We rescued a girl

[Samantha]

Hi all! This will be long …..

You are so helpful and so I turn to you for information.  Recently, I stopped by our local petco for some food and I noticed a full grown bunny in a glass pen. I know they don’t sell full grown bunnies so I was curious. Also, I noticed her breathing slightly rapidly and doing a sort of hiccup very consistently. I asked them about her and sure enough she was dumped there. Someone found her wandering around outside. I asked them if she had been seen by a vet and they said no. I was also told she had been there for one month. This infuriated me

Alll I could think of was how many things could be wrong with a bun who spent who knows how long outside.

SO the next part is obvious: I brought her home. Our intentions are to get her proper health care and then possibly adopt her out. Since she has been home (3 days), the breathing issue is no longer consistent but she does make a grunting noise when she is exploring or excited and to me it sounds like congestion.  She also has gotten the hiccups once since she has been here.  We took her to the vet the morning after we got her and she saw no reason for concerns.  Her breathing is normal and no signs of discharge from sinuses.  She has not been spayed and does not feel pregnant. We will be getting her spayed in about 1 month

Until then, if not longer, she will be staying in a seperate room then our chins and bunny.   

My concerns are the following:

She has been pulling out hair as if she is nesting but we are positive she isn’t pregnant because she was at Petco for about a month and with no other buns.  In addition, the vet didnt notice any feelings of babies.  Is this healthy and normal even if there is no pregnancy? If so, should i give her something to nest with in addition to the fur?

She is also HUGE.  She is a typical domestic bun but she is 9lbs.  Needless to say she is on a diet.  2tbs pellets in the morning and evening, and unlimited greens and hay.  Any greens I should push more than others for purposes of weight loss?

I think for now that is all.  She is living in a marshall playpen 9 sqaure ffeet in our room until she masters pottying.  I hope this isnt too small because to me it looks like it is. I cant figure out how to make pictures smaller to put on here so maybe another time

 

Thanks so much

 

[mocha200]

oh thats so cool on how you rescued her. and a glass cage poor thing. are you going to keep he? sometimes un spayed bunny’s have false pregnancy and they start pulling out hair to make a nest but they really aren’t pregnant.

[MirBear]

poor dear shes so lucky you rescued her!

[kralspace]

boy, shes lucky you went into the store. My girl had several false pregnancies and was always ripping out her hair to make nests (and stealing whatever else she could drag under the desk to decorate) Maybe she senses your other buns and it triggered it. Count down to spay time!

[Barbie]

Good for you for resucing her!

The fur pulling could be a false pregnancy like Mocha said.  She can probably smell your bunny even though they’re not in the same room, and since she’s unspayed her hormones could have set off a false pregnancy.  Since the vet didn’t feel any babies, I’d just keep a close eye on her and take her to the vet if anything changes.

As for resizing pictures, if you have a PC, you should also have Microsoft Office Picture manager.  Open the picture in that program, click the “Edit Pictures” button at the top.  Then a bar will come up on the right side of the window.  Click “Compress Pictures” and then select “Website” (that’s the one I use anyway).  Then click “Save As” so you have the original too.  Hope that helps!

[Monkeybun]

Or you could use windows Paint… hit ctrl-w when you load the pic, resize it down, I usually got to about 25% cuz my camera is silly and makes em huge, save, and yer done

[jerseygirl]

Firstly, thank you for doing this for her. I’m peeved about the pet store. I automatically figure pet stores are filled with animal loving people….but they couldn’t even get her vet care in the time she was there?
Be wary that they may have lied about the details. I’m not exactly sure on the policy but I thought that store chain only has shelter rabbits at their stores now. This rabbit could of been a dump, stray, OR somebody doing somebody else a favour by sell it thru the store.

Rabbit gestation is around 30 days… if she is actually pregnant, she may be due right now. They also often start nesting right before birth. It could also be false pregnancy of course…Anyway, I think hold off on the changed diet until your sure sure. A pregnant doe shouldn’t have limited food. Even if she isn’t, do make the diet changes very gradual, especially for an over weight bunny.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed she’s not pregnant like the vet said!! again, thank you – wish pet stores were as conscientious!

[Samantha]

Thank you SOOOOOOO much for all the advice and helpful comments.  You guys rock.  At least we know we did the right thing for her.  Finally here are the pictures thanks to all of you computer savvy people

!

Hi I am Clover, this is my new abode! It is much warmer than outside!

 

This is my sassy girl face!

Do you see my round belly? This is why my person thinks im pregnant!

Thanks for peeking!!

 

[jerseygirl]

She looks in pretty good condition considering!! Pretty face too. Well, my bunnies, especially the boy, kind of balloon out like that. lol It’s apparently really hard to tell when theyre pregnant, they don’t “show”. She looks really relaxed and secure.

[Samantha]

Thanks you she has seemed pretty comfortable thus far!

If she was about to give birth, wouldnt the vet feel it?

[jerseygirl]

I guess it depends on their experience with pregnant rabbits.. I imagine it’d be tricky if the bunny is also carrying extra weight. think you can be relatively confindent that she isn’t(edit:I meant isn’t pregnant) as your vet said. Just perhaps play it safe for a little while longer. She looks to be acting too relaxed to really be! haha. But then, I’ve never been up close to a pregnant Doe so I wouldn’t know typical behaviour.

[KatnipCrzy]

awww…… she is beautiful!  She looks so cute and relaxed all stretched out.  That is great that you were willing to take care of her and take her to the vet.

[Samantha]

What do you all think about bigger buns and cube condos? I suppose i mean with a second level. is it stable enough?

[Monkeybun]

What a pretty girl! *snugglesnuggle*

She’s quite lucky you stopped in to get her. Bad petstore, bad! *smacks with newspaper*

[skibunny8503]

Aw she’s so pretty! That’s great you rescued her. With your concern early about the grunting, my Gracie does that all the time. She run into the living room and grunt as she’s hopping. She also snores too…very vocal bunny. She looks very content

[bunnytowne]

She sure looks feminine.  Very pretty.  I am sure she will be very happy now.

[Sarita]

She’s beautiful. Thank you for rescuing her.

[Samantha]

Just thought I would share a cute anecdote. Our first Bun, Escarole, has voluntarily confined himself to our large living room although we have given him free range of the house for months now. Clover is not living in our bedroom. Not two days after we brought Clover home did Escarole find his way down the hall to the bedroom door where no bun had ever gone before!!! He was even caught nudging the door and scratching it! He has a major crush!! He even snuck into the bag of dirty fleece blankets of hers and snuggled in it ::gross:: but cute

Too bad they have two more months until they can be together!

[Samantha]

Just thought I would share a cute anecdote. Our first Bun, Escarole, has voluntarily confined himself to our large living room although we have given him free range of the house for months now. Clover is not living in our bedroom. Not two days after we brought Clover home did Escarole find his way down the hall to the bedroom door where no bun had ever gone before!!! He was even caught nudging the door and scratching it! He has a major crush!! He even snuck into the bag of dirty fleece blankets of hers and snuggled in it ::gross:: but cute

Too bad they have two more months until they can be together!

[BinkyBunny]

 Wow, she really is gorgeous!  What a doe-eyed pretty girl. 

 

I am disappointed that the employees at that Petco put her in a glass tank!!   And they didn’t at least try to get a vet check-up or give the bunny to a shelter where the bunny would be given a check up and be put up for adoption. Gack!   Thank goodness you rescued her. 

 

As far as giving her greens, did she have them before at Petco?  IF not, you want to add a larger amount gradually.   Diet changes can be hard on them even if the change is healthy. 

 

I also hope she is just going through a false-pregnancy. If it is, it should only last a couple of week.  It wouldn’t be uncommon for her to show some aggression during that so don’t be put off IF she happens to display that at all. 

 

She sure is lucky to have you care for her she finds a home.  Maybe… your bunny and this bunny(once she’s spayed)……hmmm?.     

 

As far cubes, they can withstand 9lbs, but you will just have to make sure there are supports so for example if you make it 3 – 4 cubes wide, you want to have support cubes below.  But usually you can design that in as part of the cage somehow and it can look good.  I still prefer xpens as they are so much easier to clean, and if you have an unspayed gal, she might be a bit messier AND even though your bunny are separated, they will be able to smell each other (normally on you and your clothes), and then poopwars can happen so , etc.

 

I’m so happy for this bunny – what a wonderful thing you did. 

 

[jerseygirl]

Too bad they have two more months until they can be together!

Are you planning on keeping her now?

[Samantha]

HAHA …maybee……… . . . . .

Okay yeah I love her, I admit it she is wonderful

I put large cardboard display pieces on the outside of her pen so I can open it up in the evening and she has some room to zip around and last night I sat in with her and she circled me like 20 times ! Yay, affection

[jerseygirl]

Yay!

[KytKattin]

She is so pretty! She reminds me of Nova in the “How could someone be stupid enough to dump such a gorgeous rabbit?!?!?!?” Not that any rabbit should be dumped and they are all gorgeous, I am just partial to spots… Plus she sounds like a love! A big, almost cuddly rabbit. I hope you keep her.

[BinkyBunny]

Ah, the circling, yes, she loves you and she may be  asking you to mate with her.   Geesh BUNNIES!!     She might be smelling your male bunny on you too. That circling thing gets the male bunnies excited and they will do a circle that will end up mating. Their is another kind of circle that can mean they are going to fight, but being that she didn’t show any aggression and she’s not spayed….well, it looks like that she may have realized she doesn’t have any babies (false pregnancy??) and is ready for a litter.

BTW – Are you 100% sure she is female? I mean both males and females will circle but I was just curious as to how her gender was established.

I am so happy she has a wonderful loving place right now. She must be so happy to be out of that tank!

[Samantha]

Well, the vet confirmed shes a girl… so i hope so!!! and she felt in her belly for spay scars and such ..doesnt the neck flubb constitute being female?

[BinkyBunny]

The dewlap (the neck flubb) is definitely more typical in females (especially if they are spayed later in life or not spayed) Males though can get them when they are overweight.

[Barbie]

Are you asking about a dewlap? Guy bunnies can get them too if they’re overweight.

ETA: oops, sorry.  Didn’t see that BB had posted too.

[Samantha]

Okay dewlap…. got the name now haha.. no more neck flubb

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