China rescue rabbit makes good progress

Oscar is making great progress I think. He is very active and friendly and although I am not a rabbit expert, I think he is quite comfortable with me. If a loudish noise or something that he isnt expecting happens he tend to shelter under me or next to me somewhere. Im already surprised at how intelligent he appears to be, responding to the tone of my voice (but not always doing what hes told). He has moved into my woolen boot slippers this evening, which luckily is ok as the weather is warm enough now not to use them (but dont worry, he isnt stuck).

After closer inspection Im quite sure Oscar is actually a girl, but Im not absolutely sure so I wait and decide in a week or so when the expert takes a look and tells me for sure. When I get a digital camera from somebody I will post a few pics. Maybe you can help me decide what breed it is... Of course it probably wont be pure bred anything but Im quite sure the dwarf gene from the Holland Dwarf Rabbit is in there predominantly due to his size. Also as it has been 5 days already Im quite sure that he doesnt have the illness that maybe pets in China die of after prchase from a street seller. Something to do with HDCV ...If anybody has any idea what it is then please fill me in...

If any of you have time maybe you could fill me in on a few blanks?

1) Right now Oscar is very receptive to stroking and as wont move as long as Im stroking him. But is this kind of time counted as "play time"? If he is just being lazy on my stomach while I watch a movie..Is this paytime? If not do I have to have playtime too?

2)Shanghai has a very hot very humid summer. July and August have an average of about 38 degrees and 80% humidity. I am already prepared for the frozen bottles of water but at what temp will Oscar beome uncomfortable? 35?30 ?

Anytime spent with oscar just him/her and you is playtime.... and the fact oscar is just laying with you means hes comfortable and happy with you.... I think you are doing a fab job with him.. even if he is a her!

Summer may well be too hot for Oscar... You might want to think about keeping him inside where you can control the temparature... So the bunny doesnt get overheated.

Aww - sounds like he's well settled - I think he'd play if he felt like it - rabbits are intelligent like cats and dogs, so you can give him toys like a baby teething rattle, tin jamjar lids, straw mats etc. You will probably see his personality change as he matures - hormones make them more restless and 'naughty' - I'm assuming he's a baby? They are hard to tell if male/female - there's a thread somewhere here with photos - I think boys just have a bigger gap between poo and pee holes than girls :?:

You could always buy a dehumidifier as it feels hotter when it's humid? Most bunnies like to sit in front of a fan with their ears blowing in the breeze too

Here's the link with photos about sexing buns

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=648

Hi Daniel

My sister and I rescued a rabbit (Rufus) from a Beijing street trader last spring and brought him back to the UK via quarantine. He has been out 11 weeks now.

Unfortunately, three weeks ago he had a small accident and appears to have slipped two discs in his back. You may have seen my posts on this elsewhere on the site. The vet told me on Monday that rabbits bred for meat have particularly weak backs. How I wish that someone had told me that two months ago. Please do bunny-proof his room as much as possible and be very careful handling him.

We also found it difficult to obtain rabbit food, and hay was impossible to find. Do try to find this for your bunny, as meat bunnies are also prone to dental problems (another of our experiences).

Our bun just about coped with the summer temperatures, although he found it difficult before the AC came on (in China, the central government controls when the heating and AC in people's homes comes on and off - no kidding!). He liked to lie flat out under the bed on the stone floor. We had to import him into the UK in mid-July, unfortunately, but he coped bravely.

Does your bunny have very long ears? Some people in the UK have said he must be a hare! We have explained that Chinese rabbits have extra long ears!

Hope this is some help. PM me if you need more advice, especially with the tortuous paperwork involved in getting bunnies out of China.

Louisa

well, it looks like you have a good idea whats going on here. am prepared for the summer as I hate it probably more than OScar. Also the air condition in my house is controlled by me not the government no it should be pretty easy to controll. I am lucky to have about 6 weeks left before the remperature begins to be worrying so he she can be trained and hopefully spayed.

As for the meat thing, I dont think oscar was bred for meat as he is so small. I Can feel his spine quite easily (because he isnt fat) its quite thick and feels quitte sturdy but tight now there doesent appear to be alot of muscle around there to support it. So I will be very cautious with him, especially when I pick him up (I only very carefully pick him up to put him somewhere more convenient: not carry him around a lot like he is a bag of shoping back from TEscos

I never considered bringing him back to England though. Although I will be in England for several months over Christmas, I will then come back with my job again. SO I am training my girlfriend to take care of OScar while I am away.

You sound like you're doing a good job with little Oscar, can't wait for pics .

Pics!

Today Im quite happy as it seems Oscar hasnt peed out side the tray all day When I arrived home from work I tried to temp him out but he seemed very nervous at first. Maybe he was a little excited, maybe he was acting a little aggressive/territorial, maybe he just forgot who I was, or maybe I was imagining it. Im kind of assuming it was a little territorial and untrusting because he would jump towards me quite fast and onto whatever I was touching (this isnt in his cage by the way its outside of it) but then would seem quite scared of me at the same time. He became normal after maybe 10 minutes so no problem.

One thing I noticed, when I stroke him he immediately starts to fall asleep and doesnt move. If I stop stroking him he wakes right up and starts looking around ready to go investigating. Is this normal in a rabbit? Its quite funny really, he wont move at all! I can put him anywhere even just on the palm of my hand and as long as he is being petted he will make himself comfortable and doze off. Is this normal?

Another thing today is that he seems much bigger than yesterday :shock: Im starting to wonder just how young he is if he is growing so quickly. Im guessing less than two months.. but I could be wrong.

Another thing I noticed is today he is dropping pills all over the place! His stomach is better now and he is eating the timothy hay and dry food as normal but dropping a few every ten mins. Is it normal? Maybe he has too much to eat?

I had an idea of using the webcam to take some pics, the quality isnt high but you can get the idea right? Oscar wasnt to happy having his house dragged to the webcam but was quite calm while I held him for the sexing shot. I have no idea.. Can anybody help me? Breed? Age? Sex? Haha, its quite funny how little I know ...Poor rabbit

















The last pic is next to a regular coke sized bottle... So you can judge his her size



ERM.. I CANT SEEM TO GET THE PICS TO SHOW ON THE PREVIEW.. DO YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE PICS ONLINE TO SHOW IN THIS FORUM?

Sorted

If you wanna see the pics then clicking on the link below should do the trick. Please let me know what you think, remember not an expert!

Well I haven't looked at the link yet, but the poops everywhere is normal - just scentmarking (you should see my patio after 7 rabbits have used it!) They don't smell and if you break one open you will see it's just dry hay - the bonus is you get a workout whilst picking them all up

When they do too many of the squidgy type poos, which they are supposed to eat all of to aid their digestion, that's when you know they are being fed too much.

Don't know about the strokey/sleepy thing - my rabbits go kind of 'pointy' and lower their heads flat when I stroke them, or settle down into a kind of comfortable trance - they just love it I guess, although the 'pointy' behaviour is like saying they are submitting to you.

Is anyone else having trouble accessing the pics? When I click on the linkl the website just jumps to the sign in page??????

no pics

sorry guys, it seems theres a problem. If anybody wants to see the pics you can send me your email (pm if you like) and I will forward some. All of the pics are on my HD not on the net so it seems impossible to make them open for public viewing, sorry.

Here's the pics of Oscar for everyone:

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Awww, he's just a baby!!

oh my gosh Oscar is such a little cutie! hes so tiny bless him....
I think you are doing an absolutely fab job with him/her
As for the stroking the head bit and falling asleep thing ... Somedays I wonder if I will ever een get my hand back from my bunny....
She gets all miffed if I stop that and looks at me as to say ... your my slave keep going... so Yuh its totally normal what hes doing!!!
He sounds like a happy healthy bunny to me!
Keep up the good work!

Aw, s/he's beautiful, and his back has "Zoe" markings, and he behaves like Zoe too, but I'm not sure if Zoe's normal :wink:

I let her out to run around the garden and all she does lately is sit on my lap and doze off with her head tucked under my elbow, but when I stop stroking her she becomes more alert and starts running around me.

She used to be nervous/cautious when I let her out too, but once she sniffed at my feet she knew it was me - now she's really confident and just runs straight out. At one stage I had to wear the same clothes everytime I went near her or she wouldn't recognise me.

Oscar's only a little baby but seems to be learning really quickly, I still haven't managed to litter train Zoe yet, she's very territorial.

Awww what a little cutie.

I think the stroking/falling asleep thing probably means he is comfortable.

I know that Bertie will lie down in his cage and let me stroke him for hours, if I stop he looks most put out as if to say 'Mummy, how dare you stop stroking me, I was enjoying that':lol:

Its nothing to worry about, i'm sure that he's just comfortable with you doing that

White vinegar

Oscar has a good sized cage within about 1m2 box. So he can walk out of the cage into a contained "outside"area. Ive been trying to get him to pee just in his litter box outside his cage. He had been doing realy well (two days no accidents) but then this morning after I woke up his area was fine, then 20 minutes later he had peed in two other very different spots. This isnt great news as his outside area is infact a massive cardboard box. If he continues to change his chosen place then the area and therefore my house will soon smell bad.

Im considering the option of just having him in his cage (pee and poop just falls through the bars and into the tray underneath) as is the Chinese fashion. Then hopefully train him so his accidents are as little as possible when he comes out of his cage (probably only once or twice a day). This for him would be like moving out of a mini bus and into a mini car. ANy advice?

I read that white vinegar could help persuade Oscar that his chosen spots wernt so desirabe too... Could I put it into his controlled area (But not at all in his cage)？？

any advice will be appreciated....