Hi everyone,

I came across this site when I was looking up some information on bunnies, and I was so impressed by the information here as well as the supportive forum, that I decided to join =) This is rare for me – I don’t use forums often.  However, I just got a new bunny – his name is Leroy and he is the sweetest, nicest, most adorable little bunny I’ve ever met. Ok, aside from Little Suger.  I had Little Sugar when I was much younger and she was a great bunny – put up with whatever I wanted to do, let me hold and pet her, she wasnt even too bad about having her nails done. Despite the fact that my parents never let me get her spayed (like I said, I was only in grade school when I got her so what my parents decided was law, since I had no money ) she never had any of the territorial issues commenly seen in unfixed buns that I’ve been reading about.  She lived to be 8 too, which, I’ve now found out is old, given the fact that they’re prone to reproductive cancers.  Anyway, I didn’t know too much about rabbits then – like I said, I was little.  I’ve been dying to get a pet for some time now; it’s just too quiet around the house without one, and a rabbit seemed like a good choice.  I’m determined to do things the right way this time around, and as much as I’ve been reading, it seems like I still have questions…

Anyway, first a little about my Leroy.  He’s a mini rex, broken grey and white.  About a year old.  I got him from a local humane society, so he’s been neutered.  He has such a quirky personalitly and warmed up to me right away.  When I’m lying on the floor reading, he’ll come over and sniff all around me and sometimes hop up and sit on my back.  When I’m on my laptop on the floor, I have a problem though, he gets a bit jealous and will climb all over the keyboard and try to bite at the screen – he actually ripped out two keys once when he was particularily upset about me not paying enough attention to him – fortunately, they clip in and I was able to put them back.  He loves being petted, and he’ll tolerate being picked up, though once I’m holding him, I can sit still with him in my arms forever and he seems to enjoy it.  It’s holding him to trim his nails that he sometimes struggles.  But I’ve been working with him.  Sometimes I’ll just hold him and get the clippers out and pretend to snip each of his nails and then let him go – he always gets a crasin for nail trims, even if I didn’t really take anything off.  The little bun has the BEST litter box habits ever.  He’s only ever had one accident outside the box, and that was on the day I brought him home.  He peed on me bed; I think in part that was just marking his new home becasue when I brough him home, it was only 2 weeks after his neuter surgery, so he might have had some active hormones left in him, and also I think he was a little scared and overwhelmed.  Other than the occasional poop being flung out of the litter box, I haven’t had any problems with him in that regard.  He’s a voracious eater and will eat almost any veggie I give him – expect spinach.  I tried a few leaves with him a couple times.  the first time he ate one whole leaf and then ignored the rest, the second time he started eating a leaf and spit it back out.  It didn’t seem to disagree with him – he didn’t have any runny poo or anything after he ate the leaf, but maybe he just doesn’t like the taste I’ve been working my way though the list posted on the House Rabbit Society website, so far he seems to really really like cilantro, and as a treat, he loves having a fresh cherry (pit removed first, of course) – they turn his lips all red   He also eats tons of hay, so I’m hoping we won’t ever have any GI issues.

As far as pellets go, I’m not sure how much I should feed… He’s 2.23kg which is 4.9lbs, according to Google.  I’ve been giving him 1/8 cup in the morning and 1/8 in the evening, but I don’t know if that’s enough… I know he likes his pellets, but he always seems so hungry when I go to his food bin and he realizes he’s getting fed (I feed at about the same time every day, and he’s started to wake me up on the weekends when it’s time for breakfast – he doesn’t know I don’t have to work those days and that I’m allowed to sleep in! lol).  He gets unlimited hay and veggies when I go home for lunch and then before I go to bed, so about a cup and a half a day of veggies. Anyway, the thing about the pellets is, that I accidentally bought the wrong kind and was unable to return them… they’re alfalfa based – at least, I think, that was the fiorst ingredient listed – which I know is richer than he needs, which is why i was going to limit him to 1/4 cup per day instead of giving him closer to 1/2 cup.  As for the details of the pellets, crude protein min. 17%, crude fat min. 2.3%, crude fiber max. 22%, calcuim 0.4-0.9%, phosphorous min 0.3%, salt min. 0.3-0.8%.  What do you guys think? Should I just buy a different kind, gradually switch him over, and then trash the rest of this, or will it be ok for me to finish the 10lb bag?  Also, there were the dumb little colored “treats” and dried carrots and papaya in there, and I know theyre not supposed to have those – couldn’t tell from reading the bag that it was going to have those things.  Anyway, I sat there and sifted through all of it and picked out all those bits, and now use them as very rare treats.

Ok, now for my biggest question.  I’ve noticed some raw patches on his hocks.  From everything I’ve read, it sounds like he has “sore hocks” but theyre just pink and missing fur, not open wounds and Leroy doesn’t seem to be bothered by them.  He’s had them since I brought him home from the shelter, so he probably got them from sitting on the hard, stainless steel cage floor.  His cage here – yes, I have to keep him in a cage when I’m gone becasue my roommate isn’t too comfortable with him and she usually gets home from work earlier than me, so he has to stay in his cage unless I’m home.  But he gets out to play in his big pen (I don’t know how big it is, but it takes up half of our large living room) for at least 4 hours every night, and about 45 minutes when I come home for lunch – sometimes in the morning too, but I’m always in such a rush, I sometimes can’t let him out ).  Anyway, his cage does have a wire floor, but i’ve completely covered it with cardboard, he has a big litter box in one corner and a fleece cat bed in the other (and lots of toys!), so he should be ok on those surfaces, right?  He loves lounging in the bed, does flops all the time.  When he’s out in his pen, he’s on carpet – which I’ve heard might rub his paws raw, but I don’t know what else to do about it, I’ve been looking for those big square foam ish tiles that I saw in some of the pictures here, but cant find them in any local stores… Any suggestions?  Also, the little bugger thumps alot, I’m not sure why, a lot of times, he thumps with seemingly no provocation (he thumps sometimes after I’ve been holding him and he was getting impatient and wanting down).  I’ve head that might aggravate it.  Also, when I got him at the beginning of this month, his nails were fairly long… I’ve been working to get the quick down so I can keep his nails shorter.  I know because he’s a rex, it might be just that he has less than adequate fur pads.   Also, I clean his litter boxes twice a day, so he’s never sitting in filth, and like I said, he doesn’t go anywhere but his boxes.  Anyway, I’ve heard a lot of different home remedies for this – since they’re not bleeding or anything, just lacking fur, I want to try some home fixes before taking him to the vet.  Any suggestions for what works best?  New-skin maybe? Or just cleaning with soap and water?  I don’t want to make them worse which is why I’ve been hesitant to try anything.  I’ve been monitoring them, and they don’t seem to be getting bigger… about the size of an Alleve pill is the only way I can describe it… about the size of these smiley faces (depending on your screen res though, that might not be accurate)…

Ok, sorry for such a long post – congrats if you got through all of it, lol. I’m just so excited about my bunny!  By the way, he’s gotten used to me now so he runs up to me when I come to play with him in his pen!

Thanks!