A blog about Briar and Quinn

[Rayen]

So I figured I'd put pictures here and yap about my rabbits. Why not, right?

Anyway, I'll start off with some information I guess!

My name is Melissa, and I'm twenty-one (twenty-two in October!). If you're wondering about the name I have here, it's my character from the MMO World of Warcraft. It's pretty much what everyone on there still calls me even though I haven't played that character in nearly two years. I've always had a bunch of animals growing up, dogs, cats, chickens, geese, ducks, raccoons, fish, lizards, gerbils, hamsters, birds, etc. We had rabbits when I was younger, but let's just say my mother wasn't into researching animals she got and she didn't take care of them very well which pretty much ruined any other chances of us getting them again growing up.

I recently moved out into the middle of nowhere in Manitoba. I do not like living in Manitoba, I moved here from Alberta. I lived in Edmonton for a year while I was in college, and I love Edmonton. I still live at home with my mother (yay...), because I absolutely hated what I took in college when I went, and now have absolutely no idea what I want to do with my life. It's a great place to be, really. My mother moved out here to be mortgage free, and she hates living out here now too. Just not enough to do here, we're so used to be able to pack up, drive a few hours, shop in Edmonton and have everything we could ever want there. Winnipeg just doesn't have very much to offer when we're bored and looking for a little bit of excitement. It's a much older population than we're used to, so a lot of the stores/entertainment seems to reflect this instead of a younger group like Alberta had. Not to mention I lost high speed internet, and have gone from watching movies, playing games with friends, etc. to surfing around to random websites and reading stories. So I'm pretty much bored out of my skull.

In November I got a turtle. His/her unofficial name was Logan. I did everything I could to keep this turtle alive. I did large water changes, I had UVB and heat lamps, I had a water heater, I cleaned the tank almost completely if it looked disgusting, I researched food and care like crazy. He got what I suspect to be a respiratory infection and died late December/early January. I had always wanted a turtle since I was younger, because you couldn't get them in Alberta. So, it's safe to say I was devastated when mine died after all the work I put into getting it just right. So I was definitely not going to be getting another turtle.

It was about this time when I was reading some stories online and I came across this cute little bunny story they talked about these two people who took their rabbits to a show. I can't remember what it was all about, I just know there were rabbits involved. At first, I thought nothing of it. I had no idea what owning a rabbit was like, I figured it was like owning a hamster or a gerbil but larger. You know, generally boring, they run around, you clean up their poo and they sit in their cage the majority of the time. Then I made the mistake of going into a pet store one day and this one little lop-eared rabbit jumped up along the side of the tank it was held in to look at me. So I stopped to pet it. And it sat there and begged for more pets and I spent probably nearly twenty minutes just standing there petting this random rabbit before I remembered I needed things.

Then started the research. I was definitely not going to be trapped in the same boat as when I got the turtle, buying most of the things I really needed with/after the animal. I looked at cages, food, a vet. Read through forums, looked at pictures. I had planned on adopting at first, and I was looking at the only shelter that I could find that had rabbits. I wanted a small-ish sized rabbit that I could keep with me in my room. All of their rabbits were quite a bit larger, over 5 pounds at least, so I decided to wait. I checked their website every Thursday when it updated, and one week a little lionhead was up there. So I went out there to see, unfortunately, I also learned while going there that they often did not update all of the animals on their website, and the lionhead had been there since well before Christmas and had already been adopted long ago. I wasn't exactly thrilled to keep checking their web page, and I lived nearly an hour away, so I couldn't exactly drop by often. So the adoption idea wasn't looking like a good idea.

So I kept looking...

 

[Rayen]

I walked into a local pet store after that, not intending to buy rabbits, they never had rabbits at this store before. They had one small baby there that day. She was adorable. White with little flecks of orange/black. They told me they didn't know what sex she was, I assumed female because of the whole cat colouring idea, most calicos are female and she had similar colourings. It worked out that time at least! They told me she was a netherland dwarf, I figured she wasn't because her ears looked too long, but I didn't argue.

She was always fairly bold. Within a few weeks she was demanding me to scratch her head and nudging and licking at me. I bought her a bed and figured she would eat it, but she snuggled right in there and cleaned it and stretched all out in it. She loves that bed. We would sit on the floor and read together, I would read, she would chew on the spine as I read.

After a few weeks, I realized I wanted a second rabbit to bond her with later on. I went back to looking at the shelter, knowing full well my experience last time. They told me they had a small dwarf that they just got in. So I went to look, expecting to see some form of small-ish rabbit. Once again, I was mistaken. It was a large-ish lop, probably twice the size of Briar now (so probably something close to 8-9 pounds). I was looking for a smaller rabbit that could live in my room the majority of the time, as we have dogs and cats that would love a bunny snack, and I didn't want to force a larger rabbit to live in my room. Let alone the size of cage it would need!

So I went back to looking. Again I entered the dreaded pet store and saw the tiniest little rabbit I had ever seen. They told me he was 6 weeks old, and that he was a male. (a lot more information than I got for Briar!) I had most of what I needed to make a small cage for him, and had left over dishes and toys and such from Briar. So I brought him home.

Briar was NOT pleased. I had known this sweet little bunny that loved to give me kisses and see what I was doing. I let her out to see his cage and she promptly attacked him through the bars and bit his lip. At this point (being a new rabbit owner) I figured I was doomed to clean two cages for the rest of my days. I quickly learned my lesson, covered him up with a sheet when she was out and made a barrier around her cage so that she couldn't get at him.

Quinn was a very nervous bunny. I couldn't pet him really for probably three months. Even now he still dodges me and runs off. I can pick him up and put him on my lap and pet him, or hold him up to my chest, but he will rarely sit there and let me pet him on the floor. He was also a better behaved bunny, and ate his hay! He loves to follow me around and demand to know what I'm doing at all times. If I feed the hamster/fish or clean them out, he'll have his little feet on my leg hopping up to see what I'm doing.

For weeks that's how it went. She grunted and growled whenever he came near, he just wanted to hug and love her, she just wanted to rip his face off. Then ever so slightly, they began to not try to kill each other. As weeks went on, she would cuddle up beside him and he would lick her through the bars. It became eventually that they would spend all of their time outside of their cages together. (obviously they didn't go out together, she was sexually mature by this point and I still wasn't sure of Quinn's sex but didn't want to take chances)

I was quite relieved!

 

[Rayen]

So, then some bad things happened. I'll start with the one that happened first, although they are during the same week, so it's hard to remember now.

Quinn started to sneeze like crazy and then this wheezing sound came up. I had heard the horror stories of people seeing their rabbits acting weird one minute then were dead a few hours later. So I naturally panicked and called the vet thinking he had some respiratory infection. He wheezed and sneezed all day, and I cleaned out his cage, vacuumed everything shook all of his hay out and kept a frantic eye on Briar since they lived in the same room.

We went to the vet the next day. The vet looked at him, and naturally after my freak attack, found nothing wrong with him. They told me it was likely just allergies, but if I noticed it getting worse, that they would give him something for it later. They gave him his yearly exam at this time too, and found that he was actually a he. (I had a suspicion he may have been a girl for awhile there, though I fail at sexing rabbits, so that's probably why)

A few days later Briar went for her spay. Now, Briar hates to be picked up, and hates going into the carrying cage to go to the vet even more. She likes to be left to do whatever it is she likes to do, and doesn't want anyone to interfere with her daily activities. So, that was probably the first step into her new found hatred of me. I dropped her off at the vet, I was feeling sick that day so I just went home to sleep. They called me later, the surgery was fine, and I could pick her up a little later that day. I got her medication, they told me to limit her activity, check her stomach, not let her lick at her stitches, the usual.

The very next day, I watched her like a hawk. I didn't see any licking, no chewing, no strange actions that would make it happen. But that night, there it was, this giant hole in her stomach. There I was, panicking because she had ripped out the first layer of her stitches. I had many cats/dogs spayed before, it wasn't anything new to me, but none of them had been able to rip out their stitches like that on the first day back.

Bright and early the next day we were at the vet. They glued the hole shut, gave us more medication, gave us a cat cone that I cut to size and we went home. Later that night, the glue had been ripped off. She was wearing the cat cone, she couldn't get at the spot, I don't even know how it happened! Bright and early, we were at the vet again the next morning. They looked at it, said that they weren't going to close it up again since the medication she was on would fight off any infection and it was only the outer layer of stitches. So I took her home.

She stopped eating. I offered her favourite herbs, treats, hay, whatever, she wouldn't eat it. So we were back at the vet once more. They looked at her stomach (she was now wearing a hand towel with some elastics loosely holding it in place) told us to take her off the medication since it was healing well, and we went back home. That rabbit spay was probably the longest two weeks of my life. The towel had to stay on for many days so she wouldn't get at the wound.

That's pretty much it for problems and such. Quinn got neutered, and he was a good little bunny and didn't rip up his wounds. He healed up, I bonded them, and now they live together! That's all the back story.

 

[Rayen]

So naturally after my months of worrying about them never getting along they cuddle together and do everything together now. Sleep together, eat together, try to get on my bed so they can play under it together. I just realized how dark my room is, I really need to turn a light on when I take pictures or something. Stupid ceiling fan and natural sunlight, you both do nothing for my picture taking!

And every time I whip out the camera they quickly stop doing whatever it was that I figured was cute enough for a picture. Evil.

Here's the picture of their cage now:

You totally can't tell that I just used the parts from their old cage and didn't bother to buy anything new to keep it together. That's one nice handle for the top lid if I ever saw one. I did get a longer dowel to hold the roof up though! That picture was from when I first made it too, I changed a few things. Like their bed is gone because they spent a few days shredding it to pieces, and the cat bowl and random plastic dish on the bottom have been replaced with cute little tea cups for their pellets dishes. (I know it's strange, but 1/8 of a cup really doesn't need that much space for two narrow-faced rabbits) The ugly white dish with a cartoon rabbit is still there for water though, it may be replaced by the cat dish when I get tired of looking at it. (nothing quite says 'rabbits live here' like a white dish with fish bones on it!)

 

[Rayen]

Here they are probably after I just finished telling them to be good rabbits. That litter box has already been chewed on!

This is them sleeping (I think, it's always hard to tell when they sleep!).

Immediately after this picture I gave them a treat. Quinn woke up first and came to take his and I had one for Briar too, but she woke up later and stole his before I could give one to her. So I had to break it in half and give him more.

Checking out their vegetables. (I also need to learn to turn the flash off when I have my light on)

Why must they always move?

Just ignore the piles of things behind their cage, it's mostly hay, and the top sheets from my bed. (they're awesome Nightmare Before Christmas sheets too, because obviously I'm a mature adult.)

This picture seems innocent:

Until you see the mess they left me of hay in a giant pile that they have rejected for eating purposes:

 

[paul2641]

Just read through your blog and would have to say that your bunny story is very interesting and cute hope you and your bunnies stick around for a long time and learn and grow on the forum I will be checking your blog out regularly.

 

[Rayen]

So I figured I'd be nice to the bunnies when I went to the farmer's market on Saturday and buy them some nice fresh herbs and buy some strawberries we could share. (but really, the strawberries were just for me, it makes me seem like less of a pig if I tell people I was going to share them with the animals seeing as it was a giant icecream pail full of them) Everyone had dill. You couldn't turn around without running into a giant bucket of dill. So I bought a few baggies of it, thinking nothing of it and brought it home.

Fast foward to Monday: Everything smells/tastes like dill. I walk into my room, dill. I made a salad and ate it, it tasted like dill and smelled like dill. You open the fridge and all you smell for hours is dill.

I have learned my lesson. Do not buy dill in large amounts for rabbits, even if it looks and smells nice at the moment you buy it. I have regrets.

I think I am also running out of strawberries. Sadness. I hate going to U-Pick-It places, I wonder if they'd deliver?

 

[Rayen]

I figure it's a bit weird when I wake up in the middle of the night to a slight crunching sound and my first thought is: Oh no, the cat is eating my cookies!

It was just the rabbits eating a hay cube, but still. Those are my cookies cat, you'd best stay away from them if you know what's good for you. I don't care if you think you're starving, you have two feeding times that stay relatively the same every single day. I give you treaties throughout the day, but I am not waking up at 3AM to give you another meal.

Why are cats so demanding? If she's not eating random junk food I have stashed in my room, she's invading the rabbit cages and making herself at home.

Looking for food in my dresser:

Stealing the rabbits' cardboard castle:

 

[paul2641]

Your cat is really cute, But what is dill?

 

[Rayen]

You know, like what they use to make pickles? Dill pickle chips and dips and stuff? It has a very strong smell and taste.

http://www.theepicentre.com/Spices/dill.html

It's the dark green stuff beside the kale:

 

[paul2641]

Rayen wrote:

You know, like what they use to make pickles? Dill pickle chips and dips and stuff? It has a very strong smell and taste.

http://www.theepicentre.com/Spices/dill.html

It's the dark green stuff beside the kale:

Why would you want a load of that, What would you use large quantities of it for?

 

[Rayen]

I give a bit to the rabbits, they absolutely love it. Plus we make our own pickles from time-to-time, and it smells so good (when you're not overloaded by it).

I didn't buy that much really, when we bought it at the farmer's market they gave us about two stalks. It's just much stronger than the grocery store stuff. You don't need that much at all to fill a room with the smell. There's a bit left now, and if I go to eat something out of the fridge it tastes like dill even though the dill didn't come in contact with it at all. Like I was eating an apple last night and it had the slightest dill taste.

 

[Rayen]

The dill is finally gone. I can open the fridge without fear now! My strawberries are also gone, it is a sad day for all of fruit-eating animals in the house. It just means I clearly need to go to more farmer's markets.

I woke up to this this morning:

Sure, the cage is never going to be spotless but come on, why do they have to spread their mess everywhere? I'll have to go and get the shop vac for that tonight to clean up the hay. That's definitely not something I can clean by hand or by my little rechargeable vacuum!

In other news, I think they've been trying to eat my bed through their cage. I saw some rather mysterious chips in the side. The only question is, why are there so few if they have been chewing it? Is it hard to reach? Or did I simply scratch the side when I was making the new cage? I'll have to keep an eye out when it gets near to their second feeding time, when they start the evilness to inform me they're starving.

I can't stay mad at them though. They're just to freaking cute. They also move too much for my camera without the flash on. The blur.

 

[Rayen]

I thought I'd talk about some of the other beasts that I own today.

Lumi:

Lumi is my Australian Shepherd. I know she doesn't look like it, with her ridiculously poofy tail, but the breeder we got her from didn't crop them. It's not like I really cared, I didn't want a show dog or a perfect image of the breed. I just wanted a hug dog that was beautiful and that's what she is.

She's also outrageously hyper and a toy-hound, but you know, it's to be expected. She's a high energy dog.

Here's the first picture I ever got of her:

Here she is rather recently:

It's not as recent as I'd like, but oh well. I haven't taken pictures of her in awhile. The most recent picture I have is her in her spay-cone:

It's not something we should've been laughing at, but... she pouted when she had it on and it was cute. Just ignore the mess of dog toys and blankets. And people's feet, apparently.

Griffith:

Griffith is my hamster. He is a winter white/russian campbell dwarf cross. He is also beautiful. But he hates me. I can pick him up and he's never bit me, but he'd really rather I just leave him alone. He lives in a storage bin. Hamster cages are so expensive and tiny now (and probably still were when I was younger)!

Here's one layout of his cage, it changes every so often, it doesn't look like this right now:

And the lid:

Here he is all cute-like:

Finches:

They have no name, probably won't in the near future either. I'm not too much of a bird fan, but they're quiet and don't make too bad of a mess, so I don't mind taking care of them.

Cornelius:

Cornelius is a betta fish. I bought him at Walmart one day out of boredom and didn't really know what to do with him. He lives in a ten gallon tank and has ridiculously expensive fish food that turned out to be a pretty good deal since I haven't gone through even half of it and I waste tons every day. (it was a small packet for like 14$ or something? I was pretty sure I was never going to buy it again, but I still have tons so it's not like I care anymore)

Oh, and yes, that is a towel rammed behind the tank. That's what I call some good quality rabbit proofing when I first got Briar.

 

[Rayen]

Today was Lumi's birthday. She got three new toys and a shirt. She hates the shirt, so it'll be more of a 'she has one' item than a wearing thing. She's a beautiful fluffy girl and she's one year old today!

Happy birthday Lumi!

 

[Becca]

I think all your pets are gorgeous!!

Can't wait for more pictures and updates! Great blog! xxxx