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She's probably sticking her rear end over the edge of the box - their pee stream goes backwards rather than straight down and depending on how they prefer to angle themselves it can easily go up and over. Most litterboxes' sides are too short to contain rabbit rear end. Get a rubbermaid container and cut it down so it has an entrance and fits where you want it to fit, but make sure the corners are still about 6" high.
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Aug 6, 2012 14:27
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angelicism posted:So my buns are getting worse about using the litter box. What sizes are the boxes, and how tall are they? Five isn't elderly yet, but in general as buns get older, they tend to get arthritic, which means they get lazier. They don't want to climb over tall walls or crowd into too-small boxes with their partner, if they can just poo poo where they stand. I typically end up having to migrate older rabbit pairs to large rubbermaid containers with a door cut in the side. The high sides prevents peeing over the edge; the low door makes it easier for them to get in and out while still containing most of the mess, and the larger footprint makes it easier for both rabbits to get in together without crowding. I also find that they get lazier about pooping while eating as they age, so I also have to make sure that all food (hay, pellets, AND veggies) are delivered right into the litterbox. In some cases this requires two litterboxes side by side - I have a couple larger pairs who can reach their hay manger while standing outside the box and will sit and poop outside while doing so, unless the second box is blocking them.
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Aug 9, 2012 15:33
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pseudonordic posted:Good luck with the move. One of my rabbit vet buddies just moved down that way. She may be willing to do low cost rabbit S/N. PM me if you want a hookup.
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Aug 31, 2012 19:54
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Bear Rape posted:That's what I assumed, thanks for confirming. Where in SC are you? Petfinder shows quite a few near Columbia. CharMeck animal control is a bit of a drive but they take great care of their bunnies and s/n them before adoption. Cullen's Archangel Rescue is in Columbia and has a ton of rabbits, but I don't know anything about them or whether they even vet their rabbits. I do know one person who fostered for them and she found out after taking her in that the rabbit had snuffles.
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Sep 2, 2012 17:00
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I wonder what other rabbit rescues are in this area?
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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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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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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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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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Drei posted:My boyfriend and I have been talking about getting a pet for a while now and since our landlord won't allow cats or dogs we've been thinking a bunny or two might suit us. If you get a rabbit as a substitute for a cat or dog, you're gonna be disappointed. They are nothing alike. They tend to be looking at rather than playing with type pets. You may very well end up with an animal which causes massive amounts of housework and refuses to be touched. So if you want a pet you can interact with, don't get a rabbit. LilaLovecraft posted:Also, GET A DWARF! Rabbits are massive fertilizer factories. The smaller the rabbit the less poop. I would never recommend a dwarf for a first time rabbit owner. The smaller the rabbit, the more concentrated the stream of anger, hate, and destructiveness that comes out. I would look for a large breed, like New Zealands or Californians. They tend to be much more laid back and less standoffish. LilaLovecraft posted:I suggest you call the SPCA and ask if you can try to be "foster parents" first. Definitely this. If you try fostering for a week or two you should know pretty well whether the personalities of the rabbits you've selected match your goals as pets, and whether you're going to love or hate having them. Instead of the SPCA, check on Petfinder for rabbit specialty rescues. They tend to be better about placing first time owners with friendlier rabbits. Don't do any prep between now and the adoption fair other than reading every page on rabbit.org. Also here are some of my rescue's adopter handouts which have some summaries of the HRS info: http://www.allcreaturesrescue.org/documents/BasicRabbitSetup.pdf http://www.allcreaturesrescue.org/documents/NC_Shopping_List-Rabbits.pdf http://www.allcreaturesrescue.org/documents/MMC/MythFlyer2003.pdf
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Sep 23, 2012 00:27
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Do you mean humid like Florida, or humid like inside a bathroom? Humidity of any sort is the death of hay. You'll almost certainly lose some to mold. Air circulation is your best bet - remove any plastic coverings and store very loosely in a cardboard box. If possible, store the box off the floor (on a wire shelf or pallet) for further air circulation. Toss the hay inside the box frequently and discard at the first sign of mold.
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Sep 25, 2012 14:10
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See how the coroplast is INSIDE the grids? That's a design meant for guinea pigs. For rabbits, you typically need to put the coro on the outside, otherwise they chew it down to the floor in no time flat. Personally I always go with a 2 grid high for rabbits, to allow them to stand up and bounce around a little, but if your rabbit is really small 1 grid high should be ok. You could make it yourself for about half the price, but sometimes DIY is just too much hassle. Other than that it's a fine choice, especially over a crate. They say they can customize, so I'd say ask them if they can make the coro slightly bigger to allow you drop the cage sides inside, and then leave off the grids underneath the coro, so you get something like this.
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Sep 30, 2012 19:13
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Very nice job! Congrats! For those wanting to try this themselves, note the grids are not all the same. Target's grids used to have 9x9 openings, now some are 8x8 and the rest are 5x5. You can still get the 9x9 but only through Walmart.com. Guinea pigs MUST have the 9x9 grids, there have been multiple reports of pigs getting their heads stuck in the 8x8. We also recommend not using the 5x5 for smaller rabbits, since they can also get stuck, but using them on the top level for larger rabbits, as done here, is a good intermediate solution. More details on grid differences here. bunnyofdoom posted:She still chews. That's the thing. It's just the hay. Vet check time to look at her molars. Chewing pellets is easier than chewing hay if she's got spurs or malocclusions. Dropping off hay while still eating other foods is a good sign of molar trouble. If that ends up not being the cause, yeah the solution is trying multiple types of hay and reducing or eliminating pellets. Some of my old guys simply refuse to eat hay if there's pellets available; hence, they get no pellets except as occasional treats.
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Oct 1, 2012 15:04
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Pig Boots posted:Is there any way to "correct" a rabbit? Nope. Pig Boots posted:I'm not sure an instinctual behavior like this will be fixed by spaying. It makes a tremendous difference. Dominance behaviors are often exacerbated by hormone driven behaviors. I've had several very nippy rabbits go down to nearly zero biting after spay/neuter.
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Nov 8, 2012 19:29
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Pig Boots posted:Had a feeling there wasn't, but I was hoping maybe there was something...guess you can train them to do things, but you can't train them to not do things? None of mine ever stopped the get-out-of-my-way nips after getting fixed (they never had a big problem with it to begin with, though), so I'm not super hopeful that this will stop You can typically only train them with positive reinforcement (I do something desired = I get treat), not with positive punishment (I do something bad = bad thing happens to me) or with negative punishment (I do something bad = something good gets taken away from me) because they are too drat dumb (and we are too drat slow) to correctly and consistently link the un-desired behavior to the reward or punishment. You can try to react to a bite with a loud yelp, but she may not perceive that as something aversive enough to reduce the biting. Say you shove her, or put her back in her cage when she bites. She's highly unlikely to learn that it was the bite itself which led to her punishment or deprivation. She's far more likely to associate it with being picked up, approached by you, or approaching you; and instead of reducing the liklihood that she bites, you'll start to train her to avoid you altogether. You can also try negative reinforcement (I do something desired = bad thing stops happening to me) but you have to be constantly on your guard. So if she approaches you and she looks like she's going to bite, you might do something slightly aversive, like raise your voice and say HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY. If she moves around you without biting, you stop chastising her. She may learn that if she approaches and moves past you without any biting behavior, she doesn't get scolded. The problem with this is, if you ever forget, get distracted, whatever, and the pairing of HEY HEY HEY and bite-behavior doesn't come often enough, the association won't be strong enough for her to learn. This type of training requires constant vigilance and sensitivity to her body language (you ONLY want to do this when she's acting bitey, not if she's approaching in a non-bitey manner) and frankly ain't nobody got time for that.
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Nov 8, 2012 21:10
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Good luck angelicism. I just had an issue like this with one of my 8 year olds, I found him laid out in his litterbox dragging himself in circles with his front legs. X-ray showed a possible tumor forming in L1. A few days of metacam got him upright again, but given his age and the inoperability of the situation we opted not to do any aggressive treatment, just maintain him till he showed by his quality of life that he needs to be euthanized. That was a month ago. The little poo poo has shown almost a complete recovery. I have him in a large petstore cage on aspen bedding instead of in a pen with a litterbox, but otherwise he runs around, begs for dinner, and harasses his neighbors just like old days. Your girl may pull through yet!
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Nov 28, 2012 23:14
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bunnyofdoom posted:Harriet has started to get really agressive lately. Like she'll charge at me, stomp her forepaws on my foot and growl loudly. Is there anything I can do? Get her spayed.
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Dec 5, 2012 21:39
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Lobsterboy posted:ALSO- Alucinor - the scarves are loving AWESOME. D'aww... I KNEW I recognized the name but simply could NOT place it when I was packing for you!! I am so glad you like and thank you SO much!
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Dec 7, 2012 15:30
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FactsAreUseless posted:Moving rabbits to a new home is tricky, especially for such an old rabbit. They don't adjust easily. It would be difficult to adopt him even if you didn't have rabbits already, and having to get a rabbit who has lived alone most of his life to adjust to a new place and to other rabbits would be very difficult. It might be possible, but it would be a serious challenge. I don't really find this is true in my experience. I've taken in plenty of 6 year olds and they've adjusted to being house rabbits, survived being spayed/neutered, learned to eat a zero-pellet diet after growing up without hay or veg, and bonded with other bunnies with no problems. I have 11 right now, most of whom I took in at 6 years because "poor thing, you only have a year or two left". LOL NOPE. One of them is 14+, which shouldn't even be possible, given that she already had uterine cancer when we got her. I just lost one of my 12 year olds, and bonded her 9 year old partner to a 10 year old who has been alone for 3 years since deciding he wanted to try and murder his brother. I've only got two rabbits left (including the 14 year old) who refuse to bond to other bunnies, but the singles seem delighted to live adjacent to someone else that they can threaten and posture at through the bars. They often eat and poop and play in rhythm with their neighbors, which indicates that they do get something out of being near other rabbits even if they can't be together. Multiple rabbits is definitely a thing, but it also is definitely harder than a single pair, and it puts you in crazy rabbit lady territory since you usually have to have multiple cages and do rotating out-time.
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Jan 27, 2013 21:05
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Silverfish posted:the slowest chase ever begins - she hops about two feet away, he hops after her, tries again, she hops two feet away, he hops after her....then eventually she growls at him if he even makes eye contact with her. This is actually a great sign that they're bonding well, because they're using appropriate social cues to discontinue unwanted behaviors.  Rule of thumb, don't separate till there's bloodshed. More info on introsKhisanth Magus posted:the "groom and then hump" is definitely bunny mating behavior. It's also normal rabbit social/dominance behavior, not specifically mating behavior. Saint Celestine posted:Are flemish giants a decent breed for a first time rabbit owner? They have more health issues than smaller rabbits, but in general large breeds are easier, more laid back, and less aggressive. They just require more space than smaller ones. I'd go with a smaller large breed like a Californian, NZW, or a big lop.
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Jan 30, 2013 17:23
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Those are all REALLY good signs. If I was doing a bonding and saw all that, it would be Bunderdome time. Two buns enter, one pair leaves; they just stay together unless they ever actually tried to murder each other. fake edit: But I have my vet on speed dial, your aversion to risk may vary.
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Jan 31, 2013 21:52
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Hana Dammit posted:And I have a question. I was talking with one of my housemates (who is a Serious Horse Girl) about his diet and how it compares to a horse's, anyhow she's lead me to be curious as to whether or not pellets are a necessary part of an adult rabbits diet? Like, I understand that young bunnies would need a greater caloric intake but once they reach a certain size, would it be optimal to simply feed him all the hay he can eat and some healthy and varied servings of greens? No, pellets are not necessary for house rabbits except to boost calories. If you're growing rabbits for meat or fur, the increased protein IS useful (improves fiber texture in angoras for example) but the tradeoff is more health issues and/or a shorter lifespan, which really doesn't matter for fur/meat animals. I've discussed my feeding habits extensively upthread, but in brief: I feed about 90% hay and 10% veggies. They get pellets only as a treat, once every few months, or if I have an elderly animal who isn't maintaining weight. I have been feeding this way for about 10 years. I have I have two 5 year olds, two 8 year olds, a 9 year old, two 10 year olds, three 12 year olds, and a goddamn immortal 14 year old. I really haven't had any health issues in the last 8 or so years apart from arthritis and cancer. Never any stasis or tooth or bladder sludge problems, which I saw much more frequently when I pellet fed the animals. The 14 year old had recurrent bladder sludge until about 6 years ago, it's never come back since she's been more or less pellet free.  Pellets were never part of the rabbit diet until the early part of the 20th century when scientists found pellets a better way to ensure uniform food intake and speed up maturation of lab animals to their sacrifice weight. They were never designed to ensure long term health. Purina realized there was a huge untapped market of home rabbit owners feeding their animals on farm hay and yard waste for practically free, who could be converted into paying for feed instead. The fact that this diet may be directly responsible for shorter lifespans and increased health problems doesn't matter to them. In the last year or so, even my vets have started to come around. I used to get asked "why aren't you feeding pellets?" and now when I write "occasional pellets" on the health history form, I get scolded until I explain that I mean just a few times a year. 
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Feb 26, 2013 14:50
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And crude protein sounds so ominous but maybe i'm just being a sensitive vegan baby.
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FactsAreUseless posted:Questions about the hay you're feeding your rabbits, All the rabbit guides I've read say to feed them timothy rather than alfalfa if you're using pellets, since the alfalfa has more protein. Do you give them a specific kind of hay for the protein content, or is it a mix of various kinds of hays? Do you give them a set amount per day or keep their hay dispensers filled? How much fresh food do you give them and what sort of food? I'd like to plan ahead for when I get rabbits again, and I noticed that my last rabbit was a little overweight, which I had attributed to the pellets. I use bluegrass, orchardgrass, and timothy - my guys prefer Kleenmama's bluegrass and I really only feed the other stuff if she's out of stock, which happens sometimes near the end of the growing season. And boy do they bitch about it when I run out. They get more than adequate protein from these hays and from their veggies. As for hay quantity, I have very large hay mangers which I stuff twice a day if empty - made out of these or these turned 90 degrees. They will absolutely go through a whole manger in a day so most pens have 2. I've calculated that two rabbits go through nearly 100 lbs in a year in my house. For veggies, I prefer herbs (dill, fennel, cilantro, parsley), dark green leafies (bok choi, kale, romaine, chard), and broccoli and bell peppers. That's really it. I only give about 1-2 cups a day. So they might get a half a very large bell pepper each (about a cup) or a half a head of romaine (about 2 cups). I give something different each day but I don't bother making a mixed salad daily anymore, they really don't seem to give a poo poo. Some of my oldest animals get less because they will get runny poop on too much veggies - maybe two leaves of romaine and a few sprigs of dill. I give much less of the veggies which are high in oxalates and calcium, to try and help prevent bladder stones; so for example, nobody gets more than a leaf of kale at a time and I try not to feed it more than every week or so.
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Feb 27, 2013 23:20
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FactsAreUseless posted:I was under the impression that you should avoid anything in the broccoli/cabbage family because it gives them gas, which they have no way to relieve. Has this not been an issue for you? Ditto to what those above said. They only get broccoli once a week anyhow, if that, and not too much at a time.
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Feb 28, 2013 16:41
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sirnollem posted:Hay questions. We have been feeding Western Timothy from the pet store to our bunny. We have access to free orchard grass horse hay by the bale(family farmer). I had read that if it is good for horses it should be good for bunnies but am curious about the nutrition aspect. From what I've read Orchard grass has a lower calcium and lower protein content. I know too much calcium is bad but is a slightly lower protein content bad if we are not feeding pellets? She get greens morning and night and all the hay she wants just want to make sure that the orchard grass will be good for her before we feed it to her. The biggest issue I have had is that local hays often contain a significant proportion of alfalfa or "non grass" roughage plants. Those, you'd want to avoid. Otherwise it's fine. The majority of grass hays are equivalent enough to timothy that it's no concern even without pellets. I feed only bluegrass or orchardgrass preferentially, because they like it more than timothy.
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Mar 30, 2013 00:09
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cuntvalet posted:My best friend is fostering bunnies through a rabbit rescue and has recently discovered she is allergic to Timothy hay. Are there other alternatives she can use or is Timothy hay the end all be all for rabbits? Orchard grass or bluegrass. But everyone I've met who is allergic to timothy is allergic to all of 'em.
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Apr 1, 2013 21:34
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RICKON WALNUTSBANE posted:Anyone know if Advantage II is safe for buns? Rabbit.org okays vanilla Advantage but I'm unsure about the pyriproxyfen. I'd rather not have to drive out to my vet to get Revolution again (though I will call before treating him with anything, thought I'd ask here first) Check with your vet to be sure, but it seems to be safe from what I can find. According to this pyriproxyfen is non-irritant to rabbit skin, only mildly irritant to rabbit eyes, and there were no observed adverse effects in mothers or fetuses at up to 300 mg/kg body weight per day.
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Apr 25, 2013 15:16
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Get the bluegrass. You won't regret it.
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May 1, 2013 14:42
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comets! posted:Does anyone know of any good documentaries about wild rabbit life? Watership Down referenced The Private Life of the Rabbit and many many years ago I tracked it down and read it. It was quite interesting, although all of the observations were also on captive wild rabbits living in man-made warrens. If you can score a copy through old-fashioned interlibrary loan it may be worth the trouble.
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Sep 5, 2013 14:40
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monsieur fatso posted:So I want to get chompsky a larger cage. I was thinking of getting some nic cages, but I'm wondering if you have any other recommendations, or if any of you know what's a good place to get nic cubes cheap. Walmart.com still has them, but I prefer just using a dog x-pen these days. Easier to move, clean, etc.
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Sep 26, 2013 19:30
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The Walrus posted:Gracie is going in to get spayed tomorrow, she's seven and a half years old. Does anyone have any experience with spaying a rabbit that's a bit older? Most of my rescues were spayed at between 5 and 8 years. A couple times, we elected to euthanize on the table because after the bunny was open we could see how badly the cancer had spread, but overall there haven't been any surgical complications. I did have a few girls who needed to be syringe fed for a couple days, so be prepared for that. A little fresh dill seems to go a long way in resolving postsurgical anorexia. Good luck!
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Nov 5, 2013 15:22
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Molars are more frequently a cause of eating problems than incisors, and some buns can eat pellets long past the point they can't eat hay. You mentioned you were concerned about his teeth back in July, so I think a vet visit is definitely warranted.
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Dec 2, 2013 20:37
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Deceptor101 posted:This is an unpleasant question... My attitude has changed a lot over the last 10 years; I can see both sides of the argument now. Maybe they are better off living out their lives with no attention and good husbandry, instead of being rehomed and possibly changed hands several more times, potentially ending up with people who will give them no care at all. Or maybe they are better off taking their chances, and then maybe both of you will have better lives.  I got out of rescue not long ago, but I still have several buns who have never been adopted. The youngest pair are 6 or 7, there's pretty much no chance they'll be adopted now. I still put ads up occasionally but I'm resigned to having them till they die. I never bother handling them, either, except to give them nose pats once a month or so. They all hate people anyhow so I doubt they give a poo poo.
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May 2, 2014 21:36
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Yes, revolution has been shown in veterinary studies to be safe for use in rabbits: http://www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/aug10/selamectin83010.html (there's also dosing info there - they actually recommend a higher dose than in cats and dogs). They don't like the alcohol feeling so you'll get a lot of skin shaking for a few hours afterwards, like they're trying to shake off a fly.
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Sep 12, 2014 17:07
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