Does My Bunny Love Me … How Will I Know?

Tigger Hug

Me & Tigger, in the shot my Mom wanted to take of her. Tigger sweetly held still even for a non digital camera 🙂

So how do you know with rabbits?  Since bunnies are prey animals, they aren’t used to letting anyone who isn’t a bunny in on how they feel about things.  They are hiders.  Over the years, we have learned sometimes it isn’t so much what they do, but what they don’t do anymore.

They will stay out in the open and not hide as much.  When they feel like it, ours will come when we call.  Some might actually hop up to greet you when you come home.  My first bunny Thumper and Portia, the one we lost a few years back, would both come up and pull at pants legs or paw at ankles to get attention. 

You will see a difference in their attitude and behavior if you have been away from them for a while.  I know someone who took a day trip and could tell her bunny missed the family, he was so excited on their return.  Another person I know has moved and isn’t at home with the bunnies as much right now and one is acting out a bit.

Shadow will bounce up, flop down and stick his head under our hand.  In return for head pets, he will lick whatever part of us he can reach, hands, arms, legs, faces.  Shadow also gives invitations to play.  He will zoom up, zoom a little away and look back over his shoulder.  He wants to play chase.

Tigger is a very kitty style bunny, a standoffish Princess.  It has always been harder to read her.  However, she started to show just how much she cared and trusted us at vet visits and when ill.  She hates to be picked up and held, but at vet visits I started to notice when I would try to put her down on the table, she was clinging to my shirt.  One time while there, when the vet let her lose to hop back into her carrier, instead she jumped up into my arms.  I truly believe she is telling me she wants me to protect her and recognizes me as a protector for her.

Recently while very ill, Tigger had Blaine very misty eyed.  We had to pick her up a lot to medicate, feed and clean her up.  After putting her down, each time we expected her to want nothing to do with us.  However, one time she hopped up beside Blaine, flopped down and clearly wanted to be petted and comforted.  They stayed together enjoying each others company for a good while.

One of the most obvious ways that bunnies show loving approval is by tooth purring.  We don’t always hear it, sometimes we feel it as they gently click their jaws and we feel their jaw movement as we pet them. 

One vet said one of the best guides to knowing we had bunny love and approval was that we were being shown their true personalities and that only happens when a rabbit feels completely comfortable in their environment.

The Things I Do for Bunnies

Stinky laundryToday is a day of reflection and there are a couple of things that come to mind on this topic.  The first is T-shirt sacrifices.  There is no T-shirt color that can properly hide the discolorations that come from spit out bunny food, bunny pee and bunny poo.  Portia and now Tigger have both needed syringe feedings and would soil themselves and have poopy butt while really ill. 

Portia was pretty good about holding still to be taken care of and cleaned up.  Tigger however, has always been a bit like holding the Bugs Bunny style Tasmanian Devil.  You might hang on, but her position changes regularly and rapidly.  I try to use baby style drop cloths to cover me up while Blaine feeds or cleans her, but she twirls around all over me and I always end up wearing whatever she wants to share.  Immediate laundering doesn’t always get out the ground in stuff that comes with all her wiggling around.  So, there goes another shirt designated to bunny care only.  I know someone out there is thinking, just bunny burrito her in a towel.  I cannot describe how fast she moves, there is no getting her wrapped up into a towel like that, even at a slower ten-year old speed.  Only at her very sickest will she hold that still and then the towel burrito isn’t necessary.

Second, the smell of Cilantro makes me gag.  I don’t know why, but I really hate it.  So of course, the bunnies love to eat Cilantro and want it for variety in their diet.  For me, the only thing worse than the smell of Cilantro in the room is the aroma it leaves hanging around on my hands when I wash it up for the rabbits.  I cannot get it off no matter what I use.  It follows me everywhere. 

Usually, I get Blaine to handle the toxic veggie. I have trouble even being in the same room with it while the bunnies eat it. I went looking for info on Cilantro to see if there are any kill the odor suggestions. Instead, I found there is a member website for Cilantro haters with over 3,000 members: http://ihatecilantro.com/submit.php. Amazing, I am not alone. I will have to look over the haikus of my fellow sufferers.

Back to Tigger for the third, SBDs.  Tigger can clear a room with her gassy issues.  She is the sweetest, fluffiest, cutest most beautiful rabbit and yet if she lets loose, you would swear there was a skunk in the room.  I cannot believe how much toxic gas a five pound rabbit can hold.  Now this isn’t just because she has been sick lately.  Tigger let loose her first SBD right in my face when she was just a baby.  I thought I was going to find a huge pile of poo underneath her and was really surprised to find nothing at all and realize my cute little bunny could let loose a silent stinker like that.  It was a very teary eye opener into the dark secrets of fluffy bunnies.

Dust Bunny

Shadow cleaning his faceAh, bunnies never learn.  The minute I open the door to our half bath, Shadow’s rabbit radar goes off and within seconds, he is there to zoom in.  He always follows the same course with a lap around behind the toilet.

You would think he would learn about the spider webs back there.  One thing really enjoying a high growth cycle this past couple years in Georgia is the spider population.  I beat back cobwebs on a daily basis in some areas.

It has gotten to be a habit for me to always look at open spaces before walking through them.  Overnight, the spiders will build a web across open areas and doorways.  I hate getting a face full of web.  It is a major freak out that everyone hears about if the spider happens to be in the web at the time.  So I have learned to look first now and proceed cautiously.  Little Shadow hasn’t yet.  He came out from his lap, hit the dining room and starting cleaning his little face off.

I tried to tell him not to go back there, but he just wouldn’t slow down and listen.

Its a Tiggerific Saturday

TiggerrrrLast week on Saturday, Tigger wasn’t eating or drinking and appeared to be fading fast. After lots of work this week with syringe feedings of Oxbow Critical Care, water, Simethecone for gas, pain meds and tummy rubs, Tigger has bounced back.

Last night she and Shadow were running all around the house up and down.  Such a joy to watch. This is a collage of pictures I took of Tigger this afternoon relaxing on a bunny favorite, the plant tray chaise.

A Sweet Treasury

Click on image above to go to Etsy treasury and view these items

Earlier this week with all the bunny troubles going on, I was craving things that were sweet and light and happy to perk me up. So I created a treasury of items that took me to a happy place just looking at them all.  These would all be lovely buys, so I wanted to share.

Hanging In

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Today is a hanging in there day.  Tigger and Shadow are better.  However I am not.  I have been in a number of car accidents.  Something today has triggered part of my spine into a slipping in and out-of-place mode.  So I am up and down a lot and not able to sit still for very long at a time at the computer.  Not too much is getting accomplished workwise today.

Tomorrow I will share a couple Etsy treasuries I created this week and pick out a Follow Friday recommendation too.

On the Flip Side

Nap time for Tigger & Shadow

We pulled the sheet off our cage and now we are napping on it.

Tigger is still on the mend.  She is eating a bit more on her own each day and is a great deal more active.  She went from a flopped out zero speed to full out run last night.  She wanted to take advantage of an opportunity to zoom into the gate opening when we were coming into her area.  She took off upstairs for a while.  She has started to use the litter box again and has lost the poopy butt problem.

So, why did we go to the vet first thing today?  We had to take Shadow in.  Shadow has allergies and Georgia is having big time problems with high pollen counts this year.  The poor boy regularly sneezes and swallows a lot so we know he has a post nasal drip.  He has been in a couple of times this spring to be checked out for the allergies and ear problems.  The sneezes are usually dry irritated sneezes.  Late yesterday they switched over to very wet sneezes with a wheezy sound on the end.  We don’t need to have a bunny go from allergies to bronchitis or pneumonia, so off to vet we went.

The good news is that Shadow’s lungs are clear.  The vet says a lot of animals are having issues with pollen allergies here this year.  That doesn’t surprise me at all, since the human animals in our house are having a tough time with it too.  So we have all the doses for human and animal antihistamines now.  We have a prescription for antibiotics in case he becomes a great deal more congested.  There aren’t any exotic vets at any of the animal hospitals in our area, so they are helping us to be prepared in case he should get really sick on an evening or weekend.

Everybunny is now going to be getting feedings of Oxbow Critical Care.  It will aid Tigger to keep her GI tract moving.  The vet suggested some feedings of it for Shadow now too since he is having problems keeping his weight up.  He has lost a little more weight each visit the past few months.  His appetite is terrible which I can completely understand.  The allergies are probably making everything taste awful or he might have an irritated mouth and throat.  Poor bunny!

Typical Tigger

Tigger drinking

Heh, heh ... I'm gonna eat Shadow's food and drink his water!

This morning Tigger is still getting extra syringe feedings and water along with meds for gas and pain. At first she wasn’t really very interested in much I offered her to eat for a self fed breakfast.  I was trying to give her a tummy rub when she decided to show me she had a lot more energy than yesterday and shot out of her cage and took off running around the room.

We have the stairs blocked at the moment so that she can’t go running up or down while she is still weaker than usual and more likely to trip. She and Shadow both started begging to go downstairs to the kitchen. When I said no, Tigger jumped on Shadow’s head and a humping away she went. I decided to let Shadow escape her and let him go down to the kitchen.

When Tigger settled down again, she decided to move in to Shadow’s cage. It is typical Tigger to take over his cage without an invitation and make herself free with his hay, pellets, water and litter box facilities. In this case, I am quite happy to see her do it if it means she is eating and drinking voluntarily.

She ate some pellets and hay, drank some water, and now is alternating between napping in his cage and gnawing his chew ring.  Life is so sweet stealing the other bunny’s stuff.

Tough Tigger

Tigger cleaning up

Must get the human cooties off of me!

Early on during this past weekend, it really looked like we might lose our Tigger.  She has had issues with going off her food throughout her life.  She has been in to the vet at least once a year all of her ten years.  There has never been a clearly defined reason or cause found. 

What makes it really hard is how quickly it hits.  She will be eating everything in sight, running around and playing with no signs of feeling ill at all.  Then she will go in for the night or  lay down for an afternoon nap and it is like a switch has been thrown. 

The next morning or after her nap, Tigger doesn’t want to eat, drink or move.  It has seemed like a gassy tummy issue on many occasions.  Per the vets instructions, we would give her Simethecone, extra water, tummy rubs, get her to move around and switch to hay only.  The problem would usually clear up in a few hours or overnight and she would be back to normal.  We have watched for any common denominator in foods or activities, but there seems to be no identifiable pattern. 

This past year, the problem has been more severe and she gets quite ill and takes days or weeks to return to normal.  She has seen the vet a lot.  She has been checked out head to toe, had tests, and been put under anesthesia twice for tooth exams and had a couple filed down to be sure they weren’t the cause.  The anesthesia makes me so nervous since that is riskier at her age. 

This weekend she took her afternoon nap and when it came time to wake up and run around again, she seemed completely unresponsive to everything around her. Poor Shadow was licking her from head to tail without any reaction on her part.  Then he pawed at her trying to get her to respond to him.  She opened her eyes wider, but that was it.  We separated them and went to work giving the pain meds and Simethecone in the vet prescribed doses and then syringe feedings of water and Oxbow Critical Care.  In between we would offer Tigger  parsley, a favorite, and a variety of hays.  She seems to eat when we offer things to her and hand feed her.  We have also been giving her tummy rubs.   

Late yesterday, she started to show some temper over being medicated, fed and cleaned up.  Our Tigger is coming back again, at least for now.  We are winning battles to keep her with us, but realize that at ten years old, losing the war is closer than we would like it to be.

Talking to a Tigger

Tired Out Tigger

I'm still listening

I wrote a couple posts about how very high energy our Shadow is. Although she was quite high energy herself when younger, Tigger has always had a side of her personality that has a still watching quality, call it her inner kitty. She will hen up and seem distant, remote and untouchable. Tigger is also very sensitive, sometimes easily freaked out.  At those times, she doesn’t want anyone to come close or touch her.

This weekend with her illness, it has been very difficult because we have had to handle her way more than she is comfortable with. Fortunately, we discovered something by accident years ago that is also helping make her to feel more comfortable with us again in between needing  to be medicated or cleaned up.  Tigger likes to be stroked with words.

Tigger can have the same purring reaction to words that many animals have while being hand petted. Since she is so sensitive and easily panics, while she was quite young, we started talking to her from a safe distance of at least a few feet so that she knew we could not pick her up. Depending on the circumstances, we would tell her she was all right, things were okay, that she was a beautiful girl, a good bunny, a good Tigger. We started to notice that Tigger would begin to relax and noticeably tooth purr, just the same as if we were physically touching her and stroking her. She loves to be told she is a good bunny.  Soft tones of voice, quiet words and those words “good bunny” help her find a mellow safe and happy place.

We would like nothing more than to pick her up, hug her and stroke her, because that is what helps humans to feel secure and loved.  Tigger wants a lot of sweet talking instead.  Physical touching is prefered by invitation only.  She will hop up to where we are sitting and peek over the edge of the seat and then lay down on the floor.  That is one cue that an invitation to hands on petting is being extended.  Another is if we are on the floor and she hops up next to us and flops down.  The last invitation is when she will look at us from a distance and as we approach, she will put her head flat down on the floor.  She presents herself by assuming the “I am ready for grooming” position.  It is the same position she uses to signal to Shadow that she wants his attention.  We are being accepted as surrogate bunnies.

This weekend, we are helping her feel more comfortable and safe again with us by talking to her a lot and telling her that she is a very good bunny.  She has shown us she really appreciates our understanding of her needs.  Yesterday, she hopped beside Blaine and flopped down asking to be stroked.  Today as I was talking to her, she weakly hopped up to where she could see me clearly and put her head down presenting it to be petted.  We enjoyed some very sweet time together.

Throughout her life, talking to her and letting her issue the invitations for physical petting has rewarded us with lots of opportunities.  We have really gained her trust and even while she is quite ill now, that trust continues and is making it easier for us to care for her and keep her comfortable.

Tending to a Tigger

Tigger is feeling poorly and hidingThis is going to be a short post today.  We are taking care of a sick Tigger.  This past year she has had a number of times she just seems to shut down and stops drinking and eating without warning, often after really active days.  Numerous vet visits haven’t identified a definitive cause.  She has received treatment for a number of possible causes.   We now have a supply of Oxbow Critical Care and pain meds on hand for times when the trip to the vet isn’t possible, like evenings, weekends and holidays.  Since Tigger is 10 years old, this may be part of the aging process for her.

We are providing supportive care, giving syringe feedings and water.  She is eating her favorite parsley and occasionally some hay.  We have her on pain medicine and are keeping her warm, clean, dry and well-loved. 

Taking care of a senior bunny is tricky because so many factors can change as their bodies age, requiring changes in their care and environment.  The House Rabbit Society has an excellent article on many things to be aware of:  Living With An Elder Bun.

Follow Friday – HRS Health Database – Repetition for Emphasis

Health Data Request by the HRSI wrote about this last week.  This is important so I am repeating it today.  The article on the back of the most recent HRS newsletter is about their project to collect and preserve health data on rabbits.

They are asking for participation from everybody who has a bunny with health records.  Adding to the information in this database can aid in the care of other rabbits. I will downloading this to work on filling in as much information as I can for Tigger, Shadow and Portia’s veterinary care during their lives with us.

I have saved 10 years of vet bills that I will work to add into the database. Now that Tigger and Shadow are senior buns, I am thinking a lot about the time when they will leave us. It would be wonderful if part of their legacy was contributing to longer lives for other rabbits.  One recent vet visit we were given a prescription medication that doesn’t have a lot of documentation on how it works in rabbits, the vet wanted to try it since it was well tolerated by other herbivores.  So we might be the first to add data on that medication for rabbits. 

Check out this page on the HRS website with the info and download links: http://www.rabbit.org/health/healthdatabase.html.