Natasha Rabbitova's 2012-13 Blog

[MikeScone]

She looks chunky for a Mini Rex.

I was just thinking last night that she has become chunkier as she gets older - much more like I remember Scone, but of course I most remember Scone in his adult years. When she first came to live with me her face was a lot more pointed, and looking back on Scone's earliest pictures, his was too.

Natasha's first owner thought that she was a standard Rex, which I suppose is possible. At 5.5 pounds (almost exactly the same as Scone was), she's big for a Mini Rex, but small for a standard Rex. Who knows?

 

[ldoerr]

Maybe she is a mini rex x standard rex mix? I remember that my first mini rex buck that I got to start in FFA with was 4.5lbs and skiny needing to gain a LOT of weight.

 

[MikeScone]

Here are my first pictures of Natasha for a new year.

Natasha gets very excited when the bag of oat hay comes out of the cupboard. She'll stand up on her feet, paws against my leg, as I dig it out of the bag. Then she dives right in...

.

I've got Natasha convinced that parsley is a treat food, so she can enjoy lots of it.

Parsley tastes better when Dad feeds it one stalk at a time, and Natasha can munch her way up the stem.

 

[HolyHandGrenade]

I call that wood-chipper style Cute pics, Mike!

 

[ldoerr]

Cute

 

[kirbyultra]

Natasha grows more gorgeous each year, Mike.

 

[Katielovesleo3]

Hehe I think it is so entertaining to hold the parsley or whatever veggie and let him munch up to the top of it. It's so cute.

 

[Chrisdoc]

Yeah, I love doing that as well, it reminds me of us eating spaghetti haha. Isn´t she so lovely and doesn´t she like that parsley:yes:

 

[agnesthelion]

Natasha is still as gorgeous as ever. Archies coat is just now recovering from his molt. I'm anxious for itmto be smooth again like natashas

 

[qtipthebun]

We call that green-beard. Because when they eat the parsley stem up like that, they end up with just the leaves hanging out of their mouths and it looks like a silly little green beard. Q-tip says "silly human, parsley IS treat food! So is cilantro!"

I love the Natasha pics. As for the size, Tippy went to the vet today and she weighs 5 lbs, and she's not chubby, so...maybe mini-rexes are bigger than I thought, too!

 

[MikeScone]

I've had trouble sleeping a few nights this week, and Natasha thinks it's been great - for her. She can tell when I'm not asleep, and that's just when Natasha figures Dad needs grooming most. In fact, she seems to have decided to stay as close as possible, just in case the opportunity presents itself. She sleeps on the foot of my bed most nights, on and off, but this week she's started sleeping next to my pillow much of the night. That way, if I should happen to wake up in the middle of the night she can start licking my face or hands without the delay involved in hopping the length of the bed.

It's very flattering, if a bit disconcerting to feel a soft furry lump next to my pillow in the middle of the night.

 

[MikeScone]

Natasha and I just returned from her annual checkup at the Cornell vet clinic. The trip didn't seem to distress her too much, and she obviously enjoyed the visit to my office in the morning. She's in fine shape, and has lost the extra weight the vet was concerned about last time. She's now a trim four pounds eight ounces, just right for her size.

She's resting quietly under my bed as I type. All's well in the bunny's world.

 

[agnesthelion]

Glad she is healthy and doing well. I think she's quite a bit bigger than Archie. My Lionhead weighs about 3.5 lbs, possibly a little more since her last weigh in, and Archie is dramatically smaller than her I bet he's closer to 3 lbs.

 

[ldoerr]

Glad that she is healthy

 

[MILU]

Natasha is so cute, I'm glad to know she's doing well and in shape. Maybe now you can give her some treats

 

[MikeScone]

Maybe now you can give her some treats

No danger of her missing out on treats. I was waiting with a banana chip when the vet brought her back from the nail trim, and she accepted it with appropriate dignity.

 

[BinkyBunny]

Natasha Rabbitova! I LOVE THAT NAME I think bunnies should get last names that aren't yours because it is funny. I have Charlie Bunny and Bing...I'm considering Bing Cherry for his full name, but it sounds a big girly so we will ponder this!

 

[MikeScone]

Natasha Rabbitova! I LOVE THAT NAME I think bunnies should get last names that aren't yours because it is funny.

My first rabbit was named Scone by my son, and he didn't have a last name at first. We were discussing last names on another rabbit board I used to frequent, and when I thought about it, I couldn't see giving Scone either my last name or my son's (which are different) - neither "Brown" nor "McDermott" seemed appropriate for a small bunny, somehow, and we weren't really related biologically anyway (no two of the three of us). Since "Scone" was chosen because Joe wanted a Scottish name, it made sense to find a Scottish last name, so he became Scone MacBunny.

Like Scone, Natasha already had a name when she came to live with me - I think her first human was thinking of Natasha Fatale, the black-haired spy from Rocky and Bullwinkle - but she had no last name. MacBunny wouldn't work with a Slavic first name, and I didn't care for either Drake (her first human's name) or Brown (my name) with Natasha, either. It had to be Slavic. I first considered "Bunski", or "Bunovich", but I liked "Rabbitoff" better. Since "-ova" is the patronymic for females, she became "Natasha Rabbitova".

And now you know the Rest of the Story, as Paul Harvey used to say.

As to Bing, the only Bing I can think of is Bing Crosby - what about Bing Crosbun?

 

[agnesthelion]

I like Bing Crosbun!!:yes:

 

[MikeScone]

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —
Only this and nothing more." - Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven

Nearly napping is right - three times this week I heard a loud rapping at my front door at dawn. I threw my clothes on and came out, and there was no one there. Then, this morning, I caught him, sitting on the woodpile and rapping on the window:

Nevermore!