The Diaries of Merlin Puffsbottom and Naja Seraphina

[pani]

:hugs:

November's a long time away, I'll have my fingers crossed that it will all work out and you'll be able to keep Odin around.

 

[whiskylollipop]

Thanks I hope so too. It just feels like an anvil above our heads, and bubs actually wants to rehome Odin as soon as possible before we get even more attached to him. Cause he knows that I rapidly reach a point where I would rather sleep on park benches with my bunnies than ever live without them. Ack lol.

And because life has to be hard, here's Odin 5 minutes ago, in the middle of licking his butt when suddenly a wave of sleep attacked:

Kittehs are natural yogis. How does one fall asleep with one's leg behind one's head? When one is above the laws of physics.

 

[whiskylollipop]

*raises blog from the dead*

Hey! So, um. Yeah. Hi. :happybunny:

It's been a busy couple of months, and I didn't really feel like updating the bunnies' blog because firstly, there wasn't really anything of note happening in their lives. Bonding was put on hold for a looong while. Secondly, Odin left us. He went to live with a rural family with other kitties to play with, which is probably much better for him that staying in our little apartment. But I miss him, and I'm still feeling pretty mopey about it. Oh well.

Hope you're having a great life, old buddy.

Anyway. We had bonding session last night in the bathroom, and it went much better than expected. We had ZERO fighting, zero chasing, zero lunging! That was awesome progress. It wasn't all perfect though. Sasha was still nipping Merlin in her not-really-aggressive way, I'm not sure what's really going through her little spherical head but maybe she's trying to provoke a reaction out of him. Because seriously, he will not do ANYTHING. When Sasha's around, in neutral ground, Merlin freezes in terror. If he can't find a hiding place, he just hunches down motionless like a statue, head lowered in what I think is supposed to be submission. Sasha doesn't seem to be getting the message though. Still waiting on some dominance humping. Any dominance humping. Any time now, guys.

I wonder how I can get things moving. Merlin seems to have hit a brick wall. I can just feel Sasha's transition from her previous tense, aggressive posturing to something more like, "Really. Are you kidding me? You're just going to sit there. And I actually thought I had a worthy opponent. *bites* Do something ya big weenie." She's cool as a cucumber now, no more fear or animosity towards Merlin besides the occasional nip. I guess that's better than fighting though, right?

Merlin's the cutest little wuffly buggy butt plush toy bunny in real life, but I can never seem to take a flattering pic of him.

I swear, Sashibibun is the Rambo bunny. Once, during her out time (when it's her turn to be out while Merlin's in the pen), she found her way up onto her cage which is adjacent to the pen. Meandered around a bit, exploring the new space. Looked down and saw Merlin bumbling around in his pen. Then she kamikaze'd down into Merlin's pen! Now Merls might be a big weenie in neutral territory, but he'll fight to the death to defend his territory. Due to some mistakes on my part we have seen this in action a number of times before. So Sasha knows. But she went for guts and glory anyway. Luckily I vaulted over the couch and scooped her out before anything happened, but man. She's crazy.

Oh, and one night a couple weeks ago, Merls was digging crazily in his mancave at midnight and it was keeping us awake. So bubs went out, chased him out of the mancave, and zipped it up so he couldn't get back in. Guess what we woke up to the next morning.

Chewed a big hole right through it so he could have his beddy back. Merlin 1, humans 0.

 

[Azerane]

Haha, such a character! That's so funny that he chewed his way in. Unstoppable!

I'm also sad that Odin left, but hopefully he's happy with all the space he has to roam

 

[whiskylollipop]

I know! I was deeply impressed. Made a huge mess though, naughty potato. I've been told that Odin's getting on swimmingly with the other cats, so I'm happy for him.

I've been hit with the gastro bug. For the first time ever. To be honest, I'm surprised at how not sick I feel, considering I'm currently a human hose at both ends if you know what I mean. Just a bit of tummy pain and like 4 showers so far but eh, I've had worse. Bubs has had gastro a few times before and has always described it like it's a frickin horror scene straight out of Saw. It ain't that bad. I guess when your uterine lining bleeds out your genitals every month or so you get desensitized to a little bodily fluid mess down there. The retching is the worst part though, ugh.

The buns are taking care to avoid me. Guess they don't want to catch it. Sasha actually came up to me, sniffed my ankles and then took off running at breakneck speed. Smelled the germs, didja?!

 

[pani]

Oh no Laura! I hope you recover soon.

 

[Azerane]

Bubs has had gastro a few times before and has always described it like it's a frickin horror scene straight out of Saw. It ain't that bad. I guess when your uterine lining bleeds out your genitals every month or so you get desensitized to a little bodily fluid mess down there. The retching is the worst part though, ugh.

Wow, you must have a strong tolerance for illness, I absolutely loathe gastro. Then again, stomach related pains and illness have always been my weak point in terms of coping with pain etc. When I get gastro, I'm stuck sitting/laying down with no ability to do anything except literally crawl to the toilet at necessary intervals. Last time I had it I was house and dog-sitting for a friend at the time, got to about 3pm before I remembered to feed the dog who'd literally been staring at me all day, lol.

Feel better soon!

 

[whiskylollipop]

Well slap me with a shovel, I spoke too soon! The start of gastro was pretty easy, but by nightfall I was vomitting every 10 minutes or so and it was a considerably more terrible experience than I said. Stomach pains got worse too. I'd have to say the most face-tearing part was the fact that I was ALWAY thirsty, but couldn't keep any water down. Yuck. 0.2/10, would not recommend.

 

[lovelops]

Merlin is soooo adorable in that picture in his mancave that is priceless!


Vanessa

 

[pani]

Oh Laura! I'm sorry to hear that it hit you harder. Are the bunnies sensing that you need some extra love? I've got a cold, and was napping on the couch a few days ago, hoping the bunnies might come snuggle up with me... no luck, of course, hehe.

Hope you're feeling better!

 

[Azerane]

Well slap me with a shovel, I spoke too soon! The start of gastro was pretty easy, but by nightfall I was vomitting every 10 minutes or so and it was a considerably more terrible experience than I said. Stomach pains got worse too. I'd have to say the most face-tearing part was the fact that I was ALWAY thirsty, but couldn't keep any water down. Yuck. 0.2/10, would not recommend.

That sounds more like gastro I know Hopefully it's over now though, it usually doesn't last terribly long, a day or two. But for me at least it then takes several more days for me to recover my strength.

Hope you're doing well.

 

[BunnySilver]

Oh I'm so sorry to hear that you are not feeling well. I have a bad cold right now, but that's nothing compared to what your going through. I'm hoping you get better as fast as possible.

 

[whiskylollipop]

Bella: oh I hate colds! Hope you're all better now! :feelbetter:Gastro's done kicking my ass so I'm back to bunsnuggling business now. I have to say colds last ages for me - not fun.

-
UGH I just saw a bug on Merlin! Tried to pinch it out but it just crawled deeper into his fursies. anic: I don't know if it's really fleas we have, the pictures on Google seem to depict tinier specks and this was a pretty big, visible bug...but I flew online and ordered some kitten Revolution anyway so hopefully that kills whatever it is that's hiding in my Murly Wurly.

But you know what, it's karmic justice that he should suffer a few bites. He's been biting me all month. Not hard enough to break the skin, he just thinks his teensy lil moufies is strong enough to lift and move my limbs that are in his way, so that results in some pretty painful nip-and-pull action every couple of minutes that we're hanging out together. Little fiend. He probably sees himself as some kind of bunny Hulk.

So it looks like we're going to have to get someone in to spray the bejeezus out of our apartment. Sigh. I might contact Auckland Cavy Care (Sasha's lovely rescue people) and see if they're okay with boarding bunnies at their guinea pig ranch for a week or so.

 

[whiskylollipop]

I wonder how many nicknames I've really got for my bunnies? I almost never address them as "Merlin", "Sasha", or their proper names, "Merlin Bunniculus von Puffsbottom" or "Queen Naja Seraphina".

Merlin: Fluffles, Fluffybutt, Meeooolin, Murlywurly, Meeweeweewee, Mawan, Miwinz, Meerwerls, Molonz, Molywoly, Muppet, Merls

Sasha: Sashabun, Sashibibun, Sheebeez, Sheebs, Sashinabi, Sushibun, Sushibibunny, Sashy, Sashmonster, Sheebybunny, Sheebster, Sashanajabun

Odin was for some reason JubJubs, Jubbers, or JUBSTERRRRR!!! (said really fast and aggressively). I don't know how that happened. JubJubs-and-variants-thereof was just something that suited the mood he brought me when he was around, though I only trained him to come when he heard "Odin!". His new mom named him Stirling, which...is kind of ornamenty, but okay. Lol.

Anyway. No new photos. Bad whiskylollipop. Bad, bad whisky.

Bonding's been more of the same. I really can't figure out how to get Merlin up and at 'em. Sasha seems to have made her peace with Merlin - or rather frozen-icicle-Merlin - which is a decent leap forward, but he's just such a huge wimp he won't move when she's around. She hasn't bitten him (too much) the last 3 sessions but he still can't get over his fear of her. I might have made things a bit worse the last session though, by trying to push their faces together when they were sitting side by side. That resulted in two sharp nips to the nose for my poor boy. Eek.

We also tried taking his man-cave into the bathroom during bonding to give him some sense of security, but he got cornered in there and Sasha flopped out right across the entrance! Sigh. You win again, Sheebs.

In other news, we haven't gotten round to spraying the house due to an unexpected confluence of bills that's left us pretty broke, but I did get the bunnies some kitten Revolution so they're hopefully flea-less now. Man, Merlin did not like that eh, he was trying his hardest to scratch it off the second I set him down. But his fat little feetsies couldn't reach the back of his neck! Hee.

They're both enjoying some fresh Bok choy right now. Merlin has Sasha's foster mum to thank for introducing bok choy into his life. I originally bought it for Sasha because she said it was one of her favourite veggies. It was then that I discovered Merlin goes totally bonkers for it. Watching him tear into that innocent defenseless veggie, I'm frankly a little scared for my life.

 

[whiskylollipop]

Today in the life of Merlin and Sasha...

Sasha attempts to work out like Daddy (*coughNEVERcough*) does, but quickly realises that her body proportions just aren't going to work with this stupidly long machine thing. Stomp!

Merlin decides to redecorate. Litterbox by the corner is cramping his style. He wants that litterbox to be just so. Mummy hears him pushing and pushing, and tries to help by putting it against the other side of the pen, maybe Merlbuns would like that there? PFFFT NO MUM WTH THIS IS MY ROOM OKAY MY ROOM I HAVE THINGS JUUUST HOW I WANT THEM. Merlbuns pulls the box back to the middle of the pen. Okay then.

Also Merlbuns would like more hay on the carpet, actually a hay-path leading into his man-cave. Yuss.

 

[whiskylollipop]

I found a dead flea on the top of Merlin's little head. Eugh. Maybe it was trying to Ratatouille my bunbun when the Revolution kicked in and killed him. RIP Ratatouille-flea.

Sasha seems flea-free. Bubs is really growing to love her adorbs little babyface and sassy sassitude, although he'll always say Merlin is favourite. He cleaned up the cages today and unforgivably put Merlin's litterbox back in its old spot. 15 minutes later it was back in the middle of the pen and Merlin was sitting where it used to be, grumpily standing guard to make sure nobody messes with his stuff yet again. Grawr.

 

[BunnySilver]

Hehe love Merlin with his litter box moving!

 

[whiskylollipop]

Sasha just binkied right by my head! :happyrabbit:

I love being super up close to the bunnies. Their fussy little movements are always so adorable and lovely. One of the best things in the world is when your face is 2 inches from a bunny washing his face. I was spending some time with Merlin the other night when he did that, and it was magnificent. The effort you put into trying not the squeal him off-balance from the cuteness will make you want to tear your hair out.

On a related note, Merlin and I have been enjoying a relatively bite-free relationship these past couple weeks, which is nice. He just doesn't like my clothes for some reason, he's always chewing/digging/pulling/trying to shred whatever I'm wearing. But that hurtfully critical fashion commentary dates back to the very beginning, when he first stepped paw on these lands. I'm resigned to holey t-shirts by now.

Speaking of biting, Sasha hasn't bitten any human in... months, probably. I'm so proud of her! And being tiny and cute she tends to get mauled - well, handled - quite a lot. Especially by bubs. Who is not very gentle. Not in the I-don't-care-about-this-rodent way, but in the aaargh-she's-so-cute-aren't-you-oh-yes-you-are way. Merls will make your fingers bleed if you hold him any longer than 2.8654 seconds, but Sheebs is the very picture of restraint. She's probably saving all her biting strength for Merlin though.

Oh, and guess what. There's been a marked decrease in flea-bite sightings and fleaphobic-boyfriend-whining incidents lately. This has strangely coincided with the application of Revolution to the bunnies. Could it be??? Could the marketing hype be real, that Revolution kills not only the fleas on your cat's body, but also the ones in its environment? :O (hurriedly grabs nearest bunny and rubs her all over the sheets and pillows)

 

[Azerane]

The bunnies, they are so cute! And yes, being super close to Bandit while he's grooming is so cute, I love when he pulls his ears down to lick them. I'm so glad you're getting on top of the flea problem, I would probably be paranoid about them too, I would find it creepy

Also, less bunny biting is awesome, sometimes they just go through a phase and try to boss you around but if you get on top of it it can be managed, which is great

 

[lovelops]

I'm so sorry that you guys are having to deal with fleas and all that now. For some reason none of my buns or dogs have any now. I think all the dogs were treated and
I try to keep the carpet clean as possible and try to do a professional cleaning every once in a while. My buns don't have any. Now when I first got them Brooke had fleas from being thrown outside, but now with grooming and cleaning she is good to go! I'm glad to hear that the situation is improving!

No biting is nice also! I know how that is first hand from when I first rescued Lady and getting bit in the butt every day to now getting kisses. The other day she bit me because I moved my hand too fast around her head to clean something on top of her cage and it scared her, but that's ok. I can deal with that. Marilyn on the other hand is a bite monster, but that is ok. I've only had her around for going on two months friday. She has to learn that she is safe..

It sounds like you are doing a great job with these two!

Vanessa