• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Introducing Bengie

prettylupin said:
:love::love::love:

So many things I want to say! I agree with Jane - Thumper sent him to you, there is no doubt. :love:

Both Thumper and Bengie were sent to you, of that I have no doubt either. To stumble upon two needy lost rabbits needing your tlc and a home with you isn't coincidence. It was meant to be.

He is gorgeous. I'm inclined to agree with Sky-O on this one. I would say adolescent or stunted young adult. I would say 5-6 months. Nino was identical when he came to us. Big head, massive ears, but adult moulted body, he too was estimated at 6 months. He never grew to full Dutch size and always remained stunted in growth and weight but his head enlarged to fit his ears. I will try and dig out an early Nino photo for you.

Finally.... check out those poops!! :D

Wishing you both lots of happiness together xx
Click to expand...

It's so reassuring when someone you respect so much agrees with you!
 
Well.Hes gone and landed on all four paws.You can see the glint in his eyes, almost hear the "Heehee" from him as he knew even before you did, he was gonna rule the roost!!

Bless you both.Im tickled pink.xxx
 
Hi Benje, Welcome Home! :)

He. Is. Wonderful. Just gorgeous! I hope he allows cuddles because, looking at him, I'd be tempted to cuddle him all the time.
 
Thank you so much everyone.
We seem to be off to a good start, & are both very fond of each other already.
I suspect I've got a reputation on RU for being totally obsessed with bunny poops, & totally disinhibited about them. :lol:

Pretty Lupin, he poops vast numbers of marbles of poops. I haven't got a macro lens so it's a bit out of focus. I can't resist posting a photo of best bunny poops even Duchess would be proud of.:lol:
DSCF0010.jpg


Yep, I've been very aware of several factors which could tip him into stasis since he arrived. He's been a good boy & gone for all the right things & I played it on the safe side.
We're winning - all was normal within 24 hours & he's really hungry today.

Yes, I think he's "heaven sent" too. Similarities to Thumper are uncanny eg he started lying under my chair today! I now have a handful of hay under my chair!!! :lol: It's good that I haven't called him Thumper though.:)

Thanks for your confirmation about the cause of his disproportion. I'll do my best with a watchful eye over his tummy. I seem to have been well trained in that aspect of bunny health!:lol:

ETA the size of bunny poops fascinates me. I was surpised when I 1st. saw healthy conti poops. Yep they're big, but not as proportionately big as I expected. (I think I imagined golf balls :lol:) On the other hand my neighbour's tiny mini lop does poops nearly as big as Bengie!!!!
 
Last edited:
Wow, those are poops to be proud of. You are obviously finding the right balance of food for him. There is enough of a gold colour to know he is getting enough hay, they are a great size and he it's eating his cecals so not too much richness from the pellets. It can be such a hard balance to give them enough calories to put on condition while not giving them so much it overloads their system.
 
aliduncan1 said:
Wow, those are poops to be proud of. You are obviously finding the right balance of food for him. There is enough of a gold colour to know he is getting enough hay, they are a great size and he it's eating his cecals so not too much richness from the pellets. It can be such a hard balance to give them enough calories to put on condition while not giving them so much it overloads their system.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Benjie also got a lovely present today from you. Thank you so much. I'm absolutely shattered today - will write ASAP. I've just updated diet & behaviour on his other thread. Goodness but I well know that balance between the 3 major constituents of diet - fiber, nutrient, & fluids. Bengie is proving to be very similar to Thumper in knowing how to keep his gut healthy. I sense he has a genuine craving for the nutrient side today. We've got the uneaten caecals well under control & I've started to increase his junior pellets, but by giving small amounts frequently x4 daily. I'll be increasing that side alot over the next few days but with great care.
 
I am absolutely delighted for both you and Benjie. I did not know how long the wait would be before Thumper worked his magic from beyond and found the perfect match for you.

Two years ago we lost our male lop Liam after almost nine years and then 38 days later his life partner Molly. Three months after we received a call from a lady whose tenants had vacated her property and left behind a rabbit. She asked if we would give him a home. We agreed and an intact white with brown spots male rabbit we named Paddy came into our lives. We felt that he did not just arrive by coincidence but that somehow by means we did not fully understand, Liam and Molly had something to do with it as we were the only rabbit people the lady knew. Paddy only lived with us for a little over eight months when he became seriously ill late one night and despite vet attention the next day he passed away. The night he became ill was exactly one year to the day from when Liam had passed away.

Seven months on from the loss of Paddy we received a call from another person saying a rabbit had strayed onto their property and they had him in a cage but were unable to keep him, would we like to take him as the owners had been located but did not want him back. Obviously, there could only be one answer so we went the next day to collect him and bring him home. I was not prepared for what we found. Here was this intact white with brown spots male rabbit. This all happened in a town some 15kms from where we live and these people are the only people we know in that whole town. Apart from the striking similarity in colour and markings, Darragh (as we named him) could be Paddy's clone in behaviour and overt display of affection. Once again we are left pondering if it was coincidence or something more was going on.

Last May our male parrot of 33 years passed away. Five months later a stray female parrot of the same species came under the care of a parrot rescue group who asked if we would give her a home. Again, there was no real decision to be made so we picked her up and took her to our avian vet for a thorough examination as he had looked after our male for some 26 years. When we arrived at the clinic the vet just kept looking from the bird to us and back again, over and over. Finally he spoke and all he said was "this was meant to be". Judy, those few words that were spoken to us that day by the vet totally encapsulate the way I feel about Benjie. He too, was truly "meant to be"; but I would never discount for a moment the role Thumper played from afar to set this in motion.

May we never question what influences cause these wonderful little ones come into our lives, but just accept them for the wonderful gifts they are.
 
Thank you everyone. I think he's beginning to fill out already, & he's only been rescued for 3 weeks!!!

:wave: Hi Lobo, It's lovely to "meet with you" again. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with me. It's as extraordinary as mine, as all my animals in adult life have been unsought at the time, unwanted/abused/ homeless. I could only have cats while I was working, because I was unavailable for long periods of time & they don't need human company as much as others.

Benjie is uncanny, it's almost as if he's had a chat with Thumper's spirit about how things are here, & how to behave, but he's totally different personality wise.

To be honest, I was apprehensive about having a young bunny again. Thumper wasn't naughty in the slightest, he was just a baby rabbit who had never been handled, probably locked up in a breeder's hutch all his life, & was just being what he was, a rabbit. I didn't understand much about rabbit behaviour, just a smattering about wildies, & he didn't understand humans, so it was a very sharp learning curve for both of us.

It was a huge challenge to me to understand the origins of what I saw as destructive behaviour in the house & redirect it so he could continue to be a rabbit but in a way which didn't cause a lot of damage, or danger to him. Of course I wanted to communicate. He would be shut up with me for the rest of his life, it was his home too. It was important to me that if I could make him feel more comfortable in simple ways, I did so. I just needed to move the sofa a couple of inches from the wall & he had the perfect "rabbit run" to get from 1 end of the room to the other without "exposure to predators". It took me a very long time to begin to understand that his whole mind set was hard wired to avoid predators, even though this was inappropriate indoors, & what made him feel safe didn't necessarily make him safe in the "artificial" enviroment I provided for him. On the other hand what I provided to make him safe didn't necessarily make him feel safe

At first his great joy was doing predator escape practice, ever more complex, & very much for my benefit, as if he was showing me what a healthy "good breeding buck" he was. He'd always do a warning thump at the beginning. I chuckled when he forgot once & did it at the end like an after thought.:lol:

Those 1st. 6 months were fascinating for me. I was astounded by him, and it was quite hard "work". Of course after the 1st. 6 months we settled into that wonderful 2 way relationship.

My cats had terrible psychological issues from severe abuse - truely phobic of humans. Henry was literally paralysed with fear if I went into the same room at him at 1st. He has a story & 1/2. Obviously I hadn't encountered the predator issues before.

Also I didn't recognise that Thumper's desperation for wood pulp products (including wall paper) from the beginning was an early sign that his GI tract was malfunctioning. My learning curve was even sharper as I had to study the bunny GI tract & get to grips with how to help his problems.

Benjie has arrived seeming to know about living indoors. He adores being stroked, seeks my company, doesn't seem to want anything changed yet, & seems desperate to please me. It's only day 4 & he comes every time he's called. Unlike Thumper he jumps onto the sofa to lie beside me to be stroked. It's as if the relationship is totally the other way round. He's incredibly & obviously affectionate. He doesn't mind where I touch him. Like all rabbits, he hates being picked up, but tolerates it "under sufferance". When I show him something, he understands immediately 1st. time & remembers. It's early days, but very promising of a totally different yet just a rewarding relationship. With one testicle just making an appearance, I'm hopeful that he can be neutered soonish when he's in better condition, & he will be well suited to a bunny companion before he gets irreversibly attached to me.

Lobo I've been wanting to ask you how your research into ph of the rabbit digestive tract is progressing. I hadn't appreciated it's fundamental importance in establishing the micro organisms the GI tract until last year. It's raising questions in my mind such as the use of Rantitidine as a lower gut motility agent with it's H2 blocker properties.
 
I am glad his toys arrived. I hope they help redirect his chewing when necessary. I am learning so much about rabbits through your posts, both looking back at how things were with Thumper and now with this new relationship with Benji. It is truly a joy reading these posts and I am thrilled that Thumper has sent you such a quiet friendly and happy bun to be your next companion.:love::love:
 
He is beautiful :love: You did such a kind thing in taking him in and while he is by no means a replacement for Thumper I hope the joy he brings will help ease the pain.
 
Fifibutton said:
He is beautiful :love: You did such a kind thing in taking him in and while he is by no means a replacement for Thumper I hope the joy he brings will help ease the pain.
Click to expand...

Fifibutton Benjie is just incredibly special from the word go. Although he does many of the same things Thumper did, he's totally different. I've never been loved so demonstrably ever before. It was love & trust for him at 1st. sight.
Now I know he's been severely malnourished & can see how hungry he is, it's not surprising he's a tiny bit chewy - he just tries everything out to see if it's food.
Tonight I saw he has pinworms so that must be making him incredibly hungry.

I'm getting to know him a little more now. He almost has me in tears. He's so excited when I go down to spend time with him, he salvates -it's not a dental problem cos it stops for long periods, he licks & licks my hand & then the gentlest tenderest nibbles - nothing like a bite, it's so tender. He's incredibly obedient trying so hard to be well behaved. It's only day 4 & he comes when he's called, knew to stop what he was doing when I said "a a" I only need that x1 a day, he so well behaved. he's also learned that "stay" means I don't want him to follow me out of a room although he wants to be with me. If I'm getting tired, even though he wants to play, he jumps on the sofa & lies quietly beside me to be stroked. I'm being flooded with bunny love in torrents. :love::love::love::love:I love him to bits already.

He's just totally different yet each is just as rewarding & lovable in their difference. I think I have another special relationship starting. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
Should I wait before attempting bonding?
Replies
3
Views
657
tonibun
T
M
Skin tear on back after bunny fight
Replies
5
Views
339
Shimmer
S
~ILoveMyBunny~
Problems with flinching with injections
Replies
11
Views
667
~ILoveMyBunny~
~ILoveMyBunny~
Back
Top