The Blood at the Bottom of the Cage

Well, here itis... one of those rare moments when I act out of sheerstupidity...

Last night I noticed that Umbrawas getting low on bedding. His cage was due for a cleaning,and so I decided to use the little bit of bedding that was left, andalso put in some newspaper to cover the bottom of his cage until Icould buy some more today. I just happened to pick thisnewspaper with these odd-looking red fuzzy slippers on the front ofit. It was some sort of fashion thing. Anyway, Ilaughed as I did so thinking that knowing myself, I'd probably mistakethe red colored paperfor blood that had come from Umbra orsomething. Heh, yep that's so me...

Anyway, this morning I get up, andI've been monitoring Umbra's water intake since he got back from hisneuter (I'm glad to say he's drinking up all the nice water in thehouse), so I looked in on the floor of his cage, and I see these twolarge red splotches on the newspaper I had set down. My firstinstinct was "Oh my goodness Umbra what'd you do toyourself!" And my mom happened to be passing by right thenand I said, "Look at this blood or something at the bottom of Umbra'scage!" She looked down at it and said, "Melissa. Imay not be an expert on rabbits; but I'm pretty sure that those are twofuzzy red slippers."

Oh.

Anyway, I had to sharethat! It was just so perfect... Does anyone elseever feel that way sometimes? I'm sure I can't be the onlyparanoid idiot out there! Well, thenagain...

--Melissa and Umbra

Greetings Melissa!


I can assure you, you are not without company. I'm right beside you!

I'm pretty sure that I just put Tucker through a treatment of mitesthat was unnecessary. I think the only thing the little monster hadwrong with him was a patch of skin that needed a dose of Vitamin E oilon it. I can't even begin to describe it to you. I don't regret it, butyour post made me laugh in spite of myself with one sneeze from Tucks.I'm practically writing it down, but I'm not (yet!)

Bottom Line: After one day of treatment with the Vitamin E oil, thespot is completely gone. (Thanks to Pam's suggestion!) There was noevidence of mites at all, and the spot was unlike what mites wouldleave behind because it wasn't a flaky dandruff or dried blood. Thetreatment didn't do him any harm, but I bet he was thinkin,"Overprotection stinks!"


-Carolyn

Some of our buns free range. When thedarker ones' fur began to get a reddish tinge to it, I reacted withgreat concern, wondering what "I had done wrong" to create this newcondition.

In knee jerk reactions, I eliminated all treats, second guessed mychange of rabbit feed and wondered what was happening to mybuns.

Quite coincidentally, someone on a rabbit forum, much like this,mentioned how their black rabbit was unable to be shown because it hadgotten enough sunlight to "sunburn" or bleach the fur out to a reddishcolor.

Duh, here I was looking for all the answers in all the wrongplaces! I think we all tend to overreact where our buns areconcerned because they are so unable to help themselves, and , being aprey species, tend to "cover" up any short comings or illness theymight harbor, making it especially necessary to pay close attention toany suspected symptoms.

You're just like all the rest of us, I'm afraid!

Buck

Are ya blonde? hehehe, i am, and i find myself doing stuff like that all the time...lol, pretty funny story though.

Ellie & the Buns

i can't say anything because i have done that too

I'm not blonde but that "are you blonde " hithome I am very scatter brained, my teenager makes a lot of fun bytelling me that I should be blonde, so I take up for all blondes who ithink are very smart

The first time my bunny cleo flopped over in hercage, I thought that she had a seizure and died. I went overto the cage with much dread, stuck my finger in the cage and pokerher. She nearly jumped out of her skin when I poked her andso did I LOL