The adventures of Peter Cartier Rabbit!

[holtzchick]

Awh, now thats just crumby, ferrets AND hedgehogs?! Well... I understand ferrets somewhat but HEDGEHOGS.... they're so harmless... they're afraid of EVERYTHING lol!! but none the less I believe they are banned as they can carry diseases and spread them, well as can ferrets...

Jj I haven't read the book but I've read quite a few ferret handbooks. Right now I'm reading Ferrets for Dummies 2nd Edition and it's actually really good, it goes REALLY into depth about things you don' t even need to know its just cool facts as well as important info.

I tried introducing Pandora to Peter today... It went okay actually. She didn't really mind him jumping around but when she wanted to check him out, he got freaked out so he hopped away and then she got really scared and hid.

I think those two just need to be in a neutral environment and Panda (thats her nick name ) needs to be on a harness.

I think it was very good for their first meeting. I was EXTREMELY cautious with both of them.

 

[MILU]

I must say your cages look really good! Amazing job, congrats!! Just out of curiosity: doesn't Mr. Cartier chew it all? I hope he doesn't, because it seems like you've had a lot of hard work to do it!
I'm sorry about Pandora's hearing, but it's good that you'll be refunded. You can use the $ to spoil her a bit more, hehe

 

[holtzchick]

In all honesty... Peter Cartier does chew his cage like crazy! but I figure since its his cage and property he should be aloud to chew it... as long as he doesn't chew my furniture Thanks for the compliments! I figure next cage I get though it'll be steel. less of a hassle to clean. Like I'll have 2 ferret nation cages... one for Peter, one for Pandora but they're quite expensive so maybe next year

 

[JjGoesBounce]

Hi!
Jj

 

[holtzchick]

So... Pandora and Penelope are having a girls day tomorrow!!! AT THE VETS muahaahaha. No but seriously its really good for them to go see the vet so I'm happy about that. Penelope is just going to get her nails clipped though because my BOYFRIEND (who is 6'2) IS SCARED TO HOLD HER.... LOL. she's like 1/32 his size!!
Pandora however is going to be tested for her degree of deafness and maybe get a check up tomorrow depending on what the vet decides whats best for him to do, he definitely doesn't want to do too much with her so as not to stress her out.

As for me I've been running around like a crazy person with these restaurant renos (I am also helping in the reno and am the sub-contractor here) so I've been there for like 14+ hours both yesterday and today. I'm SO exhausted when I get home but I still make time for all my animals to have out of cage time and bonding time. If I'm super pooped I will cut each animals out time to 2-3 hours instead of 4, again I'm not always this busy and I'm not super woman. On top of all that I'm getting sick and that really sucks because I have a vocal project coming up that I want to work on and well... if my throat is not in the condition to perform I'm assuming my project passes me by which would REALLY be a shame. I've gotta take it easy, I'm drinking tons of tea but I think the real cause is staying in the restaurant all day, all tuckered out, and its cold... I'm partly doing installations on the roof with the hood exhaust fan motors so I've got to stay in the cold for a little bit.

On the upside PETER DID BINKY 500'S TODAY!! It's been a while since I've seen him do a real binky because of the parquet so he jumped on my bed and went NUTS. I've decided to let him on my bed BUT only supervised I'm never leaving him unsupervised in my room again! BLEH only if I feel like washing all my sheets from pee!!!

ANYWAYS.. I'm so tired, just thought I would get the good, the bad and the messy in while I have some time...

CIAO.

 

[holtzchick]

OKAY... clipping hedgehog nails may seem like the IMPOSSIBLE at this point in time! While at the vets we couldn't get Penelope to uncurl and stop huffing!! I put her in a little water, which worked at first but it was still definitely not like being in a tub of water.... so her nails remain long.... I think I'm just going to get fed up and suck it up and clip her all on my own! I can't stand to see her being neglected (I say neglected because I want to give her the best of care!!) she NEEDS her nails clipped!

As for my little Panda, she did exceptionally well. She's a good weight, active, playful and she got her ears cleaned as well! Now the vet didn't want to do any official testing until she's 4 months because first off he thinks that maybe her inner ear hasn't yet had the chance to develop and that any testing using special equipment might damage her hearing further so he will consult a specialist this week about it. However, he does have the feeling that she can hear in her left ear, its just a matter of to what degree.... I guess I will find out sooner or later!

Peter was resting on my lap on the couch today enjoying a huge dose of vigorous petting Slowly but surely I'm getting him more comfortable with being touched and pushing his comfort zone so that eventually he will love flopping down beside me (maybe not but hey, I can try ) It's just the cutest thing ever.... hmm.. why must the cutest animals be the most destructive!! I came into my room the other day to find he bit my phone cord in half (it wasn't plugged into the wall luckily), So I fixed it myself and it works just fine, but now I have a tainted cord lol... ah but thats the responsibility of owning an animal, you must keep anything valuable out of reach or put away if you don't wish it to be chewed, scratched or broken! Sometimes it's just that we're soo close I forget that he's a bunny...... I always say my boyfriends part bunny so I'm definitely used to living with buns!!!
:running bunny

 

[holtzchick]

I was awakened by the sound of my phone this morning. Who would've called if not the vet. Apparently he spoke to two small animal/exotics specialists that have worked in the field for 10 and 15 years.... He said that one of them was surprised Pandora was not all white even though she was deaf and that the other said they had read about the Waardenburg Gene in ferrets but never had actually had a patient come in with it... This actually does not sound too promising that they're considered "specialists" and barely know about it.... I do like the veterinarian because he is willing to learn about small animals and exotics and will be attending upcoming exotics seminar in NY soon enough but for now I think its best to take both of my beauties to someone with more experience just in case?! I mean I'm confident if there were an emergency the vet would figure it out, he is an ER vet and does receive ferrets occasionally and has saved the lives of many animals that other vets refuse to operate on because they're worried the animals will die. Maybe I can keep him as well as acquire another vet for them... I'm actually specifically referring to a vet for Penelope because with hedgehogs someone needs to know exactly what they're doing, hedgehogs are very temperamental and difficult to handle if someone has very little experience with them. They're aren't like any other pets I've ever had, perhaps its just Penelopes personality that makes her so this way and others could be slightly more docile.

I did manage to give Penelope an oatmeal bath yesterday because I was concerned about her dry skin, she's not losing any quills or scratching so it's not mites and other than that she's pretty active. I think it's just the dry air and a combo of too much heat possibly. Her skin looks better today but she's still grumpy and I STILL can't clip her nails I think I'm just going to pay someone off of kijiji who knows what theyre doing or I will just make a vet appointment with a Hedgie savvy vet and get them to do it as well.

I snapped some photos of Pandora while she was having some playtime! She's SLOWLY ...(and I mean VERY SLOWLY) catching on to using the litter box when she's out of the cage, I guess she's got a short attention span with being so young and I definitely can't expect so much from her in just a short week....

All my critters have YEARS to go and live healthy long loving lives with me and I'm going to make sure all are well trained (I know I sound naive) .... Picasso and Peter are very well trained surprisingly, I leave their cages open relatively all day and Picasso won't fly anywhere he'll just do a lap around the living room and get back on his perch to bask in the light! Peter just either goes under my bed or spends time with me and gets groomed and comes for pets! He's quite the handsome gentleman!! Pandora is so young that she will catch on to the routine here and unfortunately I believe that Penelope is as tame and trained as she's going to get... I do take her out for at least 30min-1hr every night for some personal bonding time but she never does more than nap.... I want to try something new with her eventually... her life was bad but maybe she will come around one of these days... who knows?!


Anyways heres some pictures of little Panda playing!!

On my lap...

Mid-play and ready to pounce!!! She LOVES that cat toy to death!!

 

[holtzchick]

I had A NIGHTMARE of a day!! It started off with a great productive morning! I went for a long drive this morning to get a toy for Pandora and then came back for a meeting at the restaurant, everything went well and according to plan, I spoke to my father, wrote up some docs, filed some docs, let the animals out. etc. It couldn't have been more productive.

Later on I decided I was going to leave Pandora in the washroom (which is completely ferret proofed). I snapped some pictures of her in her favorite new toy! She's soo cute!!

She LOVED running through the tubes and dragging her toys through them!!




Then I proceeded to bond with Peter in my room and he just relaxed on my floor. A truly happy bunny indeed....

I swear he is SO intelligent that he actually understands what I say... I believe it is just selective hearing that proves otherwise!

Anyways, so my point is everyone was happy and doing well... we decided to watch a movie on and I just sort of lost track of time, when I went to the washroom to go play with Pandora she was GONE.... I searched the whole washroom top to bottom (it's not very big and EVERYTHING was ferret proofed so that didn't help me much) and nothing, like Panda just vanished into thin air.....I then REALLY started to panic and frantically searched my apartment.... I'm thinking okay, she's deaf, if she's sleeping her likeliness of coming out is slim to none... I then made sure to move around on the floor alot and stomp.... still nothing.... After 15 minutes I just started to assume the worst and then I remembered reading that when you lose a ferret, think of the places that they would never get to and then search those places first. I asked my boyfriend to go check the robe hanging on the door because I didn't want to check, it was so quiet.

HE FOUND HER..... nuzzled inside the sleeve!!! Then I told him to go take her out and he really didn't want to because I think he's secretly scared to hold her for too long... (I was scared that maybe she got tangled in something and strangled herself or suffocated in that time). I was literally crying, but I had to check if she was okay, THANK GOD she started moving, and she had definitely been sleeping there the whole time... What happened is she climbed up the robe liner and crawled into the sleeve but the liner wouldn't allow her to come out the bottom of the sleeve unless she chose to climb back down to the bottom of the robe. I was EXTREMELY relieved at that point in time and SO glad to see my fuzzy again. I then realized if I didn't find her, sooner or later she would have likely suffocated in there!! WOW... what a real eye opener, I always watch my animals when I let them out, otherwise why would I allow them out but I guess I just got sidetracked for a minute.

Either way I definitely learned my lesson (as well as many other things on the internet after I found her, p.s. did you know that a Hedgehogs heart beats at approximately 300 times a minute!) and know that no room is EVER ferret proofed....

At least there's a good ending to the night, and I deserve a good nights rest after that ordeal. Tomorrows just another day.

 

[holtzchick]

 

[holtzchick]

You know... for animals that are SO different, Pandora-Predator, Peter-Prey.... They're actually VERY similar in personality and the way that they act!!

I love watching both of them annihilate their food in the mornings! They're both so fatty!! ALSO I found out that little fatty Cartier has been sneaking in food!! LOL.. I guess when he was out he realized where his food was and chewed holes through the bags!!! I just can't keep him away from eating!!

AH what am I gonna do, I regulate his food he gets 1/4 cup of pellets daily with unlimited hay and the odd treat here and vegetable there and plenty of exercise although he is looking slightly trimmer than he was!!

 

[holtzchick]

I think Peter is starting to realize that he LOVES my attention (or maybe I'm just starting to realize that he loves it lol) and that he adores being pet and that it brings him so much joy! I've noticed that he really enjoys laying on the foot of my bed while I'm typing away at forums and he will randomly come and annoy me to pet him and if I don't he will just jump between myself and the laptop and infront of my face :innocent

I also noticed that he LOVES when I pet him and hold a conversation with him (I usually hold conversations with all my animals, but he especially likes when I'm animated with him) because he goes NUTS running around my bed and doing binkies back and forth... I havent seen many binkies from him in this apartment because of the parquet flooring so he only really binkies on my bed unless he's REALLY excited like today where he ran off my bed around the apartment back onto my bed and so on and so forth.... Such a little sweetheart! He's becoming a true character now! I hate to say it and like to think that favorites are a bad thing but Peter really is my favorite! He likes all the simple things I do with him, he loves me for who I am as I love him, I feel like our love is unconditional even when he does something bad.

I feel as time goes on, my boyfriend and I treat him more like a dog... something that really made me smile in silent chuckle the other day is when I was playing with Pandora in the washroom, I heard my boyfriend disciplining him by saying "bad bunny" ... I thought he peed on the bed when my boyfriend just said no, he was sneaking food from the bag because he tore a hole at the bottom. I thought it was very clever and adorable, unlike as if he were to pee on my bed again! (SO NOT HAPPENING, HE IS ONLY SUPERVISED IN MY ROOM NOW )

Even my entire family (who were all VERY skeptical when I brought him home, exclaiming that rabbits are dumb animals who just sit in their cage and run away...NOT) they all are SO open to rabbits now.

My father LOVES Peter so much... I remember for the time that he stayed here with us, we would go to work in the morning, come back from a job 12 hours later dusty as heck (home renos) and rather than cleaning off, the first thing he would do is open Peters cage and get him a banana or treat to snack on!! I think that also encouraged him to get a dog because he missed the company of all my sweet critters.

My mother has been exclaiming how he's like a dog, and that he and Pandora are both better than having dogs, they're cleaner and actually (in her words) "surprisingly loving" ... although we all LOVE my mothers dog Tyson, a Bichon Frise, he's now about 12-13, diabetic (poor thing, doing extremely well on his insulin though!), plays like a puppy still, is extremely calm and intelligent and the worlds LARGEST cuddle bug and sweetheart!! (BTW I will totally post a tribute picture to him at the end because he's so sweet and I love him dearly!)

My brother was laughing because he never ever enjoyed Peter or rabbits but was shocked that he got to pet him on his visit.. the first time he ever saw Peter, Peter cowered away into his house in his cage and wouldn't come out for anything, not even a treat. He still says rabbits are boring though *sigh*

My sister was actually scared of Peter comparing him to a little rat but now she's actually open to coming over and having him out of the cage... she thinks hes kinda cute ahhaha

The only one that never said a bad thing about bunnies was my boyfriend because I have a feeling the only reason he bought Peter is because I really wanted a bunny (DESPITE the fact that I asked him if he genuinely wanted a bunny or if he just wanted one because I did, my boyfriend never tells he'll do just about anything to make me happy) But even he has learned to genuinely love Peter and calls him a sweetheart too!!

ANYWAYS... my post is long but it felt good to type for a while.

As promised, my tribute to TYSON !!!

^^^ my favorite picture of him, he reminds me of a lion in this picture and looks extremely annoyed as well

^^ here he reminds me of that sheepdog from Loony Toons LOL

^^ I thought it was cool how I got him on a tongue roll, (p.s. don't mind his teeth poor thing has a lot of dental issues the vets are sorting out)

^^ of course his FAVORITE way to sleep... on his back, in between blankets and somewhere comfy, preferably all while getting attention!! LOL... he's such a little suck! (he also sleeps like this with my mother on the pillow next to her!!!)

^^^ Quite likely his OTHER favorite way to sleep like a little pampered princess on a pillow.... You can see the cataracts in his eyes as he's only got a bit of vision left, it def doesn't affect the way he is though, he's extremely trusting of us and never gets scared.

As you can see, this little guy is a trooper, he's been through lots of surgeries in his life, and he keeps pulling through because we always support and love him just as he loves us.... I wish I could keep him in my apartment because my mother and sister don't have much time for him he's in a playpen for most of the day with pillows and sleeps due to them working but then again sleeping is his favorite activity, always has been, I always used to say that he is like a house plant you barely know he's there!! Unfortunately I can't have him here, he doesn't get along well with Peter because he can't see too well anymore and just wants to chase Peter for that reason, he used to get along with all kinds of animals and critters.

He is extremely intelligent and is bi-lingual (Polish and English) his most known commands are (in Polish) cuddle, speak and he LOVES to be spoken to like a baby and is all over the attention.

 

[holtzchick]

I suppose it has been at the very least a week since I have posted! This has been an eventful week for us as we have a guest staying with us. My boyfriend's friend whom he hasn't seen for 10 years has moved here from Prague. It's quite refreshing to meet someone that's not stuck in this North American lifestyle, I feel as though lately everyone is running around stressed, sick and still on the go, constant coffee and work.

Since I live in Port Credit, we thought we would take him for a walk around the lake and get some good pictures. Never the less, my camera is awful quality so the only mediocre pictures I got were of the swans we saw in the lake (btw so beautiful will post a picture!).

Poor guy is still jet lagged with the time difference and all so it's been early bedtimes for us... Last night I must have been up until 2 am on the computer which I was starting to write a blog post when my H key popped off the keyboard!!! I ended up breaking the piece that snaps it into the keyboard but the soft key part still works... so I gave up on typing and tried to put it back on there for about half an hour LOL.... it was funny since my boyfriend was sleeping I didn't want to wake him up so I was using the light from my laptop and killed my eyes in the process

While I was awake I did however end up making a signature for the ferret forum I'm on and it is also my desktop wallpaper.... now how do I post this as my signature for this forum? Any help on that would be appreciated.

It seems our guest has taken quite a liking to Peter and definitely reassured me that his owner spoils him.... of course... he has been mocking me about all the animals and has called it a zoo.... I can't even go into the pet store at the mall without a comment such as "just don't come out with another one" LOL. He definitely doesn't mind sleeping with all the animals in the living room since he says its surprisingly quite clean and doesn't smell (another thumbs up for me). For someone that loves animals so much I loathe walking into someones house/apt and having a certain smell pertaining to their pets it's just unappealing to me... all my little critters are raised with cleanliness so they somewhat maintain it. I can't force them to be clean because thats just in their nature (ESPECIALLY MY LITTLE BURROWERS ) so it just means that mommy has to clean twice as often lol...

Here are a few pictures from yesterday:

The two swans which was likely the most clear picture I shot.

My failed close up... this just proves how bad the quality was last night... then again my lens won't focus properly when I do the zoom all the way.... PS ANYONE KNOW WHY THIS OCCURS? I don't understand photography and its associated properties.

Last but not least, I would love to make this picture my signature for the forum... does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can do this, I've tried inserting the link but I will try other things as well.

 

[holtzchick]

I took Pandora to the vet yesterday to get her vaccines and when we were all done at the vet my boyfriend said we were going to get a friend for my bird Picasso. They've become great friends surprisingly quickly and they're oh so cute! We decided to get a blue budgie and named her Prada

Happy Valentines Day!

 

[ZRabbits]

Congratulations! All pretty animals!

K

 

[JjGoesBounce]

Aw! Prada is just gorgeous! What an amazing boyfriend!
Happy Valentines Day!
Jj

 

[holtzchick]

Awh thanks guys! Happy valentines to the both of you! I'm jealous watching those two hang out, I'm thinking it's time to try bonding Peter soon, heheh. I think he's just at that stage in his life where he's done being a little hell raiser and now he needs someone to cuddle with Oh my I am a sap..

 

[holtzchick]

Hmm.. our guests are now gone, and the house is FINALLY spotless, ah I hate having a clutter! I've had more time for my animals so they've been all tuckered out lately. I took well over 100 pictures in the last week of them during their bonding time with me and it was so much fun! My boyfriend and I went to the pet store and bought Pandora a hot pink sweater (which she completely hates) and I bought Peter some new toys. Peter has lost some weight and now looks perfectly healthy, I'm still going to weigh him though, just to be safe. I've gained weight because our guests wanted to be "American" and decided to eat out EVERY night :\ but I'm back on my healthy craze and have been working my butt off lately with this restaurant. I'm excited for it to open in the next week after waiting since last August! I've got a few more long days of the renovation but we have passed the fire inspection and the building inspection so I guess thats what counts!

Anyways, here are pictures of my little darlings : )

My curious Mr.Cartier!

His fur is soo shiny

Panda Bear in her pink sweater (for the minute she left it on!)

I thought this was the cutest picture ever! She looks like a little kitten

So my sister just booked her vacation and my mother doesn't want to be home alone the whole time so I'm going to stay with her for a week and bring Peter and Pandora with me so they can at least get their necessary exercise everyday! I'm a little excited because I don't spend much time with my mother since she works a lot and my boyfriend will come visit once in a while. She's VERY excited for me to bring Pandora over, she loves visiting Pandora . I hope the animals adjust well, I'm leaving Peter in an Xpen while there and I'm bringing Pandora's actual cage from home. I will keep them upstairs because I don't want Tyson ( her dog) to stress them out even though he's a small little guy. Will definitely post more pictures in the next week!

 

[ZRabbits]

Wish you all the luck with your restaurant opening.

Love all the pics. Pandora does look like a kitten in that pic. Love the close up of Peter.

Have fun with Mom. Hope all goes well and you, Peter and Pandora have a wonderful visit.

K

 

[holtzchick]

Awh you're such a sweetheart thank you Ah I've been working myself to death but it will pay off soon. (hopefully) and I'm sure they will enjoy their visit to their grandmothers... lol I treat my animals like children

 

[holtzchick]

Awh so this week at my mothers has been great. The animals are SO well behaved, they're such little angels! (yes... even though they are naughty at my apartment lol)

Today was a stay at home (still at my moms) kind of day since I worked like 14 hours yesterday at the restaurant with my boyfriend preparing some things for catering for a fundraiser today. We decided on making Provolone stuffed risotto balls (DELICIOUS!), small meat balls (since its sort of a grab and go thing)half beef half pork with hot tomato sauce and regular tomato sauce, chicken stikini (I'm not sure of the spelling on this one:S) and a berry mascarpone dessert! It SHOULD be amazing and I got the best dress for it too... but thats for later on today.

So far I have made Pandora some duck soup mix, its not really duck, just a mix of ferret food, meat, egg and water (PLENTY of water to hydrate her, shes a crazy one and has been drinking her water through a blanket :\) and in the oven as we speak are some WALNUT shaped bunny cookies, I had special walnut cutouts for cookies that go in the oven and actually give a walnut texture, so I will post pictures when I'm done! Peter deserves these, he's such a well behaved bunny and he's not even stressed by my mothers dog