Well, when he does get picked up and placed on the towel to be wrapped as a bunny burrito, he now starts boxing the edge of the towel so it bunches under himself - this is so we can't roll the edge over his feet.
Oh, yeah, and when I tried to un-bunch and lay out the towel, he bit me. Not hard. It was more like he was showing me he had teeth ... he just closed them around my finger, but did not scratch or puncture the skin. He tussles harder than that with the girls, especially now.
We feel so bad having to give him this stuff, but we think it is helping.
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| Find the front teeth and slide the tip into the gap behind them |
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| Bunya: I um fo fick of Bene-Bac |
"How can you tell he might be getting better?" you may ask.
The bunny poop-o-meter has helped.
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| The poop-o-meter |
First, to see that he is processing (read: pooping).
Second, to assess volume - not up to his prior production levels ... most definitely an underutilized processing plant.
Third, to see if they are getting back to normal size - not yet, but in general, getting bigger and more uniform.
Bunya is tired of being alone and does not understand why ...
Why he can't get to the dish full of crumbles.
Why he can't eat most of the greens.
Why he can't get groomed by the ladies.
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| Bunya pouting as Lucy & Ethel get dinner |
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| The sisters flop amongst themselves |
It looks like that Bunya is finding everything stressfull at the moment after giving the meds try stroking the side's of the head progressing to stroking of the whole head to the tips of the ears it will calm Bunya down,then do this prior to giving the meds too.it will help reduce the stress levels and boost the bond between you,then when it is over bribe with a small piece of treat then giving meds will become easer.hope she gets well soon
ReplyDeleteGood advice all round ... I did not think of the meds in terms of stress, but it seems natural to comfort him. We had him first for almost 2 years before getting him company, so he is the most human-friendly of the three; we were his only source of head rubs. Probably because of the stress you mention, he has been more accepting of longer head (and ear) rubs. He also likes to be rubbed lightly behind the jaw line - it often gets him chattering happily. The girls don't have opposable thumbs, but we can get both sides (or both ears) at the same time. He melts into a little bunny puddle. While he is on mainly a hay diet, he gets little tiny treats during med administration. He still flicks us off.
DeletePoor Bunya, he just wants everything back the way it was and I can't blame him! But you know you're doing the best thing for him until he's recovered, so try not to feel too bad about his tantrums!
ReplyDeleteI know it's easier said than done though. I'm going to hijack your post here for a minute, because we're going through something really tough right now. We've been trying to bond our foster bunny, Pixie, to our exiting pair Einstein and Eva. We've had him for two months and it wasn't going well so he's living in an exercise pen in our living room, but we planned to keep trying. I came home after work on Thurdsay to find him quadriplegic, unable to move any of his limbs. We have no idea what happened, he was fine that morning and his pen is very safe; all I can think of is that he binkied into the wall and compressed his spinal cord. He's in the vet hospital getting aggresssive steroid, antibiotic and anti-parisitic treatment but he's not improving. He's bright and eating, but cannot pee or poop unaided. He has no feeling in his hind legs at all, there's feeling in his front ones, but no movement. After calling for an update this morning I was advised to prepare for the worst.
I'm so sorry to hijack your comments, it just really helps to share with people who understand. I haven't stopped crying since Thursday :'(
I'm hoping and praying that Bunya continues to improve and that everything will be back to normal soon. I hope that anyone reading this will say a little prayer or put out some "You can beat this Pixie" thoughts. He's one of the friendliest, sweetest, most adventurous bunnies I've ever had the pleasure of sharing my life with. I'm absolutely wretched right now, I can't imagine how I'll be if he doesn't make it :'(
Absolutely no need to apologize for the "hijack". Thank you for sharing what's going on with your foster bun and we all wish Pixie a speedy recovery to full health.
DeleteAnd, if you can, please update us once in a while to let us know how he's doing.
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