Hello from Mr. Bun-Bun in Chicago!

[MayaConsuelo]

Here’s the first picture I took of Mr. Bun-Bun, sitting in my lap in the acupuncture clinic where I work. Mr. Bun-Bun (formerly “Bunny”) was surrendered by a patient who was unable to care for him any longer. As you can see he was handled often and is quite tame. She brought him into the clinic without my knowledge (the clinic owner okayed it.) Initially I was angry, as having an animal in an acupuncture clinic clearly breaks health codes, and as the only practitioner there with house animal experience, I knew it would be up to me to do all the cleaning, feeding, and watering. I get attached to animals way too easily, so I would let him play around when patients weren’t present, and started calling him Bun-Bun.

After a couple of weeks there, he was spending more and more time in my lap, and a lot of patients had met him (all of them loved him, obviously.) I became obsessively worried about Bun-Bun on the days I wasn’t working, because the other people weren’t all animal people and I knew he’d be stuck in his cage all day. I’d call on my days off to nag and make sure he was being cared for, and sometimes came in just to see him. Well the first day he fell asleep in my lap, I knew it was probably a done deal, but dept denying that I’d take him home because I already have two cats.

Anyway he’s been home with me for a little over a week now, and my cats are annoyed but mostly ignoring him. I let him out of his cage whenever I’m home, and his new triple-decker cage should be arriving Monday! As a longtime vegetarian I just realized that food for him won’t be much of an extra expense, if anything he’ll actually help me cut back on waste. I always keep fresh veggies stocked, and too often have to throw away things that have spoiled before I can finish them completely. Especially in the winter here, produce is sketchy and goes bad quickly – now I have Mr. Bun-Bun to help me eat everything!

Mr. Bun-Bun’s bad habit is peeing on my couch. For now I’ve taken the couch cover off so I can clean it more easily – but each time he pees in a different spot! Hopefully after he gets fixed this problem will go away, because I’d like to be able to cuddle with him on the couch without getting soaked in rabbit urine. I think Mr. Bun-Bun will really like his new home with me and the other night I caught him doing his first side flop!

Thanks to everyone who posts here, there is a lot of great info on this forum and I plan on checking it regularly.

[Deleted User]

Welcome to BB! What a pretty rabbit! he must be a mini rex. My favorite! Litter habits improve after neutering, it takes about a month for the hormones to fade and you will then see a big difference.

[bunnyluvr]

He is just beautiful and it looks like he is settling in quite nicely.

[MayaConsuelo]

Oh, kind of a general question – I’ve been feeding him twice a day, I put a very small amount of pellets in the bottom of a bowl and then fill it with various vegetables and greens. Probably about a cup of veg, twice a day. He has unlimited timothy hay all day long. My question is, will bunnies just eat as many veggies as you put in front of them? He generally devours the whole bowl right away. I read that a general guideline is 2 to 4 cups of fresh veggies, since he’s on the small side I’ve been giving him about two cups. Is it even possible for rabbits to overeat on fresh veggies?
I’m used to cats, it’s weird to me that such a small animal eats more than my tubby kitties. Thanks.

[MissKris&Koji]

House Rabbit Society guidelines on veggies is “Minimum 2 cups chopped vegetables per 6 lbs. body weight ” – I think most people here follow their diet guidelines, but I have gotten the impression some people feed more than that, and it does say minimum – not maximum. So I am assuming it is safe to feed more, so long as you up the amount gradually (adding more veggies/new veggies can make rabbit tummies sick).

If you think about it, all that hay and veggies they consume is pretty low in calories. If you ate nothing but celery and lettuce all day you would eat more volume to keep your weight on too. Cat food is super high in fat and protein, which equates to high calories. I know it is shocking how much volume a rabbit can eat (between hay and veggies I think my bunny eats at least twice his size per day) but so long as you don’t feed to many pellets he shouldn’t get fat.

Maybe someone else can give you a better answer on “possible for rabbits to overeat on fresh veg”… I don’t really know, for the sake of my wallet I haven’t tried to feed extreme amounts. I just go with about 1 cup per day for my 2 lb bunny.

[MayaConsuelo]

Hmmm thanks for the advice, I think that sounds about right, they probably can’t overeat on fresh veg… but clearly the only things he won’t eat are the things he doesn’t like (so far squash, peas, carrots, and bell peppers.) I think he’s about 3 lbs and I’m giving him approx. 1.5 to 2 cups of fresh leafy greens and veg, his favorites are cilantro, celery, all types of lettuce and kale, dandelion greens, etc. I’ve had lazy cats for 12 years and I’m used to them picking slowly at their bowl of food all day, switching to this crazy animal where I put a bowl of veg that looks 1/2 his size in front of him, and he inhales it in 2 minutes, is quite strange. But I think that’s normally how bunnies eat I guess? I’m just not used to it. I see animals eating that fast and I think they’re starving, which he’s clearly not!

Also I’m very glad to have found this forum, in spite of my extensive internet research I hadn’t previously realized rabbits were intolerant to heat, although I knew they dehydrate quickly and need a lot of water… I’m glad I read that info here because we’re having the heat wave from hell and I have no A/C. So I’m using the frozen water bottle cozy trick, he seems fine in my disgustingly hot apartment.

[Monkeybun]

Ugh yeah, we have a heat wave here too We broke down and bought an AC unit a few months ago, the heat was just getting too bad here

[jerseygirl]

If you’re not sure what his previous diet was like it’s good anyway to give small amounts and increase from there. If he’s doing well on 1.5 – 2 cups that’s great. You can even wean them off pellets and just feed veg and hay.  Don’t be thinking he’s starving though. They can become little beggars! He can fill up on hay in the meantime.  Because their diets are primarily high fibre, it travels through the system faster so they have to eat large amounts to gain the nutrition they need. Their guts are designed that way. The high fibre also keeps them chewing and keeps their teeth in check.

He really is a gorgeous little rabbit!

[MayaConsuelo]

Thanks to everyone for the advice! I think he had a pellet-based diet previously, with one veggie “treat” per day, which is the reverse of what it should be. He got a lot of exercise though and isn’t overweight. Now I’m primarily giving him pellets to trick him back into his cage, he hears them falling into his bowl and runs back in. He probably gets about a tablespoon of pellets each day, and they’re the good ones (hay-based, no artificial colors.) His main diet is helping me eat all my veggies!
And he’s officially banned from the couch until he’s fixed. It’s a trigger for him now and he pees anytime he’s on it longer than 1/2 minute. We’ll try again after the operation, unfortunately I have to wait a little while because I also have no A/C in my car. I hate air conditioning and didn’t anticipate having an animal friend who needs cooler temps!

[MayaConsuelo]

Here’s Mr. Bun-Bun chilling with one of his favorite toys, a gay pride bracelet. No one in the house is gay but we support gay rights!!

Here’s Mr. Bun-Bun eating his broccoli and carrots like a good boy. These vegetables were scavenged from a deck party vegetable tray, they would have been thrown out after the party. I have a bag of at least 10 more veg meals for Bun-Bun. Rabbits can help eat food that would be wasted! I have too much for him to eat, but I’ll freeze it!

Here’s Mr. Bun-Bun acting like a complete weirdo and resting on a 5 pound weight as if it were a comfortable bed. He was laying on this weight for at least 1/2 an hour. There are cushions and things like that around my apartment, but apparently Bun-Bun would rather relax on a weight.

We had the craziest, cutest cuddle session ever, where Bun-Bun rested his face against my cheek and I petted his face while he chattered his little teeth… for about 10 minutes…. Then later I picked him up and he fell asleep in my arms, snuggled into the crook of my neck. I was standing in the kitchen and just stood there with him in my arms until he woke up 15 minutes later.

I plan on getting someone to film one of these cuddle sessions and send them to every restaurant in Chicago that serves rabbit. I’ve been a longtime vegetarian (about 17 years) and have worked with a lot of animal rights groups… (the friendly and approachable groups.) I’ve been a veg for so long, I’m disconnected and almost never think about it. Having Mr. Bun-Bun in my house has invigorated me, I’m ready to go to the places that serve rabbit and fight! Of course I want to protect all animals, but rabbits are a little easier to defend (for non-vegetarians) since they’re so cute. Anyone who sees a vid of me and Mr. Bun-Bun cuddling, and then eats rabbit meat, is basically someone who could be a serial killer or cannibal. Blah!!!!

[Sarita]

He’s just so cute!

[Beka27]

He’s adorable!

[Author]

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