Senior Tigger

This is going to be a bit long, because I am going to share the hardest illness of Tigger’s life to deal with which actually wasn’t the very end. At the very end, it was a gradual slowing down, stiffening up, eyesight fading away, hunger coming and going over a period of months until it was quite clear the end had arrived.

Is Tigger resting or in pain?

Tough call position: Tigger would hen up to nap, but would also hen up if she was in pain. The difference in judging was often the length of time she stayed in this position. More than a few hours with an unwillingness to move when nudged, meant she was in pain.

The vet started talking about Tigger as an elder bunny after turning eight years old. At that point there really wasn’t much other than a slight slowing down and gassy tummy issues occurring more often to show that she was getting up in years.  Most of the time, Tigger was Tigger, sassy and getting into everything and hassling Shadow if he wasn’t paying her enough of what she deemed the right attention.

When she was nine and a half years old, we had a crisis hit the neighborhood, literally when a bolt of lightning zapped all the way down into the ground.  I heard the thunder, saw the bolt of white light, felt the ground shake and everything in the house went off, all at the same time.  Frazzled doesn’t cover the feeling, everything needed checking on all at once … First I made sure the house hadn’t been hit and the bunnies were all right.  Then began the rounds of everything else.  Electricity was off for several hours, when it came back on, I began to realize that we had problems with a lot of systems and equipment.  The phone line was coming and going making calling for assistance hard.  This one taught me to always make sure my cell phone was charged.

Over the next week we had a whole series of repairmen trooping in to fix things.  It was August and extremely hot, so we had to rent a portable air conditioner for a day for the rabbits room until we could get the A/C rigged to just run until a part of the switching system could be replaced.  After an exhausting week, we thought we had things back to normal again.  That is when we noticed that Tigger wasn’t eating and drinking enough.  We tried the usual tummy routine we had for her when she would seem gassy.  We would give her Simethicone, extra water and tummy rubs.  Usually that would have her responding back to normal within 12 hours at the most, but it wasn’t working this time.  We took her in to the vet and didn’t find out anything more than we knew before we went in.  We were told to keep up with the Simethicone and feed her with Oxbow Critical Care as needed.  We also tried wilted greens as suggested.

Over the next week, there was no real change, no improvement.  We went in again and the doctor did another exam and suggested putting Tigger under anesthesia to do a good exam of the teeth.  We knew the anesthesia at her age was risky, but didn’t feel we had a choice.  She had begun grinding her teeth on a regular basis.  It was obvious she was in pain somewhere.  The vet brought her back in fairly quickly, really groggy from the anesthesia and said she had found one tooth that was a little pointy but didn’t know if that was the problem.  We were somewhat surprised she hadn’t just taken care of that while Tigger was under the anesthesia, but had been seeing the vet for years and really trusted her judgment and care, so didn’t push for asking why she hadn’t acted on that.

We were sent home again without much more than the bill for the trip, still told to do Simethicone, Critical Care and had a little bit of pain medicine for her. After another week with no improvement, we were reaching exhaustion trying to care for Tigger ourselves at home making sure she had enough feedings each day, enough water, pain meds and then still care for Shadow too and try to eat, sleep and work ourselves.  Tigger was still not wanting to eat much on her own, was still grinding her teeth in pain and was seeming as tired and unhappy as we were.

We weren’t getting much help when we would check in with the vets office by phone.  I would call and go through everything that was going on and be told someone would call me back.  Hours would pass and when I would call back, I would be greeted with surprise that I was expecting a call, because the chart had been noted Tigger was doing well ??? We went online seeking help from Etherbun.  It was suggested that we really needed to discuss the situation quite openly with the vet about what Tigger’s options and prognosis really were at this point.  Should motility drugs be tried?  Was she at a point where she might not recover?  Was it possible that euthanasia was the compassionate choice if she was in constant unrelieved pain?

We made another appointment with the vet with the intention of discussing and being open to knowing where things stood, however that might be.  It was an awful visit right from the start.  Tigger was in pain and completely freaked out.  After being weighed, she took a flying leap off the scale straight up into the air and landed teetering on my shoulder.  I had a split second vision of what a fall from five feet would do to her.  Fortunately for Tigger, I had early in life emergency training on how to help someone who is in danger of falling to the floor, by putting myself between them and the floor while doing a controlled fall myself.  I immediately fell forward onto my stomach across the exam table.  That shifted Tigger onto my back, surprised her and in the moment of surprise the vet tech was able to safely grab her.

The exam by the vet showed nothing any different from previous weeks and when we tried to discuss all our options, medications or whether this might be the end, the vet completely shut down the discussion and said she would never consider euthanasia for any animal she felt still had life in them.  Then she left the room.  I have never felt more tired or frustrated.  We didn’t want to lose Tigger, but we didn’t want to have her grinding her teeth in pain hour after hour, day after day either.  That was simply no way to live.  We left the office with basically the same thing we had from the previous two visits, another bill and instructions to keep doing what we were doing.

We reached out again on Etherbun and were put in touch with a rabbit rescuer who had a great deal of experience dealing with rabbits in stasis.  He was wonderful.  He told us to get to another vet ASAP, to get as much water into Tigger as we could and what pain and motility medicines to call up and insist the current vet provide us with until we could get a second opinion.  The increased water and pain medicine helped Tigger be a bit more comfortable.  The motility drug, we had to stop after two doses, Tigger developed seizure like head movements which was one of the serious side effects noted to watch out for.  We had an appointment set for a new vet in a just a couple of days.

With the new vet, we were dismayed that the record transfer we had requested from the other vet had not taken place as we had been assured it had by the other vet’s office staff.  We went over the whole history and everything that had been tried and everything Tigger had gone through.  The vet was very patient and took her time with a thorough exam.  We told the vet we didn’t know what to do, it was obvious Tigger was in constant pain and although we didn’t want to lose her, we could not continue to put her through nothing but pain either.  The vet gave us the option to try having an exam done under anesthesia to see if there was a tooth issue that needed to be addressed.  She warned us that since Tigger was elderly and had been under anesthesia just a little over a week before, there was a much greater risk that she would not wake up.  We did not see any choice but to try.

Thankfully, the vet filed down the sharp tooth the previous vet had noted and Tigger did awake easily from the anesthesia.  She started to recover after that and was back to herself again soon.  I have never written about this before, because it was just such a painful experience to go through for all of us.  I am not sure if the stress of the lightning strike played a part in Tigger’s illness or if all the lengthy repairs after the strike just kept us from noticing a problem sooner.  I have no idea why after years with the one vet, the communication took so many seemingly wrong turns.  I am writing about the experience now so that hopefully others won’t have to go through the same thing.  Even if you have a vet you have loved who has been great in the past, if it suddenly seems that you aren’t being heard or helped, seek a second opinion. Your reward for acting to find another option might then be the same as ours, more time to enjoy with your rabbit.  We were blessed with another year and half with Tigger after she recovered.

This weekend, a gallery of Tigger photos and next week Shadow’s stories begin …

Spay Time for Tigger

Tigger restingWhen Tigger got to be six months of age and Shadow was turning four months, it was time to take them in to be fixed.  There will be a tale to tell with Shadow about that, but with Tigger, we thought it was going to be a straight forward spay.  We should have known better.  The day the surgery was scheduled, we were gathering everything together when something spooked Tigger.  She was still in her cage, but she had developed a habit of gnawing on her cage bars.  She had been doing that when she took fright and must have jumped backward while her teeth were still around the bars.  It was pretty clear immediately that something was really wrong.  She was grinding her teeth in obvious pain.

When we got to the vet, we explained that she needed to be examined for the mouth injury before anything was decided or done with the spay.  They told us they would call us, so we left to await what they would find.  That was a mistake.  We should have stayed and made sure the injury was examined and we were consulted.  Instead, we got the phone call that she had cut the inside of her mouth on the top and her teeth were loose and the spay was completed, so they would call us when she was ready for pick up.

We were really upset that the surgery had proceeded with such a serious mouth injury and questioned why that had been done without consulting us first.  Tigger was not a good eater and we were terrified what it was going to be like trying to help her recover from both the spay surgery and a serious mouth injury at the same time.  We were really scared and thought this just might be too much and might cost Tigger her life.  The vet just said he felt it was in her long-term best interest and wanted to get it out-of-the-way.  When I looked at the spay incision with the very obvious stitches, I asked what was to prevent her from trying to chew them out.  The vet said that rabbits didn’t do that, only rats did.  I doubted he was right about that, but didn’t know what else to say at that time.

We were told to take her home and keep her in her cage for ten days, then the stitches would come out.  The removal day was set for the eleventh day since the tenth fell on a Sunday.  So we took Tigger home knowing we had a nursing challenge ahead.  Fortunately I was working at home at the time and could keep a close eye on her.  I broke up her pellets really tiny and put a few in a bowl and moistened them just a bit.  She was not interested in her food that night and had the most awful dragging hop to pull herself from the front of the cage to the back.  She wanted to be as far from us as possible.

A few hours later, I looked in and saw her lapping something off the floor and realized she was drinking her own urine.  That is when I realized that the mouth injury was probably not allowing her to drink from her bottle.  I immediately got a small bowl we had that could attach to the side of the cage and filled it with water.  She was so thirsty.  I felt terrible not realizing sooner that maybe Tigger would not be able to drink from the water bottle.

The next morning, I was relieved to see that Tigger was munching on some hay.  That gave me hope that she would pull through.  Still, it was really rough, I was having to check on her every few hours around the clock to make sure she was eating and drinking enough.  We had put pellets in a couple small bowls around the cage as well as water bowls front and back since she was so obviously in pain trying to hop around.  The vet hadn’t given us anything for pain.  Looking back with what we know now, we should have insisted on being given something for pain for her since she was dealing with two recoveries at the same time.

Tigger was obviously experiencing strong hormonal changes too.  She would get really grumpy, then angry and in spite of the mouth injury would try to throw things. Other times, I would come in and find her hunched up as small as she could get. When I would put my hand on her head, her ears would be so cold.  I would get a towel and wrap it around her and just stay with her petting her head until she warmed up again.

About day six, she was getting really anxious about being in her cage all the time. I called the vet and asked if it would be okay to let her out if we did it in a hallway that had nothing in it.  We got the okay and let Tigger in the blocked off hallway.  We had all the room doors closed and a huge piece of cardboard four feet tall blocking the opening, so she couldn’t even see the other room.  We should have known not to trust Tigger.  She hopped up to the cardboard and leaped straight up in the air about three feet as if she was trying to see over the top.  Fortunately, the stitches and incision appeared fine and Miss Tigger was put back in her cage with no reprieves for the rest of the ten days.

Or so we thought, day nine was a Saturday morning.  Tigger was scheduled to have her stitches out on Monday, but she decided that was too long.  We woke up Saturday morning to find her chewing them out herself.  So much for the vet thinking that only rats did that.  It would probably have happened sooner if she hadn’t injured her mouth. Off we headed to the vet.  Fortunately, the stitches were ready to come out and Tigger had only scratched her skin a bit with biting at them.  We were given an antibiotic ointment to put on the incision and scratches to aid the healing.

After that everything did finally proceed without more trouble with the spay incision.  Tigger did need to have her teeth trimmed by the vet for a few months, but was fortunate that when they fully healed, there was no malocclusion and she was able to keep them worn down herself with normal chewing.  She no longer needed the tooth trims.  However, Tigger never forgot the spay.  She absolutely hated to have anyone come anywhere near touching her tummy.  If you put your hand anywhere near her tummy, she would be across the room in the blink of an eye.

Tomorrow senior Tigger …

There’s a Tigger in Our Kitchen!

Initially, we put Tigger’s cage in the bedroom that we had set up as a combination office / guest bedroom.  We didn’t have the room bunnyproofed at first and Tigger wasn’t litter box trained.  So, when it was time for runtime, we would take her to the kitchen.  The kitchen was both easy to secure by blocking off the only entry into it and easy to clean with linoleum flooring.  Only the spaces around the refrigerator needed blocking. Everything else was cabinets to the floor with no way for a Tigger to disappear or escape.  We blocked one side of the refrigerator by wedging it with a roll of paper towels that she could also chew on while we wedged an upended planter box in to the space on the other side.

We put our regular throw rugs away during Tigger training and purchased some small kitchen rugs that we could easily put in the washer and scattered those on the kitchen floor.  We brought in a litter box filled with paper pellet litter.  We put some cardboard over the only baseboard to prevent her chewing that.  We now had an apartment pet security deposit to protect! We had a washable kitty bed for her to rest on and her carrier with the door off as a hiding box.  She had a water bowl and food bowl on a plant tray to keep those tidy.  The unexpected side benefit of the tray is she liked to flop on it.  The sides supported her and it became bunny furniture.  Tigger also had every bunny loving toy we could think of for her to chew, rattle or throw: empty paper towel rolls, jute / wood small animal chews, cat belled balls, a phone book.

Tigger actually learned to run really well on the linoleum and would go sailing / skating across the floor at unbelievable speed.  Blaine and I would take turns sitting on the floor playing with her and getting her used to both of us.  Here are some of the pictures of those times …

Tigger with toys

What do I want to do first?

Tigger at food bowls

Would you care to explain these weird pellies in with my usual?

Tigger grooming

Okay, what did I hop in? Maybe you should clean the floor more often?

Tigger in litter box

Would it be asking too much for some privacy here please!

Tigger stretched out

Ahhh ... the bunny yoga stretches are so relaxing ...

Coming next week, the Calico bunny rabbit.

Tigger Visits The Vet

Tigger on phone book

So Tigger, are you looking for your vet?

Since I hadn’t planned on bringing a bunny home, I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to find a good vet.  It actually turned out that a rabbit savvy vet was close to where we lived.  I set up an appointment.  Then I had to find another larger pet store to get a proper carrier for Tigger to travel in.  The original pet store had not had one and we had to bring her home in a cardboard pet box which was no way for a bunny to travel, dark and scary and easy to chew through if a rabbit got motivated enough.

I picked out a small kitty carrier where the top could be separated from the bottom allowing for easier storage and cleaning.  The top and front had metal grille doors allowing for putting Tigger in through either opening and checking on her from the top to help prevent really easy escapes out an opened front door.

After making the appointment, we put the carrier in Tigger’s running space in the kitchen to get her used to it, so that it wasn’t completely unfamiliar when she had to go into it for the trip.  Right away, as little as she was, she hopped up on top of it.  That was an early sign of things to come with Tigger.  First she sat up and looked at something and then she jumped on top of it.

Tigger on carrierOn the day of the appointment, I put Tigger into the carrier and put it on the passenger seat next to me with the door facing me so that we could see each other on the trip.  I used the seatbelt and shoulder harness to strap in the carrier to keep it in place should any sudden stops be needed which unfortunately occur a lot in busy metro Atlanta traffic.  I drapped a small towel over the carrier top so that the sun wouldn’t shine in her eyes, but made sure the side vents were clear for enough air circulation.  Then we were off.

There wasn’t a whole lot of Tigger for the vet to examine.  I don’t remember her exact weight, but it was somewhere between 2 1/2 and 3 pounds.  She was just a handful of bunny.  The vet checked her over giving his opinion that it did indeed look like we had a little girl.  The best news was that she was an otherwise healthy bunny who was malnourished due to a bad diet.  He gave me a brochure for the Oxbow Company and suggested that I order some Alfalfa hay and pellets to fatten up our baby.  Then we would add greens in upcoming months and switch to Timothy hay and pellets later on when she was full-grown.  We discussed spaying her in about four months when she would be about six months old.

Tigger and I both left happy, she to be leaving the poking and prodding behind and I with fears of larger health problems relieved.  I ordered her Alfalfa hay and pellets right away.  When they arrived a few days later and I opened the package, it was like receiving a box full of meadow.  The smell was wonderful.  If I was a rabbit, I would have been all over that food.  So, great new hay and pellets on board, bunny is about to be fattened up shortly.

That is when we started to get the drift that Tigger had a very stubborn little bunny mind and did not want to change from what she was used to which was the awful guinea pig pellets.  I followed suggestions from rabbit sources online to mix the old pellets with the new.  Tigger would pick out all the bad stuff and leave her good rabbit pellets behind.  It took weeks and we were down to the very last spoonful of the guinea pig pellets before she decided that she liked her new Alfalfa pellets and switched over to eating them.  Fortunately while she was arguing the pellets, she was liking the new Alfalfa hay.  Slowly our bunny baby started losing some of her very bony feel.

Coming next, there’s a Tigger in the kitchen!

Follow Friday – Quality of Life Scale

Veterinary Practice News Quality of Life ScaleI wish that no one ever had to make the hard decision that it is time to let a beloved pet go.  However, the Quality of Life Scale can help in making a compassionate assessment whether to consider / continue pawspice care (pet hospice).  We had Tigger and Shadow in pawspice for a number of months before everything became too much for them.

PDF version of the Quality of Life Scale.

Next week I plan to begin to look back at the wonderful lives of our rabbits and tell their stories starting with Tigger.

Good Evening Rabbits

Shadow and TiggerI have been quiet for a few months, juggling a lot.  Late September and October brought the worst fall allergy season in years.  I hit bottom on my energy level and Tigger and Shadow were experiencing some on again off again illnesses.  As the allergy season moved to its end, I bounced back, to realize that the rabbits were not rebounding from illness as they had been.  There have been a number of vet visits, a lot of prescriptions and a lot of bunny care.

At the beginning of this year, the vet confirmed what I had already recognized.  My funny furry little friends are closing in on the end of their lives.  They have finally reached a place where they are showing their age.  We have entered the realm of rabbit assisted living / hospice care.  That isn’t due to any specific serious illness right now, but things that are now chronic and reoccurring.  It is also based on the fact that some diagnostic tests and treatments are no longer safe given their senior age.  Tigger is due to turn eleven at the end of this month and Shadow at the end of April.  So everything now is focused on keeping them as comfortable, active and pain-free as they can be.  We have standing medications on hand and on file with the vet to be prepared to treat some of the chronic pain and illnesses that have become a regular part of their life and ours.  

It was so sad early on coming to grips with the realization they have entered this end stage.  I now accept it is a joyful time.  They are still with us and bring us so many smiles and laughter.  Tigger and Shadow run a senior version of the Bunny 500 on good days.  They binky and come running to us and still do adorable bunny dances for treats.  Everything they do is just slower and with more care.  They are actually more snuggly with us right now than they have been at any other point in their lives.  Afternoons and evenings, we will see them flopped together, leaning in to each other, propping each other up. 

So we will take things as they come.  I plan to blog a few times a week about the bunnies and what we are up to with the Rabbittude website and shops.

Needing to Force Feed Your Bunny? Try This First …

Acorn flopped out

I'm Acorn and not feeling so good ...

We have known Acorn and his mom all of his ten years. He has been a very healthy bunny, but is now sick and needing a number of medications and some extra feedings of Oxbow Critical Care. His mom called today for some advice on how to do the syringe feedings to get more of the food into Acorn.

After talking with Acorn’s mom and emailing her a link, I realized this would be something good to let more people know about.  The first thing you may want to try if you need to force feed your rabbit is to see if you can take the force out of the equation. It is always better if the bunny feeds themself. I came across these recipes, http://rabbit.org/care/recipes.html, on the House Rabbit Society website.

They feature pellets ground in a coffee grinder which works if you don’t have access to Oxbow’s Critical Care.  If you have the Critical Care for a sick rabbit, use that in place of the ground pellets.  The Critical Care is specially formulated to have lots of good stuff to assist rabbits nutritionally who are ill.

I suggested trying the Banana Pellet Balls first to see if Acorn would voluntarily consume his Critical Care which would make things less stressful for everyone.  Either the Pellet Balls or the pumpkin mix in a bowl can be offered first to a bunny to see if they will eat without having to be force-fed by syringe.  Shadow will sometimes eat a Critical Care mixture on his own but our Princess Tigger never volunteers for anything, ever. 

Hoping this helps! 

Banana Bad

stinky banana and boy

Replace the boy in this photo with a bunny but keep the facial expression and you have the reaction our bunnies are giving us

Well, the bunnies are really opposed to Baytril that was started just before Labor Day when Shadow developed Snuffles.  I am not sure if it is the medicine or what has been used to flavor the medicine, since it has a really strong flavor aroma.  We tried to mash the medicine up with some banana since someone elses bunnies will take it that way. It was a wonderful suggestion, however …

Tigger voted paws down on Baytril banana mash.  We tried it first with her.  She ran up to sniff the bowl.  Then she ran right back to hide in her litter pan at the very back of her cage.  Shadow seconded her vote and turned nose up and turned his head away from the bowl when it was offered to him. 

So we went back to syringing it by mouth.   They fought having to have it.  Medicating them is a two person job.  One person has to be the bunny holder while the second syringes the meds into the side of the mouth and rub cheeks and throat to get them to swallow it instead of drooling it back out. 

Then a few days into it, Tigger decided to go back into a stasis situation.  So Tigger came off the Baytril and is back on the regimen for  pain meds, gas meds, Critical Care feedings, probiotics, extra syringed water, tummy rubs and humans following her with food begging her to eat.  She is now beginning to bounce back.

Shadow is still getting the Baytril and has stopped sneezing and is getting a good appetite back.  We only hope that with Tigger off the Baytril that she isn’t carrying the infection.  We hope she won’t reinfect Shadow once he finishes his course of treatment this weekend. 

Fingers crossed.  It is so hard with 10-year-old rabbits to balance what is best for them at this point because they are beginning to have multiple health issues.

I Wish I Had A Picture …

Tigger back side

We couldn't get a picture of THAT face, but expect to be seeing this view a LOT

So Friday, Shadow started showing a move from allergies into Snuffles issues.  Tigger is currently symptom free.  However, when Shadow saw the vet yesterday, it was discussed whether Tigger should be treated too.  In the past if one got sick with something like this, even if the other started out symptom free, they would pass it back and forth until both had been put on antibiotics to clear them both up.  So Shadow and Tigger are both being treated from the start this time.

I am guessing that the medication prescribed has a really nasty taste or that the flavoring I smell is not anywhere on their tasty list.  That is because in more than ten years with Tigger, I have never seen quite the face or way she looked at me after we gave it to her.  It was the most disgusted peeved aggrieved look.  She didn’t even get all of it either, she was drooling a bit out as we tried to syringe it in.  When I put her down, she hopped around the room and thumped at least five times.  And we have twice a day, times two bunnies, for two weeks to look forward to.  Sigh …

There will be a pretty Etsy treasury coming later this afternoon.

Ahhhhhhhh Choo!

Hay Fever

credit: istockphoto.com

Evil pollens are in the air!  Little Shadow and I are beginning to feel the effects of fall allergies.  He was sneezing on and off all day today.  I am having trouble sleeping and then my daytime energy level really suffers.  We switched out the filter on the air conditioning system today and hopefully that will help out a lot.

After Shadow had a really bad time in the spring allergy season, we consulted with the vet.  We now have the an allergy med dosage to try for him and will work to see if there is a level that will help him out without making him too sleepy.  I intend to take some allergy meds myself tonight with the hope they will make me sleepy.

Simplify Your Life Week – Drop Cloths for Bunnies

Waterproof Flannel Pads for Babies

Carter's Waterproof Flannel Pads on Amazon.com

When Tigger and Shadow first came to us, they were babies with no litter box training.  Tigger came first and we started her out in kitchen and bath areas that had linoleum floors.  We temporarily put away our good throw rugs and invested in some inexpensive ones from discount stores that could be easily thrown in the wash for cleaning.  We put several down to allow her run space.  Still, it was a bit slippery for her.

Two months later Shadow came home.  Tigger was litter box trained by then. We had both of them in side by side cages in a bedroom designated as theirs.  This room was carpeted wall to wall.  So to allow little Mr. Shadow run time while still being litter box trained, we needed a plan to protect the carpeting.

I do what has become a regular event over the years, I hit the discount stores and would walk up and down the aisles looking for any products that could be used for our needs.  I found what I was looking for in the baby department, 100% flannel pads that were waterproof and machine washable.  They had lap cloths, bassinet size and crib size.  I pretty much bought out the store’s supply, creating a bunny layette.  It turned out to be a very good investment.

The two crib sized “drop cloths” allowed coverage of all the open carpeted area if we put down two side by side.  If we had Shadow up on a twin size bed, we could protect the bed with one crib sized pad or a couple of the bassinet sized ones.  The smaller basinet and lap size pads could be used when holding him on our laps, for other small areas, or as a patchwork on the floor if the larger crib sized pads were in the wash.

After Tigger and Shadow were both litter box trained, I found a place to store the pads and held on to them.  I had a feeling they were going to get more use.  Prior to losing our third bunny Portia, she had a urinary tract infection.  The vet wanted her to have a lot of free run time, but the infection meant she had lost her ability to make it to the litter box on time.  So our drop cloths came back out and protected the rug in little Portia’s area. 

After she recovered, a few pads needed to be replaced since she was quite messy and also had chewed some holes in some to vent her frustration while ill.  We put the pads back into storage and they came out again this year when Tigger started having some bouts with stasis.  The pads are helpful in my lap and over my shoulder as we medicate, feed her and give her extra water.  We have found that things can be coming out of both ends of the rabbit when you have to do force feedings.

The waterproof flannel pads were a great purchase.  Since they are designed with messy babies in mind and keeping things protected from baby accidents, they work extremely well for messy bunnies too.  The clean up is great, just put them in the washer and dryer per instructions.  Then they are ready again for the next round.

All Kidding Aside, Bunny Poo Is Great for Gardening!

Bunny poo fed blooms

Bunny poo assisted blooms in our garden

I have been poking fun at rabbit manure for sale on the web for a couple of days.  It is funny how silly some serious listings and terminology can sound when the product being sold is poop.  Today I switch over to the real value of bunny poo.

If you have a rabbit and a garden, rabbits really do create the perfect compost.  If they are fed properly, the only things going in are veggies or hay products.  Then what comes out of a healthy rabbit are nice dry round bunny poo marbles that have extremely low odor.

Someone connected with a rabbit rescue told me they have provided gardeners with rabbit manure and used the rest for gardens around the rescue building.  I think that is terrific idea for rescues.  Added value to the community with a usable product and use it to make the grounds of the building more attractive.  It also provides another positive talking point on an unexpected side benefit of having a house rabbit.  Waste not!  What other composter will look so cute?  Rabbits are just so totally vegan, green and eco conscious little beings.

Here in Georgia, the soil is red clay based, so the soil needs improvement for gardening.  We moved in with the rabbits nine years ago and have regularly used their offerings in the parts of the yard we picked out for our gardens.  I won’t say we have had raging success, because our part of Georgia has been in and out of drought mode with a switch over to flood stage a couple of times.  To say our plants have been stressed for much of the time we have been here is an understatement.  We brought in several rain barrels to collect water from our gutters when it does rain and are putting in more plants that tolerate heat and low water conditions, xeriscaping.

The other thing we have noticed in our gardens is lots of wild cottontail rabbits who will come to visit.  It seems to us that the bunny poo fertilization has hung out a wild bunny welcome mat.  They will sit right below the windows of the house eating quite comfortably.  One time a mother brought her babies with her and they were snuggled up underneath her as she ate.  The babies took off running when we accidentally moved.  I found one of the babies napping in the sunshine curled up in a patch of grass by the backdoor the next day.  We can watch the bunnies through our windows and sometimes sit on the back patio and enjoy the yard with them as they feed. 

So use the poo, its good stuff!  On to the plan for the remainder of this week and next.  Tomorrow, I am going to talk about rabbits and territorial poo, bunnyproofing info.  Thursday, I plan to share some of the unusual things for sale on the web related to rabbit poo.  Friday, I will have a follow suggestion or two.  I figured on getting all the messy stuff out-of-the-way this week, since the first week of August is designated as a Simplify Your Life week.  During that week, I plan to share lots of the tips and tricks and supplies we find most handy for keeping things clean and simple with rabbits in the house.