I love this photo. It shows off Tigger’s beautiful fur and her love of laying kitty style on her side. She also loved to have one little paw up by her face, sometimes almost in a sucking her paw look. It was such a cute reflex action of hers. Shadow is in the background doing what he liked to do best, blending into something dark so that it was really hard to truly see him.
Coming Wednesday, Tigger the Model Bunny.
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.
My toys must have my scent!
The title is a bit of a trick question. As a noun, a rabbit has one chin. Turn chin into a verb by saying a rabbit chins things and a rabbit has as many chins as they want to have.
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?
An upgrade to our Rabbittude website to bring the website and blog together has been in planning for quite some time. We finally had the opportunity to do the behind the scenes work needed to make it a reality. We are in the process of bringing it live right now. Rabbittude.com won’t be available until the file uploading process is complete.
So the next post on our “Calico” bunny will be on Wednesday. However, we will be moving things to a different web server during the next 24 hours. That can sometimes cause browsers to have difficulty locating sites for 24 to 48 hours after the move. Have no fear if Rabbittude.com or the blog disappear, they will show back up again once all the browsers update for the new location.
After the move, you will be able to find the blog on Rabbittude.com or if you have bookmarked blog.rabbittude.com as a favorite, that web address will be programmed to go to the new blog location. We know we will have some sorting out issues for a short time to and hope to keep those to a minimum.
We have completed moving everything over and combining our website and blog together. We are still working through a few wrinkles. It does not look like we have the ability to import current subscribers or followers. If you were previously subscribed to receive new posts via email, you will need to use the subscribe link on the right to subscribe here. So sorry all for the inconvenience of having to re subscribe / re follow!
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.
Okay, been quiet too long with blogging. I am here today to share a super cute bunny rabbit video. It is five minutes long, but you have to stay to the end to see how this bunny really herds these sheep.
Here is the link just in case the video isn’t working here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeuL5IGimCQ
Monday, I will explain the quiet time here.
Sometimes I just sit and watch, take pictures and enjoy having them with me still …
 Nap time |
 Stretch ... |
 Good grooming |
 Shadow makes it to the hay bowl first |
 Everybunny bellies up to the hay |
 Ready, set ... |
 Taking turns, Shadow first |
 ... and now Tigger's turn |
Throughout the month of September we were dealing with on and off stomach issues with Tigger. She would be on and off her diet and need gas meds, pain meds, and force feedings of Oxbow Critical Care at times and syringed water. On the 24th, we wrote that she seemed to have turned the corner. Since then she has continued to improve and the picture shows that improvement.
With bunnies, we have learned that subtle behavior changes can signal their health issues more clearly if you watch them closely. When Shadow spends a lot of time cleaning his ears or has one ear up, one ear down, we know it is time to have the vet take a look at his ears for an inner or outer ear problem.
With Tigger, a clear signal that her tummy is fine can be seen in this photo. She is kicked back with her back legs stretched out and is lying full-out on her stomach out in the open. When she starts pulling her legs underneath her and looking like a bunny hen all the time, she is starting to have some issues and doesn’t want to lay on her stomach. Especially if she does that in places where it isn’t easy to reach her, we know she needs some help.
Our key to keeping our bunnies going throughout their ten and half years is keeping a close eye on their behavior, knowing quite well what is and is not normal for them. We have learned to recognize the small changes in their daily activity that can be signals of changes in their health. Since both bunnies are elderly now, we keep a closer watch on them now than we did when they were younger and act more quickly if it seems something isn’t right.
Being able to have more pictures like this makes life so sweet.
I would like to ask a favor today. If you have just a minute or so, could you pop on over to the Etsy Rabbits team blog and take the poll on the left. We are looking to increase readers for the blog and have just five items and want to know if those items are of interest to people who might read or follow the blog. You can pick all the items, some of the items or none of the items.
If you have the time and want to leave a longer comment, we would be happy to hear suggestions:
http://etsyrabbits.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-planning-what-interests-you.html
Thank you!
Well I know it means more winter when the groundhog sees his shadow. So what does it mean when a Tigger sees her shadow? Are we about to be hit with winter early in Georgia? It has been cooler than usual for this time of year.
It was cute to see Tigger pause in her rounds in a way that had the light hitting her just right to give her a shadowy twin.
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!