Bunya at-home update

As to health:
Bunya has finished his tube of Bene-bac doses but is still taking the medicine to promote gastrointestinal motility. We have abandoned the bunny burrito, against which he rebels by boxing the edge of the towel before you can fold it up over his front feet. Now, we just pick him up, give him a tiny piece of papaya and then let him take in the medicine at his own speed; afterwards, a reward papaya for all. (You can see examples of the bunny burrito here and here.)

When we were still doing the bunny burrito thing to administer medicine, he developed a new reaction. Shaking the papaya container gets everyone's attention and they normally zoom over to it for a treat. Wary of medicine administration, Bunya would zoom - and stop halfway to the treat.

You could almost see the little wheels turning in his head as he worked it out:
There is a high probability that the humans are going to burrito me and give me medicine.
~ versus ~
Maybe they are just handing out treats for free - no strings attached.

His conclusion must have been: Even if the humans give me medicine, I am still getting a papaya.
Because then he would finish zooming to the treat.

We are spotting poops with foreign material (hare hairs?) which we hope are Bunya's and hopefully mean that the blockage is continuing to break up.

He had one pooky day, which put us on high alert again, but he seems to have worked past it and be more of his usual self. Trying to keep him on a hay diet so adding lots of varieties all the time. Conclusion: Not out of the woods but seem to be steadily improving. Thanks to everyone sending him healthy vibes!

As to bonding:
Overall - good. We are finding a few Lucy and Ethel plugs of hair that we assume Bunya has pulled. When a treat is being offered, he will chase them away until he gets his first. We think this is just him reasserting his alpha bunny position. They are all grooming each other and we have seen more Bunmuda Triangles (pictures in a future post).

As to reaction to new things:
When Bunya left, there was no Einstein toy (from The Blissful Bunny). At first, he did not get why the girls were so excited by it. Then he figured it out - it's a treat dispenser, although you have to work a little to get the reward.

Bunya: It's empty - reload!
Now!

They are all so familiar with it now that if it is on the floor, the tops have to be off. When they are on, they take that as a signal there's a treat inside. We can't even "load" it when it's on the floor; we have to pick it up so we have a chance to put some treats in and get the lids on. When they spot us doing that, they get so excited and start running around, trying to figure out where we are going to put it down.

~ REMINDER ~

Please "Like" the Rabbit Ramblings Facebook page by 03-31-2013 to raise funds for the Georgia House Rabbit Society to buy the bunnies' shelter home (explained here).
Please send the Facebook link to your bunny loving friends.

Thank you!