Bailey goes for round 2 – emergency surgery last night

[sharper]

 Let me start off with I think I’m a horrible rabbit mom.  I feel horrible for letting this happen.  I feel just freaking awful.  So any responding comments relating to that, I don’t want to hear.  I’m just going to let yal know how our wonderful night went.

Bailey’s wound had been completely healed for a little over a week now.  It’s fully healed skin, just without fur in that spot.  My vet gave me the go-ahead on getting them to bond during supervised playtimes.  I started this last weekend.  I posted about the success and that I was so excited how well it was going.  The first day, Hailey did a couple of light nips at Bailey’s back/rump area.  A couple squirts of the water bottle at her and it completely went away.  No humping, no biting every day after that.  In fact, Bailey hadn’t done her humping at all since the last injury of getting a bad bite to her genitals. They have been completely supervised, and still caged separately.  All I saw had been grooming by both, they would lay side by side, legs to one side, play with their toys near each other, binkies, eat treats together — It was like good buddies catching up on the times.  

Last night was just like the previous nights.  They played around in the kitchen, but were a little quiet which I think was related to the rain storm outside.  They ate some yoggies and plopped down side by side.  It was a little after 11pm, and it was about bed time.  Time to clean up, get the rabbits to bed and call it a night.  I was standing right there, turned around to dump out the litter box.  My eyes were off of them for 1 second.  

*squeeel!!*…..Are you freaking kidding me?

I turn around as Bailey is running as far away to the other side of the room.  There is a clump of fur on the floor, but no skin this time.  I thought maybe just some fur came out and Bailey was startled by it.  I calmly said, “Okay guys, play time is over.”  I go to comfort Bailey and start to feel around her back and rump for any injuries – none.  I pick her up to examine her belly – Oh My God…..her side was split on her underside.  It was split down and to her inner thigh, kind of like the shape of a wishbone or a “Y”.  The skin was open, but there was no blood.  Actually, her under epidermis was still intact.  I didn’t even know they had a 2nd skin underneath till last night.  It was transparent, so I could still see her muscle and everything, but that thin layer was just holding everything in – no blood.  But Bailey is in super pain.  Her breathing was crazy and she didn’t look good.  Maybe if it was way smaller of a cut, I’d wait till morning.  But no way, not something this big.

And just like the last injury – this happened on a Wednesday night – the perfect time.  Because for some reason the emergency clinic that specializes in  rabbits nearby only specializes in rabbits every day of the week except Wednesdays.  It was about 11:30 when I got in touch with the Emergency Animal Clinic in Southlake/Grapevine, which is about 40-45 mins away.  This E-vet is HIGHLY specialized in rabbits, but just so far.  The lady says that the office visit is $97, but after midnight, it goes up to $150.  So here we are speeding our way there in the pouring rain.

We get there with 5 mins to spare.  But she doesn’t get looked at till about 12:30.  They immediately take her into surgery.  She went under for about 45 mins.  They shaved her, clipped the wound, cleaned her out, sewed her up, and put her in an e-collar.  I maxed out my credit card to pay for it.  They wanted to send me home with Metacam, but I still had plenty from the last injury, so I was able to take that off of the cost.  

We got home about 3am.  I layed down towels in a clean plastic bottom cage.  I set up her litterbox, water bottle and even though I didn’t think she would eat, I set up a bowl of veggies, pellets and put a nice pile of hay in the corner.  She was really groggy last night from the surgery.  I wiped the sleepy watery discharge from her eyes and the saliva under her chin.  She just laid there and fell asleep immediately.

And last night, my boyfriend and I had the same discussion that we had after the first injury….maybe Hailey should go back to the SPCA.  I had contacted them after the last injury about my rabbits that were supposedly this bonded pair, were not getting along.  They told me that if it’s not working out, that maybe Hailey is just a one-rabbit gal.  So she might need to come back to the shelter to find a new home.  Well, we didn’t take her back.  We thought we’d try this bonding thing again after Bailey healed up.  That was last time.  And now here I am trying to make this decision again.

When I wanted to adopt a rabbit, it was just one.  One cage, one litter box, one little bitty rabbit.  Then SPCA told me they are a bonded pair, so I’d still have one cage, one litter box, and twice the love.  Now I’m faced with having 2 cages, 2 litterboxes, 2 separate scheduled playtimes (which as been a pain), twice the drama and a maxed out credit card.  This is not what I wanted.  I’m already a petting zoo with a dog, cat, 2 rats, and 2 rabbits in a small rented town home.  One less cage would make it seem like less of a zoo.  So I feel so freaking awful thinking about it, but if an animal isn’t working out, I think I might take her back.  We are going to think about it for a little while and decide.  It’s just so upsetting because Hailey is such a great rabbit.  She’s affectionate, she loves to play, does the crazy binkies, so happy, has a great personality….she just snaps so unpredictable at Bailey.  I’d hate to take her back, and it makes me feel really awful.  I feel like this is all my fault and I did something wrong in taking care of them and dealing with their behavior.  I just don’t know what to do.  But I look at Bailey and I don’t want this for her.  How did I let this happen to her.  I’m kicking myself for it….a lot.

Update on her this morning:

I couldn’t believe it, but when I went to see her, her bowl of salad was all gone.  Perfect poopies were all over her cage.  I guess she can’t get into the litter box, but that’s okay.  And there was a pee spot in the corner.  She seemed alert this morning, walking around, eating her breakfast.  She has a little bit of trouble eating with the cone in her way.  The cone pretty much just pushes her veggies out of the bowl.  But once she gets a piece of romaine, she lays in her cone and eats off of it like a plate.  She’s figuring it out.  I just keep picking up her veggies and putting them back into her bowl. She had sleepy stuff around her eyes, so I cleaned it up, but she wouldn’t let me get under her chin this morning.  So I tried to slide a paper towel between her chin and the cone and let it set there for a couple seconds – that’s as much as she’ll let me do.

I’ll try to get pics later this evening.  For right now, I’m just trying to get through a day of work with no sleep.

[Sarita]

Oh no! I’m glad she was able to get stitched up and all is well now. Those rides to the emergency vets can be STRESSFUL.

I’m not sure what to tell you about Hailey…I know you will make the best decision for you and for her.

[Beka27]

I’m not going to judge you at all. That’s really not our style here. We try to offer advice the best we can given the situation, while recognizing that people have different methods of doing things. And with that said, it’s not your fault that this happened. Two females are hard to bond. It sucks that they led you to believe they were fully bonded, when in reality, they must have just stuck them together. You did what was right, you don’t split up a “bonded pair”, but like I said, it sucks that they’re not really bonded, or they’resort of bonded, but with some obvious issues.

You need to decide if you should take Hailey back, I can’t halp you out with that. Can you find out what their policies are? Are they a no-kill shelter, have the other seized rabbits been adopted out yet or are they all still waiting there? Do they work with foster homes? There is a chance that she won’t be adopted out if you take her back, but I agree, you need to do what is best for you and for your family.

If you’re positive that you cannot keep her separately, I’m not sure what else you can do. I’d suggest maybe you could “foster” her for the shelter until they can line up another home, but some rabbits can be in foster homes for years before someone comes along to adopt. So that would probably not work in this situation.

[LittlePuffyTail]

{{{{{Get well Vibes for Bailey}}}}}

[Balefulregards]

Let me tell you what I would tell parents who were looking for child care.

Not every place is right for every child. And not every home is right for every rabbit.

You may have to make a decision that One rabbit is enough. Bonding – from what I read – is a tricky thing at best and some rabbits never bond. Just like there are people in the world that I will Never be friends with, no matter what. Same sex bonding with females is hardest of all – which is why we have remained a one rabbit family. Nearly all the boys at our local places are already bonded with another boy or girl and so are unavailable.

Perhaps a rabbit rescue in your area HAS a single boy or a choice of single boys who Bailey can “date”, if you really want a two rabbit pair – in exchange for someone else fostering Hailey. Hailey may simply be a one rabbit/one home type of gal. She has really hurt Bailey Twice now – Injuries serious enough that had she not been in your care Bailey would have died from infection or shock.

There is nothing wrong or weak in admitting the fit isn’t right for your human and animal family.

[bunnytowne]

OH  nooo   another serious injury .    Well you can’t help it if the adoption place told you they were bonded.  Waht were you supposed to believe how would you have known they weren’t going to work out together.  Lets move onto the future.    If you do choose to return the bunny  fine and well.  You and yours will have to really think it through I am certain and do what you think is best for all of you.  That is really all you can do.   You just do your best and move on from there.

You have most definitely did your best caring for the 2 girls.  Sometimes things just don’t work out.  It is hard having to keep 2 buns seperated.  I have one in the living room and the other in the bathroom.  I won’t try rebonding them. Cotton is just too jealous. This situation works for us here but it may not work for you.  

If it is just too much keeping them seperate then it is too much.  If not then it is fine too.  It isn’t like you didn’t even try. May things work out for all whichever way you decide.

[wendyzski]

You know we’ll support whatever you do, but I really have to think they aren’t going to work it out.

Pepper is a determinedly single bun so I know what you are going through.  Things looked promising at the bunny date but I only had Roscoe for a week before she had him terrorized.  She only bit him once and not seriously, but she got me a couple of times and kept growling and charging the fence between them and by the end of the week he was terrified and hiding in the litterbox!  I brought him back to the shelter and a couple of weeks later he found his own forever home.

I don’t think that you are in any way a bad bunny mom.  I think you’ve done the best you could after they basically lied to you.

[Sarita]

I really don’t think they lied to you. I think perhaps the stress of the shelter and their former situation just made them cling to each other and now they are more comfortable and Hayley is just not the needy rabbit anymore – she still obviously loves human interaction but perhaps does not need another rabbit now that she feels more secure in her surroundings.

Many times rabbits behaviors change when they go from a shelter situation to a real home situation and become more confident and comfortable.

[wendyzski]

I was on IM with friend who has had rabbits for years (stealthbunny from LJ rabbitowners and houserabbits) , both singles and pairs, and these were some of the things she said

“once they’ve hurt each other that bad, they’ve pretty much got it in for each other. 

“once in a stable environment, the dominant one has to re-establish…(I mentioned the 2 emergency surgery visits) oh, man! that bad? Yeah, they HAVE to be seperated!   AT this point, the dominate HATES the sub, and the sub is traumatized  and it’s not fair to either to keep trying.   if she can’t part with either, then they need to be kept in separate parts of the house permanently, and don’t be surprised if the dom bites anyone who smells like the sub. Thats’ SERIOUS hatred there.”

So an uninvolved but bunny-saavy 3rd party says it’s better for all concerned if you stop, and either send one back or foster them entirely separated

[Sarita]

Oh, I agree I would not at this point ever put them back together – I just don’t believe she was lied too by the shelter either.

[KatnipCrzy]

You did a wonderful thing by trying to give TWO bunnies a loving home- and you have provided all care necessary- so you have NOTHING to feel guilty about or defend yourself for. 

I feel bad for you because I know that you are facing a difficult decision about Hailey.  But you have to do what is best for you and the bunnies.  It is one thing to separate 2 bunnies that don’t get along, but to separate 2 bunnies that will unpredictably result in serious wounds?  I can not fault you for eliminating the possibility of further wounds and the stress of monitoring them.

I have to agree- I don’t think the shelter lied to you- from the pics that were posted of the hoarder mulitple bunnies were kept together in small quarters- they probably did not fight for survival reasons.  But now  they are in a home their personality is no longer stunted by horrific conditions.  Those poor bunnies probably had other issues like getting enough to eat that typical heirachy rabbit behavior was not an issue.

[jerseygirl]

So sorry to hear of your difficulties! Such a hard decision to make also – especially as you’ve gotten to know Hailey also. How long did the shelter have them after they were removed from that place? I remember seeing pics of multiple rabbits all caged together – there could have been fights previously, perhaps involving other rabbits. Did the shelter go thru a bonding process with these two?

Are there any family members willing to help you out? That could house her?

((Healing vibes for Bailey)) ((Ideal outcome vibes for Hailey)) ((shaper & bf))

[bunnymama]

Sharper- I know what you are feeling. Although my 2 females have not seriously hurt each other, I feel it is just a matter of time before they do. I’ve had several close calls where we’ve pulled them apart with clenched teeth into each other. You have opened your heart and home to these little bunnies but if it is causing you financial and or emotional burdens then you must do something to remedy the situation. When I took my second female I committed to the family I would always love and keep her and when #2 repeatedly chased,nipped and hurt my first bunny – it broke my heart. My mother said to take #2 to the shelter but I couldn’t -she had already found a place in my family. So I keep them apart and it’s not easy but I do it because I love these two little crazy bunnies and know that no one else could love them like we do. I feel since both of them had no exercise, correct diet or human contact — they deserve to be here and be spoiled.. I’m trying to date #1 to a male but no luck with the first round of 4 suitors. But I am gonna try again. #1 is loving and affectionate to humans. #2 is pretty laid back but not happy that #1 is around.

You have cared for those buns the best way you know how. I would tho NOT try to bond them again. Obvioulsy something is wrong with thier relationship and I would keep them separate if you keep them both. Only you can determine if you can handle keeping them apart. I have each rabbit in a different bedroom and then one has access to the front of the house and the other to the back of the house and a dog gate separates thier areas in my hallway.

Take your time to make the decision (give yourself more time, don’t rush into anything) — whatever you do will be the right thing for you and healing vibes to Bailey and loving vibes to Hailey….and bunny mama vibes to you Sharper….

[sharper]

 Hmm now I’m on poop patrol.

Yesterday evening, there were a couple of really wet poopies that were just mush and almost black in color.  just saw about 2.  I don’t know if they were cecal or not.

Then last night before we went to bed, I noticed just a couple of little round dry poopies, light in color.  Really small. That made me worry through the night.

This morning, I woke up to see her drinking from the water bottle – finally, but the water level isn’t moving as fast as it should be.  And the poops are back to being normal in size, which is good.  but they are still really light in color and dry.  She didn’t eat all of her supper.  There are still veggies laying around.  That may be cause she has troubles getting to them once things are on the floor.

I don’t see any cecal pellets on the cage floor, so maybe she’s getting to them somehow?

 

i have a lot more to learn about rabbit poop, i think.

 

wound looks good this morning, but she’s still constantly pulling and tugging at her collar. 

[Sarita]

Sometimes after anaesthesia and all those pain meds for surgery they get very odd and stinky poops – I think it’s just everything going through their system.

I would wonder too how she’s getting cecals with that huge collar on.

Is she still getting pain meds?

How long do you have to keep the collar on?

[sharper]

 I keep sorting through all of her poops and not finding any cecal.  She’s eating a ton of hay more than her actual food, so I’m thinking that’s why her poop is so light in color.  

She is getting 3 drops of metacam every day for 2 weeks (when she gets her stitches out) for pain.

She has the collar on whenever I don’t have my eye on her.  Last night, I took the collar off of her, and within 5 minutes, she was messing with the stitches.  She gets to hang with me on the couch without her collar, but mostly she has it on. I looked really close at it today, and it seems that one stitch has already come out.  but the wound is still closed together, so that’s fine…as long as none of the others come out. 

She is running around the livingroom right now with the collar on, and she’s actually barely touching her mouth to the floor to smell things, so I’m thinking might be getting them okay.  It looks difficult, though.

[sharper]

actually…I just set a raisin on the floor and it took her a few seconds but she ate it. yay!

I put her in her cage, and she kept trying to get to her tail.  I thought she was just trying to get to her stitches, then some cecal pellets came out – whew!  I watched to see if she could get to them.  She tried and she could get to them but it was difficult and she gave up.  So I picked them up and she actually ate them directly out of my hand – YAY!  What a relief

[Sarita]

Funny! I’m glad you are both managing.

[bunnytowne]

EEeww cecals  but yeah she needs them good for you. Glad that part worked out for you and her.  I agree that they have to be seperated permanently.    If that is too much to handle return the one to the center.   Thats all you can do. 

I wish you the best and I am sure if you surrender a bunny that she will be ok and will find another home more suited for her.  Bunnies can be very vicious to each other sometimes.  I know if I was holding a male Cotton would try to kill it. 

Now is time for her to heal and it seems to be working out well with the hay eating.  You are doing a good job with both of them.

[MooBunnay]

I’m glad to hear that she is doing so well with the cone. She must be one little tough rabbit. I’m sorry to hear about the decision you have to make, it would not be easy on me either. I have a blind bunny that I tried really hard to bond but other bunnies moving around her always scares her and she turns around and bites them. What I ended up doing when I was living in a small apartment was building a very long-ish NIC condo, and then kind of cutting it in half to make two cages. They were not absolutely GIANT cages but both sides are fairly long and have two stories. Then, when I am home each bunny has separate times out to play. The *warning* I have about this is that you have to make absolutely sure that one bunny cannot somehow chew something loose and get in the other bunny’s cage because then they could get into a big fight when you are not home. Even though the cages were not big, I reasoned that the bunnies would be better off with me than in a shelter where they might get put to sleep. I can totally understand if you are overwhelmed though, it isn’t easy, but I would recommend maybe just giving yourself a few weeks to think everything through, when things calm down a bit and you aren’t rushing to the ER so much, see how things are and then I would recommend making a decision after that.

You may also want to see if there are any local rabbit rescues around that can give you some opinions on the matter, though they rarely have open spaces to add new bunnies, they may be able to provide you some more advice or help.

[sharper]

SPCA won’t call me back after leaving a message and everytime I call, I get put on hold forever. So I’m giving up on contacting SPCA.

The North Texas Rabbit Sanctuary is close to me, but their website says they are at capacity and cannot take any more rabbits. But I guess I can foster her till they can find a home for her. I don’t know about bonding with another rabbit.

As far as NIC condos – I like having cages that are portable. I’ve paid the max pet deposit and max pet rent every month on my townhome, but I’ve only mentioned my cat and dog. So anytime maintenance needs to come work on something, the cages are moved upstairs into the studio. I don’t think they would care since my last apartment didn’t care at all and these new people are even more lenient, but I still move the cages as precaution. I’d love to make a NIC condo because I have the perfect place for it – but I’m too scared LOL I need to get a better feel about my landlord first.

[ScooterandAnnette]

You can always put them in NIC condos and then move them into something portable if someone is going to be coming into the apartment. If they know you have a cat then you can just say it’s for the cat. Cats love climbing in things.

I don’t think you’re a bad bunny mom at all. We’ve got 5 bunnies – was 6 – that we were hoping to have all bonded. 4 of them were bonded, and then we adopted a pair of bonded females (we’ve got 1 male in total). One of the new ones and one of the 4 (Reno) just hated each other. We tried and tried to get them bonded, and in one session of “we’ll just let them have some time outside the cages together” well Keelie attacked Reno and although we thought she looked okay she turned out to have a hole in her ear, which became a tear in her ear, which then resulted in her having part of the ear amputated. So we’re well aware of how viscious these cuddly little critters can be, and how quickly it can happen.

I’d definitely look into a condo so that you can keep both but keep them separated.
– Annette

[skunklionshow]

I went through something similar….Jessica & Oreo (2 females) were bonded very well.  They were great buds until one day.  Jessica was viciously attacked & req’d emergency surgery.  Oreo cut into part of her abdomen wall so it was very touch & go for a while.  She was on cage rest for almost a month.  I was NEVER able to rebond them again.

I tried to even keep them in the room together one in a cage the other out.  Oreo would go for Jess through the bars & vice versa.  I had very similar feelings to what you are going through.  I made the decision to house Oreo in our pet therapy program, but I was NEVER able to bring her into my home again. 

When it was time for me to leave that job, I decided that I could only take 1 other rabbit w/ me.  I was able to bond Jess to our lion head rabbit, Leo.  Oreo stayed at the program w/ Trigger.  I had made arrangements w/ our main site’s pet therapy program that if my colleagues were unable to continue the program at my old school that the main site would take them in.  I had learned about 6 months later that 2 of my former students (brothers) took home Trigger, which ended tragically.  Another staff took home Oreo.  As far as I know she is doing well.

My thought is to contact the rabbit rescue directly and tell them that you are in a real bind & give them your whole story.  Engage in discussion as to what they suggest & how you can work this out w/ them.  I think they will be accommodating, esp. if you can maybe assist by bonding someone else, even if its just fostering, but I don’t think you should ever try to put Hailey & Bailey together.  All my thoughts are w/ you at this time.

[sharper]

Since Bailey can’t jump into the litterbox without her collar hitting against the edge, she stopped using it altogether. I took it out and have been rotating receiving blankets over and over again throughout the day. She can really make that cage messy. It’s been a never ending job. It never occurred to me until last night that I can just fill the whole cage up with litter since it’s a plastic bottom one. Now I can just scoop up the mess in all the corners of the cage rather than washing blankets over and over again. Whew! Of course, it’s getting scooped up into her collar, but there are holes around the neck that it comes back out of. It’s still messy, but not as much work.

I got a response from the Rabbit Sanctuary here. They told me that the SPCA that I got them from is a no-kill shelter. So it wouldn’t be a problem for Hailey to find a home. Plus, she said that I should take her back to the SPCA rather than to the Sanctuary because I signed a contract saying I would.

But now my boyfriend is going back on the idea of taking Hailey back. Apparently he’s bonded too much and wants to keep both. Of course he wants to keep both, because I’m the one doing all the cleaning, feeding and care. He just gets to play with them – geez! So now we are at a stance on that. I think if he wants to keep Hailey, he can take over the cleaning of her cage, then. But something tells me, he’ll let it get messy. And he’ll forget to feed her, etc., etc. I mean, if he can’t remember to scoop his cat’s litter box everyday, then I have a right to come to those conclusions. And I’m thinking in the near future of when we leave on a vacation and all – trying to find a sitter that will deal with 2 cages/litterboxes and so on.

When I tried arguing with him about it, he wanted us to take Bailey back to the SPCA when she’s healed up – just based on the fact that Hailey uses her litterbox way better in and out of the cage, and doesn’t chew on the baseboards. I argue thats not fair to Bailey and no one is going to want a rabbit with surgery scars and half of a vagina.

[Beka27]

Oh geez. In my mind, one rabbit is not better or worse than another. Littertraining and baseboard chewing is really NOT a big deal in the grand scheme of things. I don’t know what to tell you. He must have really bonded with Hailey and I worry that if she goes back, he’ll start to resent Bailey and make things difficult for you. As “injured bunny” caregiver, you developed a bond to Bailey while nursing her back to health. It doesn’t seem like there will be an easy answer.

[skunklionshow]

When Jessica healed up, she was confined to a small dog cage.  I layered the bottom w/ a pee pee pad and covered it w/ carefresh.  I did not give her a littterbox b/c I thought that was the least of her worries.  I did give her a shoe box.  My vet had her confined to cage rest.  She only came out for her tx (2-3 times a day).  When she was out for tx’s I usually hand fed her and soaked her sores.  She pretty much stayed in my lap.  After several weeks and an OK from the vet she was able to have supervised out of cage time, but not much.

From a psychologists perspective (I’m almost there, just another month), I think you both need a break.  You have both been under a great deal of stress from all this medical drama.  Not only have both bunns been traumatized but so have both of you.  I don’t think this is a decision that you can really make in this moment.  You need some time to adjust to all these changes.  When you have a sick pet, your care time is highly exaggerated.  It often takes you 3 x’s as long (at least) to do your standard care things.  See if you can incorporate him into some of the care.  As a wife, I don’t think your going to get him to do all of Hailey’s care, after all he is a man   But maybe you can get him to do some help.  You need some non-bunny time together.  Take care, you’ll make the right decision when you have time & energy to think more clearly.  Your likely still thinking in crisis like mode.

[MooBunnay]

I agree with Skunklionshow – I would just ask your boyfriend if you can re-visit this once everything is back to a bit more normal. My husband also has a very strong bond with two of our bunnies, in fact, last night, Grace (HIS little girl) was throwing her food dish around and making a racket. So I got up and kind of said “no” and “stop it” in a very stern voice because she was nipping at me while I was trying to remove her dish from the cage. So, even though he didn’t get up to move the dish himself HE told me not to yell at Grace! While I could have been mad, I opted instead to appreciate the fact that I have been lucky enough to find a rabbit-loving guy. We are very fortunate in that way because there are many guys who would NO WAY put up with all the time and money I spend on animals So even though it is very frustrating, there is also an up-side to the whole thing. What we do at my house to split the work is my husband is responsible for litter-box cleaning and hay because I am allergic to hay. I do the rest, and sometimes it can be a bit frustrating, but I try to remind myself I am doing a good thing by making sure that these shelter bunnies have a good life

[jerseygirl]

Posted By skunklionshow on 03/16/2009 3:30 PM From a psychologists perspective (I’m almost there, just another month),

That’s fab! Do let us know when it’s official. After you graduate, maybe you could then study rabbit psychology?…

Sorry to go off topic Sharper^^. I agree with the others. Wait until some time has passed and allow Bailey to fully heal. Once the stress levels have gone down a bit, you may be able to come to a workable solution more easily

[sharper]

Yeah, probably right. I am spending a lot of time in care right now than I think I would if they were both healthy, using their litter boxes, etc. I’ll wait till things get normal again. When we originally got the rabbits, I just sort of took charge of taking care of them and the cleaning cause I enjoyed it so much – because it’s all so new. That part isn’t fun anymore. I definitely need to get him to help now.

And my day was pretty pleasant when Bailey took her medicine without a fight at all. She just sat in my lap and let me do it by myself and without the burrito – woot!

[skunklionshow]

It’s VERY overwhelming when you have to take care of a sick pet and deal w/ the non-sick pets.  In our home, DH is responsible for Lizard cages & fish tank…he is also supposed to do the upstairs cat box, but I would say that happens 1x month I do it the other times.  He also does the AM cat feedings & morning bunny treats & morning pellets (yeah that’s hard work).

I have all cat boxes, bunny condo, hay patrol, night veggies, pm cat feedings, insulin shots for the cat, and feeding the lizards.  DH is “not comfortable” w/ the crickets.  TBH I’m not very comfortable w/ him handling all those responsibilities…when I’m sick he doesn’t do a very thorough job   Not to mention he doesn’t always understand the time sensitivity i.e. you can’t wait to feed the pets just b/c you don’t feel like it.  I tell him that if they could they would go in the frig & prepare their own meals, but they don’t have the physical ability to do that, so they need us for that stuff.

Take some time.  Enjoy your good med days w/ Bailey…and DH.  Keep us posted, I’m confident that you both will be able to make the right decision for everyone when the time is right.

Jersey:  I defend my dissertation 4/9 and complete my pre-doc internship by 7/2.  I will still have to complete 1yr post-doc internship b/f I can sit for my boards.  The never ending hell!  I actually have an animal based study that I hope to do some day, it wasn’t approved for my dissertation…I would like to see what client’s responses are to having animals present in their therapy sessions.  I’d do no animal, 1 pet in a cage, 1pet that free roams in the therapy room.  I came up w/ this idea when we had rabbits free roam in our classroom.  I suspect that clients will be more open to the therapy process & report higher client satisfaction.  OK so nobody steal my plan…sssshhhh

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