Bunnies...And Other Very Important Things

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Gosh I am so sorry to hear about Molly! What a shock, I've been away from the forum a few days so I didn't even see that coming . I was reading your blog and enjoying the stories of Gus and Molly and Bam! You dropped that bomb. You have definitely had a tough year. Maybe in some weird way this will bring you and Gus closer :pray:
 
I hope that Gus and I can one day bond, but I'm not betting on it. He is truely the most frightened, aggressive little rabbit, but I'm hoping he can get over that with enough love. Even if he never does, he will still have a good home here. All I ask in return is he lives longer than the others did.

Every loss is hard but my way of getting over it is to try and find a positive. The positive when BunBuns passed away is that her illness forced me to learn a lot more about rabbits and how to combat GI stasis, and I also got to save Molly and Rusty from the fate that was awaiting them and gave them a few more months than they would have had. The silver lining of Molly's passing is that now Gus will be spoiled rotton with treats, toys, lots of space to call his own, and tons of love (whether he likes it or not).

And maybe, regardless of his rough start, he will like me one day.
 
I am so sorry for your loss. If you read the second post in my current blog I have been where you are and it is horrible. I also know how bunnies can surprise you and live despite all kinds of set backs.
 
SIGH

I've been trying to grow grass for the last 5 years in my back yard. Unfortunately, the "soil" is half sand, half clay which makes growing anything pretty much impossible.

Well this year, I gave it my all. I planted super seed, covered with mulch, fertilized it, watered it twice a day... And it grew lush and magnificent.

And the dogs destroyed it.

Grrr, dog pee. I even planted clover as a last ditch effort (less damaged by the nitrogin in dog pee), with no luck. Nope, I'm left with dirt, speckled by dying grass. I give you Duke, one of the guilty parties (obviously very proud of his work):

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And Leela, who pees about six cups at a time (no, seriously):

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The "rabbit room" is officially Gus's room, and it's bittersweet. I spent all day Tuesday disinfecting the room, soaking EVERYHING down with bleach. Rob bought a new area rug for Gus to do his binkies on (chocolate brown, because I plan on decorating in chocolate brown and powder blue). I took a few pictures to share!

I keep Gus in the room with a babygate:

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The overview of the room:


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Gus's "toybox":

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I used NIC panels to keep Gus from getting under the futon:

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A picture of his "cage":

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Leela exploring:

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Gus's food, water and salad bowls:

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And his roomates, Minx (white) and Tidbit (black/white):

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And of course, Mr. Grumpy himself:


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Now that Molly has passed, I feel it is important to make nice with Gus. I'm spending a minimum of an hour a day laying on the floor of his room so he can get used to my presence. Today, he actually came out of his cage and explored the room while I was there, which is a big step forward! Normally he'd avoid me in any way possible, but today he came over to where I was laying and nudged me few times, and then hopped over to his toybox and sprawled out.

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He may come around more because he misses her. My lop boy was the best of all my bunnies. I miss him.
 
I am so sorry about Molly.

Your puppies are beautiful. My wife and I had beautiful flowering plantsaround one of the corners of your patio when we moved in. Our dogs had other plans, that corner isnow crabgrass.
 
I'm guilty!

I forced bonding from Gus last night, and I think it went well!

Instead of laying in his room on the floor, which results in him basically ignoring me, I caught him and brought him downstairs to watch TV with the family :biggrin:. I really did not want to "force" him to do anything, but it seemed like a great idea after a glass of wine, lol.

Anyway, I plopped him down on the chair next to me where he sat for a good hour. After awhile he seemed to relax a bit instead of sulking in an unresponsive ball (which is pretty much Gus being friendly, as opposed to thumping/ biting/ running for his life). I felt like asking him, who ARE you?

I'm thinking I should do this every night, in addition to laying with him in his room. Thoughts???
 
That's pretty much what I do with all buns... And I agree with Peg, have treats at the ready. Soon enough, Gus will be putty in your hands (Or you'll be putty in his, whatever works! :D)
 
GUS UPDATE: He still thumps and runs away when I try to approach him, but will generally stay still after a few tries and stand rigid while I pet him. Hopefully one day he'll realize that I don't mean danger, and stop thumping :(. I've also discovered that he'll take oats from my hand, which he won't do with anything else, so I've been trying to do that as often as I can without making him fat!

ME UPDATE: For this, you may need some background information.

When I was younger, I had gotten in with a bad crowd and had started using drugs. To get moneyto supportmy nasty habits, I would regularly steal money from my parent's wallets. I was kicked out at the age of 15.

This led to me dropping out of school, in part because I now needed a full-time job to support myself and also because I wasn't making the best choices at that time in my life. Suffice it to say, I left school with basically a grade 9 education.

Eventually, I did decide to quit drugs on my own when I was 18. I literally decided one day that I just wasn't going to do them any more, and stopped. The withdrawls were terrible, but I never went back. I've been fortunate enough since then to go and speak to groups of children about the horrors of drugs and what they can do to you and I have found it to be quite healing.

Anyway, to get back on topic, I was now 19 with barely any education, working dead end job after dead end job. I had done fast food, warehouse work, retail, and odd jobs, but I decided to follow my passion and find someone who would apprentice me as a tattoo artist. I was able to find someone, and after a very short apprenticeship, a position opened up at the shop I was working at. I became a full time artist and was actually quite good... but all good things must come to an end. The market in the city I live in was poor for tattoos and it takes a long time to build up a decent cliental. It simply was not enough money and the pay was too sporadic. I decided to leave and get a job with a paycheck.

I stopped tattooing five years ago and have since worked a lot of retail. At 23, I finally went back to school and took a course at the local college to get my high school equivalency. It really didn't do much for me but I'm glad I made the effort to get it, and I no longer label myself as a "drop-out". But still, it only gets you so far and I am only qualified for what I'm doing now, which is, you guessed it,retail.

Now I am almost 26 and I've decided to start my life and go back to school, but I'm having a hard time deciding what to take. I don't have the option to take a lousy four-year course that proves to be useless, and then go back for something else. If I take something, it needs to be the final decision of what I want to do with the rest of my life. These are the options so far of what I've been considering and why, and the cons of each:

Veterinary Technician: I love animals, I love science, it is only a two-year course at college. Cons: The pay averages at $25,000, it's hard to find full-time work, I can be very opinionated if I think I'm right and I'm not sure a vet would appreciate that.

Veterinarian: I love animals, I love science, it pays very well, the hours are good, I can specialize in exotics, I like to be "the boss". Cons: The schooling is long, I would need to move a couple of hours away for school and I'm sure Rob and I would not stay together if that happened.

Upper Management, retail: Within my comfort zone, I like to sell, I like to be "the boss", taking a short 2-year business course would set me apart, it can pay decently (about $40,000 for the type of store I'm thinking of). Cons: Extremely stressful, long hours, it's depressing to imagine myself in retail for the rest of my life.

Physiotherapist: I love science, it pays well ($60,000 to start), the hours are good, you can be your own boss and even own your own business. Cons: Only that the schooling is long -6 years of university plus about 2 years beforehand to get caught up with my prerequisites.

I'm honestly trying to think, If I could be anything in the world, what would it be? But also, what is realistic? I'd love to be a doctor, but is it realistic for me to do that? No.

Anyway, it's all just very depressing and stressful for me right now.
 
The first one... I have a friend did it and here we are 4yrs later still no job and she is doing retail.

Second... LOTS of School!

Third would be my choice.

Fourth would be cool.
 
Hey Erin, just read all of your blog and love your stories. (I'm also sorry for your losses this year and I hope Gus opens up!)

Personally I think "Upper Management, retail" would be the best choice for you :)

-Ashleigh
 
Hmm I think that upper management is a really good job and not depressing at all! Not like you are just working retail minimum wage forever.
You have tons of experience and from knowing you a bit I think you would do very well!
 
Well, I'm really not sure about retail management, and I'll tell you why. First of all, the hours I would have to work would be around 60 - 80 hours a week, so I'd basically have no time for anything or anyone else. Secondly, I'd be stressed all the time, always worried about work, and I don't think I'd be very happy. And thirdly, it is really easy to work for a company for 20 years or more, and get laid off as you near retirement, so that the company doesn't have to pay your pension. I'm not saying all companies are like this, but I've witnessed it twice before, and it makes me rather paranoid.

I'm really leaning towards physiotherapist. Anyone have thoughts on that?
 
I'm sorry to hear about your losses. I know I would be devastated. I used to have ferrets and decided they are way to hard to lose so I won't ever have more. But I do miss the little snots.

I have no advice on schooling. I wanted to go into ecology and environment but once I hit Physics, I decided I would go nuts if I had to take one more "math" class. So, I got my associates in Laboratory Technology and do not like the work so I am still in my old job. I so want to work with animals on some level, but the pay for it is not outstanding and it would rack up even more student loans.... I wish you luck in your decisions.
 

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