran away very quickly. I laughed so freaking loud I think they thought I was crazy (I was alone in the room at the time).

Now, I know this bunny can be scrappy but I've only ever seen it against other bunnies. The cat was three times her size! New name: Naveen, the Bunny Warrior ;)
 
#23 · (Edited)
Have you tried switching brands of hay? Sometimes I do that when Buddy seems off hay.
It could be just that particular bale or bag tastes off to her also. Buddy eats mainly timothy, but I also offer, orchard and meadow grass hay. Sometimes oat hay.
Once when I switched his brand of Timothy hay, I had a little of the old brand left, so put it in a corner of the box. I came back later and he had moved the old brand hay out onto the floor and only the new brand was still there.
Maybe her eye is just irritated from some hay dust. Hopefully it will clear up soon. I understand your concern about her teeth causing the problem, but sounds reassuring the vet thinks the are ok.
 
#25 ·
Thanks. I checked with a rabbit rescue (where I got all but Naveen) and she also suggested butting the hay in a box with a small opening. Big enough to fit her head but not the rest of her body. She may not get as much dust.

So I will be trying a few things.
 
#26 ·
Nothing major, just got to get it out. When I share with my rabbit group, I get a billion suggestions, which can be great. I'm just not 'there' right now.

I love her. But I am very tired/frustrated with her health. Her sneezing/wheezing has continued. The meds help but don't eliminate. I figure if I don't hear her wheezing too much, that might be her new normal.

We've started her on a new med for arthritis and it's helping a lot. But we have a new issue (started before the new med) that she has excessive soft poop. She's better at cleaning herself on the new med, but today seems particularly bad.

I was away for a week and my husband didn't deal with her messy butt. So, I got home on Saturday and did that Saturday night (after a 10 hour drive). I couldn't get it all, so I did more on Sunday.

There was new mess today and it was the grossest we've had yet. So, I cleaned that up. Less than an hour later, she had new poop on her.

If it's as bad tomorrow, I will likely have to take her back to the vet. In doing some research, it could be a sign of kidney or liver issues (I don't remember and didn't want to freak myself out).

So she may need bloodwork. I wouldn't trade her for anything, so I guess I'm just struggling with being home again and having to do all of this. Meds 3.5 times/day. And twice weekly injections. And I guess daily butt/paw cleaning? Random head massages to stop sneezing fits...

It's just a lot. That is all.
 
#29 ·
I'm sorry your bun is having so much trouble. I have had so many sick/elderly pets over the years and have given injections, oral meds and fed by hand miscellaneous birds, rats and lizards. It's tough but if course we do it because we love them. What a kind person you are to do all that for her. :)
 
#27 ·
Oh, and my husband does pull his weight. He does the litterbox and floor messes. He likely wouldn't have been patient enough for the messy butt/paws. Their paws are super sensitive so it takes body contortion (human and bunny), water, coconut oil, cornstarch, lots of patience, and luck. :p
 
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