House Rabbit Community and Store
-
Sign In
-
Forum
-
Store
- This Forum and Store have separate secure Sign Ins
-
OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS. SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED. We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best.
You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time.
BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES
The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.
What are we about? Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules.
The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.
- This topic has 21sd replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 1 month ago by
.
-
-
…I’m a slave and I am in love. LOVE. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE.
I’ve been cyber stalking petfinder for a few weeks now. My obsession started with I saw photos of a few English Angoras all blown out in their show coats. They were so awesomely funny looking that I decided that I HAD to have one.
Turns out, English Angoras aren’t all that easy to find on petfinder, so I started looking at other breeds, mostly Jersey Woolies and Lionheads. I really like the longer-haired breeds.A friend told me about a lionhead available at a shelter over the bridge in Jersey (I live in the Philly area). After checking him out on petfinder, I decided to trek over there and check him out in person.
I got to the shelter and after talking to the adoption volunteer, she pulled him from his cage and sat him in a playpen with me. He was super cute. Really, seriously freaking adorable, but not very social. I didn’t count it against him, since he was in a loud shelter setting and could have been nervous.
So as I was sitting in the playpen with him, I asked the volunteer about the mini-lop female who lived in the cage above him; my hope was to see if they’d bond so that I could adopt them both.She brought the female out, and she was so cute. A little shy, but still much more social with me than the boy was (he pretty much wanted nothing to do with me at all, whereas she bounced over to me and was all up in my business).
Well, as soon as the boy realized she was in the pen with us, he turned into the World’s Biggest Butthead. He launched himself at her and tried his damnedest to mount her.
You could see that she was really interested in having a friend, but not at ALL interested in being violated against her will. We watched them for a few more minutes to see if he’d calm down, but when it got to the point where he began pulling out tufts of her fur, we decided to call it quits. As the volunteer reached in to grab him, he tried to mount her again, and she literally launched herself into my arms and buried her head in my neck. And then I melted.And that is when my quest for a lionhead turned into a mission to bring home a mini-lop.
I filled out the paperwork, paid the donation fee, plopped her in my bag and headed for home.
Her name is Jellybean. She is the absolute sweetest thing EVER.
I ordered a crapload of binkybunny supplies and toys on Friday, to be delivered this week, because I really wasn’t expecting to have a rabbit this weekend! Her cage isn’t even completely finished yet! I made a ghetto temporary litterbox out of a cardboard box that I had in the basement, which I filled with carefresh. I had to stop at the petstore and pick up some el cheapo pellets and hay, because my Oxbow order isn’t due to come in until later this week too!So anyway, I hope you guys have patience, because I am sure that I will be asking about a million ridiculous questions, as I re-introduce myself to rabbit ownership after about 16 years of being rabbit-less.
-
Thanks!
She’s currently hanging out in a wooden hut/house that I had bought a few years ago when I had guinea pigs, and scaring the crap out of me. Her breathing seems fast to me, and she makes a quiet/fast honking sound when I get close to her or pet her (I googled about 75,000 videos of rabbit honking to see if the sound was similar). She nibbled some hay when we first got home, and she also nibbled half of this little cookie treat thing that I put in her cage for her, but other than that, nothing has been touched. I don’t think she really drank ANY water on her own, because when I got concerned, I detached the water bottle from her cage and held it in front of her mouth, and she began gulping it down.
I’m hoping that the stress of being pulled from the shelter is putting her into Panic Mode, and she just needs time to adjust? I re-hung the water bottle, turned the lights off in her room (but left a nightlight on!) and dropped the A/C a few degrees because I thought maybe she may have been warm (it’s not hot or anything, but I’m being overprotective).
Also, she hasn’t pooped at all. Aren’t these guys supposed to poop like every 32 seconds? That worries me.
-
Really crappy news, guys. Jellybean died last night.
Here is the progression from the shelter to my house (this is a LONG post…let me apologize in advance):
– When I declared my intent to officially adopt her, the volunteer brought me an application to fill out. We sat at the table, her clipping Jellybean’s nails and me filling out the paperwork, and chatted.
When I was done with the paperwork, I was sent to the front to submit it, and they took Jellybean in the back. A few minutes after I was up front, another volunteer came up to get my carrier, and told me that they were looking at her and would bring her right up to me.
It took about 10 minutes from the time they took my carrier to the time they brought her out to me.– Jellybean and I got in the car and started the 20 mile trek home. Every time we hit a red light, I peeked in the bag to look at her. She was all balled up and looked like she was breathing fast. I assumed she was just stressed out from the day’s events.
– We got home, and I took Jellybean into the spare room and put the carrier on the floor with the side of it laying open, so she could come out and explore as I finished getting her cage ready.
I filled the litterbox with carefresh and hay, laid out her comfy new bed, hung her water bottle, and put her wooden house in there. She still hadn’t come out of the carrier by the time I was done setting up, so I reached in, plucked her out, kissed her nose, and put her in her cage.
She immediately went over to her litterbox, hopped in, and peed. Then she nibbled on some hay, and then she started exploring. She tested the bed, jumped through, on, and around her house, and then eventually settled down inside the house, with her back legs stretched out.
She looked like she was still breathing fast, so I decided to leave her alone for a while so she could adjust in peace.– I came back almost two hours later, and she was still laying in the house, legs kicked out all willy-nilly. I put a cookie treat in her cage, petted her, and left her to her own devices again.
– I came back about an hour and a half later. The cookie had been nibbled on (half of it was gone). She was still in the house, but no longer stretched out. Her legs were tucked up under her, and she was still breathing fast, and seemed to be breathing a little harder. I reached in and picked her up to check her out. She seemed ok, no obvious issues. I put her back, and she hopped back to her house.
– Fourty-five minutes later, I checked her again. Same thing – in her house with her legs tucked, breathing fast and heavy. I picked her up, and noticed that when I touched her, she made a bunny honking sound (I googled about 75,000 videos of bunny honking to determine if it was indeed the same sound. It is). I looked her over again and she looked ok. I lifted the lid to her house and then looked over at her litterbox and noticed that she had not pooped once since I brought her home. I put two leaves of romaine lettuce and a baby carrot in the cage, to try and entice her into eating something and maybe get a few poops out of her.
I resolved to keep checking her regularly, and to call the vet in the morning. I put her back, and she hopped back to her house.– Half hour later, I came back upstairs. She was now out of the house, laying in the middle of the cage on her side, breathing heavily and had blood dripping from her rear end. I reached in to pet her, and while her head twitched at my touch, she didn’t move otherwise. I got some paper towels and wipped her bottom and noticed that the towel didn’t appear soaked with pure blood. It looked like a clear fluid with blood mixed in.
– I took her out of the cage so that I could thoroughly wipe her bottom to see where the blood was coming from. I got her cleaned up and verified there were no external abrasions – the blood was coming from inside and leaking from her bottom. I put her back in her cage and laid her on her bed. She sat still for a moment, and then tried to hop away, but ended up falling over. There was blood on the bed where her rump had been.
I lifted her up and set her back on her feet. She tried hopping again and fell over again. Before I could reach in and grab her, she tried to hop again and launched herself face-first into my kneecap. My heart just about crumbed into a million pieces at that point.– She kept flailing around, trying to hop, and kept falling over. When I picked her up, she’d flail around in my hands. I decided to run down to the basement to get a small cardboard box with high sides, and a bunch of towels, to try and keep her in one spot so she couldn’t hurt herself, since she was obviously unable to walk. Then, once she was situated, I was going to call the first emergency vet I could find.
I wasn’t gone for more than a few minutes. By the time I came back upstairs with the box and the towels, she had died. She was laying on her side, eyes open. Still had blood on her bottom, and she had pooped, but it wasn’t a normal round, dry rabbit pellet. It looked like two guinea pig poops stuck end-to-end, and it was moist.I have no idea how this could have happened. I sat googling the symptoms for a while last night, and the only thing that I could find was poisoning.
That made me wonder if maybe the shelter had treated her with anything in the 10 minutes that it took to bring her out to me, but I haven’t been able to confirm that yet because I can’t get in touch with them (I’ve been calling obsessively since they opened 3 hours ago, but they haven’t answered the phone and haven’t returned the message I left first thing this morning). As I was picking her body up out of the cage, I did notice some fleas on her (UGH!!!!!), which further increased my suspicion that maybe they gave her some ivermectin or something, but at this point I just don’t know.
Could the boy have hurt her somehow when he was trying to mount her at the shelter?All I know is that I feel like the world’s biggest jerk. I do want a bunny, but now I’m scared to try and adopt another one in the future because I don’t know if this was my fault or what.
Most of all, I just feel so bad for Jellybean. She was the sweetest little thing and didn’t deserve to go out like that. -
Omgosh, I am so so sorry for your loss. This is really sad.
I’m sure someone with a lot more experience will be along and can help with some sort of diagnosis. It sounds like it might have been some sort of precondition. Did the shelter give you any kind of medical background or history on Jellybean? Lack of eating and lack of pooping to me sounds like a digestive problem.
Again, I am so sorry.
Please don’t let this discourage you from having a bun, though. You might want to try a different shelter, however. Please keep us updated. She was adorable.
((VIBES)) -
So sorry to hear
It definitely wasn’t your fault, so don’t even think that. And don’t let it stop you from getting another rabbit when you are ready. By the sounds of it, she was a happy little Jellybean the brief time she was there, all flopping and relaxing a bit.
Hope the shelter can give you an explanation!
Binky Free Jellybean, watch over your adoptive Mama from the other side of the Bridge.
-
Yes, I had a rabbit a loooong time ago, when I was in my mid-teens. I haven’t had any rabbits since he passed, but I in my mid twenties, I owned (adopted) guinea pigs, and then after they had passed away, I fostered a slew of pregnant guinea pigs for a local rescue for about a year (that was super fun, although I always hated handing the babies over once they were adopted out).
I thought about taking her body into the shelter, but by the time I get out of work and make the 40 mile trek home, collect her body, and then drive the 25 miles to the shelter, it’ll be way past their closing time. I’m still unable to get in contact with them.
Husband buried her. My 5-year-old stepdaughter was away this weekend, and we didn’t want her to come home and have to explain about the deceased bunny. The silver lining (if there is a silver lining here) is that she didn’t know that we got a bunny over the weekend, because I wasn’t sure if I was brining one home. So at least we don’t have to go through explaining everything to her.
I reviewed the paperwork I got with Jellybean…under medical history, it shows that she was spayed on 8/20, and then received a metacam injection on 8/21, but that’s all the info listed. She was initially housed in another shelter, and was turned over this one (a no-kill shelter) due to overcrowding in the original shelter. There was no other background info on her.
Via another message board, I’ve talked with a few other friends who are involved in rabbit and small animal rescue around the country, and the consensus is that they probably did treat her with something. I guess it’s common for shelters to treat animals before they are released, and some shelters that are mostly cat and dog specific (like this one) have sometimes been known to treat rabbits with cat flea treatments, not knowing that the dosage is still too strong for a rabbit.
After some thought, I’ve made the following decisions:
– I am going to continue to try to contact this shelter, at least to get some answers. I am not going to adopt another rabbit from them, but am also not going to ask for my money back. They do a LOT of spays and neuters on a very reduced price scale, including free spay/neuter on ferals as well as animals from particular towns (I guess where people let their cats free-range and get into trouble), so while I don’t have a lot of confidence in them rabbit-wise, I think they still do a lot of good in general and I’d feel bad about demanding money back.
– I am going to adopt another rabbit, but only from a rabbit-specific rescue, so that I am sure to get a healthy rabbit from someone who I am confident will be able to answer my questions when I have them.Thanks for the well wishes and input, everyone!! This forum is awesome.
-
It’s me again!
So, after taking some recovery time after the Jellybean tragedy, I went back onto Petfinder and started looking for rabbit-specific rescues, so that I could be sure to adopt from a source with experience and knowledge in buns. I found a rescue that I liked, and then found a bunny that I liked from their adoptable list. I went in to see him today, took one look, and said “YEP, bag n’ tag ’em; he’s mine!!”
We’ve dubbed him Frank Sinatra because of his dreamy blue eyes.
He’s a Jersey Wooly….after all of my research, I thought that I knew exactly how hairy they are, but MAN was I wrong! I’ve read tons of info, looked at about a billion pictures online…but you really don’t get to grasp the extent of their gobs of hair until you are face-to-face with them!
I sat on the floor in the back of the shelter with him, in a make-shift playpen. He hopped around me for a while, doing his best to ignore me. Every time I’d stop paying attention to him, he’d come over to check me out, but as soon as he realized that my attention was focused back on him, he’d turn tail and go back to ignoring me. His brattiness cracked me up.
So I filled out all the paperwork and paid the adoption fee. He needs to be neutered, so I won’t be bringing him home until Monday. I’m MUCH more confident going into this adoption; the shelter director was very knowledgeable and very approachable. She gave me her cell phone number and told me to contact her at any time with any questions, no matter how small.
Handsome little hairball, isn’t he?
-
WHAT A CUTIE! And I agree with Monkeybun… he will bring lots of mischief. I’m so happy that you have decided to give another bun a forever home and didn’t let your tragic experience through you off the bunny trail. You will obviously make an amazing bunny parent and I’m excited to see more pics of this little guy!!
-
She’s adorable!
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.