What's Up, Doc?

Today we'll be talking about bunny medical care. Not every vet is qualified to care for our little hippity hoppers. Why does it matter, you say? Well, bunnies are quite complex in their digestive systems. Bunnies, also, in general are very fragile beings. So in order for them to live their lives to the fullest, the proper vet needs to be selected. And before you even get a bunny is the time to find that vet. Emergencies can happen in the blink of an eye.

Let's talk about when Gizmo first came into my life. He had only been with me for a week, maybe not even that long, but he got stopped pooping. And when a bunny stops dropping their fecal pellets, that's a serious problem. BUT he was still eating and drinking, so I kept an eye on him just in case it was just something temporary. Unfortunately, Gizmo still didn't use the bathroom. It was time to get him to the vet. I had just moved to this city and was not comfortable driving here, but my baby needed immediate attention. Since I was too nervous to drive much here, I took Giz to a vet location that was easier to get to and had less traffic. Once I got there, the vet saw Gizmo, prescribed some Metacam (for pain), in pill form, and some liquid Reglan (gut motility) as well as some Critical Care in case he stopped eating. That vet also informed me that Gizmo was a lady bun.

Feeling better, I took my boy home, gave him his meds, which was difficult since one was a pill. The next day Gizmo had not gotten better, but I knew he wouldn't miraculously recover in an instant. But the day after that, he was worse.  I could hear him loudly grinding his teeth all the way across the room. He stayed in a hunched up position and barely moved. At this point, he had stopped eating and stopped drinking. In a panic, I called the vet and was told that he would need to be hospitalized. Being a new bunny mom, I had done a lot of bunny research and I knew that Gizmo was in Stasis and knew it could be treated. My doubts set in about the first vet.

So I went to the House Rabbit Society's website and found a vet qualified to give care to bunnies. I immediately called them and told them my baby was knocking on Death's door. They said they would see him as soon as I got him there. The vet carefully looked Gizmo over, gave me liquid form of Metacam and also gave him some Sub-Q fluids. They also took the time to show me how to do the "bunny burrito" so I could give him the Critical Care. I was informed I would need to bring him back the following day for another shot of Sub-Q fluids. And guess what?! My baby boy got better, and better, and better! It took a while for him to get back to himself, but he did finally get there.

This instance goes to show that you should have a bunny vet selected ahead of time and be ready for emergencies. To find a qualified bunny vet you can go here to the House Rabbit Society to find a great bunny savvy vet near you. Being a first time bun parent, it's easy to make a mistake, but I want to warn everyone with the scary incident with Gizmo so maybe a bun's life can be saved with this information. If I would have taken Gizmo to the proper vet in the first place, his recovery wouldn't have taken as long and he most likely would not have been in so much pain. He was still eating and drinking when I took him to the first vet, but if I would have taken him to a bunny savvy vet the first time, he would have gotten treatment before he got worse. I still feel absolutely horrible to this day because he had to experience that.

And, of course, the first vet got his weight and his gender wrong! So, beware of vets say they will see bunnies in their offices. It doesn't mean they know what they're doing!

Cotton Bottom Shop

Gizmo & Ebony now have their own store! Before we get into the details, we do have to say that all the money made from the products goes to help other animals in need. We will be adding more items as we go along, too. We so often see animals in desperate need of donations, or a rescue that needs to raise a certain amount of money to help get some of the furry residents spayed, neutered or to buy food. And we rarely can donate and we surely can't donate to them all. So we would like to help out even if it is in some small way.

The store is located on Zazzle but we have found out, thanks to some experimentation by our lovely overseas friends, that one link for the store does not work for every region. For us here in the United States, the link is www.zazzle.com/bunny_emporium so just remember to change the .com extension to your region's URL extension. Our helpful overseas friends also informed us that sometimes clicking on the .com link will re-direct to the correct website and sometimes it doesn't.

Here's just a few of the links for other regions:

Canada: www.zazzle.ca/bunny_emporium

UK: www.zazzle.co.uk/bunny_emporium

Germany:  www.zazzle.de/bunny_emporium


We love that anywhere in the world with a Zazzle shop can order from the store and not have to pay for hefty overseas shipping!

We really "hop" to see you stopping by the shop!!

Let-tuce eat!

Noms!! Most bunnies love to eat...and eat...and eat!! And that's a good thing, because if your bunny isn't eating there is a serious problem! So in this post we will be discussing all the yum yums for bunny tum tums!!

First let's discuss the DO NOT's when it comes to food for your bunny. Please skip all the brightly colored foods in the pet stores. Most have seeds, nuts and other things that bunnies just shouldn't have.  If you're buying pellets, just make sure they are pellets and ONLY pellets with 18% minimum fiber. Treats are also sold to be "catchy" to the human eye. Those colors that pop are for our visual pleasure alone and have no nutritional value for buns. Yogurt drops are a big no no. Bunnies shouldn't have any dairy products at all. When looking for treats in the pet store, Oxbow is the best bet. Just remember that treats are just that - treats, and should only be given in minimal amounts. And also remember that just because something is sold in a store, doesn't mean it's good for bunnies.

Now we can move on to the good stuff!! GREENS!! Gizmo & Ebony love salad time, Ebony more so than Gizmo but she's just "food crazy"! There are lots of greens you can feed to a bunny and there are some that just are absolutely no good. Pennyroyal mint for example is toxic, so please avoid that. I'm not sure how popular that type of mint is to be sold in stores, but just keep that in mind. Mint such as Peppermint and Spearmint is fine to feed to your bun. If you are buying greens and fruits from a store, organic is always best. If you decide to grow your own, just be sure you use no chemicals.

Instead of going over each and every little thing you can feed to a bunny, I'm going to direct you here to the House Rabbit Society so you can read a bit more about a bunny's diet and which greens are best. Some greens are higher in acid so feed those less often. Remember to introduce your bun to new food slowly so their digestive system doesn't get upset.

Now with fruit, I feed Gizmo and Ebony a bit of fruit daily, but I put it at the bottom of their salad so they have dessert with their food. Banana is usually the favorite of most bunnies (some absolutely hate it) and Gizmo & Ebony are no exception. They love banana. I cut a small slice and chop it up. I always remove the peel first because the peeling can contain things you don't want your bun to have. Everyone is different, but personally, I prefer not to give them any portion of the peeling. Keep in mind that fruit is full of natural sugar so feed very little to your cotton bottomed baby!

Here is a video I made today of preparing Gizmo & Ebony's salads. I always rinse the veggies thoroughly when making the salads. I don't do it ahead of time. And you may notice how I cut up the banana slices and tear most of the veggies into smaller pieces. That is only for Ebony's sake. When I first adopted her she would eat so fast that she almost choked on more than one occasion. She does seem to be eating slower now but she still eats pretty fast so I still choose to feed her smaller bites, just to be on the safe side. And I do the same for Gizmo, just in case Ebony steals some of his noms!! ;)
I did speed this video up to save some viewing time, so enjoy and have a bunderful day!! <3

Apologies!

Skipping blog entries is not something we had planned to do. The goal was to do at least one entry per week. But circumstances prevented us from doing so. There had been so many of Gizmo & Ebony's bunny friends passing away during a span of a week or two and it was just absolutely heartbreaking. Then I got sick, so so sick and had no concentration at all to write on the blog. But we are ready to get back to all the bunny info!! We will have a new "full" entry up soon so please stay tuned!! And again, we sincerely apologize for our absence!