Eight is Enough!

[Chrisdoc]

I love seeing bunnies snuggling together and these two look great. One of my favorite thing is watching them groom each other, one starts then tries to stick their head under the other one and they're no having it and we see who comes out on top..hahaha I do laugh so much sometimes with my three. Can't wait to see all three together. By the way, yes, sometimes prove you are so wrong about them by doing exactly the opposite of what you expected them to do, that's why we love them

 

[Aubrisita]

Aw, those pictures are adorable. Glad to hear that things are going well.

 

[JBun]

So I thought that I would do a bit of an update. I did finally manage to bond Penny in with Dakota and Flopsy, but it was quite the process. Dakota simply wouldn't allow Penny to move into her and Flopsy's enclosure. She would chase and nip Penny. I don't know how Dakota managed this as she is old, partially blind, and arthritic, but it didn't seem to hinder her chasing abilities at all.

Outside of their pen Dakota was absolutely fine with Penny. So after several months of procrastinating finalizing their bonding, I finally moved them out into a new temporary pen while I am remodeling the rabbit room. The bonding happened as soon as I moved them out. So now they are happily living together.... mostly happily. Penny has actually turned the tables and now nips Dakota. Dakota is dealing with it fairly well and just runs away when it happens, but I'm not very happy about my old arthritic bunny being picked on. I don't want to split them up, but I'm not entirely sure what to do about it at this point. If I see it happening, Penny gets a talking to from me, and she knows she gets in trouble when she does it and runs and hides in her box. I guess as long as Dakota seems to be dealing with it ok, then I'll not worry too much about it. And who knows, maybe once I move them back into their old pen, the tables may turn and Dakota will be going after Penny again.

And Flopsy... well he's fine with both of them. Not too much fusses him.

So I decided to finish neutering and spaying all of my buns so that I could finally bond them into their groups. Zeus, Pip, Libby, Jake, and Roo were the only ones left to be done. I took Roo and Jake in. Roo's spay was successful but Jake's heart stopped when they gave him the anesthesia. Luckily the vet saved him and he is doing just fine... with his plums still attached No neuter for him. So he lucked out and for now will remain a 'real' boy. Pip was next and all went well. Both her, and Roo especially, have settled down and don't seem quite as moody as they used to be.

Now the sad news. I wanted to get Zeus neutered but was worried about doing it because of his past digestive issues. But the pee spraying was pretty bad and driving me crazy, and I really wanted to be able to bond him with Baby, seeing as he is the only one of my rabbits that she seems to really like and not act aggressively towards, and I felt bad for them not having a buddy to snuggle up with. So I decided to go ahead with it. Well.... he didn't make it I'm just heartbroken. I feel like I failed my little guy. I keep thinking of what I should have done differently, but I just don't know.

I had a necropsy done and found out the results today, which were very unexpected. He had e. cuniculi, and it was complications from this that caused his death. They found lesions in his heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and brain, and that his brain and liver were affected the most. But the strange thing is that he showed absolutely no symptoms of it. Aside from his digestive sensitivities and suspected mild megacolon type symptoms, he was healthy and happy. The results didn't indicate any abnormalities with his digestive system at all.

I guess in some respects I'm glad he didn't have to go through having EC, as it's a horrible illness to deal with, and I'm sure very distressing for a rabbit to have. I am glad that in the end he did go peacefully. But even then I still wish he wasn't gone. I really miss him and his cute chubby checks. He was just the sweetest little bun, so affectionate and loving.

RIP my sweet boy.

 

[whiskylollipop]

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about Zeus. What a little soldier, I can't believe he hid the e cuniculi so well. But it's good he didn't have to suffer through the illness. Binky free little bun!

I hope your other buns heal well. Looking forward to hearing about their bonding adventures!

 

[pani]

Binky free, Zeus. ray:

It's amazing he was able to hide the EC so well. I'm glad that he didn't seem to be suffering from it.

Nice to have an update from your bunny family - looking forward to seeing more from them.

 

[ChocoClover]

Wow! You have had a lot of stuff going on.

I'm so sorry about Zeus. They are way too good at hiding diseases, aren't they.

 

[mrbunny]

Quasi-semi-regular lurker, rare commenter.

I'm sorry to hear about Zeus. He was a very handsome fellow. Binky-free

On a happier note, I love your bunnies and your blog!

 

[Sophie's Humble Servant]

Sorry for your loss

 

[Chrisdoc]

Jen, so sad to hear Zeus didn't make it. I always thought of Snowy when I saw him, same cute face and stance. But glad he went peacefully. Hope all the rest get back to normal quickly and I did laugh at Penny and Dakota, I am sure they will sort themselves out.

 

[Aubrisita]

So sorry to hear about your Zeus.

 

[JBun]

I'm a little late responding, but thank you for the kind words about Zeus' passing. It's not quite so painful now, but I sure miss his sweet face

So a bit of an update on my other buns.

I've started trying to bond Baby into the big bunny group(Flopsy, Dakota, and Penny). Not sure how it is going to work out, as Dakota and Penny tend to go after Baby. I'm really hoping I can get them to work it out though, as I feel bad for Baby being alone. Zeus and Flopsy are the only rabbits of mine that she seemed to like. With Zeus gone, that just leaves Flopsy and the other big bunnies. I could never bond her with the little bunnies, as she is a bit of a bully around them.

Dakota is showing her age. At 9 now, she's slow and stiff, and sleeping a lot more than she used to. Here she has fallen asleep in her treat bowl

I finally finished bonding the little bunnies. So it is now Pip bonded with all of her babies, plus Roo and minus an unneutered Jake. They are very happy together. Toby is the boss bunny of the group, though he frequently grooms the others. He's still an obsessive groomer. He seems much calmer though and doesn't seem as hyper as he used to be. He would constantly rattle his toy chains when it was feeding time and now that he is with the other bunnies, he hasn't done it since. Roo gets along with the others just fine and will snuggle with them, she also frequently is off sleeping by herself. You can see her off at the end there, which is a normal way to find her. Not sure what that's about. Maybe she's a bit of a loner. But they all get along really well and are often snuggling together, which I love seeing.

And there's sweet little Jake. Since it's too risky to get him neutered, he can't be bonded, so he gets to spend time with me during the day. Much to his delight. As you can see, he has settled in quite nicely and claimed his space

Enjoying his morning salad of green leaf lettuce, parsley, apple leaves, and willow leaves. He gets so excited and sits on that corner of the couch just waiting for me to bring it in to him.

So that's all of the bunnies. All happy and healthy and doing well. If I manage to make any progress with Baby and the big bunnies, I'll do an update on their bonding.

 

[pani]

I'm glad bonding is going well for Pip and her babies, and Roo. They make a cute little family all snuggled together. Jake looks like a little character too!

 

[JBun]

This is an update for any of you that are still around that know me and my bunnies(not many of us left ), and any one else that might be interested.

So Flopsy passed away in my arms Monday morning, at the age of 7. In November he was diagnosed with a mass of some sort in his chest, possibly a thymoma. But aside from a slightly increased respiratory rate and slight weight loss, he was still doing perfectly fine. At that point he had been bonded with Baby and it had been the two of them as a pair for a while. A week before he passed he wasn't eating his normal amounts and was sleeping a lot, and got to the point of barely eating. As a last ditch effort my vet decided to try him on steroids, as well as syringe feeds, and he seemed to improve temporarily but had a downturn and stopped swallowing by the end of the week, which I know usually signals the end. I knew I had to make that difficult decision and made an appointment to bring him in to pts. But 5 minutes later after I had picked him up to comfort him, he let out a squeal and died in my arms, likely from his heart finally giving out. It was heartbreaking to hear that, but I'm glad at the end I was with him.

Flopsy was always such a good calm bunny. Whenever the neighborhood kids wanted to see one of my bunnies, he was often the one I would bring out as nothing ever upset him and he wasn't scared of anything. He was also great with all my other rabbits. It was hard to know who to end up bonding him to because all the rabbits loved him. He was the best 'big brother' as he helped and looked after any bunny that I needed him to even though he wasn't technically bonded to them.

He started off being bonded to Dakota for several years. They got along well and liked each other, though never seemed to really be 'in love' with each other. Though Dakota thought he made a very handy pillow, and Flopsy didn't seem to mind obliging her

After my failure to bond Penny and Baby as a quad with Dakota and Flopsy, I gave up and decided that for each of them to be able to have a friend I would need to split Flopsy and Dakota up, as Flopsy was the only bunny Baby got on with. So it ended up being Dakota bonded with Penny and Baby bonded with Flopsy.

Baby absolutely ADORED Flopsy. She would constantly groom his face, which he loved, and snuggle up to him on their bunny bed when it was nap time. They were a good match and very happy together. And Flopsy's calm nature was also helpful for Baby's excessively nervous nature. He was a kind bunny and lived a good life, and I'll miss him. RIP my big boy.

 

[JBun]

Alright, so for the rest of the bunnies...

Dakota and Penny are now a pair, and that has worked out fairly well considering Dakota is old and slow, and Penny is young and active. Dakota sleeps a lot now, she has spondylosis so has difficulty moving around, but still is doing really well at 10 years old, and still gets very excited at treat time when I dish out the willow leaves Penny mostly does her own thing since Dakota doesn't move from her area, but comes to share hay and treats, and loves to come for a cuddle when it is nap time.





The little bunnies are all doing great. I didn't like seeing Jake alone and wanted him to be able to be with his family. So even though I was terrified of losing him I decided I needed to go ahead and try and get him neutered again. But this time I went to a rabbit specialist in the next city. She was an awesome vet, the surgery went off without a hitch, and Jake is now happily bonded in with his mom, brothers, and sisters.







There were a few difficulties between him and Toby who's the 'king of the little bunnies', so I had to rebond those two a couple times, but it's been a while and every one has been happy, besides the odd chase by Libby misses grumpy pants and wanna be 'queen of the little bunnies'. Mostly Riley and Roo just avoid her when she is being a brat. Or I yell at her to quit, and she stops and looks at me like 'what?'

 

[whitelop]

Jenny! I'm so sorry to hear about Flopsy! Its always so hard. Binky free sweet Flopsy.

I'm glad all the little bunnies are bonded together again! They're so precious!

 

[JBun]

MORGAN!!!! My long lost friend, how are you? I'm so glad to see you around. I've often wondered how you were doing.

Thank you. It's one of the hard things about having pets, is most have such short life spans that you inevitably have to deal with them dying so soon. And when you have many pets, you have to deal with it many times.

It's so much easier having all the little bunnies in one group. And they are so happy together. After they get fed they'll all head up to their blanket on the top level and settle in a bunny pile licking each other before they settle in for a nap all snuggled up. It makes me happy to see.

How are you doing? How's your family and your pets?

 

[whitelop]

That is the worst part of having pets, they are never here long enough.
We're great! All the animals are doing really well! I just rearranged Ellie's pen, shes currently nibbling and pulling on her new water dish place mat!

How are you, Jenny? Outside of bunny loss, of course. How is life?!

 

[MiniLopMad]

Oh no! I'm so sorry for the loss of Flopsy 😭 Binky free gorgeous boy

 

[Azerane]

I'm so very sorry for your loss of Flopsy. Love seeing all his pics and all the little ones seems very happy in their stunning condo together.

 

[JBun]

Thank you Minilopmad and Bec. It was nice outside and my neighbor had her little kids out, so I was going to bring a bunny out for them to pet, but usually that would be Flopsy since he's so good with little kids. I had to think who else I could bring out, but there is only Jake now that behaves himself with kids. So poor Jake has the permanent position of kid ambassador with Flopsy gone.

I think Baby must have sensed that Flopsy was sick. She was acting strange when he had his downturn and before he died, but is pretty much her normal self now and doesn't seem to be upset that he's gone. In a way it's kind of sad that she doesn't miss him more even though she did love him tons, but I'm also glad I'm not having to deal with a depressed rabbit.

That is the worst part of having pets, they are never here long enough.
We're great! All the animals are doing really well! I just rearranged Ellie's pen, shes currently nibbling and pulling on her new water dish place mat!

How are you, Jenny? Outside of bunny loss, of course. How is life?!

I'm glad things are good with you. I was almost scared to ask about Ellie. Rabbits are just such fragile little things, I just was hoping nothing had happened to her, especially since she was such a little troublemaker and liked getting into mischief. I hope she has mellowed a bit for your sake, but maybe that is asking too much from her

How's AJ? He's got to be about 4 now right? A little man now. I'm sure you are glad the terrible two's are over That always seems to be such a trying time when they are in to everything.

Things pretty much roll on the same with me. Spend LOTS of time caring for my rabbits, especially with Dakota now. I have to check on her several times a day to make sure she is getting to her water and food alright. She's just an old girl. I keep thinking she can't possibly survive much longer, but she just keeps ticking along and seems happy enough to do so. I've been thinking for the last two years that surely she won't live much longer, yet she's still here and probably will be for another two years. She's a determined little bun.

My mom is also getting older and I'm helping out there a bit more to make things easier for her. So that's mostly where my time goes now.

It was so nice outside today. The snow is finally melting and is nearly gone. I'm really looking forward to warm weather again. I pretty much hibernate all winter. I don't do cold well