Natalie
Warren Scout
I'm completely new to looking after a rabbit and know very little and I'm convinced I'm not doing something that anyone who knows anything about rabbits will be doing as a matter of course.
Our newly adopted rabbit, who had become unwanted by her family and was receiving very little attention, has now been with us for nearly four weeks. We t-h-i-n-k she is 10 years old. She is spayed.
She hadn't seen a vet since 2009 so we took her to the vets, got her checked over and had her vaccinated with the RVHD/myxi vaccination. She had a problem with her eye which we are treating and for which we have been back and forth to the vets several times. It seems to be healing well. We will stop using the eye drops in another three days or so. Then we will monitor the condition of her eye and go back to the vets if anything flares up again.
We are getting her RVHD-2 vaccination done tomorrow. First lot of vaccinations were on 1st Sept.
She has a relatively small double level hutch (I regret that purchase now but we had to get everything organised so quickly once we were told that we could adopt her). The hutch had to be low enough to fit inside the 12' x 9' run which I'd decided on and I'd noticed in her old hutch/run that she'd been used to two levels, with her toileting area being on the lower level and bedroom area on the upper level, so I'd wanted to replicate what she was used to as I thought that would make it easier for her.
So, anyway, Caramel has access to the run all day which is on grass. I only shut her into the hutch at night because I think that it's safer for her. If I could be convinced that the run were fox proof I would let her have access to the run all night as well. The run is one of those Omlet ones. A complete pain to put up, but really good once it's up. it looked solid and safe, so that's why I chose that one to get. It has a sort of skirt bit, so that if a fox tried to get in by digging s/he would have to dig quite a tunnel to get though. BUT if Caramel is then also secure in her hutch, the fox would then have to break into that too. So far we've had no sign of any digging near the run, I do know that there are foxes around though as one of our neighbours has chickens and they said they'd seen a fox/foxes in the past. We've never seen any since we've been here, which is about four months now. The skirt bit of the run is held down by a load of tent pegs. (I also got hubby to put four extra bolts on the hutch doors :lol: )
So is it the right thing to do, to keep her more secure at night? I don't think I'd sleep a wink if she weren't in the hutch over night.
Anyway, moving on ... she is a super clean little girl, and she does indeed use her litter tray in the lower area of the hutch. Litter tray has carefresh and hay in it. I clean the litter tray out every other day but only use water. Brush it clean under the cold water hose first, then use really hot water afterwards, then dry it off.
She has loads of fresh Timothy Hay, from the Timothy Hay Company, both in her hutch and in various toys and in a hay feeder next to her litter tray.
She has two bowls of water, one up, one down in the hutch which is refreshed every day. I used to use bottles as well but never saw her use them, so I gave up on those. She hasn't knocked over a water bowl yet.
She has quite a few toys okay yes, I do think she's a princess and needs to be spoilt rotten :lol: so tunnels and hideaways, and chew mats, and various play balls to nibble and chuck, and balls and logs stuffed with dried flowers, herbs and hay and more tunnels :lol:
I clean her hutch out once a week, but again, only with water - not keen on chemicals, but am wondering whether using just water is a problem? If I should be using some sort of cleaning stuff, which would be the safest/best one to use?
She has an eggcup full of Burgess Adult Rabbit Food with Mint, twice a day, (the morning portion she has in one of those little rolly ball thingies out in her run, on a mat, so she has to push it around to get the pellets, the night time portion I put in a bowl for her in the top part of the hutch, so she has something to chew on overnight) and a little bowl of fresh veg/forage and fresh herbs twice a day - all washed.
I do spend a fair bit of time just sitting with her and stroking her, which she seems to enjoy, I'm not certain if she's enjoying it or tolerating it to be honest :?
As she hops about the run I check her tail end that all is clean, and so far so good. There are no signs of uneaten caecotrophs anywhere in the run or hutch.
I tried her on a tiny bit of FibreFirst - she's not impressed. I've also got some readigrass to see if she likes munching on that, haven't tried that one yet.
I bought a tiny bit of vet fleece to try her with, ready for the colder months. Washed and dried it three times before I let her anywhere near it. She looked to want to dig in it and nibble it, so I haven't left that with her as I'd like to make sure she doesn't eat it. But the fleece familiarisation is a work in progress
I've got a bunny bothy on order for her to go in overnight when winter sets in. Have to wait for that and am worried that it will only be delivered after the weather has got a good bit colder, still working on what to do if the weather is too cold before the bothy is delivered. When we do get the bothy we're thinking of putting a tiny tube heater in it which will click on if the temperature drops too much. She's been used to being outdoors in all weathers, but she is 10 and it must be more difficult for her to keep warm enough now she's older.
Hmmm so sorry about this novel of an explanation about what I'm doing for her so that I can find out what I'm missing.
I'm sure there's more, but I'll leave it there for the moment. If there is anything obvious that I'm missing that I should be doing for her, please let me know.
Thank you so much for bearing with me through this looooooooooooooooooooooooooooong explanation and for any help/advice you are able to offer.
Natalie
I'm off to give Caramel her evening munchies now
Our newly adopted rabbit, who had become unwanted by her family and was receiving very little attention, has now been with us for nearly four weeks. We t-h-i-n-k she is 10 years old. She is spayed.
She hadn't seen a vet since 2009 so we took her to the vets, got her checked over and had her vaccinated with the RVHD/myxi vaccination. She had a problem with her eye which we are treating and for which we have been back and forth to the vets several times. It seems to be healing well. We will stop using the eye drops in another three days or so. Then we will monitor the condition of her eye and go back to the vets if anything flares up again.
We are getting her RVHD-2 vaccination done tomorrow. First lot of vaccinations were on 1st Sept.
She has a relatively small double level hutch (I regret that purchase now but we had to get everything organised so quickly once we were told that we could adopt her). The hutch had to be low enough to fit inside the 12' x 9' run which I'd decided on and I'd noticed in her old hutch/run that she'd been used to two levels, with her toileting area being on the lower level and bedroom area on the upper level, so I'd wanted to replicate what she was used to as I thought that would make it easier for her.
So, anyway, Caramel has access to the run all day which is on grass. I only shut her into the hutch at night because I think that it's safer for her. If I could be convinced that the run were fox proof I would let her have access to the run all night as well. The run is one of those Omlet ones. A complete pain to put up, but really good once it's up. it looked solid and safe, so that's why I chose that one to get. It has a sort of skirt bit, so that if a fox tried to get in by digging s/he would have to dig quite a tunnel to get though. BUT if Caramel is then also secure in her hutch, the fox would then have to break into that too. So far we've had no sign of any digging near the run, I do know that there are foxes around though as one of our neighbours has chickens and they said they'd seen a fox/foxes in the past. We've never seen any since we've been here, which is about four months now. The skirt bit of the run is held down by a load of tent pegs. (I also got hubby to put four extra bolts on the hutch doors :lol: )
So is it the right thing to do, to keep her more secure at night? I don't think I'd sleep a wink if she weren't in the hutch over night.
Anyway, moving on ... she is a super clean little girl, and she does indeed use her litter tray in the lower area of the hutch. Litter tray has carefresh and hay in it. I clean the litter tray out every other day but only use water. Brush it clean under the cold water hose first, then use really hot water afterwards, then dry it off.
She has loads of fresh Timothy Hay, from the Timothy Hay Company, both in her hutch and in various toys and in a hay feeder next to her litter tray.
She has two bowls of water, one up, one down in the hutch which is refreshed every day. I used to use bottles as well but never saw her use them, so I gave up on those. She hasn't knocked over a water bowl yet.
She has quite a few toys okay yes, I do think she's a princess and needs to be spoilt rotten :lol: so tunnels and hideaways, and chew mats, and various play balls to nibble and chuck, and balls and logs stuffed with dried flowers, herbs and hay and more tunnels :lol:
I clean her hutch out once a week, but again, only with water - not keen on chemicals, but am wondering whether using just water is a problem? If I should be using some sort of cleaning stuff, which would be the safest/best one to use?
She has an eggcup full of Burgess Adult Rabbit Food with Mint, twice a day, (the morning portion she has in one of those little rolly ball thingies out in her run, on a mat, so she has to push it around to get the pellets, the night time portion I put in a bowl for her in the top part of the hutch, so she has something to chew on overnight) and a little bowl of fresh veg/forage and fresh herbs twice a day - all washed.
I do spend a fair bit of time just sitting with her and stroking her, which she seems to enjoy, I'm not certain if she's enjoying it or tolerating it to be honest :?
As she hops about the run I check her tail end that all is clean, and so far so good. There are no signs of uneaten caecotrophs anywhere in the run or hutch.
I tried her on a tiny bit of FibreFirst - she's not impressed. I've also got some readigrass to see if she likes munching on that, haven't tried that one yet.
I bought a tiny bit of vet fleece to try her with, ready for the colder months. Washed and dried it three times before I let her anywhere near it. She looked to want to dig in it and nibble it, so I haven't left that with her as I'd like to make sure she doesn't eat it. But the fleece familiarisation is a work in progress
I've got a bunny bothy on order for her to go in overnight when winter sets in. Have to wait for that and am worried that it will only be delivered after the weather has got a good bit colder, still working on what to do if the weather is too cold before the bothy is delivered. When we do get the bothy we're thinking of putting a tiny tube heater in it which will click on if the temperature drops too much. She's been used to being outdoors in all weathers, but she is 10 and it must be more difficult for her to keep warm enough now she's older.
Hmmm so sorry about this novel of an explanation about what I'm doing for her so that I can find out what I'm missing.
I'm sure there's more, but I'll leave it there for the moment. If there is anything obvious that I'm missing that I should be doing for her, please let me know.
Thank you so much for bearing with me through this looooooooooooooooooooooooooooong explanation and for any help/advice you are able to offer.
Natalie
I'm off to give Caramel her evening munchies now