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celticina
Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 2
Location: Ontario, Canada
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 Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 1:42 am Post subject: HELP, NO IDEA!!! |
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Hello all!
I was downtown in the city where I live and some drugged out woman was going to put her bunny out on the mainstreet to get run over, so I took him.  He is very friendly!
Unfortunately I have no idea what I am doing.  I took him to a pet store to get a cage, and they said they sold him to the woman about 3 months ago (he is about 6 months old). He has had his first shots, is not neutered, and we have no idea what condition he was kept in. He seems to have a cataract on one of his eyes, as it is a milky white spot over the front half of his eye. He hops around alright, but I was petting his cheek and he tilted his head to the side and started grinding his teeth. I thought it was a seizure, but he wasn't twitching, just very rigid. He has done this on two noteable occasions now, but doesn't bite or seem overly upset. He isn't having trouble hopping (as far as I can tell) Is this normal?
His poop is normal, no ceacals left around his cage. He flips his fooddish, which I read is because he is bored (he has some toys that hang from the top of his cage, but doesn't play with them). He has dug all the shavings out of one spot and lies down with his head up and alert. I think he might be bored, because from what I deciphered of the woman's rambling I think he was kept with another female rabbit. Do they get depressed when separated from their friends?
I know I need to to take him to a vet, but I'm a university student with absolutely zero cash (I used my emergencycreditcard to buy the cage, food, waterbottle, fooddish, treats, and a few toys so he won't get overly bored.)
I have to wait a week till I get paid so that I can take him. Any suggestions or comments? I'M SO DESPERATE! 
I can't bear the thought he might be suffering, but I have no idea what to do other than to let him hop around the couch and pet his head and give him a treat twice a day (yogurt covered timothy hay drops)!
Thanks in advance for your help! |
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Bindi
Joined: 05 Nov 2004
Posts: 5674
Location: South-east UK
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| Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 2:24 am Post subject: |
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Well done you for saving him.
Bonded pairs can get upset if separated. And of course if he is unneutered, the chances are lady bun is pregnant and I dread to think what will happen to her and the babies  He should recover if he is given enough of your attention, although some rabbits never do recover. I know of a rabbit who got so sick after his partner died that he passed away too. It can happen, but I think the majority eventually get over their loss.
If he doesn't seem to be objecting to you tickling his cheek, he might actually be enjoying it. Cats lean their heads into your hand when you tickle them, so I don't see why the bun shouldn't. Loud tooth grinding can indicate a dental problem, but they also do it as an expression of enjoyment.
Yeah, rabbits can get bored easily. And they do enjoy rearranging their accommodation a lot. In the short term, he'll manage. Just so long as he has a few hours of exercise, access to hay and water at all times and a small amount of pellets once or twice a day (food regimes vary, but hay/grass should be 80-90% of his diet), he'll be fine until you have money. If he doesn't seem to have any major problems, I'm sure TLC will be the best medicine 
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Snugglesworth
Joined: 02 Jul 2007
Posts: 3225
Location: Good Old U.S. of A.
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| Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 2:55 am Post subject: Re: HELP, NO IDEA!!! |
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| celticina wrote: |
He seems to have a cataract on one of his eyes, as it is a milky white spot over the front half of his eye. |
I actually thought Bunny had a cataract for a long time, but on her it is actually a discoloration on her eye and totally harmless. One half of her iris is blue and the other is brown, which looks odd on an almost black bunny. Is the cloudy color on just the iris, or does it actually go over the pupil as well?
| celticina wrote: |
He hops around alright, but I was petting his cheek and he tilted his head to the side and started grinding his teeth. I thought it was a seizure, but he wasn't twitching, just very rigid. He has done this on two noteable occasions now, but doesn't bite or seem overly upset. He isn't having trouble hopping (as far as I can tell) Is this normal? |
I mean I wasn't there but it actually sounds like he was enjoying it to me. If it's very soft grinding and he has his eyes half closed, and looks very relaxed, it doesn't sound likely that he was in pain. My bun Snug loves to have his cheek pet and will grind his teeth in the happy way when I do this. If the bun were in pain, look for other "in pain" body language, like being hunched up in a very rigid way, ears pinned back, flinching from touch, just looking "irritated" overall.
As for toys... I'm a poor college student myself and I know all the tricks for super cheap toys
-Toilet paper tubes. Can't go wrong, free and they love to rip them up.
-Old, unwanted books (yep, the unsold college ones, if you must) they love to dig/rip out the pages
-Cardboard boxes
-Baby toys from Walmart (at least where I live, they have a little section where all the baby toys like plastic rattles and things are $1 each, I have a ton of those for my buns)
-This is a bit of investment if you are on an emergency fund, but I highly highly recommend it. I bought my buns a cat tunnel (I think it was called a "Crinkly Tunnel" or something at Walmart) it was $8 but totally worth its weight in gold. It is by far their favorite toy. If I forget to put it out and I stack it in a corner, they will actually go over and knock it down so they can play in it.
It sounds like he may be digging all the shavings out and laying in the bare spot more for being clean... Snug is an absolute fuss-pot and hates being dirty. He's by far the cleanest bunny I've ever seen. And he used to do this when he had a cage with litter lining the bottom. What you might want to try is putting all the litter in a litter pan and stick that in his cage (Walmart has them for $2 as tiny cat litter pans, they're a great size) and he may be happier with that. Just know he will inevitably poo and pee a little outside of it, since he is unneutered, but it's a step in litter training him and he may feel happier when his "space" is neat.
And agreed, you don't have to have a lot of money to make a bun happy!
Your situation sounds slightly similar to how we got Snug. My BF was in college and a friend asked him to take Snug because he needed to take a plane home for Christmas and didn't want to take him with. Snug was not kept in good conditions (god knows what they fed him) so he took him and basically didn't give him back after Christmas break 
He had absolutely no money, but Snug was happy. We got him a little cage and he had time to play everyday. He was fed regularly and had water at all times, and we'd collect empty toilet paper tubes and boxes for him. He was a very unhappy bun and turned into a little happy mushball.
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DutchBunny
Joined: 25 Jan 2009
Posts: 75
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 8:31 am Post subject: |
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Just make sure he eats lots of hay. That should be about 75% of his diet.
Also, I'd stop feeding the yogurt drops. Any of those commercial treats they have for rabbits, including the seed sticks are junk food and often loaded with sugar. Rabbits can't digest dairy so no yogurt drops and seeds are not good for them. A good pellet such as Oxbow, Martin's or Zupreem should be given along with hay. None of the pellets with seeds or colorful bits in them. Avoid pellets that have ethoxyquin as a preservative such as the cheap brands like Kaytee and Nutriphase.
Thank you for rescueing that poor bunny! I really hope that loser does not have any other pets! It's sad that pet stores will sell to anyone who can pay, rather than making sure they are responsible people. |
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celticina
Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 2
Location: Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 8:59 am Post subject: |
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| Thank you everyone for posting to me! he was binki-ing everywhere last night and doing the dance of love around my coffee table :p...he is hopping fine and even let me trance him to trim his claws...I will stop giving him the yogurt drops, and he is loving the toilet paper roles! I am working on litter training him, and so far he pees in his box but still poops everywhere lol. Thanks again everyone for your support! I will update in a few days |
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rachel_x
Joined: 08 Feb 2008
Posts: 2182
Location: Adelaide, Australia
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| Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 4:49 pm Post subject: |
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Oh I'm so glad you came along for him! I just can not understand some people...I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if she had some serious mental health issues. That's far beyond the realm of normal thinking. Have you decided on a name yet, or did he come with one?
I'm a poor uni student too, thankfully rabbits don't seem to distinguish between cheap and expensive toys. It's true you can spend a fortune on toys, but it's not necessary unless you want to. Cheap bird toys are a favourite of Willoughby's, he also likes to chew on empty egg cartons. I also let him chew on my old reader's at the end of a semester. Branches from fruit trees are also a cheap and easy toy....just check that the tree is ok, some, like peach trees, are dangerous. I have a friend who is a manager of a fast food restarurant, so I'll sometimes ask for boxes that would otherwise be put into the recycling bin.
Rabbits make great study companions, you can let them out as you study to give them a bit of exercise and have a bit of company too...but be aware...you can easily get distracted just watching them! Once they start coming up for pats or try and start games, it's near impossible to get anything done The fact that he's binkying around sounds like he's pretty pleased with his new home. Take him down to the vet once you have the money, but it doesn't sound like he has any immediate concerns.
You sound like you're doing an amazing job, don't hesistate to ask if you get stuck!
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