Hello, I’m Katie!

[LittleBatt]

Hello, my name is Katie. I’m currently a 21 year old student, studying sculpture, prop design, and creature design in a makeup special effects school. Growing up, Ilived on rural long island, and my family owned a farm. We sold eggs, fruits, veggies, flowers, firewood, and specialty items like jams, and we had animals who we loved and doted upon. I loved all of the animals, the cats and dogs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, goats, our cow, and sheep, but I was always especially partial to bunnies. I grew up very socially anxious, with a horrible separation anxiety from my parents, but my father in particular, and when I was old enough to begin going to school, it was terrifying, overwhelming, and I spent most of my time crying, until my parents came to pick me up. I always felt better around my pets, but my beloved rabbit, Dutchess, was the one who I seeked the most comfort in. My parents eventually sat down with the super intendant, and Dutchess was allowed to come to school with me, as a therapy/stress relief animal, and thanks to him I made it through elementary school, haha. He was with me in class every day from kindergarten to third grade, until I felt comfortable enough to leave him at home. 

By the way, Dutchess was actually a boy, haha. My siblings and I were too young to tell if he was a boy or girl, and he looked like a girl to us.. or so we thought. He was a Netherland dwarf rabbit, all black with the sweetest little white button nose. He was a house bunny, litter box trained, which we kept in his cage, and he was free range. He was only put in his cage if someone wasn’t home to make sure he didn’t get into any accidental trouble. My cat Jack was best friends with him, they would groom each other, play together, and sleep together every night, until Dutchess passed at the age of 12.

After Dutchess, my heart was so broken that I couldn’t even think of owning another rabbit at the time. I always thought about adopting again in the future, but for the time being he held such a special place in my heart that it needed a copious amount of time to mend before bringing a new bun into my life.

But recently, a friend of my roommate contacted her, looking for help. She had a bunny, Nelson, who she loved, but was somewhat aggressive, so she decided to get Nelson a friend, Melvin. Ofcourse, she then found out that the pet store sexed the bunnies wrong, and Nelson was actually a girl. She separated them immediately, but it wasn’t fast enough as they had been together for a few days, and Nelson delivered 3 babies. The runt of the litter passed away that night, sadly, but the other two babies have been doing fine, and are about 6 weeks old now.

Due to a situation in Beth’s (Nelson and Melvin’s owner), life, she will no longer be able to keep all of them, and not even until Nelson’s babies are ready to go.. so she’s keeping Melvin, and Sam, knowing how fond I am of bunnies, asked if we could take Nelson and the babies in. I agreed, so next week I’ll have three new arrivals coming to stay with me. The plan is, once the babies are of age, we’re hoping one is male and the other is female, because the male can go back and live with Beth and Melvin, while we can keep Nelson and the baby girl.

Phew, well, now that that’s all settled. I’ve got a few questions. I’m an avid rat lover and rescuer, so I have bunny cages which I use as temporary cages if I get new members, before they go in with my big group in the Critter Nation. I also have a play pen that I use for the ratties for out time, but currently their out time is free range in the living room. So, until the babies are big enough and Nelson gets used to the place (Because I’d like her to be a house bunny too) Should I set up a cage, in the playpen, so she can hop in and out of the cage as she desires and run around in the pen all she wants? Or should I keep her caged at all times unless supervised?

I use fleece for my ratties cages, is fleece okay for bunnies too? I really love that it’s reusable and comes in such cute patterns, much more decorative, and much less mess to throw away into the environment to collect in land fills. 

If I have any other questions I’ll be sure to ask as they come to me! Thank you!

[jerseygirl]

Hello from another Katie.

Your story about your therapy bunny growing up is very heartwarming. It’s lovely he lived such a long life.

Your area of study sounds super interesting also. You must come up with some great Halloween makeup.

Your plan for Nelson to have a cage plus pen sounds good. Will the babies be in with her still?
Would your ratties or the baby buns be able to get through the pen bars?

Fleece is fine for rabbits. You may find non litterbox trained buns will pee on it a bit at first. Some rabbits will always do this, some will not. It’s easily washable so give it a go.

[LittleBatt]

My ratties live in the living room, and only come out and run around during their out-time, which is normally for an hour or two. The bunnies are going to be living in my bedroom. The baby bunnies will definitely be in with Nelson, the whole reason I’m taking those two as well is because from what I’ve read, they’re still too young to be away from their mommy.. and I’m not sure if they could squeeze through the playpen bars. Huh. I’ll have to see when they get here, thanks for that realization!

[Ellekke]

Welcome Katie

Good luck with the bunbuns!

[Author]

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