Thursday, March 15, 2012

Bunya at home ... sort of

The third round of x-rays showed enough improvement that Bunya's vet was willing to allow him to come home. We have a pharmacy of meds and instructions, stuff that will hopefully keep him gas and mass accumulation-free.

Bunya on the fireplace
Just to add to our concerns and stress, we had to reintroduce the bunnies. We started in neutral territory. The first thing Bunya did when we opened the carrier was hop up the stairs (poetry in motion to us). The girls, actually Ethel, was introduced first. They ignored each other a little. Then Bunya went back into the carrier and settled down.

So he played bashful. We moved him and (in) the carrier closer to home. Then closer, then into the room. He eventually left and ran around the room. It was nice to see him moving. He probably hadn't had that much running space in almost a week.

Giving him his rescue food and medicine is not particularly easy or fun for him or us. (See Bunny Care about the bunny burrito).

There were some very sweet moments between Bunya and Ethel, as she groomed him and he groomed her. A little.

At one point last night, we ran the "treat test". Happily, as I opened the jar in which we keep their Probios (we think their favorite treat), all three zoomed to the jay ... Bunya in first place and ready to leap into the jar. And he ate all of his piece. That made us feel good.

We were concerned that Lucy might have assumed alpha bun role in his absence. Well, something's going on. We have had to break up a couple of tussles. Mostly Lucy's hair flying. It happens and proceeds so fast, it's hard to tell who started it. Sometimes a loud "no" or "stop it" will halt the match. Doesn't really matter what we say, it's the sudden volume.

As much as we wanted to, we could not leave them all together last night. We have two of those little exercise pens and we put them together to make a really large pen set up right outside their permanent pen. Bunya was in it last night and we will reverse their positions today. Bunya has been chasing Lucy some this morning and took some of it out on Ethel, I think. So, we will postpone leaving Ethel with Bunya.

Also noticed that at least one of the girls is seemingly intentionally leaving poops around the permanent pen. Since they are litter-box trained, I take this as a territorial claim. Or maybe Lucy is leaving them during the high speed chases ... the bunny is quicker than the eye (forget the hand).

He is not in the clear yet. It's like he's on a see-saw and we hope he continue to re-balance towards good health. If you are a bunny person, you know it's about eating and pooping. He needs to eat more hay and poop more and bigger (to get back to normal size). Follow-up appointment with the vet scheduled for next week.

Thank you to everyone who has been thinking get well vibes for Bunya and to those who have left comments.

4 comments:

  1. All good thoughts for Bunya and your family...it's such a stressful time when our "little ones" are sick. And there's nothing like poop patrol!

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  2. Sending lots of get all better soon vibes to dear Bunya. I completely understand the fascination with litterbox watching. Hope Bunya rediscovers his love for hay and leaves you lots of bunny poop to prove it.

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  3. I'm glad to hear he's doing well enough to come home, that's the best place to get all better.

    Here's to lots of hay nibbles and piles of poops.

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  4. Daisy and Penelope give two paws up for Bunya's return. We hope that he feels better and everyone settles back into the normal routine soon.

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