Some care questions on new rescue

[Marrie]

We just brought home the girl bun I had asked about earlier - she has a few issues from her original owner I am unsure about the complications from.

1) Her whiskers were cut. It looks like someone decided they were too long and trimmed them short in spots and they are long in others, all raggedy like a woman who took a knife to her hair and left it uneven... can see where the scissors snipped the ends. What effect will this have on her? I know cats get unbalanced/bang into things if people mess with their whiskers. Also, her eye whiskers are curled over several times and half-broken (looks a bit like when you snap a stem of grass). Do rabbits get curled whiskers like that?

2) She has sticker glue all over her fur. Is there anything I can do to wash this off, or do I need to shave her and let her grow her fur back? She's calm enough I think she'd let me wash her with a rag, but I can't think of anything safe to use to dissolve glue from hair.

3) She seems young, but I have no idea on her age. The lady was feeding her alfalfa and using wood shavings for bedding, just because she didn't know any better. But I think she might be still developing... should I feed her alfalfa or timothy? Or a mix of both? There is a picture of her in my blog.

 

[slavetoabunny]

I looked, but I haven't been able to find any pics of your new bun. I may not have looked hard enough! From the description of her fur and whiskers, I would suspect she is a rex. If she is a rex, scraggly whiskers are normal. I have one rex that has no whiskers at all.

Some pics here would be helpful in giving you some advise.

 

[Marrie]

No idea on her breed - if they are supposed to be like that makes me feel a bit better. Powder has really long straight whiskers, but the new bun has 2 that are next to her nose (kind of sharp perfectly even ends, while the other whiskers on her have more of a natural ending to them), 3 that are longer, a few that are medium length. Her eye ones are really, really long but curled around 3 times and multi-colored and one has what looks like a "split end" type of break in the middle. I can't get any other pictures as my camera is broken :s but that is the one the foster had.

That is her "good side" - on the other side she has glue down her side where the previous owners decided to let their kids plaster stickers on her fur. Gr.

 

[I_heart_Fraggles]

I called my vet about this and she said due to the fact that rabbits have such thin skin there is not any safe product that will remove the glue. So your best bet is to carefully shave the glue area. She is very cute though, keep us posted on how your bird feels about her.

 

[Marrie]

Thank you Katie! My vet isn't open on Sundays, so I figured one of you guys would know. Much appreciated. Poor bun is going to be half bald.

Our bird has already come over to investigate - she sniffed his tail feathers, he hissed at her for touching him, which is what happened with Powder so I assume in a few days he'll be chasing her around and then start trying to steal her hay lol

 

[I_heart_Fraggles]

Your welcome Marrie, anytime! I had cockatiels growing up and would love another one.

 

[dragynflye]

awww what a pretty little thing! my first thought when i read your description was "rex", after seeing your picture, i would definitely say she's a rex. good luck with her fur, i can't believe a parent would allow that to happen!

 

[I_heart_Fraggles]

Oh yes she is a very pretty rex girl. A parent that does this is the same kind of parent that thinks a rabbit is a good child's pet

 

[Marrie]

I was reading the description on rex rabbits and they say females get up to 10lbs? Is that right? I would say she is 5lbs, at most. Either a mini, or young then right?

I know, right? The kids I *think* were special needs (the lady didn't go into details, not wanting to bad mouth anyone, but she works with the special needs kids in the area), so can't blame them. But parents are supposed to know better.

Cockatiels are fun, maybe Fraggles would allow one to groom her since she shuns other bunnies? lol Powder is still unsure on the being groomed by a bird, but my bird thinks pulling hairs out is a good way to groom, so I can't blame him.

 

[dragynflye]

hey, now, i'm the type of parent that thinks a rabbit is a good child's pet! and goose and puppet are connected at the hip!

i'm just giving you a hard time, i know what you mean. i can't tell you how many animals, of all species, i've fostered because of bad parenting. *sigh*