Hopping Through The Forest With Bunny Foo Foo

[whitelop]

Foo's butt looks SO much better!
This is I think day 4 or 5 for putting something on top of her litter box so her butt doesn't touch the wet litter, and this is day 1 for her litter box being attached to the wall. So far so good, she hasn't peed anywhere in her cage except the litter box. I also found that one of her water bottles leaked, so I took that one out. I'll either fix it or get a new one. I like her to have two bottles.
I thought I would share the pictures of her butt, from before(when I figured out how dirty she was) and now(from tonight)

Before: (October 1)

Now: (October 14)

As you can see, she is still stained. The staining is lighter though. You can also see that she is no longer matted and crunchy looking. I felt her fur and she is much softer than she was before. I'm trying to brush her at least every other day, if I can't get to her daily. So that will help a lot I think.
I'm so glad that I've got it figure out now! I'm still keeping an eye on it though!

Yay for clean bunny butts!

 

[JBun]

It does look alot better. I bet you're so relieved to have that problem solved.

 

[whitelop]

So, I've been sick for the last few days and I swear, when I don't feel good the whole house suffers. haha.
We've been eating out because I don't have the energy to cook and I've been looking at the same few dishes in my sink since yesterday, but I just don't feel like washing them. (damn, not having a dishwasher)
The only one I've been really taking care of is my son. Duhh.
So Foo hasn't been out of her cage very much in the last few days, and she is totally shunning me.

Her butt looks so much better! Since I ziptied the litter box to the cage, she hasn't peed in her cage at all and since I took the leaky water bottle out, there has been no liquid for her to walk in, so no dirty butt.

I let her out tonight and she has pooped so many poops in the floor! She refuses to use the second litter box that I have out of her cage for her. She does poop in her cage, but pees only in the litter box (now, hahaha) I just don't understand! She doesn't make any sense. I put her poops in the new litter box, and she's gotten in it to eat the hay, but refuses to poop in the box. Geez.

Oh and I'm getting her spayed in November! For my birthday present. hahaha. I know that when I get her spayed, she will be better in the litter box, but until then...

 

[agnesthelion]

UHg so sorry you were sick! My house is the same way when I'm sick. So much doesn't get done.

That is great that you are getting her spayed. I bet you will see a huge change in her pooping.

Glad her butt is doing better!!

 

[Blue eyes]

"When mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!"

 

[whitelop]

As some of you may know, I'm thinking about switching Foo to a no pellet diet. I posted a thread about it, to get some opinions and I didn't know that some people felt so strongly about pellets. Even in reading online about rabbit diet and its really hard to find anything that says they don't need pellets. I know I'm not the only one who has thought about this, there were several people in my thread who said they had been thinking about it.
Then there were several people who are totally against taking pellets away. I just don't understand that. Pellets were created for meat rabbits. They were made to put weight on rabbits fast, to be affordable for a meat farm and whether the nutrition in the pellets THEN were up to par was besides the point, because the rabbits weren't alive long enough to show signs of malnutrition. I don't want to say much more about meat rabbits, I don't want to get in trouble.
I know that pellets have come a long way since they were first created, I know that companies strive to make pellets the best they can. But, they still sell the pellets with all the extra stuff in them. Thats no good. A lot of the things that I've read have also said, that because pellets are dry they don't really go with the way rabbits eat. They need a lot of moisture and the pellets don't give them any moisture as they're eating them.

The more I've thought about it and the more I've looked into it, the more I just don't think that MY rabbit needs the pellets. I'm not trying to get anyone to jump on my band wagon or change the way they feed their rabbit. The way everyone feeds, is up to them. We all have a general idea of what they should eat, but in the end, we aren't experts. Myself included. I am NOT a rabbit expert or an expert on nutrition.

From all that I've read, I've learned the nutritional facts on all the listed rabbit safe foods. I've learned the vitamins and minerals they have in them, not the levels of course, because I can't test them. But I have a general idea of what is in them. So I have a general idea of what foods Foo will need every day, to cover all the vitamins and minerals that she needs.

It will probably be more expensive than just buying pellets, but it will make me feel better because I will know what I'm feeding her.
I had a bad experience with a dog food recall a few months ago and I learned some things about the facility that made my dog food, it didn't make me very happy.
I also feed my chickens in a mostly free range environment. They get about 10% grain/layer mash and 90% free range, foraging. I know most of what they're eating, so I know what I'm eating.

I'm sorry I just went on a pellet rampage, but I'm just a little irritated with somethings.

Once again; I'm not trying to offend anyone and I'm not trying to start any problems with my views on pellets. They're just pellets! So I don't want anyone to think that I'm trying to talk anyone into switching, because I'm sure this diet isn't right for all rabbits. I'm just trying to share what I learn about the rabbit safe foods and share the things I've learned about no pellet diets.

Geez, I'm done now!

 

[agnesthelion]

People feel threatened when someone makes a decision that challenges their own. That is why people are anti no pellet diet. There is also literature out there that supports a pellet diet so they take that as THE only source and right way. Which is obviously incorrect. There is tons of research and several vets that have proven that pellets are not necessary.

I think it's great you want what is best for your foo. I also think that feeding pellets in the correct way has no bearing on quality or length of life. So for me the work involved and the money needed to feed a no pellet diet isn't worth it for me but that's not to say it's not for you. Some people want to and can put in the extra time and money needed for a no pellet diet and I think that is great!

Don't let this stress you out that much. Dry rabbit foods will always be fed just like dry cat foods and dog foods and bird foods. So there will always be people who think that is the only way. But you know it's not

 

[whitelop]

I think I've figured out the feeding of Foo. Right now she is getting 1/4 cup of pellets, to cut her back slowly.(she was at 1/2 cup before)
I've read that its suggested that you feed 1 cup of greens per 2 lbs of body weight. So, thats 3 cups for Foo everyday. Or they say that you can feed them a mound of greens that is the size of the whole rabbit. It works out that 3 cups is about the size of Foo! hahaha. Its kind of funny.

So I think what I'll do with the greens, is feed them 1 cup morning, noon and night. With pellets in the afternoon like normal and of course hay all the time. She'll pretty much have food all the time. I'm going to keep the pellets where they are at 1/4 for a week or so then start tapering them down a little at a time, so it doesn't upset her.

She seems to love the amount of greens shes getting, she seems super happy in her bunny sized mound of greens! Then she goes into a food coma and flops out!

I just don't know what to do with all the hay that needs to be in her cage. I have a hay manager, but she doesn't really like it. She eats the hay out of it, but she doesn't eat enough out of it. I put hay on top of her litter box and she eats that. I have a second litter box that she doesn't use. Should I fill that up with hay and put it in her cage? She knows which litter box is hers and I don't think she would be pottying in the hay box.
Right now, I'm just putting handfuls of hay in her cage for her, but she scatters it around. She lays in it and eats while she's laying in it. haha. She's super lazy!

 

[whitelop]

I was just sitting on the couch with Foo, brushing her. Everything was good, I decided to lay down with her, she was eating some salad. She laid down next to me, not flopped, but laying.
She gets up and starts to walk around on the couch, comes to and from eating salad, chinning me, biting my shirt and the towel she was on.
Then...she peed on the couch TWICE! Well, she peed on the towel and then on the couch. She was just marking the couch because she's never been on this one. Thank god, I have so much stain remover. Sometimes I guess it pays off the have messy animals and a messy child.
At least now she has marked and chinned the couch as hers and she won't pee on it again...hopefully!

Silly rabbit, the litter box is for peeing!

 

[whitelop]

She's INSANE! Foo has been going crazy since I let her out of her cage tonight. She's taken thirty 500 laps around the kitchen, shes skidding into everything, shes jumping in and out of her cage. She's over turning her new hay box thing. She is going nuts!
Its so funny to watch. She got her last cup of greens for the night and a few papaya things and now shes wired! She is throwing around my husbands shoes. (I'm surprised she can even stand to be around them, much less put them in her mouth. They're yard shoes and they STINK! haha)

I think less pellets and more hay/greens has made her feel more spry!

 

[agnesthelion]

UHg yes, Agnes went through a couch peeing phase before she got spayed. There is something about couches! They are soft, smell like us, it's like an invite for rabbit pee

That is great she is feeling so good! I love a happy bun

 

[whitelop]

I got Foo some oxbow botanical hay today. It smells so good! I wanted to give her a better variety, so now she has orchard grass, timothy and botanical. I also think I've figured out her hay situation. I had her second litter box that she never used. So, I put the hay in the box. Last night, she kept dumping the hay out of it and when she left it in the box, she peed in it. I took the box out and left her with some hay.
So tonight, I had an idea. I put all the different hays in the box, then put her greens under some of the hay. So she would have to get INTO the box to eat the greens, eating hay while she was in the box. I left her real litter box dirty so she would smell her pee and know not to pee in the hay.
I hope that it works, but I might have to attach the hay box to the side of the cage too so she can't move it around. (shes a nutter)
She did get into the box to get the greens and ate some of the botanical hay. I think she likes it. She did poop in the hay, which is alright as long as she doesn't pee in it.

I just have to share this too. Y'all know I don't really care for my MIL. Tonight we went over there for dinner before she goes back to Chicago. We were watching a particularly disturbing episode of Hoarders. (I love that show so much, its actually a little sick.) We were talking about hoarding and how most hoarders have an abundance of cats. Cats are usually the tell tale sign of being a hoarder. I have cats and I'm not a hoarder, so its not a rule, just an observation. So while, we talking about cats she says to me "people with more than one cat are usually on their way to being crazy" I just looked at her. I asked her what she meant and she said "well, you've seen the crazy old ladies with a ton of cats, so crazyness and cats kind of go hand in hand." I just laughed at her and didn't say anything.
I have four cats, does that mean that I'm 3 steps into crazy town? I mean, I could be 3 steps in. So what, I put Foo's dried papaya things in the fruit bowl with our fruit, I just went to the organic grocery store and ONLY bought things for Foo. So I bake things for my chickens, does that make me crazy?

Well maybe, but oh well.

 

[whitelop]

Well Foo bit me this morning and did some damage. Her cage aggression comes and goes, I guess like mood swings or PMS. So this week, she hasn't been very cage aggressive. I reached into her cage to check her hay for pee.
She sniffed my hand and it was fine. Then I was petting her and talking to her, it was a little cold in my kitchen so I was checking her ear temp and BAM! She turned and bit my first finger and did damage. I had to put 2 bandaids on it because the neosporin made the first one a little slippery. I've bled through both bandaids.

I know that I shouldn't have reached into her cage because its her area, but I needed to check her hay. She's usually aggressive but I was petting her in her cage yesterday and it was okay. A different day I guess.

She bit me one time about a year ago, I was feeding her a piece of hay and she bit my thumb and put a hole in the middle of my thumb nail. I don't know if she bit me that time because she was mad or if she bit me accidentally because I was feeding her. I can feed her even the tiniest pieces of food and she doesn't get my fingers.

I'm so upset with this. I cried because it hurt so bad and then I cried because I couldn't believe she bit me.

I guess the silver lining would be, she didn't pee in her new hay box.

 

[whitelop]

I went into the kitchen to get a granola bar and I looked over at Foo and she had a mouthful of hay. I ran and got my phone and took some pictures. They're dark and not very good.(My house is all wood and its so dark in here all the time) I also couldn't get her to stand still and take a good picture. She kept running around and digging in her blanket. I don't know why she is doing this, but its cute.

^I thought this one was funny because she has airplane ears and hay!

 

[JBun]

Awww, Foo wants to build a nest. It's so cute when they do that.

I hate it when my rabbits bite me. I have one really cage aggressive rabbit. I had her since she was tiny, but she gets scared about things, so I don't know that she's aggressive or just nervous about me reaching in her cage, except with her, she'll try and bite everytime I reach in there. Yet once I'm holding her, she loves to snuggle :?

 

[whitelop]

Foo is the same way. I can pick her up when shes out and I pet her all I want, but most of the time when I reach my hand into her cage she will lounge at me. I thought she was going to be okay today, because she was letting me pet her and everything. Then she just snapped!

Next month she's getting spayed, maybe that will help. Probably not though, because she's older and shes already pretty set in her ways. It might help with the wanting to build a nest though. She's silly.

 

[Blue eyes]

The photos with the hay in her mouth is hilarious. Do you remember me posting a question (and photo) of my niece's rabbit doing the very thing?

I went back to find the post and this is what you wrote on there..,

"I would LOVE it if my bun ran around with grass in her mouth like that!"

Looks like your wish came true!! How funny!

 

[whitelop]

LOL Suzette, I do remember that post! That is too funny! I was thinking about it when I posted the pics of Foo. I just could not remember for the life of me who posted it.
Buns are so crazy!


On a bun unrelated note, I made a rice heating pad tonight for myself. I got some cute fabric to cover the rice sack. I sewed it all myself and I don't usually sew more than a button on. I have it on my back right now and this sucker is GREAT!
I'm going to make 1 huge one for the chickens, so I can stick it in their house when it gets below freezing. I think I'll make a smaller one too for the animals if the need should arise.
How I made it is, I took an old pillow case and cut the sewn corner off, so there were 2 closed sides and 2 open sides. I sewed up 1 side and then poured the rice into the pouch, then sewed the last side up so the rice was in an inner pouch. Then I sewed up the outer decorative pouch and put the inner pouch into it. It looks good, not perfect; but I'm pretty proud of it!
I've had a pretty crafty day today, I cleaned out my bathtub drain with a homemade drain cleaner of baking soda and vinegar. It didn't work. haha.
I also made my own hamburger helper type thing. I cooked hamburger meat, used one of those new cheese recipe starter things by progresso I think, and then some velveta cheese and noodles. It wasn't very healthy, but it was pretty good! I'm going to add some steamed broccoli into it for lunch tomorrow, that will be delish.

Oh and last thing, because I've been rambling on tonight. I quit smoking. I've been sick this last week or so and I figured it would be a good time to quit. My husband said that he would quit to since I quit. (We don't smoke in the house, so no worries!)
Thanks for reading!

 

[agnesthelion]

Aww the bite thing has to be hard. I would feel so conflicted if my pet who I loved bit me like that! Too bad she has the cage aggression but it sounds like she's fine everywhere else.

The hay pics are so cute! Love the airplane ears!

Congrats on quitting smoking. I just had my 10 year anniversary this year of not smoking. Imquit cold turkey on feb 2nd 2002. I've never had one since.

My legs have been killing me lately (not sure why) so your rice heating pad sounds amazing right about now...

 

[whitelop]

Yes Lisa, my rice heating pad is amazing. I used about 1.5 lbs of rice, and I put it in the microwave for a minute and it stays hot for about an hour. Its small but it just radiates heat!
My cat likes it too. I had it on my back and I was laying on my stomach with the blanket over me. I woke up and my tiny old lady cat was sleeping on the heating pad on my back! She always sleeps on me, but she got a bonus when she got on my last night!

And Foo is crazy again today. She flipped her hay box and is now getting under it. I'm going to try to get a picture of it and post. I think she wants out of the cage and thats her way of telling me. Hopefully I'll be able to get a picture!