Tigger Requests a Window Seat

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Rabbittude

Plotting ...

Tigger uses her new steps up to the window

Enjoying the new steps ...

Bunny coming through ...

Flopped in her new space.

We decided when we were looking towards the future bonding of Tigger and Shadow to rearrange our living space a bit and dedicate our smallest bedroom to them. The bedroom was off a hallway enclosed on three sides right across from a bathroom. So, it provided easy access to two very good neutral territory spaces. We set them up in side by side cages in their new room and let them settle in, getting used to each other during the two months until they would be old enough to be fixed. We thought we had a really good plan to keep them and the room safe.

We were living in an apartment, so couldn’t make permanent changes. We didn’t think we could make the window ledge in the room a safe enough place for them, so we started with the intent to block access to it. We put a black plastic shelving unit in front with bins fully fitting the shelves holding some of their food and hay. On either side of the shelf unit, we had a set of plastic rolling units with drawers, storing more bunny stuff. On either side of those we had a covered corner litter box.

Well we should have known that Tigger would find a way to wiggle through everything we had in place and get up on to the window ledge. You can see her in the first picture sitting on top of the corner litter box formulating the plan. I didn’t think she could manage it and found myself out maneuvered once again. We had to quickly move things to get her safely back down and work on plan B since it was clear she was going to insist on getting up there.

We took the storage bin off the second shelf that was almost level with the window ledge. We put it on the floor in front of the shelving unit with a throw rug on top to make it a little less slippery. Then we put another throw rug on the now empty second shelf. The bin on the floor and empty shelf now made a stairway to the window. We wedged some cardboard into the window space that was folded to fit and fill all the open areas. With the shelf and bins in front, the cardboard was held firmly in place. We put another throw rug on that to provide a comfy hangout spot.

You can see Tigger in the pictures checking things out, running through and flopped on the window sill. We actually made the cardboard ramp through to the litter boxes on each end, so the rabbits could hop up, run across the window ledge and out on to the litter box on the other side and hop down again on the opposite side of the room.

It became a bunny version of a jungle gym for a time. They would hop up and down the steps, run through side to side from the litterboxes and just hang out on the window ledge during the day and evening. It was fun to sit on the floor and watch them on their alternating run times zoom around and take different pathways up down and around to hang out surveying things going on outside the window. This shelf is also where Tigger would commando crawl around underneath the lowest shelf of the shelving unit. So she just really had a blast with this set up.

You knew it couldn’t possibly last, right? Tigger was never a rabbit to leave things alone. She was always trying to push the limits further and further. She decided to become a bungineer and wanted to re-engineer the window entirely. She just loved to test our ability to bunny proof. With a pet security deposit on the line, and a deep concern for her safety and well being, we always kept pretty close tabs on what Tigger was up to when she was roaming around.

Coming Friday, the window seat area changes again …

Death-Defying Daredevil Stunt Bunny Tigger

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Rabbittude

So this picture shows what we had to do to keep Tigger safe from her crazy daredevil stunt bunny desire. You see her up on top of a couple of cushion bolsters usually used to turn a regular mattress bed into a daybed. Behind that is an enormous approximately 4 foot by 6 foot piece of cardboard. Hidden behind the cardboard are the sliding track doors to a closet.

The closet is where the story begins. It had sliding doors that were in a track at the top and hung free at the bottom. The closet was about six feet wide and the doors went up to almost ceiling height. Each door was the size and weight of a regular room entry door, so they were quite large and heavy. We didn’t see any problem with those doors in relation to the rabbits. Then Tigger showed us the error in our thinking.

Even though large and heavy, since the doors hung free at the bottom, there was some movement to them and somehow Tigger discovered that. We were horrified one day as we watched her run around the room to see her run up to the closet doors and stop right where the doors met and overlapped by a couple of inches. She positioned her body beside the door on the inner track. Tigger gave the door a sideways body blow which swung the door in a few inches, creating a brief space between the two doors. Tigger immediately zoomed into that space and into the closet. The door fell heavily back into place just a second later.

Trying to prevent this stunt took some thinking, because we could not allow her to try it again. We pictured her misjudging the timing by just a split second and then being crushed or smashed between the those doors. The sheer size and weight of them compared to Tigger was staggering. So we got the huge piece of cardboard and blocked the doors and then took some book ends to hold the cardboard upright at the base and then placed the cushion bolsters in front to keep everything in place and give Tigger a new hang out to remove the memories of the closet temptation.

On Wednesday, Tigger requests a window seat …

Air Bunny Flights

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Rabbittude

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Air Bunny. There are no flight plans, take offs are unscheduled and landings are often sudden and sloppy. Enjoy the flight!

Tigger leaving the hanger and gathering speed...

And we have lift off.

That is what I thought I should be regularly announcing as a warning to unsuspecting folks. Unfortunately, the most unsuspecting folks were Blaine and I, because Tigger liked to launch with little thought and less warning. We lost count over the years of crash landings and the number of times we would find her hanging by her paws from something because she didn’t quite make it. It amazed us how little fear she had for her own safety and how indestructible she seemed to be. There really was no stopping her. We just tried as much as we could to make sure that as many landings as possible were soft. Breakables and sharp objects were removed from all surfaces along with things that fell over or were knocked over easily. Plants and anything dangerous if chewed got removed too.

The one time she would give warning is when she was being particularly ambitious. As a baby bunny at just two and half pounds, she wanted up on the guest bed with a feverish intensity. We would see her at the complete opposite side of the room (15 feet away) looking at the bed with a glint in her eye and a tense posture. Think of what a race horse looks like right before they leap into full speed racing. We would see that look and know that an airborne assault on the bed was about to commence. She would race top speed a little past half the length of the room and then would launch herself flying through the air, usually landing on the bed where she would take off running around on the newly conquered high ground.

The most memorable time I missed seeing but laughed myself to tears when Blaine told me about it. He was laying on the guest bed relaxing and watching Tigger playing when he saw her stop and stand completely still at the opposite side of the room looking at the bed. He knew what was coming. He had just enough time to holler, “NO!” and seconds later baby Tigger was landing on his face. She was so fast, he hadn’t even had time to close his mouth, so there he was with a mouthful of furry bunny tummy until they could sort themselves out. Picturing the reactions of both of them with that landing had me in stitches.

Another time, I was sleeping in one weekend morning when Blaine was suddenly shaking my shoulders and yelling, “She’s lose, she got out, she’s running all around and I can’t catch her!” We had been putting a 27″ baby gate in the doorway of her room so that we could step in and out over it while Tigger stayed contained in her bunny proofed space. That morning Blaine had gotten up early and let her out to play when she suddenly leaped straight up at the top of the baby gate, balanced on it for a second and leaped down into the next room and took off top speed racing around. We had a little bunny race around round-up and after that we got her back in her space, we continued to use the baby gate in the doorway, but we kept the door closed until we needed to come and go. Then we always looked to see where she was to prevent her deciding to accompany us over the gate. We tried to make our exits when she was too far away to successfully make an attempt or when she was really occupied with something that had her full attention.

Tigger was teaching us from an early age that dealing with a rabbit required the ability to strategize. She was always thinking, plotting and planning which kept us thinking, plotting and planning how to keep ahead of her to keep her safe.

Coming Monday, death-defying daredevil stunt bunny Tigger…

The Commando Bunny Rabbit

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Rabbittude

Tigger commando crawling under stepstool

There she goes

And there she goes again ...

Tigger crawling out from under the shelving unit

And here she comes ...

Tigger is about to become upwardly mobile with her commando crawling

Contemplating next stunt ...

Tigger the commando bunny rabbit came as a surprise. My previous rabbit experience led me to expect hopping, running like the wind, leaping onto things. I didn’t remember my family’s house rabbit, Thumper, crawling under things. I also didn’t really expect it because it seemed out of character for Tigger. She was so dainty ladylike in how she positioned and moved that she was very Princessy and prissy at times. So getting down on her belly and crawling into tight spaces didn’t seem like her thing.

First she belly crawled under the kiddie stepstools we had in her space. Then she commando crawled under a plastic shelving unit. I didn’t think she could since the lowest shelf was just a couple of inches off the floor, but you can see from the pictures she was easily able to crawl in and out. We put a whole bunch of empty paper towel rolls under the shelf to discourage the crawling. We didn’t want her hanging out under there chewing the carpet. First she would pull the rolls out and then go crawling under anyway. You could tell by the way Tigger would throw the rolls that our slowing her down really annoyed her.

The cute picture of her resting on the newspapers was one of those before the near disaster shots. The rolling file rack was under a desk. The arrow in the picture points to the privacy screen at the back. I left the room for just a couple of minutes. When I returned, I looked over at the desk and gasped to see just the tips of two bunny ears peaking above the desktop while one bunny foot was hanging down below the privacy screen. Tigger had commando crawled up the wall in the two inches of space between the desk and wall.

I didn’t have a clue what to do to safely help Tigger and she was high enough up that the idea of a fall scared me. I was bouncing up and down looking at the situation from the top and then from the bottom and desperately trying to think. Gravity quickly decided the matter and Tigger slipped back down to the floor. I was terrified she was going to be hurt, but she took off top speed racing around. I folded up into a bit of a heap on the floor feeling that after the adrenaline rush shakiness. Blaine arrived home at that moment and thought something had happened to me since Tigger was running and playing quite happily without a care. After I explained what had happened, we blocked the back of the desk to prevent further upwardly mobile excursions.

After Shadow came along, we had side by side cages. When cooler weather approached, we read it was a good idea to have cages a few inches off the floor to protect from floor level drafts. We had boxes just a couple of inches high that were just a bit smaller than the cage widths that we used to raise them. There was a space between the two boxes running the length of the cages at the middle that was just two by three inches. We felt it was too small for the bunnies to get into. Well it was for Shadow, but Tigger proved she could fit and went wiggling in. As soon as she came safely out the other side, we put the cages back down to floor level and just draped a sheet over them at night for warmth.

A few days later I realized she hadn’t come through that commando crawl safely. I saw Tigger going nuts scratching her side with her back leg. When I parted her fur, I saw a scab and a big black spot. So, off to the vet we went. Tigger got her fur clipped back along her side, because the vet couldn’t tell what she was looking at either. Turns out Tigger had scraped two inches of skin off her side. One end was healing and the black spot was actually fur growing back in that was just barely poking out of the skin, creating the dark coloring. The other end of the scrape was scabbed and obviously itching causing the scratching that had alerted me to the injury. We were given an antibiotic ointment to help prevent infection and aid quicker healing.

You know that niggling little feeling you get sometimes? Well I had that one time when I was walking up the stairs and turned around to see Tigger disappearing underneath the sofa. Our sofa has dual recliners built into each end which we never opened up with the rabbits out. The front and sides went all the way to the floor. About two inches from the back, the sides curved up leaving a small space where the back and side met that was just two by three inches. We knew the very young Tigger could fit in that space, but we wrongly thought she had grown too big to make it anymore. If I hadn’t turned around, I have no idea how long it might have taken to figure out where she had gone.

The sofa back had a two inch opening at the base that was divided in two by a metal support bar running the full width of the back. We had boxes blocking the full back so the rabbits could not even see the opening. We removed those boxes so we could see Tigger in the crawl space under the sofa and she could see us, but the metal bar didn’t allow her to exit that way. We could tell she had forgotten how she had wiggled in and were trying to coax her back to the opening, but Tigger was getting nervous and starting to bulldoze the insides of the sofa. It made us really nervous to do it, because we weren’t sure how the mechanism was going to move, but we ended up having to open one of the recliners allowing an opening for her to run out. After that, we plugged that space on either side of the sofa with pieces of wood.

Tigger taught us to never underestimate the ability of an active, determined rabbit to wiggle and squirm into seemingly impossible spaces.

Coming on Friday, Air Bunny …

The Tigger Principle

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Rabbittude

Yes she did hop up on the green planter box, right after this picture was taken.

Tigger’s life goal seemed to be to go where no bunny had ever thought of going or been before and to do it in whatever was the worst possible way. She kept us on our toes trying to keep ahead of her with bunny proofing. It was clear very early that Tigger did not seem to understand the concept of limits and personal safety. Throughout her life and then Shadow’s, who learned by copying what he saw her do, we found ourselves repeating this question a lot, “Have you lost your little bunny mind?”

In her early kitchen days while we were bunny proofing her room and getting her litter box trained, her posture in this first picture was a sign. When Tigger looked at something, she was thinking and what she was thinking was, “I’m going to go there.” If she stood up on her hind legs and looked at something, that is exactly where she would be leaping next. I took this picture, then had to run for her right after it was taken. Tigger jumped up and landed on the top of the green planter box we had wedged to block access to the back of the refrigerator. I had just seconds to prevent her from hopping down and getting behind the refrigerator and the unprotected cord and outlet back there.

It was fortunate we learned this behavior in the kitchen because it allowed us to see and identify a lot of shortcomings in our bunny proofing when we moved her run and play time into the guest bedroom / office where her cage was kept. We knew if Tigger looked at something that she was planning on going there and we had better make sure that it was safe or truly off-limits inaccessible. When we saw her sitting up on her hind legs looking at the top of her cage, we knew that was next on her bunny to do list. We had to act fast, because the bars on her cage top were far enough apart that there was a good chance she would not have a safe landing and would harm herself. We got a piece of cardboard right away and cut it to the size of the cage top and held it in place by using Acco binder clips to clip the cardboard to the cage wires. With that in place, she hopped up and landed without the fear of a leg or paw dropping through the bars, but the cardboard was a bit slick and she almost went skidding off the other side. So we got a small throw rug the size of the cage top and used jumbo 4 inch paper clips to clip the rug to the cardboard. As you can see, she enjoyed her new hang out. Throughout her life, Tigger loved the high ground of resting on her cage top, able to completely and easily survey her rabbit domain to rest while plotting next moves.

Resting for now on her bunny proofed cage top

Tigger was extremely fast and we didn’t always catch her scouting looks, so she still got into to some places that we never expected. She used the cage top as a stepping stool and hopped from there up on to the desk and started looking at the hutch on the desk. We had to move things around so that the cage was too far from the desk for her to make the leap. Otherwise, we thought it was entirely possible that she would hop up each shelf and get to the top of the hutch. It we had allowed that, it wouldn’t have surprised us at all if we had come into the room to see Tigger hanging from the ceiling fan. She seemed to set no limits for herself as you will learn in the rest of our posts this week.

Coming on Wednesday, Commando Bunny and on Friday, Air Bunny …

The Kitty Cat Bunny Rabbit

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Rabbittude

So what is a kitty cat bunny rabbit? Tigger had so many characteristics like a kitten or cat. First there was her desire to scratch rather than bite. She was constantly grooming herself more than any cat I have ever seen. She was very conscious of keeping her fur in pristine condition.

We read a suggestion when Tigger and Shadow were little to use a spray bottle with water to give bunnies a squirt to discourage bad behavior. Well Shadow would shake water squirts off like a puppy and continue being bad. Tigger hated the water and would slink away like a cat, but furtively try to sneak back in later to continue when she hoped we weren’t watching.

Tigger was very independent. She knew her name, no and lots of other words, but whether she responded, depended on whether she decided she felt like it. She loved to preen for the camera. And she wanted to be petted, but on her terms. Those cute kitty style flops we showed on Wednesday, she would often get into the sweetest curled up positions and then look straight at us with those beautiful brown eyes. It was an invitation to come pet her, she was ready and waiting now. We called it her cute bunny con jobs, still we fell for it every time we saw it.

The altered photo art piece I have shared today was created with the magic of Photoshop since I couldn’t ever catch this on film in real life. Later in life, Tigger was more proactive and just a bit less distant when she wanted to be petted. She would come to where we were sitting on the sofa or loveseat, stand up on her hind legs and peek over the edge to catch our eyes. Then she would sink back down on the floor and hen up or flop out right below where our hand would be so that we could just reach down and pet her.

She was a bunny who purred. She would tooth purr when we petted her, when Shadow groomed her or when you talked to her sweetly from across the room telling her she was a good bunny. It was so soft, you rarely heard sound, but would feel or see her jaw gently moving and would know she was happily purring away.

Coming next week, Tigger gets into everything.

The Model Bunny Rabbit

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Rabbittude

Tigger posing for the camera
You worked it baby girl!

From early on when the camera would come out, Tigger would pose. This series of photos was all taken at one time within just a few minutes. Tigger seemed to instinctively know to show off all sides of herself to the camera. We really believe she knew she was beautiful.

She had a way of moving that was dainty, delicate, precise and smooth. Unless she was freaked by something, she was all very coordinated ballet like moves. She may not have liked being picked up, but she loved attention. If I brought out a camera and was taking pictures of Shadow and had no idea where Tigger was, usually within just a few minutes she would be hoping in and taking over the photo shoot.

Besides her desire to pose, we called Tigger our model bunny because of her finicky eating habits. She was always slender, bordering on anorexic thinness and quite fussy about her food. We always joked she was on the model diet, avoiding eating whenever possible, but grabbing yummy treats from time to time. Tigger would sniff meal offerings and sometimes hop away. We would put salad greens on a plastic picnic plate and she would sometimes take the plate and toss the salad. Other times she would overturn pellet or hay bowls if they weren’t to her taste. There was nothing physically wrong with her that the vet could find, she was just a really picky eater.

One time when we had Tigger, Shadow and Portia, we received new pellets and hay from our regular company and the taste obviously differed significantly from past seasons. All three bunnies turned their noses up at the new food. We got some of the old season and mingled it in with the new and within a couple of days Shadow and Portia were eating it. Tigger held out for two weeks refusing to touch the new. We were feeding her lots of greens to make sure she was eating enough and checking her weight too.

We spent a lot of time during the first five years of Tigger’s life following her around begging her to eat. Then she suddenly started to eat as if she was making up for all the years of lost time. We said that it was obvious our model bunny had retired and now intended to enjoy life to the full.

We had never thought we would see our Tigger chubby. The last six years of her life we had to watch that she didn’t eat too much fattening food. We had to protect Shadow so that she didn’t hassle or attack him trying to steal his treats or push him away from food. She would run dancing around our feet as we carried food and dive at the plates of greens as soon as they were put down acting like a starving rabbit. Sometimes she would move to stand on the plate hovering above the food making it hard for Shadow to get his share. She became chubby at times and we would have to put her on a more restricted diet to get her weight back down again.

Next post on Friday, the Kitty Bunny …

Meet the Velcro Rabbit

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Rabbittude

Previously, I wrote about how much Tigger hated being picked up and held. There came to be one place that was an exception for her where she wanted me to hold her and not put her down.

It was my custom at vet visits to keep handling of Tigger to a minimum thinking that was what she prefered. So I would pick her up out of her carrier, put her on the scale to get her weight and then put her right back into the carrier afterwards until the vet would come in to examine her. I discovered Tigger the Velcro Rabbit by accident. Usually, I am wearing knit tops, Tees for the most part. On one visit when she was about a year and a half old, it was chilly and I had on a sweater.

I was following my usual procedure and after the weigh in, I picked Tigger back up intending to put her back in her carrier. That was when I discovered she was attached to my sweater. She had hooked her little claws around the loose knit weave and wasn’t letting go. I held on to her petting her and talking to her while we waited for the vet. It was a bit of a problem detaching her from my sweater to then put her down for the exam when the vet came in. It occurred to me that the vet’s office was perhaps an exception to Tigger’s don’t hold me rule.

After that visit when she needed to go in, I would hold her and talk to her while we waited for the vet. Many times she would hide her head underneath my arm and not want to even look around. She would try to hold on to me and not want to be put down for the exam. At times if the vet or vet tech forgot and didn’t continue to hold her quite firmly at the end the exam, she would actually make a little leap off the table straight into my arms. I made sure to be standing right at the table at all times talking to her, petting her head or covering her eyes if she was getting really scared. My rabbit was like Velcro and sticking to me in preference over the vet. I was clearly her chosen security.

It was humbling and awesome to know that I had earned her trust to the level that she was placing herself in my care by her choice. From that time forward whenever I held her at the vet or later in life when we needed to hold her for medicine, feedings or to clean her up, she also earned the nickname Baby Girl. That is how we would be talking to her at those times: “It’s okay Baby Girl”, “It will be over soon Baby Girl”, “We’ll look after you Baby Girl’, “Good Tigger, sweet Baby Girl”.

If it hadn’t been for wearing that sweater, I might not have discovered how much Tigger had come to regard me as her protector and that she wanted me to hold her and comfort her at the vet’s office. So if you have a very independent rabbit and are trying to respect that, you might want to check to see if the vet’s office is an exception zone where they too would actually like some comfort cuddling. We never took Tigger to the vet unnecessarily just to get cuddles, but it was a bonus to the visits to be able to make the visits better for her and get some snuggles in return. Because of what we learned from Tigger, we also discovered that Shadow too sometimes wanted to be held and comforted while at the vet.

Tasmanian Devil Bunny

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Rabbittude

Abstract of Tasmanian Devil Bunny No pictures on this one. However, they would have been a blur of motion like this abstract drawing where you see the jumble and tumble of swirling bunny parts. It is a bit dizzying to look at and so was Tigger if you picked her up as a baby bunny.

Tigger was like trying to hold on to the whirling dervish Tasmanian Devil of the Bugs Bunny cartoons. You saw motion and body parts with brief stops. Tigger tended not to stop until I would get smart and put her back down. She made it quite clear that to her the term four on the floor also applied to rabbits. All four paws were to remain on the floor unless she decided on a lift off.

It was a real exercise to hold on to her safely as she would squirm, wiggle, somersault and do flip-flops in my arms. In a blur of dizzy speed her head would be up, down, right, left and then repeat the process … Everywhere the head went the little paws followed and those little paws had kitty sharp claws. It was early summer in Georgia when we got her, so I was usually in a V neck Tee and shorts. I would end up scratched all over my arms, legs, neck and Tigger usually managed to get at least one paw hooked into the V neck of my shirt, so I got a good measure of scratches on my chest too. It was embarrassing to have to admit that a rabbit less than three pounds had mauled me.

I kept trying to pick her because up at first we hadn’t gotten the room with her cage bunnyproofed and I would carry her to the kitchen for run times. We got that room bunnyproofed pretty quickly and fortunately Tigger was a quick study with the litter box so we didn’t need the easy clean kitchen for long. Then I could allow some of the wounds to heal for a bit. I continued trying to pick her up but a little less often, attempting to get her used to being held. Tigger never really got with the whole being held program with one exception that I will talk about in the next post.

We had wanted to try to do nail clippings at home, but always had to take her to the vet for that. She needed the fear factor of the trip to hold still enough for exams and nail trims. Even with that fear factor, it would take three people for exams, two to hold her while the vet examined and two people for nail trims, one to hold and one to trim. Since Tigger’s top weight was never higher than 5 1/2 pounds, it was extremely close quarters for the humans at vet visits trying to hold one very small bunny rabbit still without stepping all over each other.

It was just amazing how strong and agile one small bunny rabbit could be. Later in life when she needed medicating or cleaning up due to old age issues, she would still run like crazy trying to get away, not wanting to be picked up. The difference was that when I did pick her up, she would be amenable to getting things over and done with as soon as possible so that I would put her back down. Still, she was a two person job. One of us had to hold her, while the other medicated her or worked on fur cleaning issues. The response to being put back down did not change no matter what her age. Once she hit the floor, she would hop off a bit flicking her back paws as she went and would then stop and thump once or a few times depending on how violated she felt by our interference with her person.

We tried to respect Tigger’s desire not to be picked up and only picked her up when her care or safety required it. The rest of the time, we chose to get to know her and let her get to know us on her terms. We sat on the floor or laid on our stomach or side on the floor, letting her come to us to interact as she chose. The room she was in at first was a combination guest bedroom / office. Sometimes we would sit on the floor with our backs up to the bed. Tigger would hop on our laps and run up our bodies to get up on the bed. Later she learned to take flying leaps up on the bed and would play with us there. Blaine would take a sock and play a very gentle tug of war by just giving her some resistance with him holding on to the sock so that she was the one actually tugging at it. That usually tired her out and she would then take a nap between his legs.

Getting to know Tigger on her terms was rewarding. Many times over the years she would hop up and bestow sweet bunny kisses on our foreheads. As she slowed down some late in life, we would have the opportunity to lay beside her snuggling for a time while petting her.

Coming Next on Friday, meet the Velcro Rabbit.

What’s Your Name Bunny Rabbit?

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Rabbittude

Our little Tigger bunny was unforgettable. Her looks were unqiue, but she also packed a truly big rabbit personality into her little bunny size. The vet she saw the longest summed it up when she said, “Tigger is many things, but stupid isn’t one of them!” We had many nicknames for her over the years because of the oh so many sides to her looks and personality.

We had read that it helps a rabbit to get to know their name by hearing it in every sentence to associate that name as being theirs. We talked to her a lot all of her life. At first, we ended almost every sentence with her name. However, Tigger might have thought at times that her name was “No, Tigger!” or “Tigger, No!”. We found ourselves saying that a lot as she taught us a whole new level of bunnyproofing. We didn’t shorten her name or call her anything else until it was clear that she recognized that when we said Tigger, we were talking to her. In the decade with her, we embraced every possible variant of her name: Tig, Tigs, Tigster, Tiggers, Tiggery, Tiggirl.

It always surprised people who weren’t familiar with rabbits that she knew her name. She actually came to know a whole lot of words and phrases. We were certain without doubt she knew her name, because when we had both rabbits and would yell “No Shadow”, Tigger would ignore us. She knew we weren’t talking to her. When we called her name, she would react. It wasn’t always the reaction we wished, but she would react to her name. We could be across the room and if we started to say, “Good Tigger, Good Bunny”, she would start to tooth purr. We would be able to see her jaw gently moving as she purred.

There were a couple of nicknames she earned by her size and shape: Half-Pint Harley, Little Bit, Hipless Wonder, Weasel Bunny. Most nicknames we called Tigger were based on her personality: Princess, Lady Bunny, Tasmanian Devil, Air Bunny, Wiggle Worm, Freakazoid, Squirrel, Tiny Terror, Little Stinker, Pretty Bunny, Model Bunny, Kitty Bunny, Velcro Rabbit, Baby Girl.

How did one very small rabbit come to have so many names? All these nicknames have a story. By telling you her nicknames now, I am giving a preview of some stories to come. Tigger packed an awful lot into her decade of life. She so rarely looked to be really resting. Most of the time she seemed to be plotting and planning her next move, the next thing she would try. She was energetic beyond belief for the bulk of her life, right up until just the last few months. It was like having a living breathing Energizer bunny rabbit who would just keep on going and going. It was amazing to know her!

Coming Next on Wednesday, meet the Tasmanian Devil bunny.

It’s a Calico Rabbit!

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Rabbittude

Tigger rocking & rolling, showing off her tummy and all her fur colors!

No, we didn’t think we had a Calico rabbit. It is though what quite a number of people said when they first saw Tigger or a picture of her. We didn’t know how to describe her either at first. We knew Calico wasn’t right as that was a cat breed and not a striped pattern, but what breed of bunny was our Tigger?

I had attended quite a number of county fairs growing up without ever seeing a rabbit like Tigger. I also had a number of rabbit books I had accumulated, but looking at them I didn’t see any bunnies that looked like Tigger. While looking in some newer rabbit magazines, I did see some rabbits that looked like her. I hit the Internet looking for more information on the Harlequin rabbit with Japanese coloring. At first I thought bingo, that is our Tigger bunny, until I read that the Harlequin rabbit is around nine pounds.

Even though Tigger was still growing, it was pretty obvious from her very dainty ears and paws that she wasn’t going to be a nine pound rabbit. Full grown she ranged from 4.5 to 5 pounds and chubbed out a bit late in life to 5.5 pounds. So early on, it was obvious that she wasn’t full-blooded Harlequin. We called her our half-pint Harley. During the first year we had her, I read in a rabbit magazine that some breeders were trying to create a mini Harlequin rabbit and figured it was quite possible with her beautiful coloring and small size that Tigger might have resulted from such a plan.

Our hipless wonder weasel bunny

It was a guessing game for us wondering what other breed/s might be in her genes. Full grown, when Tigger would lay stretched out, she was quite long and skinny. Reading about all the different rabbit breeds, we wondered if she might be part Himalayan rabbit. The Himalayan breed is small in size around 2-4 pounds and known for a very long snakelike body. So was Tigger part Himalayan? Perhaps.

However, Harlequin / Himalayan didn’t totally track with her personality. I had read that Harlequins and Himalayans were known for having calm and easygoing personalities. Tigger was freakazoid and sassy beyond belief. However, I also read that Harlequin’s enjoy attention, are curious and love to be the center of attention. Tigger was extremely curious. She just had to be in to everything. She also truly loved attention. If I brought a camera out, she would pose. Later after we got Shadow, if I was taking pictures of him, she would hop over and take over the photo shoot.

If you are ever trying to figure out what breed of bunny you might have, a place to start can be the rabbit breed categories established by associations in your country. For the US the American Rabbit Breeders Association’s Recognized Breeds provides a lot of pictures and links to breed profiles with information on the size, coloring and fur of the different breeds. Now if you really love pet rabbits, do not make the mistake of actually joining any of the breeder organizations. Been there, done that oops and don’t want to read about rabbits being raised for fur or meat.

We will never know for certain what exact mix of rabbits lead to our Tigger, but we always figured she was one of a kind. That led to our enjoying her company to the fullest, because we always figured once she was gone that there would never be another bunny to come along that would be just like her. Sometime in the future, when we decide to bring another rabbit home, we won’t be expecting one like her, but will be looking to learn what one of kind bunny they are. Rabbits are such an adventure to get to know, because they all have such unique characteristics and personalities!

Coming next: So how many chins does a rabbit have?

There’s a Tigger in Our Kitchen!

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Rabbittude

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 …

What do I want to do first?

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

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

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

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

Coming next week, the Calico bunny rabbit.

Rabbittude

Rabbits + Attitude = Rabbittude

Category Archives: Tigger Bunny Rabbit