Casper & Saar

[joey&boo]

Can i steal photo 4 for my poop calendar pls?

Mmmm, mysterious is one word for it I

 

[Cinnabun14]

Is that what it is

Yeah, I thought it was cool, too! I'm really sorry you've lost your only bunny vet and now have no one to spay Cinnamon and Chika Does that mean there's no good vet available in case they get health issues, too?

She does have a lot of personality, haha. It's fine to ask, I don't mind! (I think Google hates everyone these days ) It's a pretty normal name where I live, in the Netherlands. It's short for Sara(h), usually, but I liked plain Saar better. Sara(h) would be way too fancy for a bunny as silly as her

Oh that's so cute! The only other Saar I knew of was SAR, like "second alien robot" . I love that, that's so sweet!

Unfortunately, Chika and Cinnamon don't have a regular vet. There's an emergency that might take them an hour away from us, and a couple that will take us in an emergency about three hours away. But everyone else here either doesn't do rabbits or won't take new patients. I'm very into herbal and traditional medicine, especially with animals, so I try to keep an eye on them, but I only know about cats and dogs! Fortunately, our rabbits have been blessed with great health and every day get a little more bossy!

 

[a reader of books]

Can i steal photo 4 for my poop calendar pls?

Mmmm, mysterious is one word for it I

Yes, you absolutely can. You can use any of them you like, really, from Sophie and Casper's thread, too. I'll look through my other photos for you, because sometimes I think, "No, this is too much poop" and don't post them

Oh that's so cute! The only other Saar I knew of was SAR, like "second alien robot" . I love that, that's so sweet!

Unfortunately, Chika and Cinnamon don't have a regular vet. There's an emergency that might take them an hour away from us, and a couple that will take us in an emergency about three hours away. But everyone else here either doesn't do rabbits or won't take new patients. I'm very into herbal and traditional medicine, especially with animals, so I try to keep an eye on them, but I only know about cats and dogs! Fortunately, our rabbits have been blessed with great health and every day get a little more bossy!

That other SAR sounds like a very different thing than my Saar Saar doesn't sound like SAR, either, but I'm not sure how to explain how Saar is pronounced, because you don't use our "aa" sound in English

I'm sorry your vet situation isn't better. It's good that you can keep an eye on them, and that they're so healthy, and so bossy, too! Haha. Maybe you can learn more about herbal and traditional medicine for rabbits, though I'm not sure if there are any English books or other sources on that! I know of some German books about herbal medicine for bunnies, but I'm not sure how good your German is

 

[Cinnabun14]

I'm still trying to learn English (yeah, it's my native tongue ) but my sibling's learning German! I take all the translated stuff to them, and their actually pretty good at it. If I've learned it right (and I probably havent, so please forgive me!) is the double aa pronounced "augh" or "ah" in the back of the throat? Like saughr? (sounds like a type of dino !)

 

[a reader of books]

I'm still trying to learn English (yeah, it's my native tongue ) but my sibling's learning German! I take all the translated stuff to them, and their actually pretty good at it. If I've learned it right (and I probably havent, so please forgive me!) is the double aa pronounced "augh" or "ah" in the back of the throat? Like saughr? (sounds like a type of dino !)

Oh, that's so cool that they're learning German! My German is terrible, even though we were taught German in high school. A lot of the words are similar to Dutch, so I can guess some of them, but overall I'm very bad at it This book has always seemed interesting to me and gets good reviews: https://www.amazon.com/-/nl/dp/3886278832/ but I don't know how easy it would be to get in the US, or how many of the plants that are talked about grow in the US

I like Saar's name sounding like a dino That is how you'd pronounce it in German, yes, but not in Dutch. Here's a link to how it's pronounced: https://www.howtopronounce.com/dutch/saar

 

[a reader of books]

My brother has a massive sunflower in his garden and he gave me some leaves for Saar and Casper:



I didn't let her eat the entire thing I think I'll dry the others. I'm not sure how to best dry the stems, though.

Some other photos:

"Hello, do you have a snack for me?"







Looking for pellets in her food toy:



Cuties:







Casper's been making some progress with his cat flap. He's also moulting a lot. We were surrounded by a cloud of Casper fur during his laser therapy on Monday

 

[Pets mum]

Aw, they are such an adorable pair

 

[joey&boo]

They do look really cute & kinda cheeky together You weren't joking about your brothers sunflower were you...those leaves are gigantic. What a nice treat for them. If I were drying a stalk I'd cut it up like celery, pretty thin & leave somewhere with good airflow, & away from Saar

 

[bunny momma]

That is a massive sunflower leave! The bunnies are very cute together. Casper does not look his age in that last photo even with all his grey hairs.

 

[Cinnabun14]

Wahh! That's a huge sunflower! I love sunflowers, and I can see Saar does too! Maybe try dehydrating it in the oven? Honestly, that's a wild guess, I wouldn't take that to the bank

I looked at that link and had a good laugh at the pronunciation! So, I sometimes switch between a Southern and a Northern accent, so when I said Saar sounds like dinosaur, I was speaking a Southern one. "Dina-saar". It's so cute, it fits her perfectly!

 

[keletkezes]

That's not a leaf, that's a blanket! We used to put Savoy cabbage leaves on Lopsy's head (lop rabbits have nice round heads) so he had a cabbage hat: this could be a sunflower blanket?!

 

[a reader of books]

Aw, they are such an adorable pair

Thank you, PM

They do look really cute & kinda cheeky together You weren't joking about your brothers sunflower were you...those leaves are gigantic. What a nice treat for them. If I were drying a stalk I'd cut it up like celery, pretty thin & leave somewhere with good airflow, & away from Saar

I wasn't joking, no Ooh, that's a good idea; I hadn't thought of cutting up the stalks. The "away from Saar" is an important part, though, yes

Wahh! That's a huge sunflower! I love sunflowers, and I can see Saar does too! Maybe try dehydrating it in the oven? Honestly, that's a wild guess, I wouldn't take that to the bank

I looked at that link and had a good laugh at the pronunciation! So, I sometimes switch between a Southern and a Northern accent, so when I said Saar sounds like dinosaur, I was speaking a Southern one. "Dina-saar". It's so cute, it fits her perfectly!

She does! Casper likes it, too. I don't actually have an oven! My brother does, though. I'll see if that's something you can do, dehydrate sunflowers in an oven, and then maybe he can put the rest of his sunflower in the oven for me, since he said Casper and Saar could have the whole thing.

I'll have to make Dina-saar her new nickname, I love it

That's not a leaf, that's a blanket! We used to put Savoy cabbage leaves on Lopsy's head (lop rabbits have nice round heads) so he had a cabbage hat: this could be a sunflower blanket?!

A sunflower blanket! It's definitely much too big to be a hat, haha

 

[a reader of books]

I had an online consultation today with a vet nurse-turned-animal-dietitian-and-herbalist about trying to improve Casper's not-ideal diet and his awful poops, and it was very helpful. She gave me a bunch of ideas for plants that could help his guts work better and get more fibre into him, as well as plants that could support his overall health because she thinks that since his guts don't work well, they might be struggling to get all the nutrients out of his food. She recommended some things for his arthritis as well, and things to protect his stomach from his Metacam. She said the grains that grow on my balcony because of the bird seed are great (the leaves, not the seeds) as they have lots of fiber, and she said I could grow some on purpose, especially barley as it's apparently high in fibre and nutrients. She said I could grow his beloved alfalfa indoors since the one on my balcony has started to die because its season is over, and that it would be good for him. It's interesting, because she very much believes bunnies choose the things they know their bodies need when selecting what plants to eat, and I do believe this, too, but I also know that lots of bunnies would eat an entire banana if you'd let them. Junk food overriding their better sense just as it does in humans, I suppose

I asked her if it's true that bunnies on Metacam shouldn't have willow, and she said it is (though commercially dried willow toys are okay, she said), and that they shouldn't have camomile and meadowsweet, either, as they interact with Metacam as well, so no more fresh willow twigs for him, aw. I guess there's plenty of other tree leaves he can have, though.

I had to laugh a bit when I was filling in the very detailed form last week, because she advises on horses as well and the form asked about the height of his withers. I got a ruler and measured him. It's 15cm. Smallest horse ever, I think.

 

[Pets mum]

That's really interesting Reader, glad you found her, and found her advice useful, she certainly sounds knowledgeable. Little withers, bless him

 

[joey&boo]

That is super interesting. What a nice thing to do for your boy. It is good to finally have an answer on the willow & metacam combo. I used to give Boo lots of meadowsweet too. Did she say in what way they interact? I'm glad Casper still gets his precious plantain & dandelions. Did she recommend tree leaves over ground plants or was it more specific? I want an online consultation although I dont need one. I hope you made lots of notes Are there any plants you can't access that I might be able to?? I'll stop there but I could ask a hundred more questions.

I had to Google withers. I still don't really understand but I have acquired a Bill Withers earworm

Casper, the tiniest of horses, and the cutest I had similar issues filling out stuff for Boo's physio, though I can't remember what now

 

[keletkezes]

It is good to finally have an answer on the willow & metacam combo. I used to give Boo lots of meadowsweet too. Did she say in what way they interact?

Having done some reading around the subject, its salicylates (precursors to aspirin) interacting with the other NSAIDs in Metacam. There are some schools of thought as to whether it's clinically significant or not. Certainly I'm not stopping Matt getting Chibbs willow because she enjoys it and it keeps her active searching for the leaves.

 

[a reader of books]

That's really interesting Reader, glad you found her, and found her advice useful, she certainly sounds knowledgeable. Little withers, bless him

Aw, thanks. Yeah, she seemed knowledgeable to me. She's had a lot of schooling, both here and abroad, apparently.

That is super interesting. What a nice thing to do for your boy. It is good to finally have an answer on the willow & metacam combo. I used to give Boo lots of meadowsweet too. Did she say in what way they interact? I'm glad Casper still gets his precious plantain & dandelions. Did she recommend tree leaves over ground plants or was it more specific? I want an online consultation although I dont need one. I hope you made lots of notes Are there any plants you can't access that I might be able to?? I'll stop there but I could ask a hundred more questions.

I had to Google withers. I still don't really understand but I have acquired a Bill Withers earworm

Casper, the tiniest of horses, and the cutest I had similar issues filling out stuff for Boo's physio, though I can't remember what now

With the willow it's the salicylates like keletkezes said, but I'm not sure about the meadowsweet. Casper doesn't eat it, or camomile, so I didn't ask about them. We actually didn't really talk about tree leaves in general; I only asked about the willow because of his Metacam. All the plants she recommended are ground plants, though. I don't think she mentioned a single tree. I thought you might find it interesting I didn't take any notes; she sent me all the advice over email afterwards, so that's nice and handy. I think I'm good with my access to everything, but that's really kind of you to ask, thank you The only plant I don't think I've ever seen around here is common/field horsetail, but I can buy it dried. She thought plantain was a really important one, and recommended I give him as much of it as he'd like, and dandelions were another important one, and I can get both of those easily. Mallow and mint I have on my balcony, as well as rosemary, though I just gave him some rosemary and he didn't want it. He used to like it a couple of years ago... Barley grass and green wheat and green oat should be pretty easy to grow, I think.

I don't know who Bill Withers is but withers are where you measure the height of horses (and other animals); it's between the shoulder blades.

Oh, right, Boo's physio treated horses, too, I remember.

 

[joey&boo]

ahh, thanks...this is the Withers in my head

Thanks for the info. Willow will be out for Saar too then, since Asprin is contra-indicated for stomach ulcers
Good to hear you can get what she recommends. A great idea to grow stuff on window ledges.

I hope his dietary adjustments suit Casper & he is soon relaxing in a sea of bigger poop

 

[a reader of books]

Oh, I know that song! I never knew who sang it. I like it.

I didn't know that about asprin; I'm glad you told me. No willow for either of them, then. There's so much other stuff they can eat and like, it doesn't seem worth the risk.

Thank you! Maybe we'll get a nice photo for your calendar out of it, haha.


Casper is being too cute. I've been using their big wooden bridge for some physio-recommended exercise. He never used it, so we started slowly and have been building up the frequency, luring him on and over it and giving him a treat. Last night he kept getting on it by himself and he'd stop at the highest point and would look at me like he was saying, "I'm on the bridge! Where's my treat!"

 

[joey&boo]

Ha ha, he sussed that one out quickly, what a cute & clever boy.

I didn't really compute what horsetail was & now I remember. It gets everywhere, invades lots of gardens round here. I always thought it wasn't suitable for rabbits (no idea why) although i do have a photo of Boo in our last house chewing down on some