Poinsetta

[maghy7]

Hi All!

I’m new here as you can see, I absolutely love this web-site, it has been really helpful and informative.

I own a Holland lop bunny, his name is Pancho and yesterday he was in his cage with one of the doors open that’s close to a little thing between my kitchen and the family room, well we have a poinsettia on there and he managed to jump on top of this thing and I didn’t noticed until I heard a chewing sound, well sure enough he was chewing one of the leaves, immediately I got scared because I have heard Poinsettias are toxic to animals, I gave him plenty of water and food so it would flush what ever he managed to eat of the leaf, he has been behaving like normal, I don’t see any sign that he might be sick, I search the internet about it and I found that Poinsettias are not actually harmful to animals, they say that is one of the biggest misconceptions out there, any way to make this short, I was wondering if you guys know anything about this, are they or aren’t they toxic?

Thank you all!

That’s him and our two dogs, Moordogck (lab) and Linus (black mix)

 

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[Hedi]

HI and Welcome!

If you havent already make sure you save http://www.rabbit.org to your favorites. It is the main page for the House Rabbit Society and has info on pretty much everything you could ever ask about for a bun. Here is a link to their poisonous plants page as well as a link to the ASPCA poison list.

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/health/poisonous.html

Poinsettas are not mentioned on either list.

[MooBunnay]

Hello! Welcome!!

That is so cute that Pancho is hanging out with your big dogs! How did you introduce them to one another? Did you ever have any problems introducing them? I am wondering because I work for a rescue and always get lots of questions about whether dogs and bunnies can co-exist, and how to make sure the bunny is safe, and how to introduce them.

At my parents house we have a lot of outdoor animals so are always on the lookout for poisonous plants – pointsetta’s however are not really native to the San Deigo desert s0 we’ve never been too worried about that….watch out for OLEANDAR tho – we lost a whole flock of geese when they got into an oleander bush

[maghy7]

Hi Heidi and MooBunnay!

Thank you for the link! Apparently Poinsettias are not harmful, Pancho has been acting the same as always, although he didn’t eat a whole leaf it was just the tip part, it did scared me though!

MooBunnay, When I got Pancho I already had my two dogs, Mordogck the Labrador is 11 years old so I knew I was not going to have a problem with him since he doesn’t have the same energy he used too, we used to chase rabbits in our neighborhood years ago, of course I had him on a leash but it was in good fun, I used to yell out *Moordogck a Bunny!* and he would get into that haunting position and we would start running, I know it probably doesn’t sound funny but I’m an animal lover and would never harm any animal in this world, ok so moving on… my concern was with Linus, he is around 2 years old, he is very active and likes to see and smell everything, he is very protective of us and that I know of he didn’t live with rabbits before, I adopted him over a year ago from the Colorado Humane Society, when I adopted Pancho I got a cage and everything he needed, I placed the cage in the kitchen by the dining table by one of the corners so he would feel a little bit more secure, of course the dogs were acting crazy, they wanted to smell him and see what was that I was carrying, little by little I would take him out of the cage and let them smell him, you know how animals go for the behind   I would grab Pancho and let them smell his tail, I would take one dog at a time and let him interact with the bunny, the bunny who I thought was going to be frightened was not at all, I wonder if it was because at the shelter he got a little used to the smell of other animals, who knows, but he would let the dog smell him and pet him, then as time went by I felt comfortable enough to open his cage and let him wonder around the house having the two dogs around, he would start looking for them, Linus likes to play with him, they chase each other around, it’s pretty funny to watch, Pancho likes to cuddle with them, although Morrdogck since he is old he doesn’t like to be around him much, if Pancho gets close he gets up and walks away, if I see that Linus is playing to rough I just yell Linus NO! Pancho likes to mark his territory, when the dogs are laying down by my feet he comes and gets between them and drops a few of the really stinky ones, they are so stinky he even makes me leave the room hahaha, any way, I went on for too long, I believe by my own experience that dogs can live with bunnies, you just have to be patient, and have to keep in mind that it all depends on the dog too, his personality, your personality, and the breed, I don’t think all breeds can get along with rabbits, the retrievers and other small dogs that are very territorial may have a big problem, I think it’s more about teaching them that the house can fit all of them and that you are the leader, you definitely have to give them love equally.

Hope that helped a little.

 

[MooBunnay]

Hahaha leave it to a little boy bun to march between two big dogs and drop of some stinky poopz

Thanks for the info. on the dog/bunny stuff, I’m going to save that for reference next time someone starts asking me questions. I recently adopted out to a home that has two pomeranian dogs – and they looooooove the bunny, they sleep with the bunny, play with the bunny, and if the bunny goes in his cage they sit outside the cage and cry until the bunny comes back out!

I’m glad to hear Pancho is OK. I know that I hear a lot about how sensitive bunny’s tummies are – and I always try to feed a correct diet, but I swear my buns are always picking up little niblets of goodnes KNOWS what off my carpet and eating it – so they must be able to handle the occasional weird item

When your bun drops off the stinky poops does he ever do that weird thing where he goes back and sniffs them very intently to make sure their his own? I have this boy Raymond who is stinkee poop KING, and every time he drops one off, like 5 minutes later he goes back, and sniffs the thing like crazy and examines it – I think he actually forgets that he put it there, and then thinks another bun snuck into his pen and dropped a poop off!

[maghy7]

hahaha, how funny, I have never noticed that, I need to pay close attention to see if he comes back to smell them, I think he might be running for king then, last night he was dropping a few in his own cage and I couldn’t stand it anymore I had to clean it up from top to bottom and take the trash out right away! they are such characters!

I loved your story about the two dogs crying for him to come out of the cage, how cute is that!

One more thing, if I don’t pick Linu’s bowl of the floor as soon as I let Pancho out he will run for it, he loves eating dry dog food, of course I don’t let him, but there are those times when I forget and there I find him, eating away…. he can’t get to Moordogck’s because is one of those high bowls that serve as containers as well, he can’t get to the food but I have seen him trying to jump on it, he is a little menace! I heard that two bunnies are half the trouble of one, do you agree? I’m in the process of find him a friend, I build him a cage that would hold two bunnies very comfortably, here is a pick, it’s a little dark, I took it with my cell phone, you can still see it though, the ramp is not there anymore, he doesn’t need it at all, let me just say that he completly loves his cage, he runs around like crazy, even if the door is open he would go inside and just chill, I had no idea bunnies could love their home that much, before he had one of those small ones you buy at petco or petsmart and then looking around the internet I found this type of cages that you can build your self and got on with my project right away, it took me a full weekend with a few trips to home depot but at the end it came out so good, he really enjoys it

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[Theresa Moan]

Hi Magh7!
Meet my girl, Bungelina!

Couldn’t help notice how similar she and Pancho look!

[maghy7]

Hi Theresa!

OMG they look so alike!! separated at birth!  she is a cutie and I love the name!

[Theresa Moan]

Haha, thanks!    What is Pancho named after?

(Here is Bungee’s best ‘mad’ face!)

[daisy]

Beleive it or not Pancho looks exactly like my daisy. I have to get pictures up here of her. Adorable!!!!

[maghy7]

No one and nothing, my husband wanted to name him like that, I thought it was a funny name so I agreed, besides I always take care of the animals and he is not too happy about animals in the house but he really has no other choice having me as a wife so to make him feel like a little more comfortable with them and that they are his as they are mine the  I let him name him.

[osprey]

Our bunny DJ is a regular vacuum cleaner, too.  So far he has stolen (and eaten) uncooked pasta, oatmeal squares cereal, pita chips and doritos.  I swear he should have been born a dog.  I usually manage to get the stuff away from him before he eats too much of it.

 

[maghy7]

 

Definitely daisy, I want to see pics of yout bun to compare, here is one I just took of him eating a piece of apple.

Osprey I know! that’s how Pancho is, he will try to eat anything he finds, I have to always be cleaning the kitchen floor and vacuming the house so he doesn’t eat something he shouldn’t be eating.

 

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[BinkyBunny]

Welcome Maghy7!! I’m sorry for the delayed response, some how I missed this. Your bunny is adorable! and it really sounds like you are taking great care of her. Her condo is a great set-up! Well as you found out Poinsettia’s are okay. Not that they should be part of the daily greens or anything but it a big misconception that they are poisonous to rabbits.

Well, kudos to you for doing a great job so far. How are his litterbox habits in general – when he’s not marking for the sake of marking because of the dogs?

[maghy7]

Well most of the time he will go to the litter box, once in a while he will pee on the carpet, but I think he does it out of spite so we can give him more attention, like he doesn’t get enought!!! hahaha but I really don’t have too much of a litter problem, he uses it very well but when we let him out he will try to mark his territory around the dogs, he really wants the whole house to him self!! lol

Today I got him a bigger litter box, I tried to find him an enclosed one but they were so big!! so for now I got him a bigger box, maybe that’s another reason why he becomes so messy sometimes, his litter box gets dirty really quick and I read that if they find it too dirty they will start going to other places to relieve themselves

[BinkyBunny]

Posted By maghy7 on 07/28/2007 6:46 PM
 maybe that’s another reason why he becomes so messy sometimes, his litter box gets dirty really quick and I read that if they find it too dirty they will start going to other places to relieve themselves

That’s true, some bunnies like a neater box, while others don’t like a box when it’s first cleaned out.  So you may have to clean it more often if yours is a neat freak. 

[Author]

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