This collection of entries is from the Category "Bunnies".
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Farewell to a dear bunny friend
Carol and I just got back from the Golf Rose Animal Hospital.
We dropped off Indy the Bunny.
Indy died in my arms about an hour ago after a very long illness.
read more of this entry »
She was old for a bunny - 11 years. Back in April, I found a lump on her hind quarters. I thought it was just part of her hip or leg - until it grew and finally pushed through her skin.
We had a big big decision to make back then. We couldn't afford the vet bills to take her in, get her examined, and - potentially - attempting to fix her. But, she was an elderly bunny. She might have been able to survive any surgery, let alone recovery.... and any drugs that she would need.
She wasn't too bothered at the time. She exhibited no change in behavior - she still ran around, she still ate, she was still the same loving Indy the Bunny that she always was. We made a decision to not have her treated, and have her live out her days with us.
I thought she would never see May. And then I thought she would never see June. And then July. August. September. October. November.
When November came, things started to change. The growth was huge now, about the size of a golf ball outside the skin, but you could see that the whole hard mass was about the size of a baseball. She started favoring the leg on that side (her right side) She still ate, drank, and was interested in things just like normal.
Then her left leg wasn't very operational. Soon into December she wasn't able to move both of her back legs, though she was still alert and eating normally.
The last 2 days was a dramatic change. She was weaker. It was difficult for her to move. She stopped eating. Yesterday she wasn't moving very much, but she still wanted to be out of the cage and moving around the best she could.
We had to go babysit my nephew Jack tonight. We left Indy and Chip out while we were gone.
When we came back home tonight, Indy was laying on the floor, but her legs were splayed out unnaturally. I got down on thew floor, and I propped her up and got her legs underneath her the best I could, to make her lay down the best I could.
As I moved her around, she let out this very soft almost inaudible high-pitched moan. I saw it in her eyes. Her time had come.
I laid down on the floor and petted her... nuzzled her... talked to her... she just settled into me holding her... and slowly, peacefully... she passed.
I am TOTALLY convinced that she waited for "Her Dad" to get home so that she could go. I truly believe this.
Indy The Bunny has been a wonderful part of our lives for eleven years. She was special - we saved her life by protecting her from being a snake's lunch when she was a few week old baby. She immediately won our hearts - and now tonight our hearts break...
Farewell, Indy... you know that you've always been"Daddy's Little Girl"
... and tonight I grieve.
« hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 11:55 PM | Link | Bunnies | Care to comment? | § |
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Another vet visitWe had planned on a quiet day, but wound up having to take chip to the vet.
He wouldn't put any weight on his rear right leg, so... by taking him, it was an emergency visit. Thank god that since the vet moved, they're now also a 24-hour exotic animal emergency hospital.
(I hate to say this, but I love going to our vet. Because they specialize in birds and exotics, you never know what you're going to see in the waiting room).
So, the doctor took some x-rays and as long as he was sedated, clipped his nails) but nothing showed up. Nothing is broken, so may have just wrenched a muscle or tendon.
Well, we readily admit it... he haven't been good bunny parents and have neglected to trim his nails of late. Chip just LOVES to run, so we're not surprised that maybe he caught a toenail and twisted something. So, we have pain medication that we'll give him and keep him confined and see what happens.
posted at 02:25 PM | Link | Bunnies | § |
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
A garage door and Indy
Carol stayed home today to be there when we FINALLY receive delivery of something we've been waiting on for a few months (if not really a few years) - a new garage door.. we both love it and I think it's a HUGE improvement over the old one. The whole concept of natural light inside the garage is just mind boggling.
As long as she was home, Carol called the vet to see if we could get Indy into the vet today. Indy still wasn't really eating - she'd take a few bites of lettuce and stop, take afew bites of carrot and stop, take few bites of hay and stop, but drink as much water as she wanted. She was also getting "quieter" and Chip was really bothering her. Carol couldn't get an appointment until 5:30, so I got home after work and immediately took off for the vet. This was the first time we visited the new facility. It's not all that easy to get to for us, but at least we know the area, so we can take shortcuts depending on traffic.
So, the doc checked her all out, put her under anesthesia to xray her (and clip her toenails) and then did... a dental exam. Out of all the years we've had rabbits, non of our bunnies ever had dental issues - until now. She had problems with her molars having grown "unusually" and were probably hurting her gums or cheek, so the doc worked on them (probably with a dremmel).
A tech brought her back to the exam room, still a little woozy. She went right back into her carrier and settled down. After a while, we could hear her grinding her teath. She looked different. On the way home, she looked much more relaxed than the trip into the city. Sure enough, first thing she does when she gets home is eat.
posted at 08:27 PM | Link | Mundane | § |
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Indy, Indy, Blinds, MI3Well, our older bunny Indy seems to be having problems - she's not eating much at all and she just wants to be alone - a good indication that she's sick. It's almost like at the end of 2004, but she was really in distress and really hiding. This is like she's a little... off. She wants to eat and she eats a little, but then just stops. She's urinating with a good stream, so we're not sure what's going on.
Speaking of Indy... there's another Indy on TV today - the Indianapolis 500.
WHY THE HELL CAN'T ABC BROADCAST THE INDY 500 IN HD? Hell, Fox broadcasts all of the NASCAR events in HD, and this is a special event! What the hell!
We had to get new blinds for the bedroom - the one on my side of the bed actually started to fall apart from all that exposure to the sun after all of these years. Carol went to Lowes and had some blinds cut to size... too bad they were the wrong size. At least she had them cut too long so she could go back and take some more off. After she struggled with that, then we had to change the mounting hardware... Let's just say the task took way longer than either of us thought. Then, when everything was done, we rushed to the AMC South Barrington 30 to catch a 3:10 showing of Mission: Impossible III.
Eh.
It was OK (I got over my Tom Cruise issues quickly), and there was a LOT of action, but... I don't know, it seemed a little implausible (what? an IMF Mission being implausible? Well, it wasn't the mission - it was the fact an IMF agent would get married to someone that doesn't know what he really does for a living - I think that was my problem)
UPDATE: On Thursday night, ABC broadcast the Scripps Spelling Bee. LIVE. IN HDTV
posted at 05:59 PM | Link | Mundane | § |
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Happy Easter
Happy Easter from Chip and Indy!
posted at 09:19 AM | Link | Bunnies | § |
Easter Bunnies
I am re-posting an entry that I have posted every year at this time ( 2005, 2004, 2003, and 2002) - please indulge me.
I have posted this entry with a future date so it will "stick" here until Easter Sunday, when it will start rolling around, just like any other entry.
I know I don't get a lot of traffic here at this Blog, but, please, take a moment to read this and help out this cause.
Carol and I have a pet rabbit named Indy and another that's only been with us about a year and a half, Chip. (They have there own WebCam over on the Right-hand side of the page, if you want to visit). We love Indy and Chip, and have loved the rabbits that have been part of our life over the past 20 years. They're different, but fun - and very loving. I think that's the one thing that has surprised me the most over the years - how affectionate they can really be. This past year, we've experienced what it's like to have two rabbits together, and even that seems special. They're inseparable, always together, always grooming, yet always running up to us for attention and their "lovin'" (which is us petting them).
Every year, at Easter time, people think about buying a rabbit for their kids. Bunnies really are great, but they have special needs and care and are not like dogs & cats. There are many rabbits that are abandoned each year after Easter when the kids lose interest or when they become a burden to the owners.
If you have a website, please visit the Easter Page at the House Rabbit Society's website and get a banner to put on your page until after Easter (April 16 for those that don't know) to help raise awareness of the problem. There are also PDF's to print up and post in your cubicle of wherever if you'd like to do that to help spread the word (as well as a damn sad poem that just rips at our heartstrings). Please slso visit the site of their new campaign - "Make Mine Chocolate!" for additional flyers, business cards, and postcards.
Indy thanks you, Chip thanks you, and Carol & I thank you.
posted at 05:30 AM | Link | Bunnies | § |
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Volcano RabbitSerious.
I saw this in a post on Boing Boing.
The Volcano Rabbit (or zacatuche or Romerolagus diazi)
They live in the Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands of Mexico, and is endemic to the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt surrounding Mexico City, where volcanoes and rabbits co-exist.
Well, sort of. They're endangered.
Who would have thought?
posted at 01:12 PM | Link | Bunnies | § |
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Quick bunny update
I haven't talked about them in a while and some of you wanted to know, so here's a quick picture of Indy & Chip. They're great and doing well. They are absolutely inseparable, except for every once in a while where they take turns in the cage and the other being outside the cage , sort of giving each other their own "space" for a few hours. Otherwise, they are always together grooming, playing or sleeping.
posted at 11:31 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Friday, August 26, 2005
Indy againCarol and I stepped-out for a quick dinner at Barnaby's tonight.
When we came home, we found Indy on the bottom floor of the Bunny Condo, looking weird.
read more of this entry »
She looked exactly like last week - dizzy. Vertigo. We didn't panic, since the vet told us that that she could have been having these problems all along (and could be because of her age). She was having a little bit of trouble moving around the cage, and her head was gently moving side-to-side like her world was spinning.
But she acted fine. She wasn't really concerned, she just didn't move around a lot. After a few minutes she actually walked out of the cage and was grooming herself. The she would do her loooooong stretch and shake her head - only this time, she stopped shaking her head quickly and you could almost see he stagger to the side.
And she was fine. A few more minutes would pass and she would be running around the room and eating hay. Other than the whole vertigo thing, she seems pretty unaffected by whatever is causing this. Maybe this has been happening for a while - she's adapting to her spells pretty quickly.
Scares the hell out of us, though. Hope that this isn't an indication of something worse on the horizon. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 07:55 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Friday, August 19, 2005
The not-so-crisis?Carol just called - she was just leaving our vet with Indy.
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Indy's doctor can't find a thing wrong with her.
She's fine and exhibiting no symptoms. Of anything. So, she's coming home.
It could have been a mini-stroke, a seizure, or something else. At her age, it's up to us how aggressive we want to be. She could have had these episodes before and this was the first one we've seen.
She's alert, eating and just being a bunny.
So, Carol's pretty tired, so she's hitting the road. I'll check on Indy at lunch. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 09:43 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
The Bunny CrisisIt's a long story, but Carol & I just got back from the emergency vet.
Indy had a sudden problem overnight and we left her with the emergency vet until later this morning when carol is going to pick her up and bring her to our normal vet
read more of this entry »
The story starts when Carol can't get to sleep, so she goes downstairs at about 12:30. Indy is laying on the bottom floor of her condo, not really moving. Carol had to pull her out of the cage to get her to move, which is not like her. After observing her, Carol came back upstairs and woke me up to tell me what she saw.
We went back downstairs and there's Indy, lying on the floor, looking normal. I pet her, she licked me. Carol gets upset because now she looks normal. Indy gets up and walks away and looks fine.
Then she starts to move again, and she isn't moving right - her head starts to bob side-to-side, almost as if she has vertigo and is dizzy and can't focus. She walks haltingly to the side, as if she was dizzy and she was trying to catch herself from falling over. Eventually, she just lays down, knowing that the world around her stops spinning if she's not standing up. When I pet her, she vibrates - her signal that she is in distress.
So, it's time to make another trip to Animal 911 in Skokie. The place was busy - and you know that anyone that's taking their pet to the vet at 1 in the morning can't be having a good time. I saw many people in despair over their pets. Indy was whisked-away as soon as we got there - the problem was there were many other patients in much more critical need than her. After 2 hours, we finally talked to the doctor. It is one of two things - inner ear infection or stroke. (In my mind, the ear infection matches pretty well - she's alert, she's eating (which - if something really was wrong, she wouldn't do) she's aware of her surroundings and what's going on around her, and that doesn't sound like stroke), though she is up in age (she's almost 8 and that's petty old for a rabbit).
Indy is staying overnight for observation while they give her antibiotics. Carol will pick her up and get her to our "primary care vet" who specializes in exotic animals (and a bunny, it turns out, falls into the exotic category).
All this in just a few hours.
When we got home, Chip looked lonely, sad, and confused.
He was young when Indy had her problems before, and it was before they were socialized, so he's never really known life without his partner.
And just looking at his posture and his face - he doesn't like being without her.
Ditto for her "parents". « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 04:21 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
A year of ChipIt was one year ago today that we were at the Wisconsin State Fair and returning home with a brand new boy baby bunny that we eventually named Chip.
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Today, Chip is still the smaller of the two bunnies, but he's what we've been calling a "bruiser". When you pet Indy, she's soft and silky, but you also notice that she's got more skin than bones and her skin kind of moves around (she was heavier and has lost weight over the past year or two - she's at a much healthier weight now). When you pet Chip, you notice that his fur is a little courser (not as silky as Indy) but he's all muscle - just built like a tank. And no wonder - the kid is constantly running around, sometimes just running in circles, tossing his head. He's happy and he shows it a lot. He's also sort of a rebelling teenager. He's always doing things we don't want him to do, and always grunting to show he doesn't like it when we yell at him to stop doing something. His latest "thing" is that he loves to "shovel" - he stopped digging (using his front paws to rapidly dig at something) and now he's shoveling, where he'll reach forward with both paws and scoop up whatever bedding or whatever is available and throw the whole lot through his back legs.
Something that Chip loves to do which fits his "bruiser" moniker is that he loves picking up things. He'll go after a section of the newspaper that we may have just read (or sometimes, may not have read if he jumps up onto the couch), and grab the corner and pull it up in the air. He'll start doing that with heavier objects like slippers or one of my Rockport shoes, which must weigh almost as much as he does. Lately, he's not content with just raising it in the air - he's using his back legs for power and now when he pulls things up, he stands straight up in the air as tall as he can reach (that's when you know he's having a good time). Unfortunately, especially if he's really over-exuberant, when he stands straight up he doesn't take into account the direction he's pulling or the weight he's lifting. He often falls over backwards, landing either on his butt (which he did last night for the first time and sent screams of laughter from me and Carol) or landing flat on his back. Once he landed flat on his back on the marble hearth in front of the fireplace and I think he hit his head because he looked like he got stunned and had to rest and get his bearings before he traipsed off somewhere else.
It took a while to get Indy & Chip to be together, but now they are absolutely inseparable. They are constantly together, laying next to each other, snoozing, or awake and constantly grooming each other.
Unfortunately, this has become a downside - as the rabbits bonded, they didn't interact with their human "parents" the same way. Indy, when she was alone, always looked for me and begged for "lovin's" (which is just petting, but she just loved it). Now, she gets constant attention from Chip, so Indy doesn't look up to us as much. Chip started to bond with us when he was little and before he "matured" and got interested in Indy. Now, we're constantly trying to make sure Chip understands who we are and even though we try to show our affection to him, he's not all that interested.
We do this by picking him up - something that he allowed us to do since we first saw him at the State Fair. (Indy flat out refuses to be held - that's not her thing and she'll scratch and even bite to get away). Chip allows me to hold him in my arms with him on his back and I can stroke his head and tummy and he seems to really enjoy it. He just doesn't like to be picked-up and grunts and growls sometimes when you try. He quiets down in your arms, though.
He's been great. Having two rabbits has been great - I really think having a younger bunny in the house has been good for Indy, keeping her active. We've had some great times.
I need to get a Chip webpage up and running on this website... maybe someday I'll get some time... and sorry for a lack of pictures lately - I'm having some very odd performance problems with my computer dealing with large files and Windows Explorer that I need to solve quickly... « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 08:42 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Friday, July 01, 2005
The Return of BunnyCam 2.0Our BunnyCam has returned. I had to shut it down when we had the hardwood floors installed because the bunny condo was moved to our bedroom for an extended time. After that, it was the interior house painting that had the cage staying upstairs. Now that the condo is back in place, I got a new camera (newer does not mean better) and Indy & Chip are back online. It's a different angle, so it should be different to watch.
posted at 07:03 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Friday, June 03, 2005
Bunny Zen #1
For lack of anything else to post, I give you 30 seconds of Bunny Zen - it's Chip, having a snack, watching the White Sox on TV. Indy is in the background (4Mb 30-second DIVX AVI)
posted at 09:47 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Friday, May 13, 2005
Happy Birthday, Carol!
So, today is Carol's Birthday. We spent the night with restless sleep, each of us taking time to check-up on our little Chip. He's not eating, he's not moving around. About 2:30 this morning I just picked him up out of his cage and held him for a while, trying to make him feel better. Even Indy didn't know what to do - she just looked at me as if to say "I don't know what's wrong here - you have to do something."
When morning came around, Chip wasn't any different. We both went to work. Carol called the vet - no openings this morning, but she could just show-up and they'll treat it like an emergency, wedging her in between appointments.
read more of this entry »
Carol left work and went home.
Chip is up and alert. Carol opened the cage and the two of them just came out and ran around the family room, jumping up in the air and just having a wonderful time.
Damn rabbit - he's not sick at all!
Now what was it? We don't know. the vet thinks it was a "gas bubble" that can be pretty painful.
All we know is Carol lost time at work and the little Chipster is fine. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 11:20 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Didn't even last a week!
We have barely had the fresh paint on the walls for, what, 5 days?
There, on the stairs, I can see where a certain older female bunny has satisfied her urge to chew by chewing on the fresh paint on the outside corner of the wall! I guess we setup the gates a bit too late.
Time to break out some touch-up paint!!!
posted at 05:52 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Days pass with little to write aboutWow! I can't believe that I haven't written anything in the blog for a while. I guess what's more shocking to me is that I haven't written anything and I didn't realize that I wasn't writing. It was like the blog wasn't part of my life for a couple of days... and you know, that's not a bad thing. But it's just odd that I didn't even recognize that I was doing this. Maybe it's because I'm busy at work, maybe it's because the house is a mess, maybe it's because we've had painters in every day for quotes on painting the first floor. I don't know - I guess a jumbled-up life jumbles-up your priorities and perceptions.
read more of this entry »
Our bunnies - Indy & Chip - still have not returned to "normal" (however that can be defined). They're slowly spending more time in the family room with us, occasionally checking-out the living room/dining room. This new floor has just rocked their little bunny world and their not coping well. They spend more time in the cage with the door open then they spend out and about the house.
Like I said, we're getting quotes from painters to do the first floor. Might as well since we haven't put hardly any furniture back in the house (we have the new couch in the family room, and I setup the TV, TiVo, and amp with just the front set of speakers and the sub-woofer to keep us entertained, along with three barstools along the counter - and that's it).
On Saturday we had B & B over to go out to dinner. We didn't tell them about the floor so they were really surprised on how the house looked. We went out for Italian - Buffy & I had some pretty bad Ravioli, while Barry and Carol had some pretty good food. I don't know, it was a toss-up if we'd go back to the place.
We came back to our house and couldn't find anything to watch on the movie channels or PPV, so we watched Grey's Anatomy on ABC. That really wasn't a bad show and we my start to watch it.
The weather's been absolutely fabulous. With absolutely no coverings on any of the first floor windows, it's been really difficult to manage the temperature of both floors of the house. For a few days, when we'd wake-up in the morning the temperature inside the house was 60.
I've been having trouble sleeping lately. I mean, I sleep fine but I feel like I'm not getting enough, or it's not a deep enough sleep or something. I just feel like I'm tired and I'm not "catching up".
I hate that feeling. It's bothering me.
Let's see... Pope's funeral - interesting and sad... Charles & Camila's wedding - strange, soap opera-ish.
What else went on... can't recall.
(Oh! A one-person tribe on Survivor Palau?!?!?! Hate to say it, but this has been a good season, just because of these little twists. Speaking of good season - Amazing Race - look folks, an awful lot of people out there are hating Amber & Rob, but I've got to tell you, even though people think they're changing the show forever in a bad way, let's not forget that it took a lot of people 7 seasons of the show to figure out that taking a penalty can work for you. It really showed - more than Survivor did - how far ahead Rob is thinking. Still the best Realty show on television, by far. Not stopping for when the brothers rolled their SUV - that was a little bit over the line of not caring about the other teams. They could have "feigned" interest and that would have saved their standings with the other teams - maybe) « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 10:18 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Still TraumatizedThe "kidlettes" are still not coming out of their cage - the cage door was open but they came out and walked around the foyer, peaked into the living room and family room, but that's it. They don't want to have anything to do with it. Carol thinks that maybe their sensitive noses can still smell the finishes (since their nose is so close to the ground) and they don't like it. We'll see how it goes.
posted at 07:15 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
They don't seem to like it
We're just starting to move our base of operations from our bedroom back to the rest of the house. Since we've just had the hardwood floors installed, and there's no furniture (except for the new couch) anywhere on the first floor, this would be a good opportunity to paint. We're in the middle of getting quotes now, with a new painter coming in each night this week to bid on the project. And since we're going to paint, there's no reason to put all of the furniture back, so we're just putting back anything we absolutely need. The first item: the TV. We bought some TV trays (In the 20 years we've been in the house, we've never had TV trays - how the hell did that happen?), so there's no need for a dining room table. We're not entertaining for a while, so there's no need for the rest of the furniture.
So, the place is very empty, and with the installation of the flooring, it's also VERY echo-y. Carol and I can barely understand each other as we yell across the floor if the air conditioning is on. Everything just reverberates and distorts. I Knew this would happen - I just didn't realize how bad it would be. And without furniture, rugs, and window coverings there's just nothing available to dampen the sound reflections.
We decided to bring Chip and Indy and their cage downstairs. We'll setup the cage in the foyer for a few weeks until the floor finish finally sets-up (Ted doesn't even want us to put rugs down for 30 days).
So I scooped-up Indy and Chip out of their cage, brought them downstairs and put them in the middle of the empty living room/dining room.
read more of this entry »
Needless to say, they were upset. They had no footing at all on the new hardwood and were sliding all over the place. Their first instinct was to go toward the walls, so they had something next to them (I thought that was odd - to me, that meant there were uncomfortable with being out in the open, yet when the carpet was down they were fine running around everywhere).
They slowly worked their way back to the foyer (which is ceramic tile, mind you - another slick surface but at least one they're familiar with) and then proceeded to try to go back upstairs. (Fortunately we had put up a gate so they couldn't go back up) They had looks on their faces like "Please! Let us back upstairs! I know we were going crazy in that little room, but this big place scares us! Please! Let us in!"
And... they just stayed on the carpeted stairs. Carol cleaned their cage, we brought it back downstairs, and eventually they went back inside and stayed there all evening, huddled close together.
They're traumatized. I can't really read what the problem is. Is it the floor itself? is it the smell? Is it the floor and the emptiness?
In any case, they're not happy. The cage door was open all evening, and they never ventured out again. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 07:23 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Easter Bunnies
I am re-posting an entry that I have posted every year at this time ( 2004, 2003, and 2002) - please indulge me.
I know I don't get a lot of traffic here at this Blog, but, please, take a moment to read this and help out this cause.
Carol and I have a pet rabbit named Indy and another that's only been with us 7 months, Chip. (They have there own WebCam over on the Right-hand side of the page, if you want to visit). We love Indy and Chip, and have loved the rabbits that have been part of our life over the past 20 years. They're different, but fun - and very loving. I think that's the one thing that has surprised me the most over the years - how affectionate they can really be. This past year, we've experienced what it's like to have two rabbits together, and even that seems special.
Every year, at Easter time, people think about buying a rabbit for their kids. Bunnies really are great, but they have special needs and care and are not like dogs & cats. There are many rabbits that are abandoned each year after Easter when the kids lose interest or when they become a burden to the owners.
If you have a website, please visit the House Rabbit Society's Easter Page and get a banner to put on your page until after Easter (March 27 for those that don't know) to help raise awareness of the problem. There are also PDF's to print up and post in your cubicle of wherever if you'd like to do that to help spread the word (as well as a damn sad poem that just rips at our heartstrings).
Indy thanks you, Chip thanks you, and Carol & I thank you.
posted at 05:43 AM | Link | Bunnies | 1 comment § |
Friday, January 28, 2005
A Wrinkle in Bunny ParadiseAh-HA! I knew it was a matter of time. I think Chip pissed-off Indy.
Or something.
read more of this entry »
Carol gets up at least an hour before I do in the morning. She went downstairs and heard a commotion in the bunny condo. The two rabbits were both at the door, anxiously waiting to come out.
Well, we don't know what had happened, but Indy actually shoved Chip out the door.
The house gets a little cold overnight, and we've noticed over the past couple of months that Indy, whenever the furnace turns out, will go stretch-out by a register and warm-up. Unfortunately, it's the same register that I wrote about earlier this week. Chip came over and did his "Strong Bunny" routine and lifted up the air deflector and grate. Indy got pissed, chased him away, and tried to put it back!
I guess there was another time when Chip came over to Indy and she wanted to be left alone so she tried to nip him in the nose!
I think his little "Punk Teenager" routine is getting old with Indy. I am so happy to see that - maybe she'll help us keep him in line! « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 07:54 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Life with more than one bunnyIt's been a while since I've written about how we've socialized out two bunnies - "Indy" & "Chip". The last time I wrote, we had just put the two of them together in the cage for the night.
read more of this entry »
Now, they've become inseparable. They are wonderful together, as if they've grown-up with each other all along. We've never seen either of them fight.
It's really amazing.
The lay next to each other, something that Indy has never let anyone do for all her life. I've always tried to get her to lay next t me on the floor while I pet her, and she needed her distance. Now the two of them are slammed tight against each other.
They also like their time apart. When we let them out of their cage, sometimes they'll split-up, with Chip being the one that will usually go back inside later on to eat, while Indy will lounge underneath the bar stools at the kitchen counter.
Oh, and Chip is just an eating machine. He's going through food like you wouldn't believe. He's not growing much either, but he's becoming really "solid" compared to Indy.
They're bonding by grooming each other. It's pretty damn cute watching each of them take turns cleaning the fur of the other.
Today, when I came downstairs to go to work, I saw Indy intently grooming Chip. Chip was all stretched out on his stomach, ears back, looking like he was really enjoying it.
Then I heard a snapping sound. I realized that Chip didn't look content - he looked confused.
That's when I realized that Indy wasn't grooming him at all. She had reached over him and pulled a carrot out of the dish and put it on Chip's back. She was eating a carrot off of Chip's back. (I was really pissed that I couldn't get my camera ready quick enough to take a shot before the carrot rolled off Chip's back).
They're just goofy that way.
Since being paired-up, Indy is like a new bunny. Not only has she recovered from her illness, but she's running around and jumping like she hasn't done in a few years. It could be because of some of the weight she lost by not eating when she was sick, or maybe because she's just "happier" having a her own little friend.
She still comes running to greet "Dad" when I come into the room - something I am so thankful for. I've been worried that now that they have each other, they will turn away from Carol and me. She still "demands" time and "lovin's" (petting) from me. It really confuses Chip - he doesn't know what to do. Indy's been around for over 7 years - Chip only 5 months. Indy has a deep-seated relationship with her "parents". Chip is still learning who we are and how we fit into his life. All he knows when Indy comes running to get some "lovin's", he reacts like either he really wants some too (but he's not too convinced) or he's coming over just in sheer jealousy wanting whatever Indy is getting. He does show a bit of jealousy. He thinks he's the man of the pair and he does try to dominate Indy in any way possible, whether it's trying to avert our attention to him, or trying to nuzzle her out of his way as he's eating.
As part of this jealousy and domination, Chip has changed a bit too. He doesn't run and jump as often as he used to. He doesn't directly interact with us like he used to. He's acting more like a rebellious teenager, just getting into trouble. He even shows off his strength: he's picking up objects and trying to push them as high into the air as he can reach. Sometimes it's just newspapers that we're reading, where he'll grab a section and stand up and stretch into the air. He's been picking up and throwing an air deflector that we have magnetically attached to a heating vent in the family room. The other day he picked-up a heavy bunny statue - about his size - and stood up on his hind-legs and threw it around. I'm telling you, when you feel him, he's a solid bunny. He's strong.
I can't tell if he's really happy, although last night we saw him jumping around like we've never seen him before - maybe he's still learning how all of the relationships work.
So, with Chip eating what seems to be all day long, we go through food a lot faster and, correspondingly, the cage needs to be cleaned more often.
Still, they've been great. I still wish I got that picture this morning... « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 08:29 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Thursday, December 30, 2004
The Socialization of Bunnies
Carol and I are in the middle of a dastardly experiment - one that tests the courage of us and our charges.
Yes. We have started down the road of socializing our two bunnies, Indy and Chip.
Quick recap for those readers that don't know - Indy is a female black and white Dutch bunny a little over 7 years old and is our third rabbit that we've had over the last 20-or-so. Chip is a male black and white Dutch bunny that we just acquired back in August. He's about 6 months old. Both rabbits are spayed/neutered (thank God!)
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Now, you're not supposed to try and socialize bunnies that aren't fixed. It's not just because of the possible mounting and pregnancy issues, it's more about aggression. Did we listen to that? Oh, no we didn't. It took us and additional four months before we could attempt it.
First Chip had his sneezing problem. The we had to wait for the antibiotics to work before we could get him fixed. Then Indy got sick the same week. While she was gone, Chip healed and his hormones just flushed out of his system as he had no one to long after. He still hung around Indy's empty cage looking for her, but he was much calmer.
Then Indy finally came home. Within a week, we knew we had to keep her active (she was sleeping all the time from not eating), so we slowly started the socialization.
With Indy being older, having spent almost all of her life alone (probably not thinking she was a rabbit but rather a little tiny human like her parents), she's not exactly taking to her "little brother" all that well. I can tell you, though, that there is no fighting. Most of the time she just wants to be left alone. Chip is always running to her and bumping her, wanting to play. She just runs away. She doesn't understand that he's just a kid that wants to run and play. She's just an old lady.
The changes for both of them are coming slowly. She's "allowing" him to sit and lay closer to her. Last night, while I was petting Indy, Chip came and laid down right up against her. For as long as I was petting her, she didn't mind - too much. He could never do that if she was laying down alone.
The two of them - for months now - have been doing something that I haven't understood. They would approach each other and touch noses and - stay there. They wouldn't move at all, just sit there with their noses together, looking like each of them was waiting for the other to do something. It would be a stalemate after many minutes of this, and one of them (usually Indy) would just turn away.
The other night I think I figured it out.
Both of them were running around when I sat on the floor. They both came running over and - in their own ways - wanted me to pet them. They love the way I take long, slow, gentle strokes up their face from their noses to their ears. When they get petted, they have a tendency of laying down and pushing their noses out and just enjoying the "lovings" they're getting from their "dad".
I think that's why they're doing this nose-to-nose thing. They're both wanting some kind of affection from the other and it's a posture that they assume with me so, hey, the other rabbit must understand it.
Of course that's not the case because neither of them could pet the other, so they're just in this stalemate situation. I've tried petting both of them when they've been in that nose-to-nose situation and they just eat it up (though it's a bit difficult to do - they're not all that big).
Yesterday, Chip started making the next move - he started licking and grooming Indy. He starts by licking her sides and working up to her head, where he winds-up licking her ears. Inside her ears. A bit too aggressively when he gets way inside her ears, causing Indy to get up and get away.
Everything has progressed nicely (even with the rabbits visiting each others homes, eating each others food, sleeping on each other's fake fleece rugs, peeing in each others' corners), that we took the next step.
The two of them slept together last night. Our intent was to try to get the two of them to share one cage (the two cages just take up too much room). We made sure they had enough food for both of them and we locked them up overnight.
There were no problems other than a few territorial ones, but it looks like they're going to be fine.
If you look at the live BunnyCam feed in the right column, you may see both of them now as they share the food and sleeping accommodations. (They're hard to tell them apart since they're both Black & White Dutch's - Chip is the smaller of the two and has a rounder head and is, well, a bit cuter.) Or you may see and empty cage while they both journey out into our family room . Of course, the camera may be black because the lights are out and they're sleeping. All I know is that seeing the two of them on camera is pretty damn cute. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 02:37 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Friday, December 24, 2004
Cold start
Woke up to -1° temperatures. At least the wind is pretty calm, but the house is trying to keep warm.
Both of our rabbits - Indy and Chip - are out running around - together. Well, not exactly together, but they are out at the same time and they're learning to be out together. Right now, they're both demanding attention from me, forcing me to pet them both at the same time. This is something new for all of us to learn.
Chip seems to be hanging out in Indy's cage while she's out. There was a time this morning when Chip was in Indy's cage and Indy was in Chip's cage, both eating the other's breakfast.
Not a bad start to Christmas Eve.
posted at 09:19 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Saturday, December 18, 2004
Indy - Day 8An update on Indy the Bunny:
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SHE'S HOME!
Apparently, she had become quite a handful since we've seen her Thursday night. She's grunting and jumping at people and, in general, just didn't want to be around there any more.
So, she's finally home. She's eating - a little. She's drinking water - a little, but in general, I think she's just happy to be home. She seems a little tired - when she trots around the family room, she needs to lie down for a while. I guess that could happen if you don't eat.
We Still have to give her some antibiotics and some G.I. medicine, but hopefully we won't have to force feed her.
I have a theory: They vets were panicking that she wasn't eating, so they we pumping her full of Critical Care stuff. Well, I know Indy - if she was full, she wouldn't eat. Makes sense, right? So, if you stop force feeding her, she'll start to eat on her own, right? So far, the theory is holding up - though she's not eating a lot. Also, the size of her pellets is small - that could be because the force feedings were toward the end were mixed heavily with water, so she was peein' more than she was poopin'. We need to watch all of this.
Total cost of veterinary bills: $1,261.51
OUCH « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 09:19 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Friday, December 17, 2004
Indy - Day 7An update on Indy the Bunny:
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Carol just got off the phone with Indy's primary doctor. Apparently, Indy is grunting and jumping at anybody that tries to handle her. In other words, she's feeling better and she's had enough of the place. She's still not eating as much as they staff wants her to, and she's only producing a few small pellets, but the staff feels it's time for her to go home.
We've decided to keep her there until tomorrow. That way we won't have to deal with the force feeding and meds for a day.
Hopefully, tomorrow, Indy will come home and everything will be right with the world...
Of course, this is costing a bloody fortune... « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 02:31 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Indy - Day 6An update on Indy the Bunny:
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Got a call from the vet on my cellphone during work today. Another doctor was handling the case until tonight. He filled me in and suggested that we come to visit to evaluate her condition. We got there at 7 o'clock. A tech brought Indy into one of the exam rooms and we stayed with her for about 45 minutes.
She started walking around the room without any problems at all. She looked bad - she lost weight and some of her skin was just hanging. She had just been force fed, so she was a bit messy. Her paws are almost black from the bedding they use in the cages. She went under a table in the corner of the room. I reached under for her and started to pet her, when she pressed her head into my hand - one of her signs that she really enjoyed what I was doing. I petted her for a while and she ate it up. Then she grunted at me and walked away. Yep - she was pissed at us.
She kept walking around the room, collecting dust bunnies in her whiskers. Still another doctor walked in (by now, I think we've met the whole staff) and showed us new x-rays. Though she hasn't been eating, except the force feedings, she *may* have eaten some hay and there were fecal pellets in her colon, just not much. Her bladder was much smaller and emptier. She asked if we wanted to take her home tonight. We said no - we want to get her going in the right direction first. The doctor left and we continued paying attention to Indy.
Eventually, she was just walking around just to get away from us. I grabbed her and made her stay in front of me. I just tried to control her and pet her.
Carol brought with an entire selection of food that we normally feed her. She grabbed a leaf of green leaf lettuce and threw it on the floor in front of her.
Indy immediately started eating - her eyes lit up and she started plowing through the leaf. She left it alone, walked around the room a bit, and then came back to the lettuce and ate more. She then became disinterested in everything (and everybody) and just walked around the room exploring.
I grabbed her and put her on the exam table, I picked up what was left of the lettuce and put it in front of her. She ate more. She turned around to look at me and I put my head down to her level. She licked my nose, just like she would do at home when we were having one of our bounding sessions. Carol pulled of another leaf of lettuce and Indy started eating that, too.
Then she stopped, backed-up into my arm... and peed on my arm and the table. She had no pain and didn't struggle to urinate at all. She moved around a bit more, ate a bit more, then backed-up toward Carol and peed on the table. When we wiped it up, you can easily see the "sludge" that the doctors were talking about.
Eventually, the office closed. We could hear the techs locking up and checking out the animals when we heard "Hey, where's Indy?"
The staff forgot about us. We had to yell to let the tech know which rooms we were in. The first tech that brought Indy into us came back to pick her up to put her back in her cage. She was very pleased to see that Indy ate and peed. We left a head of green leaf lettuce for the staff to feed to her.
When we left to go out, the front office staff didn't know we were still back there and had already locked the door for the night.
All in all, Carol and I are both very relived. We both have the sense that Indy is in much better shape and has turned the corner. We hope to have her home real soon. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 09:52 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Indy - Day 5An update on Indy the Bunny:
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Carol talked to the vet today. Indy's got a note in her file saying she's not to go anywhere until at least Thursday. She's "alert" (which to me is a cautious word - it either means she's just awake and knows what's going on around her, or is actively up and about and is interested in things going on around her - I don't know which definition she's falling under). She hasn't eaten and has been being force fed. She's not producing any fecal pellets - meaning her whole G.I. tract is empty. She's on Valium to help with her struggling to urinate.
This just sounds so bad. Now, the flip side is that the doctor that's been caring for her wasn't working today and will be back tomorrow. Hopefully she'll work hard on Indy and we'll see something progress.
It just feels like it's going the wrong direction. How do you get a rabbit to start eating again after she hasn't for almost a week?
Could you send some "good vibes" out for our little Indy, please? « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 05:33 PM | Link | Bunnies | 1 comment § |
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Indy - Day 4An update on Indy the Bunny:
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I called the vet this morning. There's no one there overnight, so the techs are going through their evaluations and they would call me around 11:30.
Update: The doctor called and said that she has a bunny that wants to know why she's still there! Apparently she's up, alert, and watching everything going on and is not laying in the back of the cage. So, I drove out to get her. Her bag of meds is a bit daunting. She has a lot of drugs that need to be administered, and if she doesn't eat, we've got a huge syringe and some powdered Critical Care mix that she'll have to be force-fed.
I brought her home and let her out of her carrier. She looked around and walked to her cage. She jumped into her litter tray and tried to urinate. Nothing. She went upstairs, took two licks at her water bottle, walked over to the fresh endive I had placed there and took two bites and laid down.
She stayed there for a couple of hours. She tried urinating a few times - each time she struggled and only managed to produce 3 or 4 drops.
It was killing me - she was in the same state as she was on Sunday. If I pet her, she was vibrating - A sign that she was in pain and not well.
It was tearing me up inside. I had to call the doctor and let them know that she's still in trouble. I had to wait for a call back, but I finally talked to the doctor. We had a long discussion of things that she was going to try to help with the bladder infection and the "sludge" that was sitting in there. All the time she was upbeat. She told me the staff would be ready to bring Indy back.
I put Indy into her carrier. She struggled and fought. It was if she was telling me she didn't want to go back - she just wanted to stay home. But that wasn't an option - she needs to get treated and she needs to get better, and that is clearly something I can't do.
I drove her back to the vet. We pulled into the parking lot and I opened her door to pet her. She loved her pettings and it was if she was trying to tell me "Dad! Please! I don't want to go back there!" I closed her door and we went inside. I handed her off to a tech who was waiting for her. Indy disappeared into the back of the facility. The tech came back with the empty carrier and I drove home alone.
I feel terrible. I felt like I was dumping her. I I cried on the way home like a baby.
I want my little girl back home... « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 08:01 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Monday, December 13, 2004
Indy - Day 3An update on Indy the Bunny:
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I called Animal 911 this morning. It sounded like Indy was doing better, but they wanted her transfered to our vet. So, I drove through rush hour traffic to Skokie to pick up our bunny. Indy had eaten a little and did urinate, so things are moving around, though she isn't back to normal. The tech at Animal 911 lit up when I said Indy's name. It sounds like everybody there knew Indy. The tech went in the back and brought Indy out. She looked all happy, sitting up in her carrier, nice and alert. The tech said goodbye to Indy and we were off on our trek from Skokie to Westchester.
Indy doesn't like being in the car, so by the time we got to the vet, she's a little stressed again, but this is normal.
The vet was empty, but they were expecting Indy as Animal 911 faxed over all of the pertinent information. I met still another doctor today, but she seemed really clued-in to rabbits so I was put at ease. It sounded like everything was fixable, but it was going to take work. It sounds like 2 weeks of antibiotics, and then if she stops eating, a whole slew of G.I. drugs to keep things going again. She also thought that - after looking at the x-ray - there's no indication of arthritis or any other problems and the pain was probably all due to the bladder "sludge" as everybody has been calling it. The doctor said it's like the sand in one of those stress-relieving balls. Indy would stay the day and they would watch her and see what's going on. I have to call after 4pm to see if she can come home. I hope she can.
Update: I called the vet this afternoon. Indy ate a little this morning. They're force feeding her the rest. She's producing pellets, but they were pretty small. If we would bring her home, there's a good chance we'd have to bring her back tomorrow, so I elected to let her stay the night so they could watch her and feed her.
Chip keeps going over to Indy's cage to see where she is. I think he misses her. He's not as active without her. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 09:44 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Indy - Day 2An update on Indy the Bunny:
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I checked on Indy a few times overnight. She's not moving around much. She's not eating at all. She did drink water, though, so that was good - I was getting ready to start force-feeding water if she didn't start drinking. She didn't seem to be in the same pain as yesterday - she's just not eating.
So, it's back to Animal 911. The place was much more crowded today, but there was a different vibe today, as animals were there that were sick or injured and not dying or dead. We met a different doctor who knew rabbits a bit better than yesterday. They were going to work on the "sludge" in her bladder and keep some G.I. drugs going in her to keep everything moving. Indy would have to stay the night and depending how she does, she could either go home tomorrow or we might have to transfer her to our vet.
At least they're staffed all night long, so she'll be watched and have people around her and hopefully she'll get better. She's only 7, so she's still got time left on her clock. I really want her home and healthy - she's "my little girl"... « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 04:13 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Animal 911
We've spent all afternoon at an emergency veterinary clinic in Skokie - Animal 911.
Why? It was Indy. Something happened to her and she was in very significant pain and under stress. We found her at the bottom of her bunny condo totally laid flat, panting heavily and not moving. When I tried to get her out of the cage, she just wouldn't move and was dead weight. She came out and ran around the room a bit, but immediately flopped on the ground. She couldn't get comfortable. Our vet was going to be closing in under an hour, so we called the 24-hour service that the vet recommended, which meant a long drive to Skokie.
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It was a long afternoon. We got to Animal 911 just fine and they whisked Indy away. However, there were more and more patients falling in front of us that were just higher priority.
It wasn't fun. We saw a family bring in a long-haired German Shepard that couldn't walk. A tech came out with a sling so the dog could walk into the back. It was obvious what was going on - you could see it in the eyes of the owners. The dog had come to the end of its time on earth - it was time to put him (or her) down. It was a long process, with lots of tears being shed. We saw a father and son pull up to the vet. The father came inside and all we heard from the desk area was that his dog had dies. The tech and the receptionist brought a cart out to the car where the dad and son put the lifeless bundle wrapped in a towel onto the cart. It looked like it was a golden retriever. Again, more tears...
Our only saving grace was that we met a cat in the reception area. Nevis appears to live there, a great orange tabby. He had no problems with sleeping and playing with his mouse toy, but he would gladly sit in your lap and look longingly at the fish tank in the corner. He would sit on a bunch and leap at the tank every once in a while. It was great entertainment.
Indy was checked out and x-rayed. There's no obvious injury, though she does have some crystallization in her bladder - we have to watch her food intake and give her a steroid painkiller once a day and restrict her movements.
We got her home, stripped her condo, blocked the ramp to her 2nd floor, and moved everything downstairs for her.
She's REALLY stressed. She's not well. And there's nothing we can really do for her...
... and I'm scared. There's an awful lot of similarities between her symptoms and the way she looks and the way Max looked in his last days...
I'm scared. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 05:14 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Monday, December 06, 2004
Snipped Chip
Chip is home. He pulled through just fine and the people at the vets were saying they were surprised he was eating so soon after surgery. He's moving a little slow and looks a little pissed-off, but he's just lounging around his cage and healing.
posted at 07:29 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Chip Gets SnippedLast Friday, Carol brought Chip back to the vet for a checkup. We had run the course on his medication and we just needed to see how he was doing. The doctor gave him a clean bill of health, saying that she was glad he made it through the medication - I guess that some bunnies never shake the infection.
Oh - I forgot to tell you - the infection that was making him sneeze, the bacteria that was in his sinus cavities? E. coli! He must have had that since he was with the breeder since e. coli is just not something that he can pickup around our house!
But, this morning, Chip is heading back to the vet. For surgery.
read more of this entry »
Yes, our long nightmare (just joking) is over - Chip is getting Neutered!!!
He has been a mess for the last month. On the plus side, he is not trying to mount anything (or anybody). That's a good thing. But his hormones are raging and we've had to segregate him away from Indy. He just wants to be with her, and I don't think he knows WHY. He dances and prances in front of her cage. He jumps on top of a hooded litter box next to her cage to get a better look at her and be closer to her... and eat her hay (we haven't figured out the reason for that). He's also spraying everywhere (and it's obvious that he's unaware that he's doing it).
Indy, in the meantime, has just about had it with him. Sometimes she'll do that whole nose-touch thing that they've been doing. Sometimes she turns her back on him and falls asleep, while he frantically runs back and forth trying to get her attention. He gets tired from frantically jumping around and sleeps alot - around her cage, of course.
So, Chip gets snipped this morning. We're supposed to be able to pick him up this evening.
Hope everything goes well - I know that this is a common and simple operation, but... you never know. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 06:35 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Friday, November 12, 2004
Turning the corner?OK, one thing's for sure - Chip doesn't like the new meds. His reaction is like it REALLY doesn't taste good - like it's tart or sour or just something nasty.
This morning, Carol and I realized something - he's not sneezing. His nose is drier. How could that be already?
Downside? It doesn't look like he's eating much. Could be a side effect of the taste problem. We really need to watch how this turns out...
posted at 06:14 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Different drugsI drove out to the vet after work today to pickup new meds for Chip. This time it's Baytril. I have to administer it once a day for 21 days straight. The first time didn't go so smooth tonight - I think Chip was expecting the old drugs and wasn't ready for the taste of the new stuff.
I just want him to stop sneezing. Everytime he sneezes, it looks like it just bothers the hell out of him.
posted at 05:45 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Monday, November 01, 2004
Another trip to the vet
So, Chip has not responded to his antibiotics. He's still sneezing. Sometimes, he'll sneeze 10 times in a row or even more. You can see on his face that he just wants this to stop. He's getting frustrated and we just feel bad for him. We brought him back to the vet's tonight. We saw a different doctor (I wanted to get him in as soon as possible and our original doctor wasn't available). So, the doctor took Chip and sedated him to scope him and get a sample of the mucous so that he can be treated with specific drugs instead on a generic antibiotic. When we brought him home, he started sneezing worse, and the cultures won't be ready for a week. What's worse, is that he was sneezing blood when we got home. Now, we were told that would happen since the doctor had to shove something up his nose, but it still pulls on the heartstrings to see that happen.
The good news is that his lungs are clear, The bad news is that the doctor said there's a possibility that the sneezing is not fixable. Only time will tell.
posted at 09:01 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Sunday, October 17, 2004
No changeHere we are 4 days into antibiotic treatments and poor little Chip doesn't seem to be responding. His sneezing is changing a bit, but his nose is still wet with a discharge. His fur around his little tiny nostrils is getting a little matted. When he sits still enough and he allows you to pet him, him just sucks up all the lovin' he can. You can look into his eyes and tell that he's not feeling well, but you can only tell that when he's not running at high speed around the family room, dodging behind the patio door curtains and jumping up on the couch. In other words, he's acting like he's just fine. He just doesn't sound fine. AT least now I don't have to wrap him up in a towel when I feed him his meds - I just pick him up, flip him over on his back and cradle him in one arm while I have the syringe in the other hand. It's like he knows what's happening and he allows it to happen, though he doesn't really like it.
I hope he starts responding soon - I'm getting worried.
posted at 10:21 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Bunny drugs
Well, Chip has had his second dose of his antibiotics - 0.9cc Trimethoprin Sulfa (first of 2 for the day). I hate force-feeding meds to a bunny. I don't want them to choke, and they get all pissed-off at someone taking a syringe and gently shoving it into their mouths and injecting the drug so they swallow it. It always feels that they're blaming me personally for the discomfort and being messed with.
And we've got 2 weeks of this to go...
posted at 09:01 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Sneezy Bunny
Our new "little boy" Chip has been sneezing for quite a while now. Indy sneezes all the time, but it's a "quiet" "dry" sneeze. Chip's isn't - his nose is wet and his sneeze sounds different. So, it's off to his first visit to our vet (the first all exotic animal hospital in the country). As it turns out, there's been some turn-over at the Vet's office, so Carol & I will be meeting a new doctor, too - Heather Bixler. Well, let's just say that we like Heather a lot and I think she liked Chip, too. Both the doctor and the tech just seemed to swoon over Chip as he came out of his soft-sided carrier in the examining room. So far it looks like we've been raising our rabbits absolutely fine and doing everything correctly.
However, Chip does have some kind of upper respiratory infection, so we're going to have to separate him from Indy (even though they're not "together" at all) Indy is healthy and is showing no symptoms, so Chips cage has to be moved away for a couple of weeks. During that time, he's going to be fed antibiotics twice a day to see if we can get rid of this sneezing problem.
Chip made the trip pretty well - it was his first car ride since coming home from the Wisconsin State Fair back in August. He also handled his first medication feeding session really well. He's our first rabbit that hasn't tried shutting his mouth, jerking away and not swallowing the medication. We'll be doing this for two weeks, so hopefully 1) he'll cooperate and 2) he gets better.
posted at 06:15 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Friday, September 24, 2004
Bunnies update
Just a quick bunny update.
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Chip is eating and eating and eating and growing and growing. He's also starting to develop a little personality of his own.
Chip has still not fully "met" Indy, except for that first unfortunate meeting. Their cages are right next to each other and they stick their noses through the cage bars when one of them is out and the other is still confined. They don't seem aggressive and actually look a bit ambivalent toward each other.
Lately, in the late evening when Indy is usually out and Chip is in his cage, I've been feeding them. Indy always comes up to me and desperately tries to get my attention. It's as if she's trying to tell me "Stop that! Stop feeding him! If you stop feeding him, he'll go away!"
Tonight I left Chip's cage door open while Indy was out and I was trying to feed Chip. Again, Indy is trying to get my attention, so keep petting her. Chip was just frantic for food (he's just wants to eat and eat and eat...) so he's focused on that. Eventually, the two kind of see each other and both go nose-to-nose. They aren't licking or biting, or even smelling (their noses really don't twitch while this happens). They just touch noses and that's it. There's no sense of that aggression or attack posturing. I'm trying to be careful since Chip still hasn't been fixed yet - his little hard-wired brain may explode if things aren't exactly right.
Anyway, they've been separate this whole time and will be for a while, but at least they realize each other is here, vying for my attention, and learning to live with each other. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 08:23 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Sibling rivalryEven though they're in separate cages, both Indy and Chip are very aware of each other. Tonight, while Indy was out and Chip was in his cage, Indy walked (hopped) over to Chip's cage. Chip had been eating kale, something Indy didn't seem to like. Well, there was a stalk of kale laying up against the bars of the cage and Indy just stuck her nose inside the cage and pulled the stalk of kale out and started eating it. We're not sure what it means - whether it was just a little show of power, to show Chip who's the boss, or maybe after 7 years she's developed a taste for kale. In any case, it took us by surprise and we laughed our asses off at them.
In the meantime, my sister Diane and Melinda took off this afternoon for Europe. They're flying to Barcelona and hanging out there for a while, and then driving to Nice and finally Milan before coming back a week from now. Diane always goes away for her birthday, never staying home. And I'm jealous because she's the world traveler, going to great places... while Carol and I have had to cut way back because of my prolonged unemployment... we don't leave the midwest... perhaps we'll get back to this again someday...
posted at 08:45 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Friday, August 27, 2004
Bunny update
So far, Indy & Chip have not been back together. Each of the bunnies take their own turns alone being outside their cages. They go nose to nose and check each other out, with Indy trying to like or rub Chip and Chip sometimes allows it or sometimes freaks and lunges.
It's hit or miss.
Other than that, Indy's attitude and character is back to normal. She's not traumatized at all. She runs around the house and acts normal, which we're happy about.
Chip is wonderful. He's been a very good bunny. He's not chewing on a single thing and he just doesn't get into trouble. He seems to be very affectionate to both of us, constantly licking us and coming up to us for attention. I just wish that we could do something about his nails. The quick is all the way up to the tip of the nail so we can't cut them, and they're razor sharp and hurt like hell. We can tell that he's already grown quite a bit, and he still has a ways to go until we can get him neutered and try to reintroduce him to Indy.
Other than the fact they are living separate lives, both of the bunnies are happy and so are we.
posted at 08:47 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
OK, this will be a long-term issue...Did a lot of research on socializing rabbits and introducing a new rabbit to an existing single rabbit. One thing is for sure: We're going to have to wait for Chip to get older so we can get him neutered. Everything that I've read said that this must be done for any success. Makes sense - poor little Chip is hard-wired for certain behaviors, so we'll just have to keep them apart for what may be a couple of months. They're in their own cages, side by side. The can see each other. In fact, they can stick their noses into the other's cage so they can smell, lick, rub and even bite each other. They each have their own "out" time by themselves, so they won't meat each other and fight like they did last Sunday.
We still hopeful.
In the meantime, I'm still getting scratched-up by our little boy Chip. I may have to do something to take those sharp points off his toenails.
posted at 06:19 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Monday, August 16, 2004
Hooky
Carol and I are both exhausted. In fact, Carol called-in to take the day off. We're sleeping at every possible moment. I think the wedding last night just wiped us out.
Back to Bunny Duty, keeping an eye on each of them and only letting one of them out at a time. Chip's toenails are still razor sharp and I have to watch how I handle him. We can tell that he's growing already.
posted at 01:39 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Fur flying devastation
DISASTER. UTTER DISASTER.
We decided to do it this morning - put the two bunnies together for their first meeting.
It looked OK for 15 - 30 seconds as they slowly checked it each other out, then it escalated and escalated and escalated until we had two rabbits in a kicking and biting death brawl on the floor right in front of us. Each of them had grabbed on to each other with their teeth and they were using their large back feet to try to disembowel each other. (Ever see Warner Brothers' Tasmanian Devil? Know that whirling mass on screen that's moving so fast, it's just a blur? THAT was the bunnies.) Carol and I reached in and pulled away a bunny.
It was scary and ugly and much quieter than I thought it would be.
We were devastated. I don't think either of us expected a fight like that. Neither rabbit was bleeding, but both had fur in their mouths and Indy lost a clump of fur from her side (but the fur is so dense it isn't noticeable).
I tried an experiment later on by my self and the two rabbits.
It's Chip, not Indy. Indy looked more inquisitive and Chip was definitely the attacker (neither of them touched each other in my experiment - I stayed with Indy and kept her calm and secure while Chip pranced around with his tail high in the air).
This is going to take time - if at all. I've got a bad feeling that perhaps Chip was a mistake after all. I'm not giving up, We're not giving up. We may have to wait for him to get a bit older so we can get him fixed before this gets attempted full-scale.
I feel terrible.
posted at 11:33 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Friday, August 13, 2004
Bunnies on the 13th
Nothing new to report, except the new guy is pretty damn cute.
Carving out 4 hours to sit in front of the the TV to watch the Opening Ceremonies from Athens tonight.
Also trying to ignore that it's Friday the 13th...
posted at 01:08 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Thursday, August 12, 2004
From Roscoe to Chip
The new bunny got a new name today. I really wanted something that would tie-in to the Wisconsin State Fair in Milwaukee, but absolutely nothing comes to mind that I feel good about. Carol came up with Roscoe and that stuck, but then I accidentally called him Oscar yesterday and all of a sudden the names weren't fitting. We tried Harley for a while (since Harley Davidson is up in Wisconsin), but that just sounded too tough for the little guy. So now, the new name is Chip - as in "chip off the ol' block" since he's a black and white dutch just like Indy.
Well, Indy looks like she's in the next stage - denial. She's not trying to attach Chip at all. She's kind of ignoring him. If she gets close she tries to sniff him and maybe lick him, but that's about it. They're still separated - only one of them are allowed to be out at a time.
posted at 08:08 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Keeping an eye on the new kid
I've spent the day making sure that Indy and Roscoe have had their turns out exercising, but not together.
Indy is still pissed and wants to really get at the little guy, but she's slowly mellowing. I think as time passes she's realizing that we not treating her any differently. I'm feeling more positive that in a few days we'll be able for our first play date.
In the mean time, it's been interesting learning a new bunny. He's pre-wired better than Max or Travis was and he's acting a lot like Indy. He's been slowly exploring the area that he's allowed to roam with me chasing after him and telling him firmly "No" and moving him out of the problem areas.
I've forgotten about one other baby bunny problem - toenails. They're sharp as hell. The nice side to Roscoe is that he allow us to pick him up, hold him, and even flip him over - all things that Indy doesn't allow.
Roscoe has been running around the family room at high speed today, doing that bunny thing where they run so fast that their butts kind of fishtail out.
I'm finding out that he's a little vocal, too, if it's quiet and you listen carefully. It's a few quiet whimpers and a kind of quiet squeak. It's really cool and I hope he doesn't lose it. He's been laying on my shoulder for the past half hour as I've been sitting on the couch typing this.
I REALLY want Roscoe and Indy to get along.
posted at 04:04 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Swimming pigs, cream puffs and bunniesCarol took the day off and we drove up to Milwaukee to go to the Wisconsin State Fair.
We love going to this thing. I would rather go to the Illinois State Fair, but Milwaukee is much closer than Springfield. Our family has been going up there for years. The draw for us has been the animals, the absolutely crappy merchandise being sold in the pavilions and the food food FOOD!!!
The weather isn't the best - cloudy, breezy and temps in the high 60's.
We try to go on a day when the rabbits are being judged so we can see all the breeds. It's always a highlight for us.
We started walking around to get an idea of food choices. Every year there's more and more and more food stands, which of course make the choice even harder. I thought I read somewhere that there are 172 stands here. We got a few ideas and then it was post time for the pig races. Carol hadn't seem them before, and this year they added a swimming pool. Yes, the last race was also a water race as the pigs swam the length of the pool. No, seriously!
So, after the races, we picked-up some Reuben Rolls (like eggrolls, but filled with corned beef, sauerkraut... everything to make a reuben sandwich), potato pancakes, brats, and pierogi's.
Well, we needed to walk that off, so we walked all the way down to the exhibit halls to look at the real bad merchandise for sale. Now, yes, there are a few good products, but how many juicers, mops and pieces of fudge do you really need?
The Milwaukee Admirals had the AHL Calder Cup at their booth. Boy, is it in bad shape!
Well, we got what we were looking for - a pet carrier - and started heading back across the park, stopping for a World Famous creme puff along the way.
Creme puff.... augggllllll.....
Anyway, it was getting darker out and it was getting later into the afternoon, so it was time to go pick-up our purchase and take him home.
read more of this entry »
What? What am I talking about?
Well, yes, I sort of didn't tell you about what took up most of our day.
Well, when we went to go see the rabbits, there was this little house with a pen just outside the entrance. There was at least 50 baby bunnies hopping around and there was a girl that was allowing people to hold the bunnies. These were all rabbits from breeders at the fair. The bunnies were not "show quality", but still cute as all hell.
So we stopped by, and got a baby bunny to hold. Carol had him first and he was really sweet, allowing her to hold him with no problem (not like our Indy who doesn't like being held AT ALL). The Carol gave him to me to hold and he was just really sweet. He didn't struggle at all. He had a number 53 written inside his ear.
That's when we found out that they were selling them for $25. I looked at Carol and she just looked at me and loudly said "Oh, no we're NOT!" I didn't say anything and just held him and petted him some more. We must have been out there for half an hour.
We must have been back 3 more times to find out how to get him home. Carol actually paid for him. We thought we would have to take him home on Sunday, but found out it could be today, and that's when I thought we'd be able to find a pet carrier in the exhibit hall.
So we picked-up our little boy at the end of the day. He was in the carrier on Carol's lap all the way home. He was awake the whole time, but flopped on his side and relaxed as much as possible. When we got home, Carol went to the pet store and got a small temporary cage for him and we put him up right next to Indy.
Indy went from inquisitive to agitated. She went nose to nose with him and bit him. You could tell by the way he was rubbing his nose and upper lip that she really hurt him.
Indy is pissed. It's going to be a lot of work to get these two to live together in harmony.
But the new guy is sooooo cute and sweet.
This will be interesting bunny times in the house...
« hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 08:07 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Bunny lighting
Two Christmases ago, on a whim, I put some rope lighting on Indy's Bunny Condo. She seemed to enjoy it. We did - it allowed us to turn off the lights in the room and we had this night warm light coming from her cage.
Well, a year and a half later, most of the bulbs are burned out in the ropes, so Carol had me replace the rope lights.
It took me all friggin' day.
The new ropes had different sized connectors on them so threading the rope through the cage wire was just a pain. Then I realize - a little late - that the ropes a slightly longer than the old ones.
We used to refer to Indy in her cage as "Hollywood Bunny" being under all those lights. We're now calling her "Fremont Street Bunny" since it's more like being in Downtown Las Vegas.
Silly bunny.
posted at 05:20 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Sunday, April 11, 2004
Easter Bunnies
I am re-posting this entry from last year and the year before.
I know I don't get a lot of traffic here at this Blog, but, please, take a moment to read this and help out this cause.
Carol and I have a pet rabbit named Indy (She has her own WebCam over on the Right-hand side of the page, if you want to visit). We love Indy, and have loved the rabbits that have been part of our life over the past 20 years.
Every year, at Easter time, people think about buying a rabbit for their kids. Bunnies really are great, but they have special needs and care and are not like dogs & cats. There are many rabbits that are abandoned each year after Easter when the kids lose interest or when they become a burden to the owners.
If you have a website, please visit the House Rabbit Society's Easter Page and get a banner to put on your page until after Easter (April 11 for those that don't know) to help raise awareness of the problem (I've got mine over on the left side as well). There are also PDF's to print up and post in your cubicle of wherever if you'd like to do that to help spread the word (as well as a damn sad poem that just just rips at our heartstrings).
Indy thanks you and Carol & I thank you.
posted at 10:50 AM | Link | Bunnies | 1 comment § |
Friday, March 12, 2004
Let's chase a bunny!
Oh, oh... Indy is out and about in the house...
I'm bored...
... let's chase a bunny!
posted at 12:44 PM | Link | Bunnies | 1 comment § |
Monday, December 29, 2003
Visitor
I've been working on my computer for so long that Indy decided to come upstairs to see what I was up to. I think she's looking for some attention...
posted at 07:49 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Monday, December 01, 2003
Welcome, Yuebing!
I can't tell you how bad I felt when I heard Oolong the Japanese bunny had died (yes I can - I blogged about it). The guy that owned Oolong (owned? you don't "own" a bunny - they're more like your companion) just had such a sweet outlook and photographed him constantly, even in death (I still tear-up when I see those damn photos).
Word now comes from Japan that Oolong's successor has arrived! Welcome Yuebing, a female gray Netherland dwarf bunny born on October 10. She's already filling Oolong's shoes (like Oolong had shoes...). Go check her out!!!
posted at 08:44 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Thursday, September 04, 2003
Sunning Bunny
I couldn't find Indy again this afternoon. I found her upstairs in the bedroom again. This time she was laying all stretched out in the sun with her nose in the air sniffing the breeze coming in the open window. It was pretty cute and something she's never done. But then again, she's been doing some really odd things lately.
posted at 03:11 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Wednesday, September 03, 2003
Stealth Bunny
You can hear a dog walking around a house.
You may not hear a cat walking around the house unless they meow or purr loudly.
You just can't hear a rabbit roaming around a house.
Indy was just upstairs with me, checking out if I was still here and if there was anything new in the bedroom. There wasn't, but the window was open so there was a nice breeze so she had to stop and stand in the sun, smelling the outside air.
I can't tell you how special a house rabbit is. Let's face it - they're not as smart as dogs or cats. They rarely listen to their humans, and if they don't know you, they may not interact much. But they're sweet and loving and Carol and I have loved our bunnies. Indy is great to have around.
I don't have anything to really say here. It's just that she came upstairs for a visit and she looked too damn cute, so I had to write about it.
posted at 04:25 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Thursday, May 01, 2003
Oh, man... wireless + bunny = goodFor once, a bunny entry that is not about our own Indy. I snagged this link from Boing Boing about a bunny that was rescued from a car park that had a taste for CAT-5 cables, printer cables, audio cables, power cables, mouse cables...
posted at 02:33 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Sunday, April 20, 2003
Easter Bunnies
I am re-posting this entry from last year.
I know I don't get a lot of traffic here at this Blog, but, please, take a moment to read this and help out this cause.
Carol and I have a pet rabbit named Indy (She has her own WebCam over on the Right-hand side of the page, if you want to visit). We love Indy, and have loved the rabbits that have been part of our life over the past 20 years.
Every year, at Easter time, people think about buying a rabbit for their kids. Bunnies really are great, but they have special needs and care and are not like dogs & cats. There are many rabbits that are abandoned each year after Easter when the kids lose interest or when they become a burden to the owners.
If you have a website, please visit the House Rabbit Society's Easter Page and get a banner to put on your page until after Easter (April 20 for those that don't know) to help raise awareness of the problem (I've got mine over on the left side as well). There are also PDF's to print up and post in your cubicle of wherever if you'd like to do that to help spread the word (as well as a damn sad poem that just just rips at our heartstrings).
Indy thanks you and Carol & I thank you.
posted at 07:59 AM | Link | Bunnies | 1 comment § |
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
Pygmy rabbitsApparently, Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits that live in Washington state are rapidly approaching extinction. There's probably only a dozen left in the wild, and now they've been added to the Federal list of endangered species. Nuts. I don't like hearing about bunnies going away. But, then again, I'm a sap for bunnies. I can't help it. When you live with one, you sort of get attached to the species.
posted at 10:27 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Sunday, February 09, 2003
Three little tugs...I'm sound asleep when I feel three gentle little tugs on my comforter. I rolled over, didn't see anybody in the bedroom, but I looked over the edge of the bed - there was Indy looking up at me! She had been out and about this morning while Carol was downstairs doing laundry. Indy obviously came upstairs to play and didn't expect to see me in bed. It was a very cute moment and a nice way to wake up.
posted at 08:13 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Thursday, January 30, 2003
R.I.P. Oolong
I'm at my desk at home sobbing my eyes out. I mean, really crying. Why? Oh, this is so silly... you see, I just found out Oolong passed away on January 7th. Who was Oolong? I never met Oolong. Oolong lived in Japan with a wonderful keeper, who had a great eye for photography, and a heart for humor. Oolong was his bunny. Oolong did things that I never knew bunnies did - like romp around outside in the snow and balance things on their head like dolls, flowers, fruit, or pancakes. Damn it, this is killing me... he looked like a wonderful bunny. It isn't known what he died from. He had been fine and then turned bad in just a few hours. I can't tell you how much the photography of Oolong touched my very soul. I had to rush downstairs and hold Indy for a while... Crap, I'm a mess...
Please visit Oolong's website. It's mostly in Japanese, but there's English translations if you hover over the photos. Make sure you view as many photos as possible to get a feel for the style of photography and the relationship he had with his bunny.
I am a weepy mess...
posted at 10:41 PM | Link | Bunnies | 2 comments § |
Wednesday, December 25, 2002
Indy's view of the season...posted at 09:51 PM | Link | Odd § |
Thursday, December 19, 2002
Healthy BunnyWell, Carol is home with Indy. Indy bounded out of her carrier, made a beeline for her condo - which she found locked - and then spent quite a while in her clubhouse of boxes. She's fine. The vet can't find a thing wrong with her, though the blood work is still pending. She got x-rayed, got her teeth checked, and nothing looks wrong. Great. To me, that means that, somehow, right around Thanksgiving, she went crazy. At least she's home, and I feel better.
posted at 08:08 PM | Link | Mundane | 1 comment § |
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
Hay!
So, I get home from work tonight, Carol is making dinner, and Indy is out running around. "Our bunners" is just having a grand time running around, shaking her head, and jumping up in the air. What she doesn't know, yet, is that she's going to the vet tomorrow. She's still not eating everything she should be, and she's just too "wired". It's best to just get her put up on the rack, rotate the tires, check the fluids, and make sure she's OK anyway. One of the things we noticed is that she stopped eating her hay, which isn't a good thing. I look down at her on the floor, and there she is, parked next to her basket of hay that we leave out for her, just having a nice chew on some fresh hay. Great. She'll eat hay when she's outside her Bunny Condo, but not when she's "home". We'll have to see what happens tomorrow.
posted at 06:05 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Monday, December 16, 2002
Skinny Bunny
Indy is still not herself. She's lost weight - which, in the grand scheme of things, is not necessarily bad, as she was just a little bit pudgy. Ever since Thanksgiving, she's been... "different". She's been chewing everything in sight, but she's not eating. She's franticly wanting "lovin's" from her Dad (me). She wants to be petted, but then she wants to lick. A lot. She's just starting to eat her lettuce, and today she started eating her "chow" (It's not really "chow", but Kaytee Exact Rainbow for Rabbits). She's not eating any hay, though, and that's not good. She's still got energy, though, and this past week she's been "flopping" on the floor, a signal that she's content. We may have to get her to the vet pretty quick.
Update: Appointment with the vet Wednesday at 4:00pm Thursday at 6:00pm.
posted at 07:41 PM | Link | Bunnies | 1 comment § |
Tuesday, December 03, 2002
Duplo the bunnyThat's it... Indy is nuts. Ever since Thanksgiving, it's like she's in her Terrible Two's. To save out walls, I went to Toys-R-Us and bought a couple of buckets of Duplo blocks and built some small walls to block her off from the real walls. I didn't buy enough buckets, but I think this will work...
posted at 05:40 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Me Groggy, Indy FuzzyI woke up at 10:00, trying to figure out why I was still sleeping. Ever have one of those? Checked on Indy and she seems no worse for the wear. She's not eating much. She's laying around in her meatloaf pose, so she seems content. She's not asking to come out of her cage, so I'm wondering if she feels OK. It's snowing again outside - lake effect. (It's cool - The flakes are really big and you can see it on my live WeatherCam.) Going to be cold tonight - single digit temperatures.
posted at 12:00 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Monday, December 02, 2002
Mixed-up BunnyIndy is driving us nuts. Ever since Thanksgiving, she's been acting different. She's been trying to eat the walls. We've been chasing her around, trying to get her to stop, and we just can't get her to stop, let alone associate our yelling and screaming with her chewing on the walls.
Well, tonight we all got scared. I chased her around still again after catching her chewing. When she got into her bunny condo, that's when I saw it - blood. Blood all over the lambskin we have on her second floor of her condo. Something ripped up her right rear foot. She's not in pain at all. In fact, she's totally oblivious to it. I grabbed her and Carol and I worked on her foot to clean it up and try to stop the bleeding, which we did. She's going to confined to her cage for a while. Damn bunny.
posted at 09:05 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Wednesday, October 09, 2002
BAD, INDY! BAD!
BAD, INDY! BAD!
We've loved every bunny we have ever had. They make great pets, and great companions - once you realize that rabbits are not like dogs, not like cats... rabbits are like rabbits. They are not easy to communicate with. In fact, there's an entire website setup just to try to understand what they are saying through their body language.
But, what do you do when, out of the blue, your lovely pet rabbit decides that she doesn't like your carpeting and decides to tear it apart, hoping that her parents will get new carpeting?
I mean, look, after 18 years we need new carpeting. But, after being unemployed for so long, I've got no chance of replacing it. So, when we have guests over, I guess I'll have to cover the hole somehow...
posted at 09:26 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Saturday, September 14, 2002
*THUMP*
I got woken up by a large sound that seems to be coming from underneath the bed. When I abruptly sat up, Indy popped out from under the bed. It was after 8am, and Carol was downstairs cleaning Indy's cage. She must have lost track of Indy, because she decided to venture out into "BunnyLand" and came upstairs for a visit. I didn't sleep all that well - the skunk's odor didn't dissipate until after 2am.
Well, I got the car washed at Turtle Wax in anticipation of our little trip. Every year, since 1994, we've gone to Las Vegas either at this time of year, or in Spring, or sometime both. This year, with my unemployment situation being as bad as it is, there's no way we could go. Instead, we're doing a driving trip. We're going with Barry & Buffy up to my sister's house in Michigan, then driving over to Dearborn, Michigan to visit Greenfield Village on Monday and the Henry Ford Museum on Tuesday, then driving back to my sisters' and spending at least a day there, before driving home. Much much cheaper. We had to do Greenfield Village on Monday, since it is closing until June of 2003 for some underground restoration project.
Don't know how often I'll be able to Blog from the road - we'll have to see how this works out. We all need to get away for a while, though.
posted at 09:37 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Friday, September 06, 2002
Confused dog
Trying to watch the White Sox game tonight. Gracie and Indy are checking each other out - both of them really want to play with each other, not realizing how bad of an idea that really is. Gracie actually has been a good dog this week. Indy has only been out about 2 hours this week, so she's a little frantic. Tomorrow, Carol and I drop off Gracie at my parents' house on the way to the White Sox - Indians game. Diane will finally be back from her road trip out west on Monday, and she'll pick up Chelsea and Gracie when back in town. (Diane should be at Jackson Lake Lodge in the Grand Teton National Park tonight, if she's still on schedule.)
posted at 09:24 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Friday, July 26, 2002
Meatloafing
Indy was looking cute again this afternoon. I had to post another pic. She's being a brat, though, and will be spending a bit more time in her condo tonight.
posted at 05:50 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Monday, July 22, 2002
Cute bunnyposted at 07:56 PM | Link | Bunnies | 1 comment § |
Tuesday, June 25, 2002
Destructive bunnies, cool chimneys and road construction
I came downstairs this morning to an odd little "surprise". Our bunny Indy has been hanging around Carol's slippers lately. Well, apparently Indy has taken to a real liking of the slippers - she's chewed passed the terrycloth covering into the foam rubber. I'm sure carol is not too happy about this. Indy has been acting up lately. It's weird. Actually, she's weird. She's been very demanding of my time lately. She wants her "lovin's" - which is just a very long session of petting. Maybe all of her Live BunnyCam time is too much pressure for her.
Drove back to Galyan's at Streets of Woodfield this afternoon. We're going over to Barry & Buffy's on Saturday after the Sox-Cubs game for a little grilled... something (don't know what yet). Barry needs a new charcoal chimney and I saw them at Galyan's last week, so I picked up one for him and one for me, too. At $10.99 I thought they were a good buy.
The Higgins Road reconstruction is progressing. Last Tuesday they laid new concrete. I guess they're letting it cure before they do anything else. The thing that's bothering me is the installation of temporary traffic signals along Golf Road. According to the Hoffman Estates website, a PDF brochure about the construction says the Gold Road construction isn't until 2003. If that's the case, I'm not understanding the traffic lights.
posted at 03:09 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Friday, March 29, 2002
Good Friday and bunniesGood Friday. A perfect day for reflection. A slow, quiet, sleepy day. No Radiation Therapy Chauffeur™ duty. Worked a little on Indy's cage & Webcam. Hopefully everything will run fine on Sunday - Indy always gets hits from people wanting to see a live bunny webcam (or BunnyCam) on Easter, believe it or not. She even gets ! (There's a thumbnail image on the left side of this page that links to a a full size image, as well as a link to a live Java Push applet display that will show streaming video as fast as I can push it).
Now, as I talked about three weeks ago, if you do wind-up watching Indy and start thinking about how cool it would be to buy a rabbit for Easter, PLEASE go to the House Rabbit Society's Easter Page first before potentially making a mistake.
posted at 09:15 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Friday, March 22, 2002
Indy Likes Money
Note to self: Check pants pockets before washing... so that when they come out of the dryer, money doesn't haphazardly fall to the floor unnoticed, where Indy will think it's hers and eat it...
posted at 09:15 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Saturday, March 09, 2002
Easter Bunnies
I know I don't get a lot of traffic here at this Blog, but, please, take a moment to read this and help out this cause.
Carol and I have a pet rabbit named Indy (She has her own WebCam over on the Left-hand side of the page, if you want to visit). We love Indy, and have loved the rabbits that have been part of our life over the past 20 years.
Every year, at Easter time, people think about buying a rabbit for their kids. Bunnies really are great, but they have special needs and care and are not like dogs & cats. There are many rabbits that are abandoned each year after Easter when the kids lose interest or when they become a burden to the owners.
If you have a website, please visit the House Rabbit Society's Easter Page and get a banner to put on your page until after Easter (March 31 for those that don't know) to help raise awareness of the problem (I've got mine over on the left side as well). There are also PDF's to print up and post in your cublicle of wherever if you'd like to do that to help spread the word (as well as a damn sad poem that just just rips at our heartstrings).
Indy thanks you and Carol & I thank you.
posted at 10:36 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Monday, March 04, 2002
A Man of Constant SorrowOK, it's damn cold... it was -6° this morning. It was just 61° on the 24th. This is nuts. Everything outside is frozen solid. The sun is out almost all day, and it slowly warms up. The neighborhood streets still suck - they never really got "clean". Then I look out the window tonight and it's snowing again - everything is covered. Again.
Had a chance to just watch some TV tonight with Carol and Indy. We watched O Brother, Where Art Thou? on Starz!. What a hoot! Great movie, great performance by George Clooney. Apparently, Indy (our bunny) didn't enjoy it as much. She doesn't like music, especially vocals with harmonies. She took off early to spend the rest of the time in her bunny condo, ignoring the movie and napping.
posted at 09:29 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Tuesday, February 19, 2002
Marshmallow Bunny Survival TestWell, it's getting to be Easter Time again... time to see how those marshmallow bunnies make it through Bunny Survival Tests. Of course, The Bunnies Strike Back so it's time to test those Evil Peeps.
posted at 09:02 PM | Link | Odd § |
Sunday, January 27, 2002
Family dinnerThe high temperature today - 59° . In January. In Chicago. Ooooooo... Mother Nature is messin' with us...
So, went to my parents for dinner with Diane and the dogs. Guess I'm taking my parents back to Loyola Medical Center on Wednesday. Dad's going to have some kind of CT assisted biopsy - I think they use the CT for correct positioning of the needle to extract the correct tissue for sampling. Brought a CD over for Diane that I had burned of all of the family pictures that I've been scanning out of Mom's archives. Still have that problem with those satin-finish photos... produces a series of dots for each ridge on the image... I wish I knew how to get them cleaned up...
Came home and found out that our little bunners Indy had chewed a hole in our carpet in the family room about the size of a silver dollar. That little brat! Now I have a hole of just carpet backing - no nap. Great. We REALLY needed new carpeting, and we would have done it - if I was still employed. Like so many other things, we've had to put off some of the things we wanted to do...
posted at 10:15 PM | Link | Mundane § |
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