Thumper AKA fuzzy butt!

[PaGal]

Luckily for me he just got my sleeve. He's not a biter though. In fact I have only felt his teeth three times before, twice my thumb and just enough of a touch to know it was his teeth with barely any pressure. It was almost as if he was giving a taste of something he's not sure of. I think maybe my thumb each time just smelled like something edible. The other time he nipped my leg while I was half in and half out his cage cleaning and I think he was actually nibbling the seam in my jeans and then just accidently got me. Made me nervous for a while when cleaning his cage because I can't turn to see him come up on me and of course he's pretty quiet most of the time.

It was nice! I have met people with buns but not people with buns in the house interacting with them like we do. I also had the girl working cashier thank me for knowing the code for bok choy. Each and every time I have told someone the code I have then told them why I know it. Until I explain they look at me like they are not sure if they should believe me, maybe they are afraid I'm telling them the code for something a lot cheaper which is crazy, but she is the first one to thank me.

How is the hen doing today? I hope better.

 

[whitelop]

The hen looked a little better. I had to move her hospital cage under the canopy I have set up for the babies enclosure because it was raining all day. But she let me reach in pick her up, carry her over with the cage in my other hand like nothing was wrong. haha. I carry her like a football under my arm and she's just such a doll. I went out the check them at about midnight and she perked up when I came over with the lantern, so I guess thats a good sign. The last few days I have to say her name to get her to look at me, but she heard me coming this time. So thats a start.

Ellie tries to get passed me or behind me or just to bite my clothes but she ALWAYS bites me. I swear, her little teeth hurt SO bad. I don't know if she does it on purpose, probably not, but it still hurts!

 

[agnesthelion]

......

 

[PaGal]

A few weeks back I noticed Thumper was not eating as much hay as he used to. I figured he was getting too many pellets now that he is eating a lot of greens so I cut back his pellets. I had also been feeding him pellets in the morning and greens at night. Hay of course is always available. Well he would eat some pellets throughout the day but would finish them at night along with eating the greens. Also most of his hay would be gone by morning. I was feeding the greens at night to encourage him into his cage instead of having to chase him around. That did not work so well as I would still have to chase him. Once he was in though he would go to town eating.

I cut back on pellets slowly as well as slowly transitioned him to getting half his pellets and greens in the morning and half at night. The change in him is amazing. His pellet bowl hangs on the back of his cage above his litter box. When I feed him I have to get halfway in his cage. Now when I feed him he runs over, pushes his way under me and dives at his pellets and will start eating as I am still pouring his pellets. I don't believe he is being fed too little just that he is enjoying it more.

Another funny thing, I broke down and bought some pomengranate infused craisins. He will eat them but not like he really enjoys them. I do not give him much fruit at all. Everyone would probably laugh if they knew the size of the little pieces he gets but I want him healthy and do not want to worry about GI issues. What I found he does go nuts over is clover. Just the greens, not the flowers.

I picked a baggie full the other day before I cut the grass. I have been using it as a treat to teach him to stand up on his back legs when I tell him stand. I thought I would try teaching him a trick and so far he stands each and every time and quickly. I have him stand about seven times per day. When I am done giving him clover he keeps sniffing me trying to find more. What a wonderful bun to pick a treat that's available all year long and free in our yard.

 

[whitelop]

Ellie LOVES clover! My whole yard is clover so Ellie has a huge supply of it! haha.
I give Ellie like 2 craisins a day. She loves them and stands straight up as far as she can, on her little tippy toes and begs for the craisins. Its so funny!
Do you also try to feed him dandelion leaves and flowers?

How many pellets do you feed him a day? I'm sure he's not being staved! It sounds like he's getting a balanced diet! haha.

 

[agnesthelion]

.....

 

[PaGal]

Morgan...we have spots where clover grows in the yard but there are quite a few different spots. He's so spoiled...can only imagine what the neighbors think while I'm out there searching for the prettiest clover with no bug holes!Ha I gave Thumper dandelion leaves last year and he did eat them. I haven't tried the flowers yet. I have one of the very long veggie lists from RO that I keep in my purse just to double check. I also mark on the list the things he has had and I know he is ok with. Dandelion greens is on the list, wasn't sure about the flowers but planned to check. So thanks, now I know. He does get a mixture of like 5 different greens a day.

Lisa...I think he is just crazy for the pellets now because they are no longer unlimited plus divided into two feedings so those he runs out of. Hay he never does. My neighbor has retired from farming but does still raise hay. We talked to him about buying some but he won't do that, instead he gives us all the free hay we can use. I have about two horse sized bales right now and that's just for Thumper. All I know is clover is Thumps favorite which is great because it's safer since it's natural and no sugars plus it's free. I also don't have to go to the store to get it and at least when we have a mild winter like this last ones it's available all year.

 

[holtzchick]

Indeed Thumper is a spoiled bun. I would love to give my buns flowers but since I'm not seasoned botanist, I'm afraid I'd give the wrong kind, I'd rather avoid it altogether!
Thats a good system you have though for making sure you check off what he's okay with! I think we need a picture update next time he's outside

 

[PaGal]

holtzchick...well the dandelion is just a weed found everywhere here and it's well known by everyone. Maybe you don't have them up there but as far as I know they are throughout the US and I don't think there could possibly be an American that does not recognize a dandelion. Clover is easy to identify as well. I do know of several other weeds by site simply because they are beneficial in that they are nutritious and some can be used in place of medicine.

Poor Thumper hasn't been outside yet. We went from cold on Saturday to 80's on Sunday and the past few days have been at 90 or above. He's currently flopped against one of our AC vents, definitely not a bun that likes heat I have just picked clover for him and brought it in.

 

[whitelop]

There are a ton of flowers that they can eat, some of them are weeds and some of them are stuff that you can plant. Soon when I start to plant some flowers, I'm going to look on the bunny safe list and get a few that I know are safe for Ellie.

You're lucky that you actually have some grass. Most of my yard is clover and the soft weeds with the little purple flowers on them, I can't remember what they're called but I think they're edible to people.

It sounds like its been warmer there than here, but its been in the mid to upper 80's here. But its been SO nice at night. I love sleeping with the windows open and we absolutely refuse to turn the AC on until June. haha.
Thumper sounds like quite the spoiled bun, thankfully he's not crazy like Ellie!

Don't worry about looking crazy in front of the neighbors. I just went out with a kitchen pot filled with boiled carrots, corn and bell peppers from last night, for the chickens. I put the food in a bowl and called them over and they all came running full force and then I was surrounded with small chickens and then one big mama hen. haha. I'm sure my neighbors where like "that crazy girl is COOKING for those chickens now! Can you believe that?!" hahah. Because in my mind my neighbors are like that crazy lady neighbor from Bewitched. LOL

 

[PaGal]

Morgan...I was searching earlier for the info on wild growing plants that are safe but didn't come across it. I did see the list under gardening for rabbits. I will be looking at that myself. I think I saw that grapes, grape leaves and the vines are safe so I will definitely be planting some. I have been wanting to for the past couple of years as I just love the look of a grape arbor in a yard, brings back child hood memories of being at my great grandma's which didn't happen often and was a special time because of it.

At least half of our yard is weeds but I spend enough time trying to control them in the garden, I don't have the energy to worry about them in the yard. We have those purple flowers as well. I noticed the other day while mowing that the yard was full of the big bees going after those flowers. We always cut after Easter so the grass or weeds are good hiding places. Most of our stuff grew slowly throughout the winter so I had to cut high to avoid clumps of cut stuff throughout the yard so will have to cut again this weekend shorter. I love the fresh air too but first need to get rid of the spiders hanging out between our windows and screens. I think Thumper would be very upset with us if he didn't have his AC. He's so funny because he plasters himself to the vent. He'll flop and hit it to which makes me worry a little, I keep waiting for him to cut himself on a corner or something because he flops hard. So far his only craziness is now running me over or knocking me out of the way to get the pellets I'm pouring. Ha!

We have been saying the neighbors must think we're crazy from the day we moved in. We have groups of light switches in the rooms, like four or five together and we are forever flipping switches on and off till we get the right light. Even now after two years we do it when we are in a hurry or whatever.

 

[PaGal]

Well I posted earlier but it's not here so...I found a few soft poos this morning. Since no one has replied at all to my post about Thumper's soft poos I have been reading everything I could on GI issues including old posts. Since Thumper is still eating, pooping and peeing like normal, playing and not acting like he has any issues and because I am afraid to change too much and make things worse, I will be pushing the hay and cut back on his veggies. I will also be sticking with romaine and a little bok choy as he has been eating those the longest. He has never showed any signs of gas so I am hoping that will continue and that the bok choy won't be an issue since it hasn't been and I will be giving him less than what he is used to. I have placed TP tubes around his room stuffed with hay as well as the hay that is in his cage. He gets fresh hay twice per day. I also have a bag of timothy hay from a pet store that is still green and smells very good so I placed some in a box in his room. Twice so far today I have sat in his room and hand fed him some of the timothy. I will keep doing this throughout the day as I know he will at times eat food I offer him when he is laying around although he won't go eat it on his own.

I can hear him in his dig box right now. When I let him out of his cage he ran around like crazy and he did so again a little while after that when I went into his room. He hasn't slowed down a bit. Other than just a few poops, the rest look fine although they are slightly darker in color and look like they have a little less hay in them unless it's just harder to make out the hay because it is darker.

 

[whitelop]

Ellie had some soft poops the other day too and then an uneaten cecal. I wonder whats going on with them? I haven't changed Ellie's diet at all, maybe she did get an extra craisin or something and it was too much for her. But other than that, nothing is different and it hasn't happened since then.
Pushing extra hay is a good thing. I cut Ellie's pellets back for a day or two to make sure everything was okay and I was still giving her greens. I just didn't want to over load her with carbs and sugar from the food, I also stopped the fruit treats. Everything is back to normal with her.

Maybe something didn't agree with Thumps tummy and he had a few soft poops? Thats what I was thinking for Ellie, but I'm not really sure since nothing is different. But soft poops mean a gut flora imbalance, so that must mean something is off somewhere.
Archie just had soft poops too, I read about it in Lisa's blog. I wonder if its the season or something? That probably has nothing to do with tummies and now I'm just rambling. haha.

 

[JBun]

I just posted on your infirmary thread too. But Morgan's right about soft poop usually indicating an imbalance, usually caused by a new food, or too many sugars and carbs. Try stopping the new food first, then eliminating sugary treats, then if it's still happening, reduce pellets. One of my rabbits will start to get soft poop if she gets more than a very reduced amount of pellets. So she gets very limited pellets each day, and no sugary treats. Sometimes the daily veggies can also cause issues, as well as bacteria and parasites. Soft poops aren't a stasis problem initially, but the gut imbalance can lead to GI stasis. It's like an early warning sign that the diet needs to be adjusted(unless bacteria or parasites are the culprit). If dietary adjustments fix the problem, and you only change the diet for a few days and go back to the old diet, and the soft poops come back, then you most likely will need to make the diet changes permanent, or it could lead to stasis or other problems down the line.

If you are worried about it not being dietary, and may be bacteria/parasites, then you can take him into the vet and get a fecal done to check for that.

 

[PaGal]

Morgan...that's odd that so many are having soft poos! It's driving me nuts because I am pretty careful about slowly introducing new things. Now I'm wondering since there are different types of clovers if I was giving him a different kind then before and that's it.

JBun...thank you the helpful advise on both posts. I really do appreciate it. So cutting back on his pellets won't cause an issue. I have been afraid to change too much at once in case it would make the soft poo issue worse.

So I guess I will just feed him the romaine and bok choy as he never showed a problem before when he was just eating those. I'll push the hay of course. I will see how it goes with that. If he continues to have soft poops then I will cut back on pellets. How long after cutting out any possible problem veggies do I wait (if he continues having soft poos ) before also cutting out pellets?

 

[Chrisdoc]

That is so weird cos one of mine has been doing poop mounds but they´re not really soft just round and all in one go....none of them have been funny otherwise and they are all eating and peeing OK and seem to be really lively so I haven´t been too bothered as I´ve only seen two. Maybe it´s the rabbit funny poop season and we don´t know about it lol. I haven´t introduced anything new either and their routine hasn´t been changed. My sister thinks it´s really gross worrying this much about poop

 

[JBun]

If it was the clover, then it should have cleared up by now. If your vet will let you bring in a fecal sample to be tested, you may want to do that, just to rule out coccidiosis, or something like that. You already reduced pellets once since this happened, right? So you can try reducing pellets one more time, to maybe a 1/2 cup a day, and make sure he has lots of grass hay to eat Reducing pellets won't cause problems, it's increasing pellets or reducing hay that can cause problems sometimes. By wed. if there are soft poops, you could try cutting out the veggies. But if it's cocci, then dietary changes aren't going to make much of a difference.

Chris, what are the poop mounds exactly?

 

[PaGal]

Chris...seems odd to me so many buns with soft poo and from all over.

JBun...again thank you. I did not reduce his pellets after noticing soft poo. I had noticed a few weeks back that Thumper seemed to be eating less hay and I felt he might be getting too many pellets so over a few weeks time I cut him back on pellets. I also at the same time slowly started to transition him to eating twice a day instead of once. He gets pellets and veggies in the morning and again in the evening. Hay is available all day. Maybe cutting back on pellets as well as transitioning to two meals was too much change although I did do it slowly. I will cut back on pellets and limit his veggies to the romaine and bok choy which he has been on the longest with no problems. Right now he is getting 2/3 cup of pellets per day. Half of that in the morning and half in the evening although most times he will not finish in the morning and so will eat some in the afternoon. He's out of pellets by evening when he is given the other half and will finish those by morning.

 

[PaGal]

So one of the girls had a funny dream that involved Thumper, I thought you all might find it amusing as well! She was blowing bubbles in the house and Thumper swallowed one of the bubbles. Thumper then started burping and farting colored bubbles.

I think that would be a site to see! Ha.

 

[PaGal]

Chris...maybe it is the clover, oh wait you said you don't have clover in your yard. I swear I am wondering how buns in the wild ever survive. I love that movie myself. Can't watch the new one as I don't like what's his name. Sorry not a morning person at all