Bunday News for Feb 21, 2012

Well an early start for me. Got here at 7am to get two new rabbits, Velma and Jackpot, off to the vet to get fixed. It turns out that Velma decided to escape her transport box and I was greeted in person by her at the door. At which point, she thumped and ran away. It was a short chase however as she spied Nyssa exercising and had to stop to say hello.

So a 90 min round trip drive to Petaluma and I'm back installing a shelf to free up some more storage room as we've collected quite a bit of supplies for these buns. The good news is that I found out we found a foster parent for Mrs. Dewlap. We usually don't foster rabbits who are so well mannered and cute but we believe that the foster really wants to adopt her and just wants to make sure she can handle things beforehand. So I'm off to do that shortly.

There was also a visitor who wanted to see some of the rabbits and I showed her around. They were all on their best behaviors - even Cricket and Geronimo let me pet them without trying to bleed me dry. I kid about their 'thirst for blood' but really they just need an experienced bunny person to know how to handle them and put them before themselves (as a proper bunny slave should).

Well I"m off. Hope everyone is having a good time.

Bunday News - Feb 26, 2012

Had another busy weekend. Lots of people coming in to look but so far no adoption. I have 3 more condos to repair now that Marcy found out that working wheels = being able to clean behind the cages regularly. We have four new arrivals. Jackpot and Velma both returned from their neuter/spay on Saturday. Jackpot was making non-stop love to his toys but he's calmed down now. Velma is still her usual grumpiness. Two others have arrived from shelters. Paul Bunyan and a girl whose very cranky but unnamed as of now.

One cute highlight of the weekend -Citrine was tired of waiting for me to get to him for his pellets so he leaped over his x-pen. Of course, once on the outside, he realized that it didn't get him his pellets any quicker. Only the 'pellet guy' chasing him around the floor.

Bunday News - March 1, 2012

Today is my third day of running the shelter on my own - hence why no updates lately.  Marcy is at a conference back east and I get to take care of everything now.  I don't want this job and I have no idea how she can do it.

The rabbits as a whole are doing well.  I did take an emergency drive up to a vet because I thought Velma had opened up her Spay incision.  Turns out it was just her trying to groom off some of the excess glue.  Olaf is still feeling under the weather and Beiber has picked up a sneeze too.  But on the good side, Cricket is healthy and learning to love people and even Geronimo is now purring at pets.  Other scardy cats such as Benton, Shakti and Sangria seem to be responding well to my attentions.

I've managed to get some work done other than just caring for the buns though.  I updated a few descriptions on our website (I especially love Olaf's) and started to work on giving everyone a story.  I've also refurbished three of our condos.  And I developed a back ache from transporting the boxes from Binky Bunny that are laden with various Mazes and Tunnels. 

I've also been doing some work that I felt is necessary - one being installing a wireless doorbell so we can hear it down in the shelter.  I'm making a SaveABunny buzzer plaque to go around the outside doorbell button so visitors know which one to ring.

Orbit got adopted.  He was one of those quick turn arounds where we never got to get him up on the website before someone fell in love with him and whisked him away.  There are a couple more 'possibles' out there but don't know if they'll happen before Marcy returns. 

I wish I had more cute stories to tell but my mind is a little bit wobbly.  I got two calls back to back.  One from a person whose rabbit they adopted from us is now spraying everywhere and I have no idea why and another from another shelter wanting us to pick up a rabbit who is near death and the owner cannot care for it (due to them being mentally deficient).  Stuff like this makes me glad I'm not the boss here but also it reaffirms the work we're doing here to make everybun's and every person's life better.

 

Oh wow, you really are taking up alot of the slack for Marcy and I can imagine she is so appreciative of that. Best to wait for Marcy to help with the spray bunny - and those shelter calls...those are hard!

Keep us the good work Mark!

Busy, busy, busy! You guys have so much going on! SaveaBunny does such amazing things for buns and their people, too. Yay you!

Yeah. Just got another call - a rabbit at a shelter is currently pooping a "clear, gelationous ooze" instead of normal poops. The rabbit is eating, drinking and acting normal. Like I said, I don't envy Marcy her job at all! Walk a mile in her shoes? Heck, I wouldn't put on her slippers just to go to the bathroom.

Bunday News for March 5, 2012

Well today was one of those days that isn't a high point in a shelter's life...

Monique didn't want to eat today.  After tests earlier on in the week it is the 'guess' of one vet that she has some form of cancer.  We gave her fluids and critical care but her temp was at 95.6 degrees (about 6 degrees lower than normal).  She's hanging in there but is still not really wanting to eat.   We're going to take her to Dr. Harvey for a second opinion.

I also picked up a close friend of the shelter's rabbit.  His mate was euthanized due to cancer as well so he's now here to find a new friend.

On an upside, 7 of our bunnies went on a field trip on Sunday to Davis to help in a Vet information seminar.  We had everyone from the very cranky to the love sponges.  They all performed well and gave the students and teachers a lot of insight as to how to handle different temperment bunnies, as well as what to look for in the language of the lagomorphs.  And Emmett is getting a free checkup as he has some problem teeth.

Speaking of which, Cricket came back from the vet after having one of his teeth extracted.  Now, don't get me wrong, I love these bunnies 110% but after all of the blood Cricket had drawn from me, seeing him after the operation had me thinking of some 'payback' thoughts - that's after I calmed down seeing the blood from his mouth.  He's fine though - already back to his grumpy little self.

Three buns got adopted over the weekend - Jean Claude, Cello and Leaf Longhopper.  Leaf was adopted by someone who said they didn't want a white rabbit.  But once they met the guy, they fell in love.  We now have three more coming in from another shelter so have to get ready for them.  We are never not full.

 

That's so exciting that you had some buns get adopted! YAY! I was looking on the SaveABunny website and you guys have soooo many beautiful rabbits. I want to take them all home!

Sending healing vibes to Monique!!!!

I'm happy to hear so many got adopted over the weekend. We were just there on Sunday to try and bond our bun, but she wasn't having it. She even sprayed Shaddo in the face. She was spayed today, so we are excited to see you guys again in a month! Did the tiny bunny (Tuxie) that came in on Sunday find a home yet?

Lol...I am envisioning this queen of the tunnel duel...do you suppose sometimes bunnies leave cecals just as a kind of 'in your face' thing?
The spraying reminds me of when Mimzy first arrived here with his two REW compatriots. You know those 'spitting' lawn sprinklers that turn in half circles and then jet back the other way? Those two would dance past one another like jousters and at the last minute kick out with their hind legs and splat each other with a fountain of wee, then bink off in opposite directions.
Funniest ballet I've ever seen.

Hi Mark - Sending vibes to all at SaveABunny; I was very sorry to hear of Monique's passing. At least she is no longer suffering; I think you and your veterinarian made the right decision for her. (((Binky Free, Monique)))

Bunday News March 8, 2012

I took Monique to see Dr. Harvey today and she was thinking that it might be time to let her go. While she went out to call Marcy about it I sat and talked to Monique who was telling me that she was tired and hurting and just wanted to go away. So when Dr. Harvey returned I was happy that Marcy told her to go ahead with the euthanasia otherwise I would have fought Marcy on it. I was surprised how sad I got - I'd say I was just as upset as I was when Tippy passed. It was my first time ever euthanizing another creature. The necropsy showed fibrous tissue growth with very little normal lung tissue and the growth was attaching to other organs as well. So, it was cancer and rather advanced too. We were amazed she held up so well for so long. It was definitely the right call.

Of course, after the short grieving, it was time to head to San Francisco Animal Care and Control and pick up another rabbit. Now named Tori, she is a little girl that has had a bad case of poopy butt at the shelter. When she got here, I gave her a bath, cleaned her up and so far she's had nothing but normal droppings. She's a love and I"m pretty sure she'll be adopted soon. As will both Jack Daniels and Cookie Dough who arrived on the 6th. Hopefully the photographer will come by soon. Still having some trouble naming the white bunny from the wild. Most of the names I've come up with have already been used or sound too much like something else.

I'm also working on Marcy's glass work molds. They were in need of some major repair and of course I used power tools which made them even worse. So after a few hours of hand sanding, they're now ready to be used again. Although not 'directly' shelter work, a lot of what she makes she then sells and all the profits go straight to SaveABunny.

Oh, forgot to mention that we're bonding Capone with another Dutch. Needless to say the first hour was quite an interesting time. They're now tolerating each other, even eating from the same hay rack in the same litter box and we've caught Capone grooming the other rabbit a few times now. There's still some issues here and there but no chasing and no real fighting. So seems he's found a friend and a forever home.

BTW, if anyone has a line on a licensed contractor who'd be willing to do charity work for a tax write off, we desperately need one of the floors here resurfaced or completely replaced. I think it's about 400 square feet and we would love a new concrete floor that's level and maybe with a drain. Right now it is basically four old, uneven patio concrete slabs with a thin sheet of linoleum on top that needs to be replaced every 6 months as the rabbits tear it to pieces.

 

As for Tuxie (I'm assuming the little black bun with the balance issues) her name is now Blue Ivy Carter and she's in a foster home right now and we're doing what we can for her.  She's still having issues and we're trying to make sure she doesn't splay due to it.

Bunday News March 12, 2012

I know that the time between entries is increasing. Half of it is due to being so busy, the other half is that things are beginning to get 'routine' for me so they don't seem important to report. That's one of the problems. When crises are the daily routine, only the extreme catastrophies get notice.

We had a few adoptions over the weekend. Cello was adopted and when his new slave arrived to pick him up, she also fell in love with Cookie Dough. Because she was well known to Marcy and a very good rabbit person, we gave her a two for one special and she took them both home with her. Also adopted was Leaf Longhopper and boy was he pissed! He's normally a very friendly guy but when we put him into a cardboard carrier to go home, he chewed a 6 inch rip through the side of it in under 3 minutes. And when Marcy went to transfer him to a plastic carrier, he tried to bite her! My guess - he's claustrophobic. His new name is Sir Longhopper.

Tuba came back from his adoptive family. I don't know the reason but he's turned into a bit of a surly rabbit now. He was so friendly before so we're not sure what happened at the home. So now it's time to rehabilitate him. Unfortunately, he's a large bunny so we put him into an X-pen but apparently he's also quite a strong rabbit and has been leaping the 30" walls. We've topped it now so hopefully he won't just blow through the sheet.

Blue Ivy Carter came for another visit and she seemed a bit worse. Since I had been working on cleaning ears, I figured I'd give her's a once over since she can't really reach them. That's when I discovered something strange. It looked like her left ear didn't have an ear canal. There was a black chunk of dirt at the bottom of it but it didn't seem to go through to the skull. And when I tried to clean the dirt, she went into a seizure. She's slotted to go to a doctor to see about it. This might explain a lot and who knows - it might make things a little easier to deal with.

I got to see what happens when I let Emmett's ear go a day without cleaning as I took a holiday on Saturday and came back Sunday. Let's just say that I didn't have lunch that day. The guy is so sweet and patient though it's hard not to love him.

Marcy now has me dressing 'more appropriately' as she wants me to take over more duties. Although I'm happy to do so, my problem is that my unemployment insurance is going to run out in two months and I really need to find a real job. I keep on asking her about being hired on full time but without a grant, that's not possible. She does need another full time staffer but I can't do it for free. Got bills and such and I don't think PG&E will take cute bunny pictures as payment.

Bunday News March 18, 2012

Another busy weekend - in the rain.  We played "Hot Bunny" with a couple of local shelters - sending one rabbit out to them, bringing one back from them.  It is often done to help well known and visited shelters to have rabbits that are very adoptable while we take the cranky and sick and turn them into more likable ones.  It's a thankless job (well actually many people DO thank us).  So most of my Saturday was in the car driving rabbits around Northern California.  Also had to pack and ship out a lot of things that were bought off of Etsy/eBay.  100% of the profits of course go to the rabbits.

We had Dr. Debra Sheester (I never get her last name right) come over on Sunday to bond a rabbit she got from us previously.  We wound up with Chi-anna going home with her.  Although Lops tend to move quicker, Chi-anna has a chronic ear issue that the Dr. can take care of.  During the bonding, we got some free Vet check-ups for a few of our sicker patients.

Right now, Olaf isn't doing so well.  He's still congested and we just started him on a new medication - which he didn't like - so much so that I actually thought he was having a bad reaction to the medication.  But he's his usual self now although I'm keeping an eye on him just in case.

I've just finished refurbishing the last condo in the outer room.  Now if I only knew how to pour concrete, I could fix the floor too.  That just leaves the inner room although I have fixed a couple here already (the ones that were in dire need of it).  All in all, things are going well for the buns.

As for myself, I realized that I've worked 27 of the last 30 days.  I've decided that I need more time off as I'm starting to make more and more mistakes.  You just want to help them all the time but when you reach a certain point, you just need a break.  

Oh, and there were three different volunteers this weekend who thought I was a vet.  I didn't realize it until then that I do know a lot about bunnies and their health and short of any form of operation, I can do just about anything for them.  It's weird when the vet asks ME as to what we should get for the rabbit.

Gee, Mark. Sounds like you should go to vet school then

Yeah Mark! Come on over to WSU; maybe they'll let you join my class! Seriously though, it sounds like you're exhausted. You all do so much; I couldn't even imagine!

Sorry it's been a while. I've recently found a new job (one that is actually paying the bills) and had to stop working all the time at SaveABunny. But it was definitely the most rewarding job I ever had in my 25 years of various jobs. I'm now taking two nights a week to make the hay holders that SaveABunny sells, The gentleman who did so before has recently passed on due to cancer but before he left us, he gave us a legacy by building a small shop on the site so we can continue to make them in his memory.

Congrats on getting a new job, but I know your heart is with SaveABunny.
It's great that you're taking over for the kind gentleman who made the hay holders. It makes you his legacy there.
I will check out their website to take a look at the holders.

Congratulations on your new job! I know they miss having you at SaveABunny everyday and I can imagine it was the most rewarding job you ever had...who wouldn't love that!

That was very forward thinking of that gentleman. What an amazing thing to do! And good on you for continuing to help where you can.

Congrats in the new job!!!