Curly Sue really scared me tonight. Our three buns are usually very active, they are all around a year old and have a lot of energy. When I let them out, either into the house or on thir special "veranda" play area, they are always dying to get out, standing on their hind legs. I got home from work tonight, let them out, gave the bunnies their greens, and went into the garage to put up a shelf. When I was done and came back into the house, Curly Sue was sitting in an awkward position inside their pen. She just looked wrong, so I tried to give them each a treat. DJ and Deanna wolfed theirs down, but Curly Sue refused. She also refused fresh herbs from the garden, which got me worried. She was just sitting in a strange position, half flopped and half sitting. I separated her from the other guys, got some of her favorite greens (herbs and blackberry branches) and even gave her some of the babies’ alfalfa hay. She would not touch anything.
Now I was really worried. I called Auntie Heather and she told me to watch her for the next 90 minutes and if she did not eat or poop, we’d have to start considering treatment for stasis. I sat in the play area with Curly Sue and massaged her tummy and gave her pets. Her ears were warm, so I wasn’t too worried about immediate problems, but she still would not eat. After about a half an hour, on a whim, I picked up a piece of cardboard and offered it to her to play tug-o-war with me. She started eating the paper off of the cardboard! I offered her a sprig of parsley, and she inhaled it. She jumped into the litter box, started eating the alfalfa hay and made a couple of poops. At that point I knew she was OK.
I wonder if she really was feeling sick or I was just overreacting again. My wife and kids are out of town; Heather suggested that she might be just sad because the girls are away. Whatever the reason, she really scared me. When she finally hit the pellet bowl and started eating I felt like I had just won the Super Bowl!
Crazy bunny people….