Adventures in Coexisting!

[Wabbitdad12]

Kitty88 wrote:

I'm actually thinking this could be a naming pattern! Maybe I could name all my buns after delightful treats. XD

Naming all my buns after food would make me hungary! I'd have buns with names like moonpie, hershey, twinkie, cup cake...yep, got to stop at thestore on the way home now!

 

[JadeIcing]

Whoops atleast mine is a nickname.

 

[Kitty88]

So, pretty big news update.

First: Kashi has become a binky MASTER. I never saw the bun do a single bink for a over a year, and all of a sudden he's doing them every morning and getting a good foot and a half of air! He's so athletic! LOL.

Second: I met a bunny at the shelter last week named Suzy. Suzy is a sweet, sweet NZW (she might be a Florida, actually...not sure). Regardless, she's a big girl. Only she's WAY bigger than she should be. Suzy weighs thirteen pounds, and I'd have to say she's at least five and a half pounds overweight. The girl is a cuddle bug, though.

We didn't really get a chance to examine her last week because we kinda 'found' her hidden away in a cage in the kitten nursery. :? Newborn kittens, thirteen pound rabbit, yeah, they should be in the same size cages. Anyway, she was put on antibiotics last week, and we weren't sure why. A vet tech came up and told us that she was being treated with the antibiotics just in case, because of two large masses on her belly. They were pretty sure it was mammary tumors, or something along those lines.

The shelter is 100% packed to capacity right now. We have no cage space for any new bunnies. Suzy might be cancerous, and if she is, she probably won't make it. So I was told that humane euthanization might be an option. (Anyone see where I'm going with this?)

So without discussing it with anyone in my family, I told Jane that if Suzy was terminal and it was a matter of time before she had to be put down, that I would foster her until she was ready.

I just...I don't know. She's a sweet active girl despite how overweight she is, she's so good about taking her medications and being groomed. Yesterday she let me comb little pieces of food out of her dewlap for about five minutes, and she even helped me a couple of times. She's obviously not ready to go yet, and I don't want her to die before she has to, or to be alone in a shelter for her last few months.

I hope I'm doing the right thing. I know it'll destroy me, but I don't want her to be lonely or feel forgotten, you know?

 

[Wabbitdad12]

I think that taking her in is a super idea. She looks so cute, what a beautiful bunny. She shouldn't be alone if possible when she crosses the bridge.

 

[Kitty88]

Very sadly, Suzy was found to be cancerous. My family upset me pretty badly with their reaction to possibly fostering her. Luckily though, even though I couldn't take her, Cindy said she would, and she'll even bond her to one of her girls so Suzy will have a bunny buddy for her last months/years.

I also realized that I really don't have room to foster a bunny. I COULD fit another bunny cage in my room, but only if Kashi and them were going to be bonded. Eventually they would have to share their space.

In exciting hay news, I received my first order of Organic Hay Co. hay! Proceeds go to fund a bunny sanctuary in upstate New York! And, as another bonus, bunnies go CRAZY for this hay. I filled Kashi's litter box with it and let him test it out, and he didn't get out of his litter box for twenty minutes. My neighbor Kayla ordered hay for Sam as well, and Sam reacted the same way. I ordered 5 pounds of 2nd cutting Timothy and 2.5 pounds of 1st cut, just to switch it up a little. Kayla ordered 1st cut and Alfalfa, because Sam was formerly bonded to another bunny Alice who wasn't big on sharing, and Sam is still kind of thin. He's been gaining weight very slowly, but hopefully the alfalfa will help him flesh out.

I had Kashi down in my basement yesterday for some playtime, and Aiden decided he wanted to hang out, too. So I started playing the "I'm gonna get you!" game with Aiden, which coincidentally I also play with Kashi. All of a sudden I realized Kashi wasn't in the basement with us anymore. Our house is a two family with a finished basement, so there are two apartments (both with closed doors) and a hallway with nothing a bunny can get into trouble with (although I'm sure he could figure something out if he really wanted to). Kashi LOVES hopping up and down the stairs on his own for whatever reason, and its the most exercise he willingly goes for, so I let him do it whenever he wants to.

So when I realized Kashi was gone, I called Aiden over and we went upstairs to go find him. I looked up the second flight of stairs and saw him chilling out on a step, so I told Aiden to go get his brother. (I trust Aiden a lot. He hangs out with a flock of sixteen chickens on a regular basis and I've found him cuddling them a couple of times, but I'm always within reach when he and Kashi are together) Aiden got excited and sprinted up the steps and circled Kashi to run right back down to me, and I got a little worried because I thought he scared Kashi. Kashi stood up and watched him run down the steps, and then HE sprinted down the steps after Aiden and when he got to the bottom, he did HUMONGOUS binky and then chased Aiden down the stairs to the basement!

They are so funny. It took a year for them to really warm up to each other, and of course I was iffy about them being near eachother since Aiden is a Beagle and supposedly some sort of hunting do, but those two get the biggest kick out of playing together. I think size has a lot to do with it. Aiden is a teeny tiny Beagle, only 18 pounds, and Kashi is a chunker at 7 1/2 pounds. Plus Kashi has no qualms about nipping Aiden on the leg if he gets too boisterous. Oh, my silly silly boys. LOL.

 

[kirbyultra]

I didn't know that Suzy was confirmed to be cancerous. Is she still at the shelter? What a big girl, she has such a personality. I'm glad that Cindy's doing what she can to make sure Suzy gets the best of what days she has left. It's always sad to discover this stuff but at least the bunny is still in good spirits to understand that there are people in the world who care for her.

 

[hln917]

I'm glad Suzy will have a foster home and hopefully a friend to comfort her.

That's cute that Aiden and Kashi are finally getting along. I can just picture Aiden run crying if Kashi decides to nip him and show a dog who's the boss!:biggrin2:

I got a sample of the hay at the conference and my buns who are very picky loved it. Glad to know the site is finally up to order. Will order it right now!

 

[kirbyultra]

LOL Is that where the $45 went, Helen?

 

[Kitty88]

Cindy knew I wanted to try to foster her, so her and Jane both sent me emails after Suzy visited Dr. Pilny. I believe they said she has anywhere from a few more months to possible a year, so hopefully she'll have enough time to enjoy being a bunny with Cindy! She's going to be bonded to a pair Cindy already has, so she'll have lots of company too.

I still remember the trapdoor-dropping feeling I got when I lifted her up and saw those spots of blood on the kraft paper. Poor girl. She is the biggest sweetie I've ever helped medicate. Which is really saying something, just imagine if the 13 pound rabbit decided she really didn't want that syringe getting near her! I imagine Kashi's fierce disapproval of medicine combined with her size and I break out in a cold sweat. Suzy let me hold her between my knees without a problem and sweetly didn't even try to nip my leg, which was much appreciated.
hln917 wrote:

I'm glad Suzy will have a foster home and hopefully a friend to comfort her.

That's cute that Aiden and Kashi are finally getting along.  I can just picture Aiden run crying if Kashi decides to nip him and show a dog who's the boss!:biggrin2:

It's happened!!! I tried to pose the two of them together on an armchair for a picture, and Aiden decided that when I told him to sit next to his brother, I actually meant for him to sit on his brother's head. He did this twice, and then I pushed his little tush down next to him and told him to stay, turned to get the camera, and heard him yelp. Looked up and he was sitting behind me, staring at Kashi....who looked pretty satisfied with himself. LOL.

Kashi is very much enjoying his hay, and let me just add, Laura George's website is fantastic. After you order your hay, you recieve Quantum UPS updates so you can track your hay to your doorstep, which only took two days for my order. It was really convenient, especially since I was a bad momma and left the hay ordering just a little too late, and had to stretch the rest of my hay out till the order got here. Thanks to the UPS updates, I knew I could get away with filling his litterbox with the last of the Sweet Meadow hay because the new hay was almost here.

Also, Kashi has taken to 'helping' with litterbox changes. He always likes following me into the hallway to explore while I get his stuff ready, but now his new favorite past time is to sit next to me on his haunches and lean up and 'steal' strands of hay from each handful I grab to put in his box. Is it just Kashi, or is any hay that is in someone's hand automatically way more interesting than plain old floor hay? LOL.

 

[Kitty88]

I love how the whole time I was writing out my nice post above, all was quiet and peaceful, and none of my animals were calling attention to themselves. Needless to say, there was just an incident in the Pizzo household.

Just as I clicked 'reply' and sent my post to RO, I heard a funny noise coming from my room. Kind of a muffled thud. Funny, I thought. Kashi has been napping in his penthouse all morning. He occasionally decides to sleep in. As long as he eats his breakfast, I leave him be. Who am I to judge, right?

Anyway, I leisurely arose and started to stroll through my house to my room. That's when I heard three rapid-fire thuds, a crash, and a tinkling sound. So I prudently started running. Apparently Kashi decided it was time to start his day with or without me, and opened the door to his cage. He's done this before, I'm sure of it. But every time it happens, I hear 'Yeah, the rabbit let himself out. Sure, you didn't leave the door open.' So I throw myself into my room to survey the damage.

I guess my entrance startled Kashi, which is understandable. I am not what you would call a graceful person. I regularly 'superman' over a rope tied across the hallway at the shelter. I believe this may have happened the day Helen came to the shelter to pick up a bunny for Petco. Regardless, I scared Kashi. This was very unfortunate, as he'd somehow climbed onto the top of his cage, and he decided to dive into a box I keep up there for storage. Before my eyes, I watched as the box slid forward a few inches with his momentum and slowly, slowly, started to tip.

Ms. Grace here dived across the room and managed to land underneath it in time to save Kashi from landing on a hard surface. Of course, he still landed on me with about five extra pounds of supplies, but what's fourteen pounds to the back when you saved your bunny from possible injury?

So I calmed Kashi down with a quick cuddle and an extra papaya tablet, and told myself to relax. Literally, as I am thinking 'Glad that's over' I hear Aiden start barking in my backyard. Not unusual in the least. But then he started to do his 'I'm ferocious' bark/snarl, and just as I'm getting up to go see what is threatening him, I hear him make contact with some other animal, and then I hear a cat scream and Aiden start yelping. I started running for the backdoor as soon as I heard him yelp.

Just fyi, I still have Kashi stuck under my arm like a football.

I reach the bottom of the stairs and continue going for the backdoor to save my puppy from what sounds like a mountain lion, by the sounds it was making. My grandmother is standing in the middle of the room, and I put Kashi in her arms as I pass her. I rip open the backdoor and jump down four steps.......to find the smallest cat that lives on our block standing in front of his doghouse. Aiden was huddled inside, absolutely terrified and still barking like he was winning the fight. (they weren't fighting) The cat looks over its shoulder at me, raises its hackles at Aiden one more time, and stalks off towards the gate. I crouched down in front of the doghouse, and Aiden barreled out and tackled me. I then received a thorough face washing in thanks for saving him from the demon cat. I finally went inside and just to really top off the weirdness of my morning, found Kashi on the floor and him and my grandmother kinda staring each other down, like they were having a face-off. I didn't ask how he got on the floor, just picked him up and went back upstairs.


You know, if I didn't have pets, I probably would have just slept in this morning.

 

[kirbyultra]

Unemployed and don't have anything going on with my life...I would literally never get out of bed if I didn't have bunnies throwing the whip on me... LOL

Also, fist-hay is ALWAYS 500x more delish than floor-hay. No contest!

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Animals definitely make life interesting.

 

[Kitty88]

I'm going to resurrect this old thread one last time, as it looks like our family is expanding! I am going to be getting an adorable little Netherland Dwarf, thanks to a friend at work knowing about me being a 'rabbit lady' (his words). Apparently a friend of his has this little bunny just freeranging in a house with dogs and lots of people or something and decided they wanted to rehome it. They knew that it was seven months old. I'm really confused about the whole situation but couldn't get any more information out of them. I'm just glad to be getting the little guy out of there.

Anyway, I've been gathering supplies and now just have to give my entire room a good cleaning, and I'll be ready to bring bunny home!

So now the most pressing decision: a name!I'm gonna go ahead and pick a girl AND boy name this time, just to be safe. I've already chosen a girl name, and my heart is totally set on it. If the little bitty is in fact female, her name will be Agatha.

As for a boy name...no ideas. Lol.

I kinda thought Archie might be a good match. Anyway, here's a picture!

 

[hln917]

Aww.. she/he is a cutie! So excited for you. They are both good names. I love Archie if it is a boy. Looking forward to more pictures soon. Hope Kashi is cool with his new roommate.

 

[Kitty88]

Well, the cage is set up, the litterbox is ready, the water bowl is filled...Today is the day! Agatha or Archie is coming home!

 

[SOOOSKA]

Kitty I just read your Whole Blog (very quiet at work) you make it so enjoyable to read.

I love Kashi, he's so handsome. And your soon to be new bundle of joy is adorable too.

BTW I dress my babies for special occasions too. Daisy Mae actually even has a "Wedding " dress.:craziness:foreheadsmack:I know pathetic isn't it.

I look forward to reading more of your adventures with your Bunnies and other pets.

Susan