The Diaries of Merlin Puffsbottom and Naja Seraphina

[whiskylollipop]

Thanks guys! Vanessa, belated congrats on the new bunny. I wish you had a bunny blog so we could enjoy pics of Lady, Brooke and Marilyn.

I don't know how to quantify Merlin's biting. It's not aggressive, just sort of... bratty. Like if my leg is in his path, and he can't be bothered to hop over it, he'd grouchily bite it instead so I'll move. Sometimes he bites me just cause we're side by side and he's sniffing me and feels like it. Bubs thinks he's just holding a long grudge against us for all the Sasha-bonding shenanigans.

After reading the posts on people finally getting bonding success after moving to a new house, I'm starting to feel like this apartment is just too impregnated with invisible bunny scent. Maybe that's why bonding isn't moving forward, there's too much territory scents lingering in the carpet. We need to move!

Also, Sasha's pee worries me. It has a salty smell, and constantly has a reddish tinge, I don't know if it's blood. Merlin's pee just smells like pee and is light yellow. She definitely pees less than Merlin, possibly because of the size difference? But I'm worried she has some sort of bladder infection or UTI. Or dehydration maybe. She has a bowl she drinks from and the water level goes down at about half the rate of Merlin's. Nothing else is out of the ordinary, her poops are good (and plentiful), she eats well and is bright-eyed and active. If anyone's experienced something similar do share.

 

[pani]

Bunny pee can have a red tinge to it. I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Azerane]

I agree, reddish bunny pee is perfectly normal, and diet can have a huge influence on colour. Blood in the urine will generally appear as little clots of blood instead of staining the urine one even colour. As for the smell, I'm not sure

Bunnies are so good at holding grudges, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if it was the cause of the nipping!

 

[whiskylollipop]

Thanks for the reassurance! I have read about diet affecting pee colour, and that red pee is within normal range. I guess i'm just paranoid because Merls and Sashy get the exact same diet always, right down to treats, and his pee has always been so normal and human pee-like whereas hers has the red tinge and the salty smell. So odd! Sometimes it's an even orangey red while other times it's blood red at the edges and orangey in the middle. No clots though. Her average pee volumes per pee event are also only about 30-40% of Merlin's. I wonder whether that's due to Nethies having a much smaller bladder capacity (even though she's about 3/4 his body size and weight) or some dehydration issue.

Gosh, when I became a bunny mum I never thought I'd be paying this much attention to pee and poop.

You're right, it's probably nothing since she doesn't seem to be exhibiting any other abnormal symptoms. I just hate to think of her peeing in pain. I had a UTI one time, and it was just the worst. I'd even put it on the same level of NOPE as gastro.

 

[pani]

Clem does quite dark orange/red pees and Felix's are a lot lighter, and they have identical diets. I think you'd know if she was in pain - less binkies right by your head, and more teeth grinding and sitting uncomfortably.

 

[whiskylollipop]

Merlin and Sashy had a pretty good date today! The second half of the date, Merlin had somehow managed to summon enough confidence to actually move around like a living thing instead of being his usual petrified-buncicle self. He's still clearly scared of being bitten, and would wince and freeze every time Sasha hopped towards him. But she was being very nice and often only sniffed him before sitting beside him. They actually sat beside each other quite a lot, although facing opposite directions.

When we ended the date, they were sitting together grooming themselves! Considering Merlin's fear of Sasha, seeing him confident enough to nonchalantly clean his butt while she was right beside him is pretty great progress. I think that was the best note we've ended on so far.

There are still big obstacles to overcome though. I notice half the time she nips him, it's when they're face-to-face, both heads lowered. Sasha lowers her head when my hand comes near in expectation of pets, so I think when Merlin fails to groom her head as was expected, she takes offense and nips him. I have tried putting honey on her head to encourage grooming and while she is happy to let him eat it off her head, it's only a temporary solution and he would never lick her head again unless another drop of honey was there. So not a great long-term solution.

Anyway. Just wanted to make a small celebratory post to encourage myself through this long, long bonding adventure. Good job today, bunzos!

 

[pani]

I was grinning reading your post! I'm so excited about the fairly positive bunny date. I hope they continue to get more confident to relax around each other. Maybe soon Merls will get the idea that Sashy wants head grooms.

 

[whiskylollipop]

Marathon bonding!

I'm in the bathroom with Merlin and Sasha imprisoned in the shower. It's been an hour. There have been plenty of nips from Sasha and Merlin is looking miserable, but he won't fight back so there have been 0 fights and that is good. I think. He doesn't seem to be hurt, in fact I'm not sure if Sasha's teeth are even long enough to bite through his wooly fur coat. He still seems terrorized though.

I decided on the spur of the moment to turn a regular bathroom session into a marathon one due to.. firstly, some encouraging signs such as Merlin grooming himself and moving around, and Sasha on two occasions grooming Merlin (!!!!) and sticking her head under his although he hasn't groomed her back yet. But secondly and more importantly, I have just about lost my patience with these two.

If they ever want to see the outside world again, they better be wearing matching friendship bracelets.

So far, Merlin's hunkered down in one corner although he's not too frightened to move a little, scratch and groom himself. As long as the business end of Sasha's teeth isn't too near his face, that is. Sasha is unsurprisingly confident enough to saunter around, but spends most of her time in Merlin's corner nipping him when he fails to respond to her groom-me requests.

She seems a little frustrated with him now. He's sulking with his butt to her, and she just scrabbled at his back and went and sat a few inches away. I hope that didn't scratch him up too badly. Eep.

Poor girl, she keeps trying to push her head under him and he just won't respond. Even when she nips and nips, he just freezes and takes it (though as I said earlier I suspect her bites don't even reach his skin). As my mum would say, it's like talking to a brick wall. Come on you fluffy little wimp. Give sashibibun some sugar. She even tried to groom you, a little awkwardly as I don't think she's ever had a bunny buddy to groom before. It sort of looked like she was chewing the fur on his head while drooling copiously. But I am 90% sure it was her unwieldy first attempt at grooming him?

Sometimes he scrabbles at the shower floor trying to dig his way out.

Updates to follow.

 

[whiskylollipop]

Update:

I have now opened the shower door and increased their space to the rest of the bathroom. Good news is that Merlin seems relieved enough to hop around like a real bunny. Bad news is, Sasha now chases him sporadically. Sometimes she chases him to bite his bum. Sometimes she just wants head grooms. Either way Merlin doesn't want any part of it.

Bubs just came in to say "Maybe he's just a buck who prefers the company of bucks". Hardeeharhar.

He's taken to hopping back in the slippery shower to escape her when she runs toward him.

But wait! She just went in after him, he panicked and stomped, she nudges his ear aside and puts her head under his chin, he doesn't respond. Sasha's offering some major olive branch here. Merlin you weenie.

 

[Azerane]

Perhaps after all the butt kickings he's too scared to groom her? I'm really hoping it just clicks with him eventually and he grooms her and all the tension will just melt away.

I'm cheering for those two!!

 

[whiskylollipop]

Final Update:

I ended the date after 3 and a half hours. Both bunnies were winding down - Merlin decided to permanently bunloaf in the shower, and Sasha had given up, turning her attention to the pellets I'd brought in instead. Oh well. I'm still really happy with what went down. No fighting and minimal chasing in nearly 4 hours together, and I could see Merlin gaining more confidence every time Sasha approached him without biting. Before he set up camp in the shower, he was actually pretty happy to hop around exploring the bathroom despite the constant threat of nip-attacks. The Sheebster just chased and nipped him one too many times I guess.

Pretty much all we need is for Merlin to stop being so stubborn and start engaging. It's pretty clear he doesn't want to be submissive, but he's still too afraid to assert himself. I wonder if he'll actually start trying to be the dominant one as he gains more confidence over the next few dates.

Regardless, I'm super proud of both of them! Sasha for kickstarting relationship negotiations by finally making some grooming and dominance moves instead of just nipping him, and Merlin for being a brave boy today. I'm feeling positive for the next few weeks. :weee:

 

[whiskylollipop]

Kitten season's coming up, I'm getting the urge to adopt a kitty. Doesn't help that the rescues are all flooding my facebook page with posts on the "incoming tidal wave of kittens" (sounds like the best tidal wave ever). Still, so many get stuck in shelters and it's heartbreaking and sooooo tempting to save at least one. Hope everyone's kitties are desexed!

Haven't posted in a while, so I got my phone out and documented Merlin's morning.

Had adventures all around the lounge. Sure is bright outside. I wonder why this slippery force field is stopping me from going out there.

Hi Mummy. What are you doing? That looks boring. I'm gonna run everywhere now and repeatedly jump on and off the couch because reasons.

Iz tireds. Gonna rest a bit. What is this junk in my back-up bunker, ugh. Hoomins.

HaHAAA! Found Mummy's laundry on the hoomins bed! I'm gonna throw all these undies around and chew holes in inconvenient places. She will never suspect me.

She suspecteds me. Hmph.

 

[bunnyman666]

Great photo journal.

 

[whiskylollipop]

Do bunnies give love nips? They better, cause if Merlin nipping me is ANYTHING but affectionately-intentioned, that little bugger is never getting on the bed again. He's a terrible study buddy. Especially compared to Sashibibun, who is exceedingly polite and lays out beside me for pets whenever I want, and is also roughly the net weight of a jellybean and can hop across any of my study material without disrupting much.

Merlin is an anti-education juggernaut. He is evil, ruin and chaos. He gets into everything, rips paper, chews up my $100 textbooks, nibbles on my phone, jumps on my keyboard, heaves my freakin laptop out from under my essay-typing fingers because he is pretty much Satanbunny. I yank him from the bed, march across the apartment, and put him in the furthest point from the bed I can, but 5 minutes later - did I unknowingly say his name 3 times? - the Merlingeuse is back and chaos rules again.

In some sense, I am secretly pleased he likes being near me so much. But reason suggests he likes being near me so he can make my life totally miserable. Because there is no love in what he does to me. Even when resting temporarily before continuing on his ruinous rampage, he gives me the bunny butt.

If all that were not enough, he nips. Not the nips of an aggressive bun, or a terrain-inconvenienced bun, or an attention-seeking bun, but the nips of a bored, bratty sociopath bun. Not hard enough to leave a mark, but just hard enough to make me flinch. Why, Merlin. Why.

Oh my lord. As I was typing this diatribe he just came over and pulled a small puffy bunny sticker off my laptop screen and bloody ate it. Looking me square in the eye. As he chewed and ate. The ferrrreakin'. Sticker.

Send help.

 

[pani]

MERLIN :headsmack

Clementine does something similar but not nipping, just nudging with her nose. She doesn't want attention, doesn't want us to move, just wants to acknowledge us, I guess? I taught them both that nipping was a no-no the minute they started doing it... although actually, from memory, Clementine may have never been a biter. Felix was, but I don't remember Clemmie doing it. Maybe Felix taught her well.

They're surprisingly strong at times! I don't doubt that Merlin could have thrown your laptop across the room with his little teeths if he wanted to. Naughty little guy!

 

[whiskylollipop]

*dabs at eyes with handkerchief* I just don't know where we went wrong with him! *sniffle*

Rosebun was never a biter except during butt baths. Sasha used to be very bitey when stressed, but we managed to teach her not to do it. Now she doesn't even bite when bubs harasses her, it's quite miraculous how polite she's turned out to be. But Merlin's just an unshakeable rock of jerkitude. He does show he loves me, in his own way, but he's always been a regular little stinker and Rosebun's passing made it worse. I don't doubt there's some grudge-holding involved there regarding Sasha too.

Can I borrow Felix to teach him some manners? LOL

I'm a little concerned about the sticker eating, the more I think about it. It was one of those 3D puffed-out stickers with a little sponge inside. The sticker was about the size of a small fingernail, but I'm worried it might cause a blockage. eep.

 

[pani]

I'm sure he chewed it up pretty well with those gnashers of his, but keep an eye on his poops.

 

[whiskylollipop]

Merlin doing the Superbun. Going through some relationship dramz right now, a girl could sure use a superbunny.

Merls is helping mama feel better by aggressively attacking a towel on my bed. I can't tell if he really hates fabric or just violently loves destroying things. Either way, he always jumps up on the bed to wreak his havoc when I'm up here. At least I know he likes keeping me company while he does his thing. Love you too, Meewie.

Sasha is also helping lots by being her adorable, demanding self. Earlier today when I was sitting cross-legged on the floor, I felt something push its way under my knee. It was Sashy's little furry head. She was demanding pets from my knee, and she wouldn't move until she got what she wanted. That was so hilarious I couldn't help but laugh as I very awkwardly tried to pet her with my freakin knee. I ended up having to move my leg out of the way and pet her properly - fwooomph - all down her back the way she likes it. She arched her back into it like a satisfied cat, then primly bunloafed under my hand. I was under direct orders to pet her more. Sigh.

Silly buns. :inlove:

 

[whiskylollipop]

Worried bun mom just spent last $10 on veggies for little beast.

Merlin's got me on orange alert today. When I woke up his litterbox and hay pile seemed completely unchanged from last night. I know it's slightly weird that I notice and remember the arrangement of hay and the used spots in the litterbox, but I swear it hasn't been touched in something like 12 hours. The water bowl was full. Merlin himself looked normal and would move around if prodded, but didn't seem enthused about it. He wouldn't take pellets from me.

I also saw 5-6 small yellow spots on the carpet that look like half-solid, sludgey drops of pee.

So naturally I dropped everything and ran to get some fresh veg from the market to see if I could at least get Merlin to eat that. I've wet them and given heaps to the buns, and Merlin's tucking into his share like nothing was ever wrong with him.

Gah. I wonder if he was just being a little **** last night, too lazy to eat, poop, pee, and even hydrate himself? The sludgey yellow drops have got me so worried though. They aren't even anywhere near his litter box. What could be wrong with that little stinker!

 

[JBun]

Could be bladder sludge, could be a UTI. That could cause the urine dribbling as well as some pain and discomfort. Enough to make him seem a bit off but still want to eat when offered veg. A good way to get a look at their urine to see if it is thick or sludgy at all, or off in color or smell, is to line the litter box with layers of newspaper. If you need to, you can layer a bit of hay in there too, and the pee should still collect alright on top of the paper. Then when he pees you can get a look at it to see if there is anything odd about it.