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How many animals do you currently have?
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Sep 2, 2012 22:42
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| # ? May 29, 2024 22:26 |
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So to make a long story short, a former tenant in my apt sliced my.network cable with an exacto knife then burried it in the baseboard. I never knew this until Harriet dug up said cable and disconnected my internet. (Too straight and clean of a cut to be natural). Now this leads to three theories on why she retrieved the cable. My friend assumes she was just being a standard silly bun and dug it up for bunny giggles. My Roomie thinks she's an evil bun who did it to disrupt my net so I'd spend more time worshipping her. Me? I think she realized the cable was an electrical fire time bomb and heroically risked electrocution to save me. What do you think?
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Sep 3, 2012 00:50
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luscious posted:How many animals do you currently have? 6 rats and 1 rabbit. Also our dog but he stays in one spot and hasn't scared her before. e: Also my boyfriend's turtles and fish.
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Sep 3, 2012 02:11
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My bun is getting old, and seems to be showing signs of it fast lately. He's got arthritis is one of this legs so he doesn't want to move around as much and doens't seem to want to spend the effort to get into his litterbox. He pees everywhere, and often while he's laying down. It's not an overall solution but does anyone have any ideas for something more like a large tray that I can put a plastic bag over and some litter on top, so maybe he'll be more inclined to use that? Something that doesn't require him to jump to get in and is maybe larger than a regular sized litter box so he could lay down if he wanted. It sucks, it seems like he's going downhill kind of quickly and I'm worried that despite my best efforts, he'll get pee burns and infections from that, but I guess it's stuff to deal with when your pet is older
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Sep 6, 2012 13:54
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Levitate posted:My bun is getting old, and seems to be showing signs of it fast lately. He's got arthritis is one of this legs so he doesn't want to move around as much and doens't seem to want to spend the effort to get into his litterbox. He pees everywhere, and often while he's laying down. Alucinor (I think) has previously suggested making a litterbox out of a large rubbermaid container with an opening cut all the way down to the bottom so it's easy to get in and out.
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Sep 6, 2012 14:02
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At what age do Rabbits start developing arthritis? We have two 10 year old buns (a mini-lop and a dwarf) who don't seem to be showing any signs yet - but then again, I may not be observing the right signs to detect arthritis... Also, is there anything one can do to help reduce arthritis in rabbits?
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Sep 6, 2012 15:00
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he's probably around 10. It seemed to come on suddenly, it wasn't a problem until recently when we noticed he was favoring his left leg. We took him to the vet and they did x-rays and said he has arthritis in his left knee and a bit of a degenerative condition in his back, which I guess isn't uncommon either. Vet gave us some stuff that's basically glucosamine and said some people think it helps. I guess if it got bad then you could get painkillers as well.
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Sep 6, 2012 15:31
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pseudonordic posted:Alucinor (I think) has previously suggested making a litterbox out of a large rubbermaid container with an opening cut all the way down to the bottom so it's easy to get in and out. This. You can even cut down the side of a regular cheap cat litterbox if that's what your bun is used to. It's amazing what a little difference like this can make. I've got a 12 year old who has been a disgusting slob about pooping outside of her box recently. I cut her door down by an additional inch (5" high wall to 4") and for the last week her habits have been perfect. I feel like an idiot for not cutting it down a month ago when she started this. Guigui posted:At what age do Rabbits start developing arthritis? We have two 10 year old buns (a mini-lop and a dwarf) who don't seem to be showing any signs yet - but then again, I may not be observing the right signs to detect arthritis... It depends on the individual's genetic predisposition and early history. I've got one who developed it quite bad by about 7 years old. He was fat and never got any out-of-cage exercise before I got him; both of those are contributing factors to development of arthritis. But I've got several 10-12 year olds who are just barely developing it, and a 13 year old who shows no signs at all. The most common sign I see is failure to use the litterbox for pooping. Interestingly, I find that they usually still REALLY try to pee in their boxes. The second sign I see most is changes in gait, posture, or speed during exercise and while getting up from resting. Lots more info here: http://www.rabbit.org/care/elderbun.html I've used both glucosamine and metacam for arthritis buns. Metacam can be tough on their tummy so glucosamine might be better, depending on what your vet recommends and how your bun response to each medication.
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Sep 6, 2012 17:50
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If my 9-10 year old rabbit is still using their litter box like when he was 6, but is way way way more lethargic lately, is that just oldness then or arthritis? Whenever we are home and not asleep (~14+ hours a day) he is goven free reign to roam the living room however, he is tending to spend almost all of his time sitting inside his house instead of going to what used to be his favorite spot under a chair. He's eating normally and using his litterbox normally so we have just been monitoring it.
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Sep 6, 2012 18:38
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Hawkeye posted:If my 9-10 year old rabbit is still using their litter box like when he was 6, but is way way way more lethargic lately, is that just oldness then or arthritis? Only way to confirm arthritis is to have a vet exam him. But yeah, that behavior is similar to what some of my guys exhibited before being diagnosed.
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Sep 6, 2012 20:58
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Hawkeye posted:If my 9-10 year old rabbit is still using their litter box like when he was 6, but is way way way more lethargic lately, is that just oldness then or arthritis? Honestly, I don't believe any animals really slow down just because they are older. There's a reason--arthritis, an illness that came on or worsened as they got older, sometimes vision loss makes an animal less active, etc. Age itself is not a disease--it just predisposes animals (and people) to a lot of new problems. I've seen incredibly old animals that looked younger because they didn't have any of the classic old age diseases, and animals that look much older than they are because they had these problems earlier. Any time a pet has significant behavioral, appetite, or energy changes, it's worth consulting a vet to find out why.
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Sep 7, 2012 03:39
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So I got diagnosed with skin cancer this week. I will need radiation treatment and possibly chemotherapy. How long should I avoid my bun after to keep her from getting sick after treatment?
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Sep 7, 2012 20:29
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bunnyofdoom posted:So I got diagnosed with skin cancer this week. I will need radiation treatment and possibly chemotherapy. How long should I avoid my bun after to keep her from getting sick after treatment? While the chemo shouldn't be a problem you should ask the doctors about the radiation. They might not know for rabbits but for sure can ballpark it of how long you should avoid babies. Good Luck!
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Sep 7, 2012 21:54
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Pepper is utterly phobic of slick surfaces. We put a rug out TOS she can hop out of her room. She'll hop to the end of it, and that's it. I forgot one time after a nail trim and let her down on the linoleum. She freaked out and started moving all four limbs as fast and as hard as she could. Naturally, she was only able to slowly swim back to carpet. bunnyofdoom posted:So I got diagnosed with skin cancer this week. I will need radiation treatment and possibly chemotherapy. How long should I avoid my bun after to keep her from getting sick after treatment? Dang man, I don't know, but good luck to you.
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Sep 7, 2012 23:24
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Does anyone know what kind of wood Ikea uses for its furniture (like, stools and the like)? I just realized I have one in my room that my bunnies like to gnaw on occasion and that it might not be the best idea. Googling for Ikea's wood does not result in anything useful (or my google-fu blows).
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Sep 9, 2012 00:53
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I think most of it particle board?
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Sep 9, 2012 01:13
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If it's not particle board, most likely it's pine. The chairs I have are pine. I wouldn't worry about it unless they're eating a ton of it, or it's all painted. Eventually it'll structurally fail though...
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Sep 9, 2012 06:26
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If the item is still being sold by IKEA, find its product page on their website and it should list the exact materials. I think I'd be a little concerned if the item is particle board, because a lot of particle board is made with formaldehyde. But for, like, stool legs and such, most IKEA stuff is solid birch or solid pine.
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Sep 9, 2012 08:48
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So I have a situation here and I'll consider some fellow rabbit owner's advice: Annie passed away this morning. I knew she was going to, she hadn't eaten since the morning before and because of many life issues, I knew I didn't have any money for the vet. She died from GI stasis, what made her stop eating, I don't know. The last time she had stasis it cost me $1800. I didn't want to give up on her, hence why I didn't just get her euthanized. The dilemma is what to do with Ben. Annie was probably 7 or 8, Ben is at best 1 year younger (rescue rabbits, hard to know). I don't want to get him another buddy, but I don't want him to be lonely. Ben has always been the antisocial one. Annie was for me, and Ben was for Annie. I can keep him, and feed him well and everything like that, but I can't go through another 24 hours where I feel like a horrible person for weighing financial security vs. my bunny's life. The other option is that I can give him back to the place I adopted him from 5 years ago (saveabunny). But the chances of a bunny as anti-social, paranoid and old as he is, getting adopted is going to be pretty slim. Some part of me likes the idea of being done with bunnies. Having that section of my living room free, no more hay dust and fluff everywhere. No having to setup people to care for them while I'm away, etc. But I've also grown really accustomed to them. I love having cute little rabbits hanging around, they make the house feel more vibrant and alive. Maybe I can even work with Ben more on being more social, since I'm all he has now? To make things more complicated, I'm going away for 2 weeks in a week and a half. Am I a bad person for wanting to keep my bunny, even if I can't pay for the emergency medical bills that may or may not save him? Annie was definitely my favorite, just due to her personality, but I still love Ben, and I think life would just be really lonely without him. Here's one of my favorite pictures of Annie:  And here they are snuggling the first day I brought Ben home: 
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Sep 10, 2012 04:33
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I'm sorry for your loss. Personally I would recommend you give him back to saveabunny. There's always elderly buns coming back to rescue, so it's likely that they need a friend for one of them, and it sounds like he'd work perfectly in that capacity. Most rescues I know have a few elderly or less-friendly sanctuary bunnies that we keep around for exactly that purpose.
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Sep 10, 2012 14:53
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It's a loving disgrace though. I've got one who's threatening to go into stasis on a regular basis and vet trips cost me around 35 euros including meds. Not with a dozen surgeries included could I run up a $1800 bill. The differences in vet bills always astound me. Especially in what really was a life or death situation. There was probably also a quality of life consideration involved as well that you as the owner would know best. But if you can't afford the care, Ben would probably be better off back at saveabunny. There's no guarantee he'll stay healthy all the time.
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Sep 10, 2012 22:41
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Deceptor101 posted:So I have a situation here and I'll consider some fellow rabbit owner's advice: I'm sorry you had to be put in this situation, there was no right choice to be made. 
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Sep 10, 2012 23:10
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I can't believe your vet bills are so cheap. I need a vet who's a friend and can help me out! I haven't heard from the shelter yet about Ben, but I put him on my lap last night and pet him for a while. He was a bit jumpy, but didn't squirm or try to escape. Generally when I put him down, he runs into the cage. This time, he actually walked after me a bit, almost to say, "don't leave me." I feel so bad for the guy, they always seemed to be so close. I'll spend lots more time with him tonight. If I do give him back to the rescue, would it be better to do it in a while? He's not going to be bonding with anyone else soon, and I don't want him to feel like he just lost his entire world in a couple days.
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Sep 11, 2012 02:16
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Deceptor101 posted:If I do give him back to the rescue, would it be better to do it in a while? He's not going to be bonding with anyone else soon, and I don't want him to feel like he just lost his entire world in a couple days. Poor guy. I wouldn't wait. It might actually be easier for him to deal with one big life change than with two big ones sequentially.
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Sep 11, 2012 13:41
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I just had a scare this weekend. My two-year-old lop girl decided on Sunday she didn't want to eat. As she didn't show any other Bad Signs, I (well, my vet mom) figured it could wait till morning - she'd pooped a bit and she wasn't tense, and her stomach felt normal. She even ate when I hand-fed her water and bunny mush. I slept for like five hours and woke up to the sound of my girl happily munching hay, and now she's been her normal self. Turns out she was just tired and cranky. $1800 for a vet bill sounds absolutely terrible. Is your vet ripping you off or do you live in the boonies? Here 1600€ would mean like major major surgery on a Sunday night and even then you might not run that high with a rabbit. Anyway, I'm sorry for your loss. On a lighter note, what are your rabbits' favourite toys? Mine don't care for the expensive bell balls I get them, and they eat every single woven tunnel I can find... Their favourite games are exploring the room and running around with newspaper/magazine strips in their mouths.
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Sep 11, 2012 20:09
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It wasn't $1800 all at once. I think it was ~$700 for the first day, with the blockage removal and all that, and then the subsequent life support for 3 days, taking her from the night vet to the day vet back and forth. On the third day's morning it was still unsure if her kidneys were going to start back up, thankfully they did. Don't tell me how cheap it probably have been this time, god knows I have enough "what ifs" already running through my head . Ben has never been big on toys, and Annie stopped playing with toys once Ben came around, but if I don't hear from the shelter I'm definitely going to be getting some. He's responding really well to all the attention I've been giving him, which of course is making me more attached .
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Sep 11, 2012 21:02
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I just lost my rabbit today. He wasn't eating as much so we took him to the vet, who said he had teeth spurs and needed those filed. So we did that and took him home and kept an eye on him. He was eating little bits and it was hard to tell if he was just recovering from the teeth filing, but it became evident he wasn't eating enough so we took him back in. The vet gave us critical care and we started feeding him, but I think he was too weak at that point combined with a persistent nasal infection that he's had for a long time (it's been treated multiple times with different antibiotics but none of them have helped it) and I think overall it might have just been too much on him as a relatively older rabbit. At least I worked from home today. It's hard not to think that I could have done something; I should have taken him to the vet earlier, should have done a better job giving him critical care, should have done something. Hard not to feel responsible, maybe I am
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Sep 11, 2012 23:47
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RazorBunny posted:If the item is still being sold by IKEA, find its product page on their website and it should list the exact materials. I think I'd be a little concerned if the item is particle board, because a lot of particle board is made with formaldehyde. But for, like, stool legs and such, most IKEA stuff is solid birch or solid pine. Looks like solid wood, and it's unpainted so the only downside is I end up with chewed off wood scattered on the floor. Glad to know it won't hurt them, then. I guess I'll just let them carry on -- I don't really use the stool for anything except putting things on occasionally so it doesn't matter that it'll end up falling apart.
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Sep 12, 2012 04:16
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Condolences to everyone who has lost their bun in the last few days
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Sep 12, 2012 07:18
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Thanks, I feel awful about Annie, but at least her part is over. Ben's is just beginning, and save a bunny hasn't called me back yet. It's a lot of cage for one bun.  I put some of their old toys back in there, and I'll get some more today. We'll see what he goes for. Although, now I know it was Annie ignoring the litter boxes. Ben has been perfect. (yes I know it's a lot of litter boxes, that's where they like to pee....)
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Sep 12, 2012 17:03
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Bitsy was really social before I got Paterson and I often wonder what Paterson would be like without Bitsy. She's the dominant one so I know that she really holds him back a lot. Maybe try to keep Ben for a little while and see if he comes out of his shell a bit? You never know, it could be rewarding for both of you  btw, Bitsy is bad with litterboxes but Paterson is great. He is also really anti-social and can't stand even being looked at.
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Sep 12, 2012 17:26
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Arctic Bunny posted:On a lighter note, what are your rabbits' favourite toys? Mine don't care for the expensive bell balls I get them, and they eat every single woven tunnel I can find... Their favourite games are exploring the room and running around with newspaper/magazine strips in their mouths. I'll let you know when I find out. Pepper doesn't give a poo poo about toys unless I hide food in them, in which case they might be mildly interesting. She has enough toys to start a Buns R Us.
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Sep 15, 2012 14:34
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My new pajamas have Billy's seal of approval.
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Sep 15, 2012 23:45
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Just a reminder that we're in flystrike season in the US still - caught some fly eggs around the tails of my two lionheads, and got them combed out just in time. (No lesions, no skin irritation, looks like the eggs were literally laid a small number of hours ago.) Spraying window screens with a diluted solution of neem oil will help keep the bugs away, but if your bunnies are exposed to outside air even through a window, check them CLOSELY at least once a day.
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Sep 16, 2012 00:21
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PopeCrunch posted:Just a reminder that we're in flystrike season in the US still - caught some fly eggs around the tails of my two lionheads, and got them combed out just in time. (No lesions, no skin irritation, looks like the eggs were literally laid a small number of hours ago.) Spraying window screens with a diluted solution of neem oil will help keep the bugs away, but if your bunnies are exposed to outside air even through a window, check them CLOSELY at least once a day. Holy poo poo, thanks for the heads up. Had no idea this was even an issue!  e: VVV Once you typed the word "flystrike" and hit post, the die was cast. BonerGhost fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Sep 16, 2012 |
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Sep 16, 2012 07:51
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NancyPants posted:Holy poo poo, thanks for the heads up. Had no idea this was even an issue! It's one of the more horrifying things that can happen to an animal. Just call it good at 'flystrike is Very Bad' and for the love of god, don't google it.
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Sep 16, 2012 09:00
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DS at Night posted:My new pajamas have Billy's seal of approval. That bun is ridiculously cute 
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Sep 16, 2012 18:40
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Is there a particular reason rabbits chew on certain things and not others? My dwarf is really not much of a chewer, just cardboard and the occasional nibble of paper, but for some reason he is obsessed with one of my housemates' shoes. Nobody else's shoes. Just hers. I'm working on disrupting it, but if there's some nugget of bunny knowledge about why/how they pick certain objects to chew on, it would help. He chews on things that are in his way, like if I move something into one of his favored paths around he'll chew and dig the crap out of it until it's moved, but he literally drags her shoes across the room for the express purpose of chewing on them under the coffee table. 
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Sep 16, 2012 21:38
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I'm feeling cautiously hopeful for my bunny situation. It's been a while since I mentioned it in this thread but my dad's allergy problems has led to him temporarily staying with someone else for the last month. I've moved the bunnies from the living room to my bedroom and kept a air purifier next to their pen to cut down on any dander or hay allergens. Also, a ton of work cleaning the heck out of everything. He visited for a few hours earlier today and seemed fine, so with any luck this will do enough to avoid my biggest fear of trying to find them a new home. I've been steadily stressed about it, and absolutely exhausted of family/friends/coworkers unending suggestions to just stick them outside.
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Sep 17, 2012 00:16
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| # ? May 29, 2024 22:26 |
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How exactly does one check for fly strike? I might just start checking Pepper's tail and brushing it if I see anything weird. I never even thought of brushing bunny tail. The fur's so short.
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Sep 17, 2012 01:21
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