Got Ears?

[Yurusumaji]

It has been a really long time! WOW!

Life had just gotten so WHOA around here. We were talking about re-homing Michiko for a short while. But then I really put thought into it and realized I could never go through with it. So Michiko is stuck with us.

Over the summer we got Michiko a cute harness and took her outside a couple times. She also got to take a trip to the pet store because one of the managers there LOVES her so much.

She seemed to have a mixture of curiousness and nervousness while outside, so we didn't push it too much. The weather is getting cold here now, but I might try to take her out one more time before it gets too bad.

I was hoping that ball would provide Michi some good entertainment. She destroyed it within a few hours. :biggrin:

It hasn't been too exciting of a year. We made our big move, but after that we have all just been going on day-by-day. I hope all of you are doing well.

 

[JadeIcing]

:biggrin2:Great seeing you posting! Hope life has settled now.

 

[Yurusumaji]

JadeIcing wrote:

:biggrin2:Great seeing you posting! Hope life has settled now.

Ha ha, great to be posting!

Life will settle soon. The holidays are the time we take out to unwind and let the stress melt away. :wink

The military just always has hubbs being shifted around everywhere. Ugh. It gets old.

 

[JadeIcing]

I think you should enter the photo contest. She would be an amazing entry.

 

[Yurusumaji]

JadeIcing wrote:

I think you should enter the photo contest. She would be an amazing entry.

Sure thing! I will definitely look into the contest!

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Great to have you back!

Those are great pictures, she looks so sweet.

 

[Yurusumaji]

Wabbitdad12 wrote:

Great to have you back!

Those are great pictures, she looks so sweet.

Thanks so much! We are happy to be back!

Thank you. :innocent She is a huge sweetie and you know we just love her.

 

[Yurusumaji]

Wow, I am a whiz at disappearing!

Michiko is still as healthy as a bunny and my sweet little crab apple. Also, she's huge!

We're working on fixing up her cage as she found ways to get out of it and she destroyed the flooring (and the carpet below). We are also trying to find new toys and entertainment for her so she has more consistent outlets for her chewing.

I'm so glad the weather is getting so nice down here. I'm excited to take Michiko outside again on her harness and enjoy the grass and fresh air!

As for me ... I'm mostly just getting older and watching life pass me by. I am very excited though because I finally get to return to college next Fall! My current plan is to get a degree in Zoology. It's going to be a long, hard road. I'm so ready for it, though.

Hopefully I manage to hang around this time. I'm so ADD, I swear.

 

[JadeIcing]

LOL again nice to see you posting again.

 

[Yurusumaji]

Funny story, I'm catching up a bit on your blog! So much going on with you, it's nuts.

I kept forgetting to bookmark this place and I'd just not think about it. We are going through some huge rabbit renovations right now though and it made me think I need to come back. Hubbs and I are pulling our hair out (I am doing this in the most literal sense, I'm a mess) trying to find a caging solution that is both functional and affordable. Michiko can truly be such a terror.

 

[Yurusumaji]

With all of the planning and decision-making concerning the rabbit renovations, I have been quite stressed. Not to mention I have a lot of cleaning to start shortly here as we have company coming by tonight.

To help relieve my stress, I have been terrorizing the critters of my house for photographs. :biggrin:

Apollo is and always will be a terror. He barks at everything, including the wind and loud vehicles. He does, however, love the dog park. It took some time, but we have been going every week since December and he has really loosened up and learned to enjoy the company of other dogs and people. It's such a big step in the right direction, but there have been issues with bringing that confidence out of the park. He's at his absolute worst at home.

Kuma is Apollo's polar opposite. Kuma loves people and will roll over and expose his belly to anyone willing to give him the time of day. Brushing him and shaving him are real pains and every time we go to the dog park he gets a runny poop and it gets stuck to his back end. His back end is white, so this is a bit embarrassing when I do all that work to make him look nice. LOL! Lately he's been scarfing down his food too fast and throwing it up right after, so I may have to get him one of those bowls with the protrusions in it to help him slow it down.

Nyx is my baby! We enjoy snuggling and terrorizing each other. I wish she would let me brush her more as we recently had to cut 3 mats off of her, one of which was enormous! She hasn't been up to much lately, just doing her own thing and bullying the dogs. When we adopted her she was underage, underweight and pretty sickly. She went in for her yearly rabies vaccination and check-up recently and she was awarded a "Perfect Bill of Health".

Phoenix is Daddy's Girl and she has become fairly aggressive toward me. Unfortunately for her, I am the Critter Caretaker here and she just has to learn to tolerate me. Lol! I have been doing some work with her to help her get more comfortable with me. Yesterday after a bit of a stand-off, she finally came to me! I was so very excited to get her calm enough that she would give me a kiss and then come to me on her own. We will be continuing our work together on a daily basis.

Kami (top) and Yasuo (bottom) are spoiled goobers that are adorable. Their cage is huge and when we clean it we have to carry it up a full flight of U-stairs and get it into our bath tub. They are very demanding pets to keep, but we think they're fantastic and worth the pulled muscles in our backs. Ha ha! Kami needs to go on a diet, though. As you can see from his photo, he has ****s. :laugh:

Oh, my little Robo. He sleeps a lot, but whenever I run the kitchen faucet he runs over to me and climbs up on his cage bars. This is his cue that he wants a a frozen veggie, usually a pea or piece of corn. I also give him the rare banana chip or yogurt drop. He's very skittish, so I don't bother him too much. This photo was really hard to get because he was darting around all over the place trying to get away from me. Lol!

That's everyone! We all co-habitate really well and I love being surrounded by so much cute on a daily basis. I would love to have more someday, but for now I'm really happy with my mini-zoo. There is so much joy in sharing my life with these little ones.

 

[Luv Buns]

I luv em! So cute. I'm an animal lover all the way so I would have a blast at your house!

 

[JadeIcing]

Awesome update. Nice to see the dogs. Adore them.

 

[Yurusumaji]

Thank you both! All of our furkids hold a special place in our hearts.

Small dogs are such little trouble makers, but I do love mine. It may not be all unicorns and rainbows, but they're great dogs that I'm glad came into my life.

 

[Yurusumaji]

I don't know if I ever told this story, but I've been thinking about this a lot lately as I do sometimes and I feel the need to tell it.

In my Freshman year of college I got a job at some dinky little hole-in-a-wall pet store. We often had people come in to dump their animals there. Many of them were rodents and they all went home with me and sought treatment for whatever it was that made their owners think they were "defective".

Then one day I was cleaning out the rodent cages when one of the managers came rushing back and told me I had to go up front ASAP, someone had just brought in a rat that was bleeding from the eyes. The rat's name was Stewart and his eyes were still intact, but he was bleeding from behind them and he had poryphrin coming out of his nose. He had obviously suffered either a brutal squeezing or severe head trauma. He was suffering from loss of motor skills and he couldn't eat anything solid. I told the woman she needed to take him to the vet immediately. She told me she couldn't, so I asked her to let me take him and she did.

That night I took little Stewart to the emergency vet and he was given medication. He made a full recovery and we became very, very close. He always wanted to be on or around me. He would give me kisses and sleep on my bed. He'd ride around town with me, in my purse or hoodie pocket. My little sidekick and best friend.

I was in the habit of giving Stewart dog treats on occasion. It's good for rats and he loved them. I would usually just give him whichever new treats my mother bought for her dog that the dog didn't want. In February of 2007, I gave Stewart one of these dog treats. The next morning I received an e-mail that those treats had been recalled. I ran to check on Stewart, but I was too late. He had died in the night. I have never stopped feeling guilty about what happened to Stewart and my heart has never healed.

Stewart made a really huge impact on my life and how I am with my pets now. One thing I have noticed is that I never got very many pictures of Stewart in the short time I cared for him. These days my camera is nearly another limb. I try my best to treat everyday like it might be my last with these precious creatures. I hope they know I love and treasure them, just as I love and treasure my memories of Stewart.

I miss you everyday.

 

[JadeIcing]

I know the feeling *hugs*

 

[MiniLopHop]

I'm so sorry for your loss :hug:

 

[Yurusumaji]

Thank you both.

I talk about Stewart a lot still and think about him more. Stewart taught me that every life is precious and worth saving.

I got made fun of a lot for taking Stewart in and spending so much money at the Emergency Vet to save him because he was "just a rat". Despite what everyone said, I was so glad I did. Stewart thanked me everyday with kisses and snuggles. That was plenty proof for me to know that what I did didn't go unnoticed. I know Stewart knew I saved him and I know he was constantly reminding me how grateful he was that I didn't let him die.

Now, on to something more cheery and pleasant. Michiko was binkying like crazy last night! I couldn't have been happier watching her have so much fun. Of course E-Lop binkies are extra-awesome because of all the ear flipping. :biggrin:

Rabbit Room Renovations are tonight and I am so ready! Woohoo!

 

[Yurusumaji]

Rabbit Room Renovations are almost done. Hubbs and I are both completely worn out and I'm crabby because there's no hot water, so I can't even take a shower.

We're going to lay some bricks down on the corners so Michiko can't push the grids around. Unfortunately it seems she can jump out, so there may be a roof in her future as well. It's pretty bare as this was just after we finished construction. I think I'm going to bend a grid into a hay rack for her.

I am also waiting on an order of toys for her because I just bought her one of these at PetSmart a few days ago and by the next day it was demolished. LOL!

Oh, so exciting! I am so domesticated, it's sad. I have been begging hubbs for a shop vac to make bunny cleaning much easier on me and my poor old lady back. He totally surprised me with one yesterday! He found a 5 gallon on sale and I got to use it today. It's so awesome!

The cage is approx. 6' x 6'. The plywood was my idea to flatten the flooring and we stapled the linoleum to it so Michiko couldn't tear it up like she did it to the last linoleum floor she had. This set up for the floor was actually fairly inexpensive, but it was a lot of work. Plywood is not a lightweight in the lumber world and we had to get that stuff into our car, then our home, then up our full flight of U-stairs. It was really hard work, but so worth it in the end. I'm just a little sad we won't be able to take it with us when we move. LOL!

 

[Yurusumaji]

WOO! Rabbit Room Renovations are officially done!

You can now see how she has dirtied it up in a mere 24 hours and you can see the hay rack I made for her. My toy order shipped today so I should be getting them early next week! Things have really come together well and I'm very happy with the end result.

Last night during Michiko's time out of her cage she was being a bit of a troublemaker, but after a while she started to calm down and she laid under my chair and let me pet her for quite a while. It was a very nice bonding experience for us.