Hopping Through The Forest With Bunny Foo Foo

[Chrisdoc]

I just heard about it this morning as I was out all day yesterday and didn´t get back till later. My thoughts are with all of those poor parents who never expected their day to end like that and to all of you in the US who probably have to face this type of danger more than we do over here in Europe. I sure am glad that possession of a firearm is not the norm over here although, the other day, two innocent people were shot when someone lost it as well so it does happen anywhere but to a lesser extent.

As you say, we all have problems and issues but we manage to grow and develop and get over them alone or with the help of family and friends. If they can´t face life, why do they have to shoot so many instead of just shooting themselves. That´s the part I can never understand.

My heartfelt thoughts go out to all of you.

 

[whitelop]

Okay, baby update time! lol
I put Foo in our big dog kennel and the baby in Foo's cleaned out cage.
She has a litter box and some blankets as bedding. She is eating, pooping and I don't know if she's peed because the blanket is dark and I haven't felt in there. She peed in the box she was in, twice.
She knows how to use the water bottle and is drinking on her own! Her poops are solid and round and TINY! They're so little compared to Foo's.
I gave her 4 pellets at I broke in half, she seemed to eat them okay. I don't want to over do it with those pellets though because I need to get her some alfalfa pellets.
She is eating timothy hay like its going out of style! She really loves it. I'll get her some alfalfa, but I'm going to mix it with timothy because I don't want to go through the difficulty of transitioning her hay later on. I want her to always like timothy and then later other grass hays. Foo isn't picky about hay anymore.

Okay now to Foo. She DOES NOT like the baby! I was holding the baby and she is so spunky, so I let her down on the floor and had my legs blocking her from the whole kitchen. She went to Foo's cage and they were sniffing her and Foo bit her through the bars! The little b-word! I couldn't believe it. I moved their cages a few inches apart so they can't touch each other because I'm scared Foo will hurt her. That baby was scared. I only let her out for a few minutes, she's so lively! I hope Foo gets better after she is spayed and after her hormones have subsided. I would like them to be a team, I hope they'll get along. I know girl-girl bonds are really hard, but I hope because she's a baby, they'll be able to forage a baby bond after Foo is less of a brat!

I don't really remember Foo being a baby, she was like 14-16 weeks when I got her. So she wasn't little. Nothing compared to this little tiny! I took pictures of the new cage set up, the baby in her cage in the litter box. I put a picture of Foo in her litter box and then the baby in the same sized box, you guys are going to freak out! She has SO much room in that cage! Its enormous for her! She can do a full 500 in there right now I think. I don't really know much about babies, so I may be asking a lot of questions! hahaha. I was a little ill prepared for this, but I feel like I did the right thing.

I will say that I'm leaning towards Elvira as a name. It makes me think of The Oakridge Boys and Elvira Mistress of the Dark lol. I LOVE Elvira! She was so cool. I just saw a 90 year old Elvira walking through the grocery store parking lot the other day, that lady was hilarious!

I feel like I'm going to be doing a lot of stressing out in the next few days. Foo is getting spayed on Monday and I'm super nervous about that, then this little baby. I really hope she'll be okay and not get sick or anything. I'm just so nervous all the time as it is, but now I'm literally shaking. I have been all day. I didn't even want to go to my in-laws today because I didn't want to leave them. Especially with Foo being in a new cage, which I'll be honest, its not great. But hopefully, I'll be getting her some NIC grids or an x-pen soon. I'm going to keep her in that cage until after the spay/recovery but then I'll move her to something else.
Okay, enough rambling on. The next post will be some pictures! I hope you guys enjoy them!

 

[whitelop]

PICTURES! I would also like to say, that I'm totally learning how to work stupid photobucket! lol

^here is the new cage set up. Half of my kitchen is animal cages now. lol

^Elvira in her litter box, look how tiny she is!

^her wittle face!

^THAT is a disapproving bun! lol

^And this, is right before Foo bit Elvira on the nose! Foo is a meany butt!
But look at the size difference. I know you can't see all of Foo, but look at her head compared to Elvira.
:dutch

PS. Elvira is fine, just a bit shaken by Foo. But she'll be okay. I'm going to leave her alone now! I'm just a ball of emotions. I'm panicked and excited at the same time! lol

 

[Imbrium]

I'm so sorry Foo was a meanie-butt to your new little bunny! those darn hormones make them about as friendly and sweet as a 13 year old girl ><

F/F bonds are definitely tricky... if you're going to attempt it, though, the timing couldn't be better - the vast majority of your house is neutral territory since Foo almost never leaves the kitchen and you were about to bunny-proof it all anyway so it's not really extra work. have you confirmed that the new bunny is a girl, then?

a little tip for you... take lots of pics and don't go more than 2-3 days without snapping some! I really regret not buying a camera as soon as I got my bunns, and not getting more baby pictures of my two once I bought the camera for them (and that the ones I do have aren't great looking due to the NIC grid/cooking oil incident that left their fur mussed up for a couple weeks). they grow INSANELY fast! at 11 weeks (nala)/12 weeks (gaz), my girls weighed TWICE what they weighed at 8.5/9.5 weeks sometimes I look at my armful-sized bunnies and am boggled by the fact that they were once so tiny they could fit comfortably on my hand (one at a time, of course).

 

[Imbrium]

I know you can't see all of Foo, but look at her head compared to Elvira.

her head's like the size of the entire baby! craziness.

 

[holtzchick]

So excited!! See now do you get what I mean when I said that PHoenix had a lot of energy. She was like running back and forth lol. I'm so looking forward to reading updates and I hope that foo pulls through quickly from the spay !!

 

[whitelop]

I'm not 100% sure she is a girl. The woman at the pet store said she was, but I didn't get a chance to look and at that moment in time I couldn't remember what M/F parts looked like! lol
After Foo gets spayed, how long will it take for her hormones to subside? She is so moody now. I can't wait to have her spayed.
So after she's spayed and healed and her hormones go away, I'll try to reintroduce them. I won't try it again until then though. Thankfully she's getting spayed Monday! YAY! :dancingorig:

I've already taken a lot of pictures of her! When she was out for the 5 minutes she was exploring, she periscoped like 3 times, but I couldn't get the picture of it! I was so mad! Because when a tiny baby periscopes, its the most adorable periscope ever! lol
She also stood up and put her front legs on the wall and I got to see her little back legs all stretched out! I couldn't get the picture of that either. Her little legs are so funny! I love when they're all stretched out like that. I can't wait to see her binky, bunny 500 or in a DBF! I think she is going to be a little wild and spunky. She is already so brave. :dutch

 

[whitelop]

Every time I look at the picture of Foo in her new kennel and her disapproving face...I laugh so hard! She has such a grump face for a lop! lol
I think it has something to do with the space between their eyes. My husband calls it her "stern brow" lmao

 

[Imbrium]

IAfter Foo gets spayed, how long will it take for her hormones to subside?

I've already taken a lot of pictures of her! When she was out for the 5 minutes she was exploring, she periscoped like 3 times, but I couldn't get the picture of it! I was so mad! Because when a tiny baby periscopes, its the most adorable periscope ever! lol

takes about a month with females for the hormones to be gone.

Nala periscoped a ton from day 1 and it was SO cute when she was a baby... Gazzles didn't seem to do it at ALL for a while, then one day she learned and it was SO exciting!! (to me, anyway ) I spent ages trying in vain before I finally got a picture of it.

Every time I look at the picture of Foo in her new kennel and her disapproving face...I laugh so hard! She has such a grump face for a lop! lol
I think it has something to do with the space between their eyes. My husband calls it her "stern brow" lmao

hollands and minis always seem to have either an "eeyore" face, a grump face, a mix of the two or they go back and forth. Gaz has an "eeyore" face most of the time, but I've seen her have a grump face, lol.

 

[JBun]

I love your little dutchie! I've got a little dutch marked baby too, but mine is 12 weeks, and he's such a snuggler. He's the runt and was about that size at 8 weeks. He was light as a feather and felt like there was hardly anything to him. He was less than 12 oz. Have you weighed her? It's kind of fun to weigh them each week to see how much they gain, plus it helps make sure they are gaining ok. Mine is still smaller for his age but he's chuncked out and has a nice round belly now

I think it is kind of funny that you started using a little dutchie emoticon as kind of your signature when you posted, and now all of a sudden you bring home a new dutch baby. It's almost like it was a premonition

 

[Chrisdoc]

Oh, I just love her and I think Elvira would be lovely for her.

It will take a while for Foo to settle down after her spay but I´m sure she´ll recover really quickly. And you never know, like me you acquired a girl and after the first month, she turned out to be a he. For me, I must admit, it was quite a shock but it didn´t change a thing, luckily, he had was named for a boy/girl.

Do take loads of photos. I didn´t take nearly enough and they do grow at such a rate. Now, I probably take far too many, my friends must be sick of seeing bunny pictures.

Naughty Foo being such a grump. She´s probably jealous, she´s had you a a bunny mummy all to herself and now you´ve gone and got somebody else. Just tell her you´ve got more than enough love for both of them and give her lots of cuddles and treats...I bet she´d forgive you a lots things if you´ve got something for her in your hand lol.

Looking forward to news of Foo´s spay and more pics of little dutchie.

 

[Ilovemyrabbit]

Elvira is definitely a cutie, I hope Foo stops being a grump after her spay.

 

[whitelop]

"Elvira, my heart's on fire for Elvira.
Giddy up, oom poppa oom poppa mow mow"
lol those aren't the lyrics in order, thats just been in my head all night! hahaha.

So as it turns out, I'm an over bearing bunny mom! lol I checked on Elvira several times last night, I wanted to make sure she was okay. New night in a new house/cage. She was fine. Every time I went into check on them, Elvira would look at me like "okay woman, you've been in here enough. Let me eat my hay in peace!" And Foo would be like "mom, what are you doing? Its the middle of the night, turn that stinking light off!"
I put a box in there for her with the elephant stuffy that Foo refuses to do anything with. I put some hay in there for her too. She went right in! She is a brave little bunny. haha. I think she's pretty smart too. Since the cage is plastic bottomed with the high sides, I can only get the water bottle so low on it. She can reach it from the bottom on the cage just fine, but she's found out that its easier to drink the water if she puts her front feet on the edge of the litter box. lol And no she won't drink out of a water bowl, I've tried so I didn't have to give her that bottle since it has a little leak. She drinks a lot of water though, has lots of poops and is eating lots and lots of hay!

And now for Foo. Chris, you were right! She is jealous! She doesn't understand whats going on. I gave her a bite of banana this morning and told her I love her. Hopefully she doesn't think I'm abandoning her tomorrow when I drop her off at the vets office.

Jenny, I don't have a scale I've never needed one before! But I might look today when I go to the store and see about getting one. She does feel like she weighs nothing, but she doesn't feel boney at all. I also feel her tummy when I pick her up and it always feel squishy and never tight or anything. I so worry about GI issues.
I know it is funny I was using a dutch emoticon and then I end up with a little dutchie! I was just talking about dutches with someone on here who breeds them, I love them so much! I like her especially because she isn't perfect and half her little nose is white!
How many rabbits do you have Jenny? If my memory serves me right the bun in your avatar is Dash, but I don't think I know how many other rabbits you have! lol

Now I'm going to let Foo out, so she can be free for a whole day before she goes to the vet! I need to go to the store in a few too, to get her some greens, special ones to eat before and after her spay!
Oh, Foo has pooped ALL over her new cage! I know she is just marking it. But there are only like 2 poops in her litter box! She hasn't peed in the cage or anything, only in the box. I put her fur blanket in her cage with her so it smells like her. Even before I had everything in her cage that was hers, I put her litter box in there to see where it needed to go and she went in and used it! Right away! lol She's so smart too.

One more thing! I know babies can't have greens until they're 12 weeks or older, I'll probably wait longer than that though. Especially since I think she was weaned too early, I don't want to destroy her stomach and cause issues later on down the line. So I have that planned out, but I wanted to say that its SO weird to only give greens to Foo! Like when I gave her her salad last night, I felt like I was leaving the baby out! I didn't give her anything, so don't worry. And this morning when I gave Foo some banana, I felt like I was leaving the Elvira out by not giving her any. lmao I know that sounds nuts. But for me its strange. I share my food with my son, my husband, my animals. So when I only give my food to one animal when two are looking at me, it throws me a little. lmao
:dutch

 

[Chrisdoc]

Morgan, don´t think you´re been obsessive at all, I worried the same with Bandy as he was taken from his mother around the same age and was tiny, weighed 200 grams, don´t know what that is in ounces but it´s very small. He was only weighed cos we had to take him to the vet 4 days after I got him as he had a poopy bottom and I was so worried he wouldn´t make it but he did and has grown and grown and hopefully stopped growing now !!! He eats for Spain now, he´s a real little glutton but doesn´t get the chance to overeat and he loves binkying and running when he´s out.

I am sure Foo´s spay will be fine and she´ll be back to normal in no time. Animals do get jealous so just give her time to realise that nothings changed with mummy and that you love her just the same.

Hope to see Elvira´s progress and she´ll be as big as Foo before you know it.

And as you can see from my photos, a tiny little creature can become a healthy, happy and binkying little boy or girl with the right bunny mummy and you are so the right mummy Morgan. You´ll see.........

Here´s baby Bandy

Love this photo of him...he used to love sitting on my knee for ages...not so keen on that now. Notice the smelly bottom lol

You can see how small he is on here compared to the soft toys.

And here he is now.....

 

[JBun]

I worry about tummy issues too, with my rabbits, but that's mostly cause I've had two sick rabbits with stasis in the past. Not all rabbits are prone to digestive problems. With your baby being so young and small, you will want to keep an eye on her poops for the first week. Look for soft poops and really tiny misshaped ones, but with her eating so much hay i would doubt her having any issues. It's usually the pellets and veggies that can start causing problems with rabbits. I would say after that you are out of the woods as long as you aren't introducing any new foods. And introduce those pellets really slow, with very gradual increases, and she should be fine. The biggest mistake that people make, and the one that often causes stomach problems, is that people just spring a new food on a rabbit, in large amounts, and the rabbits digestion just can't handle it.

After you've had her a couple weeks and she's doing good and there aren't any food changes, like still being transitioned onto pellets, you may be able to start giving her a little bit of veggies. Generally the no veggie rule til 12 weeks, is just cause most people don't understand transitioning a rabbit onto new foods slowly so it's better that the rabbit is older before veggies are given. My rabbit, Baby, was only fed lettuce when I got her, she was really young and kind of a rescue like your baby bun, and she wouldn't eat anything but leafy greens, cause she didn't learn how from her mom. But she was just fine eating green leaf lettuce and cilantro, even as a tiny baby, cause she was used to it. So I think as long as you stick with veggies that are easier to digest, like leafy lettuce, cilantro, parsley, etc., and you very slowly introduce in very small amounts, then she should be fine having them. But that's just if you feel comfortable doing it.

I keep meaning to add my rabbits names and pics to the rabbit list, but never seem to get around to it. Dash was one of my rabbits. She died earlier this year from stasis(which is one of the reasons I'm so vigilant about it now). She was the sweetest rabbit and I was totally bonded to her, so that's why her pic is there. I have 5 adult rabbits ( a grumpy holland and mini lop pair, a cage aggressive snuggly hotot mix - if that makes any sense , and two dwarf hotots that are constantly begging for nose rubs, and yes, I really like hotots), and 5 babies (one of my girl rabbits was pregnant when I got her), one being the dutch marked one that I was talking about. So those are my babies, and I love them all, even the grumpy ones

 

[Chrisdoc]

Would love to see pics of them all...I love the rings around the hotot´s eyes. Bandy is an angora and I think, hotot cross as he has the rings although only one is black.

I think we all tend to be a bit paranoid, however healthy our rabbits are about GI but feeding them a healthy diet mostly hay and checking them regularly usually works.

I´m sure little Elvira will be binkying about in no time and wow do they grow quickly

 

[Imbrium]

best of luck with Foo's spay tomorrow!

a scale is definitely a nice thing to have - it's fun to see how much they grow, and with adult bunnies, periodic weighing is a good way to catch hidden health issues if the weight changes suddenly.

I know what you mean about only feeding one bunny - sometimes one of mine will get their bit of fruit and the other's off somewhere and gets it later. I always feel bad telling whoever ate first "you already got yours" ><

 

[whitelop]

Chris, Elvira is already so friendly! She will come to the front of her cage and stand up to stare at me. She's funny. I'm sure she will be binkying around soon! She doesn't mind being held, as long as you get her close to your body quickly. She will stick her head out of the cage door to get some nose rubs. She's already so brave and sweet!

Jenny, she has pretty much only had hay. I've given her about 1/2 a teaspoon of pellets last night. She didn't really gobble them up like I thought she would. I got her alfalfa hay today and gave her a smallish handful. I don't want to overwhelm her system. She's eating all the hay though. I'll be honest, I've never seen a rabbit eat this much! She drinks a lot too. I found out today she will drink from a bowl. She was making a mess with her water bottle plus it had a little leak. So I got one with the roller ball in it. She couldn't get enough water out of it. So I gave her Foo's bottle with the stick thing, then gave Foo the ball one because Foo makes a huge mess with water! lol Elvira couldn't figure out how to work the stick one again, so I held my finger on the stick so she could drink, and it filled up a bowl below. Then I held the bowl up to her, she dunked her face into it, sneezed then started to drink! It was adorable. Almost as cute as watching a squirrel drink from my pond today, lol.
So I put a heavy bowl in there for her with her water bottle too. She's just a thirsty baby!
I also gave Foo a small handful of alfalfa and she LOVED it! hahaha.

Foo has been sitting on her litter box grate all day long, to get a better view of Elvira. I let her out earlier and she was digging at the floor next to Elvira's cage trying to get into it. She is just going crazy! While I was sitting in the floor helping Elvira figure out the water bottle, Foo was in her cage and she flopped next to me! She hasn't flopped right next to me like that in a long time! I guess she still loves me and she is still comfortable with me.

And I have to say, Foo is acting more like a bunny now and less like a carpet lump, as Lisa put it. lol She is more hoppy and more happy looking. She is eating more hay if you can believe that, drinking more water. She seems more like a bunny now! I don't know, its hard to explain but she just seems a little more lively and perky! Maybe bringing a baby home will liven her up and she won't just be a carpet lump for the rest of her life! I can't wait for her to be healed and less bitchy, so I can introduce them.

Oh and Jenny, I didn't realize you have SO MANY! My lord, that is a lot of rabbit! hahah

Should I make Elvira her own little rabbit fur rug to lay on? Foo LOVES hers, I'm sending it with her for her spay tomorrow. I'm going to make a bigger one for when they're out in the kitchen, to lay on. But I wonder if Elvira would like one? Hmmm...
:dutch

 

[Imbrium]

I'm sure she'd love to snuggle up in a coat rug

it's crazy how much babies eat and drink for their size! getting Foo at 14-16 weeks old, you totally missed the insane growth spurt at 2-3 mos old - they get bigger every day (mine were gaining an ounce a day for a while, and they're tiny bunnies)

 

[whitelop]

Jennifer, Elvira has eaten more than any animal I've ever seen! Every single time I look at her, she is eating! I mean, constantly eating. Its un-freaking-believable how much she eats!
Her poops are still perfect, not a single strange shape, not a single small one, not a single soft one. They're all perfectly dry and round! I think thats a pretty good thing!
She seems to be adjusting well, which I'm really glad.
She is terrified of the washing machine, but she'll have to get used to it. Her fear of the washing machine didn't stop her from constantly eating though! lol She is too funny.