Bandit and Smurfy's thread

[jyrenze]

Thought I would just start a home threadfor my 2 girls

By the way I'm Jasmine, 22, a college graduate in her first "real " job.

The story of how I got them:

Smurfy

My 21st birthday was coming, and I wanted fancy mice. So my boyfriendsaid he would buy them for me, so we went hunting for them in an areawith a number of pet shops. Now there was this shop with many babybunnies, they were really cute and he convinced me to get the bunniesinstead, because he didnt really like mice. Thats how I ended up with 2baby bunnies. I named them Smurfy and Cookie. They were labeledas dwarf anggora rabbits and the pet shop owner said they were bothmale.

They were really adorable rabbits and my family, though annoyed at mebringing animals home suddenly, warmed up to them pretty soon. I didntknow much about bunnies at all, and surfed the internet for all sortsof information. Sadly Cookie was found dead in her cage oneafternoon when we got home. My dad said he might have been sickly allalong because he was less active than Smurfy. I was devastated ,and to cheer me up my boyfriend got me another bunny from the same shop.

I never got to naming her. 2 weeks after I got her, I woke tofind her rolling about in her cage. She was very distressed and keptgrinding her teeth. She stopped breathing just when I was getting readyto go to the vet. She was active and heathy up to that point. Icried and cried and it didnt help that my friends were labling me as"rabbit killer" since I managed to lose 2 babies in such a short time.They meant it as a joke but it certainly was not funny to me.

 

[jyrenze]

Bandit

After losing 2 buns, I was kind of paranoid about Smurfy. I keptchecking on her and did tons of research on the internet. That waswhere I found out I have purchased all the bunnies too young. They wereonly 3 - 4 weeks old when I got them, and died soon after.Smurfy was looking lonely so I looked all over for a bunny around herage. In the end I actually wrote down all the pet shop numbers from theyellow pages and called them one by one to ask if they had any bunniesaged 3 - 4 months. In the end one pet shop owner told me to contact oneof his customers who had a litter of young rabbits.

I rang the guy up and he said he had a whole lot of anggora rabbits. SoI made the trip to his house to see the bunnies. He had 13 ! And theyall looked alike, definately not anggoras of any sort. Since I alreadywent all the way there, I picked one out and took it home. The ownersaid it was male. When I got home, everyone was shocked thatI brought home a skinny rat faced creature with eyes sticking out ofits head. My dad even told me to get rid of it and purchaseanother dwarf bunny.

Well after a few weeks she got considerably fatter.

 

[edwinf8936]

:love:

 

[jyrenze]

The story continues.....

One good thing was how Smurfy got attached to Bandit. Smurfy followed Bandit everywhere. They did everything together.

After 1 or 2 months of bunny bliss, trouble started. I took them fortheir first ever checkup, and the vet said they were both female. Whata surprise! And she told me Smurfy had some skin problems around hertail part.It was just a small patch of balding fur, but thevet gave me a cream to apply on it. As the weeks went by, the problemgot worse, even her tail was affected and almost all the fur droppedoff.To make things worse, something happened to her when shewas in my enclosed garden. Till this day I'm not sure if a large ratattacked her, a cat got into my house or Bandit bit her. She sustaineda serious flesh wound, and I rushed her to the vet. I moved her indoorsin my spare cage (a little small, unfortunately), for a week until thewound healed up)

( I have pics of the wound, but I dont want to post it and gross everyone out, lol)

Smurfy recovered pretty quickly. But what with the worsening skinproblem, and me washing her wounds and flipping her over to apply theskin problem medicine, she pretty much hated me. I seperated her fromBandit because the vets said she might catch the skin problem from her.I went to a few vets and all had their theories about what was causingthe skin problem. Smurfy was so afraid of me, she would run like crazyeverytime I approach. She was one unhappy bunny. Then a fewmonths ago, I thought of getting my girls spayed. I took bothof the bunnies to the vet, and also askled about the skin problem. Hisadvice was definately different from the rest. He told me to leave thebunny alone, no more medicated baths, creams, flipping her over etc. Hesaid stress was probably making the problem worse, and also beingseperated from her companion. Then he said both my bunnies had lice!ARGHHHH !!Problems after problems......

 

[jyrenze]

Surprisingly, the vets advice worked. After Istopped all treatment, Smurfy's skin problem got very much better. Thelice problem was solved eventually after agonising andrunning around hunting for solutions for1 week. (The vet saidhe was out of lice medication for bunnies)



When they hit puberty, both of them started being aggresive to eachother. Eventually I got both of them spayed, and they are now livinghappily together.

Smurfy is still shy, but improving day by day. Now she won't run awayand will let me go up to her and pet her if I approach slowly and makeno attempt to pick her up.
Finally, bunny bliss! Hope it stays that way forever....

 

[LuvaBun]

I love a story with a happy ending . great pics too.

Sorry about your other 2 bunnies, but at least now Smurfy and Bandit have each other!

Jan

 

[HoneyPot]

I love Smurfy and Bandit's story. You're a great bunny mom!

____________
Nadia

 

[nose_twitch]

Great pictures and story. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Stephanie]

:love:

What adorable buns! I just love the name Smurfy too. I have threerabbits, and their favorite thing is to lay on their Smurf blanket. lol

 

[Nicky Snow]

Beautiful bunnies. Thanks for sharing your story.

 

[jyrenze]

Stephanie wrote:

:love:

What adorable buns! I just love the name Smurfy too. I have threerabbits, and their favorite thing is to lay on their Smurf blanket. lol

A smurf blanket sounds cute! I named her Smurfy because she is a littledwarf bun. I bought a pink panther blanket for my bunnies but everyonelooked like they were going to kill me if I "wasted" it on them. Solooks like I'll have to use it for a few months before I pass it tothem, lol.... otherwise someone is going to confiscate it for their ownuse.

 

[CorkysMom]

How cute..thanks for sharing the story and pics!

 

[jyrenze]

I'm such a doll

ah, thats nice

How much is that bunny in the window?

Scritch Scratch, gotta get rid of that itch

Its so hot, I'm melting...

Can I.. eat that?

Peekaboo!

 

[TinysMom]

I love the story and the photos. I'mso sorry about the two rabbits you lost - but it is tough when they areso young. I'm glad that you now have two rabbits that getalong - getting them spayed was so wise!

Well, I better go - right now I have a french lop running through thehouse and she's terrorizing the cats. Its the first timeshe's been allowed out of the rabbitry (she has been outside too toplay) and its quite an experience to watch her slip and slide on thetile floor as she tries to chase the cats.

Keep on sharing those photos.



Peg

 

[jordiwes]

Great pics! What a doll!

 

[LuvaBun]

Total cuteness. Those girls are just so sweet. Is Smurfy less nervous now?

Jan

 

[jyrenze]

Thanks. Yea Smurfy is so much better now. Shedoesnt run away anymore if I approach her, but I have to do it slowly,lol. However she also knows when its time for bed so she will run awayif I approach her around 10 pm.

 

[Trina]

i love seeing pictures of your rabbits. BOOTIFUL! :bunnydance:

 

[bunnydude]

Great pictures! More please!

 

[jyrenze]

Been a while since the last pics, time to post more, teeheehee....

Whats up there I wonder?

Yes I know I'm pretty

A bunny kiss

More kisses

What if I was a lop?

Yes, thats just the spot.

Bandit is moulting now, for a short furred bunny she moults quite a lot. Fur everywhere!