HE'S HERE!!!
He's precious
Apparently he was in a terrible state, both emotionally and physically, when the RSPCA first got him. But the RSPCA have done a lot for him, got him UTD on vaccinations, neutered, teeth sorted, tear ducts flushed. And his foster mum obviously did a great job caring for him and starting his recovery towards being a happy, healthy boy.
It's kind of heart breaking to see the damage his previous owner has caused him. I understand that he was a house bunny (lived in a flat) who got massively neglected once the owner had a baby. She put him in a very small bunny crate and honestly, it looks that he just got kind of left there. Judging by how thin he still feels, even after three months in foster care, I wouldn't mind betting that she didn't even bother to feed him some days
The lady at the RSPCA told me that when they collected him, his crate was empty of any bedding or enrichment and the water bottle was dripping on the floor, so Muffy was soaking wet. There wasn't even any newspaper down
Apparently a friend of the previous owners just couldn't bear to see him being so badly cared for so she informed the RSPCA, that's how they got to know about him and got the opportunity to get the previous owner to sign him over to them. No idea what happened to that friendship after that, but hats off to the friend for doing the right thing for Muffy.
He doesn't seem to lift his head up properly, he's sort of hunched and looking down all the time, and I'm guessing that'll be because the crate was just so damn small
Poor baby.
Anyhoo, he's got lots of space now and he's going to get sooooooooooooooo much love and TLC he won't know what to do with it all
With regards to the slow bonding. I think so far, so good. For anyone who hasn't read above, the two buns are living side by side in two rooms indoors, with a gate between the two rooms, so the bunnies can see each other and get used to each other without any chance of any scuffles or fighting.
Muffy seems completely oblivious of Caramel (the RSPCA think that he's never lived with a bunny before) and Caramel seems aware, very slightly inquisitive, but not much, and mostly just not bothered and kind of ignoring him. There hasn't been any aggression between them through the gate. So I'm hoping that those are good signs?
We have a vet appointment for Muffy on Friday as I would like to discuss his eye problems - he has a blocked tear duct still - and also how to best, and safely, get his weight up. I'm going with little and often at the moment and he goes absolutely crazy for his food! He gives me the impression that he was deprived of food previously because one of our rescue dogs was just the same, she'd been a stray before being picked up by rescue, so she'd definitely been in the position of never knowing when or where her next meal would come from. It was only after six months of being with us that she finally felt secure in the knowledge that she would never go hungry again- instead of gulping down one of her treats like she normally did, she went out in the garden and was tossing the biscuit about and playing with it. It made me cry when I saw her doing that
I'll get some photos of our precious little boy uploaded soon