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I decided to make a page on my house rabbit so I could share MY experiences with other people who wanted a house rabbit
for a pet. I mean...I have always heard rabbits were easy to litter box train, I have told others how it is supposed to work.
But it is hard to give advice when you never really experienced it. So, I hope this page will help other who have a house
rabbit.
I have always enjoyed the Flemish Giant breed, they are so much fun. I enjoy everything about the Flemish breed and decided
that a Flemish Giant would be the BEST house pet for me.
In May/2009 my dog of 12 yrs passed away...As time went by I decided I would get a house rabbit instead of another dog.
On Jan 3, 2010 I went to Get Er Done rabbitry and Purchased a Fawn Flemish Giant doe that was 7 weeks old. I named her
Sunny Bunny.
Litter box training went well. Sunny was using the litter box after 2 weeks. I am very lucky that she doesn't leave little
poop pellets around the house. When Sunny came home we had a plastic little kids pool for her cage with a litter box set up
in it, we then placed a dog exercise pen around it for walls. It worked great until Sunny learned she could jump over it(
3 feet tall) we had to place large piece of cardboard over the top.
I used the wood pellets for animals inside of the litter box. I placed her poop pellets in the litter box to get her
attention. I also kept newspaper in the bottom of her pool so when she pee'd I could place that pee'd on news paper in her
litter box to help redirect her. It helped and soon the newspaper was not needed at all. It will not hurt your rabbit to chew
on the news paper.
After she learned about the litter box in her cage, we placed another outside her cage.Using the same technique in her
cage. We put this other litter box next to the back door. This litter box was placed there because that is where she
seemed to want to poop and pee on the floor. The only reason I could see for her to want to mark that area was because that
is where I came in and out from the outside rabbits. I think she was smelling it on my shoes and making her territorial. Once
the litter box was placed there the problem stopped and she uses the litter box there.
| Sunny in the snow 11/2010 |
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I attended my first rabbit show since having Sunny Bunny and learned that she doesn't like the smell of other rabbits.
I came home from a show and she smelled other rabbits on me and was not happy. She chased me thru the house trying to bite
my pant legs. She had her ears pinned and was even spraying pee. I ran away upstairs from her and had to take my pants off
and come back down. I had no idea she would react so harsh to the smells.
| Always reaching for a goodie :) |
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As of 9/2010 Sunny no longer lives in a cage/pool. She grew out of her "puppy" stage. You know how Pups chew on things
and go potty where they aren't supposed too. She has matured into a great bunny that listens, doesn't chew and uses her litter
box and she now has the whole den to herself. Sunny just hops in and out of her pool as she pleases. When we leave we
put the Big exercise pen around the stairs to keep her in the den. It's so nice she can roam the den freely.
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| Sunny Relaxing on the couch |
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| She knows what a couch is for |
Food Itmes we have fed Sunny.
Being a house Bunny Sunny wants to eat what we eat and so we share some things with her.
Nuts: Cashews,sunflower seeds,almonds,pistachios,pumpkin seeds
Fruit: Mandarins,bananas,apples,pears,blueberries and strawberries, Cherries
Veggies: Spinach & carrots,
Junk: Black Bean chips, natural puff Cheetos, bread, Bumble bar, M & M's, Sour Patch Kids.
| Sitting on the porch in her chair |
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Disciplining
Sunny Bunny!
Sunny
isn't always a good bunny. But I would say 98% of the time she is perfect.
When
Sunny gets to chewing on things that she shouldn't be or she pee's on the carpet, I squirt her with a spray bottle full of
vinegar. It seems to work great!
When
spraying her with the spray bottle I incorporate a SSSSSTT..sound with the spraying. And then she puts that noise together
with the being squirted then all I have to do is just yell SSSSSTT.....and she knows she is doing wrong. When she pees on
the carpet which is usually right next to her litter box and I actually catch her in the act, I squirt her & yell SSSSSTT....then
go grab her and put her nose in her pee and then I put her in her litter box. After doing that action and if she did it again
I can usually just squirt her and she hops right into her litter box. Shoot all I have to do now is just pick up the spray bottle and she knows. It does help to have the SSSSSTT noise correlate to bad things.Sometimes
I just have yell SSSSSTT and she stops doing what ever she shouldn't be doing. Though I feel this shouldn't be done with
certain breeds you can really scare your bunny by chasing them and getting after them in a negative way. Flemish Giants are
tough and I feel the Flemish Giant breed personality can handle the negative reinforcement, I don't think a Mini
Rex or smaller breed could tolerate the chasing and putting the nose in the pee in think it depends on the personality of
the breed and the rabbit. Remember this is my experience in dealing with house training a rabbit.
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I wanted share some information on what things we have
experienced since owning a house bunny so here are a few. We have had to learn some of these things the hard way and I want
to help others avoid any potential harm to there house rabbits.
After 2 weeks
of having Sunny Bunny she had some problem come up that I called a Toxic effect. She started to eat the moss and lichen off
the firewood that was brought into the house. Well...apparently that was not good and she ate way to much of it and became
toxic, she got real hot and panting, her legs even got paralyzed temporally. She didn't eat and she wanted lots of water.
There was nothing I really could do for her. She insisted on laying by the window where the cool air came in, so that is where
I left for the night hoping she would be ok and I wouldn't wake up to a grime seen. Morning came and she was much better,
not her self though.....she seemed mentally not there. But after another day she came back around to her self. Thank Goodness.
Then 1 week
later Sunny broke her leg trying wiggle her way somewhere she wasn't supposed to be. Her leg became caught and she twisted
her leg until finally it broke into a spiral fracture. I kick myself for this because I guess I should have done a better
job of making sure the area was more secure. So, when I came inside and went looking for her I found her in the area she was
blocked out of with her leg broken and foot just dangling. I broke into tears called the vets for an ER visit since it was
a Sunday. She was bandaged up for the day until she could be brought in on Monday the next day for an X-ray. The X-ray was
awful to see. The Dr said it could be pinned but was concerned how she as a rabbit would get thru such a major surgery. It
was a tough call to decide whether to put her thru the surgery and recovery or to put her down.
We decided
that surgery was what we wanted to do. We just couldn't put her down just because she was a "rabbit". Sunny's surgery
went great, much better then expected. She came home that same night with her leg all wrapped up. She had to spend 2 weeks
in a bandage with her little leg sticking out straight. I was determined to see her thru this. TLC was the key.
We Fed Sunny
lots of Fresh Comfrey & Dandelions. To help the bone heal and give extra calcium we fed her Spinach and Almonds. She also
had to take antibiotics so I gave Probioctics daily. Since we had to work and Sunny would be alone for 8 hours of the day
I didn't want her to get depressed. I would get up at 6am and grab Sunny from her cage and we would sleep on the couch together
for an hour before we all left for the morning. Then when I got home from work I would sit with her on the couch for hours.
1 month later
Sunny's bandage has come off and she is running and jumping around like nothing ever happened. It did take 3 days for her
leg to start to get back into its normal position. Gradually she got more and more use of her muscles and tendons. She now
has 90% use of her leg and toes.
Though...Sunny
still has 2 surgeries in one to go. On March 4th she goes in for an X-ray and if all looks good she will have her pins removed
and be spayed at the same time as well...
On March 18th Sunny had her last surgery, she was spayed and had her pins removed
from her leg. She has made a FULL recovery. You would never she had a broken leg. She can jump, run ect..
| My bunny hanging out in her Fav. spot |
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~Eating Oatmeal Every Morning~
Every Morning Sunny eats cooked oatmeal with us. Boy does she look forward to her breakfast every morning. We
eat our oatmeal cooked in water and we add handfuls of different frozen berries to it. A very berry breakfast as I call it.
Sunny gets a heaping spoonful of this and I put 4 drops of Agave syrup on it and she loves it! When Sunny sees
me coming with her plate of oatmeal she there in a heart beat.
Sunny Bunny got Fleas
Sunny got fleas from the dogs. My poor bunny was so flea ridden I had to find away to get them gone and I did. By doing
lots of research I used Advantage, the cat dose for 9 pounds and over. I applied it between her shoulder blades, then
next day all the fleas were gone. The Advantage worked great! Sunny had no side or ill effects from it.
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