Rabbit Owners

[barbgirl1999]

Hello all!  I know there are quite a few other rabbit owners active around here, so I thought it might be nice to have a little thread to show off the furry babies, and share some knowledge. 

Right now I've got two indoor house rabbits...Hershey is a Holland lop and I've had him for about 4 years now.  Toblerone (toby) is a Flemish giant that's been with us a little over a year.  They have a corner of the living room that they are confined to when nobody is home, and when we're there, the door gets opened and they can go wherever they want.  They pretty much just hang out in the living room with us though.  Even with the door open, they like to just chill out in their corner. 

Hershey is starting to have lots of problems with his teeth, and I'm not sure what to do about that.  He's got plenty of chew toys and hay, but we keep having to take him in to get his teeth filed.  And he's also got "poopy butt"...I don't know if any of y'all have ever had a rabbit with that, but it's so not fun.  It's getting better, but he's still so GROSS.  He used to be so photogenic and all white and pretty...but now he's all stained and dirty.  Does anybody know if it is safe to use whitening shampoo on a rabbit???

This was the day we got Toby and had a little intro with Hershey.
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Easiest bunny introduction ever? I think so. #bunnymom #flemishgiant #hollandlop #bunnies #rabbits #bonding #gettingtoknowyou #rabbitsofinstagram #petsofinstagram #cute by Amanda Robichaud, on Flickr

They're best buds
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Took the rug out of their corner so I could wash it...now they won't come out of the boxes.  Toby has taken up residence in the dig box/toy box and Hershey won't come out of the "kitchen" LOL #rabbitsofinstagram #hollandlop #flemishgiant #houserabbit #cle by Amanda Robichaud, on Flickr

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@southernfrenchie is taking my baby boy to the vet today...he seems to stay sick lately.  We'd appreciate any good vibes you have lying around! #bunnymom #bunnyface #hollandlop #rabbitsofinstagram #firstchild by Amanda Robichaud, on Flickr

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Toby is just checking out his new layout...so far so good.  #flemishgiant #bigbunny #rabbitsofinstagram #petsofinstagram #bunnymom by Amanda Robichaud, on Flickr

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Loki is not at all sure what to think... #flemishgiant #bunny #rabbit #rabbitsofinstagram #petsofinstagram #rescuedog #mymutt #bunnykisses by Amanda Robichaud, on Flickr

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Hoppy Easter, from Hershey-bun! #rabbit #rabbitsofinstagram #bunny #bunnymom #hollandlop #petsofinstagram by Amanda Robichaud, on Flickr

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Christmas Bunny by Amanda Robichaud, on Flickr

We occasionally bring the guinea pigs into the living room as well...the barricade keeps the piggies in place, but the rabbits can jump in and out.  The brown one on the side is Snickers, who's sadly no longer with us.
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Group floor time by Amanda Robichaud, on Flickr

[buttonso]

I'm not a rabbit owner, but, eeeee! Your babies are adorable! good luck with Hershey's problems too   

[Beldarna]

Aaaaw..rabbits! So cute! And what a sweet enviroment they live in. I hope you get Hersheys problems fixed.. poopbuts are no fun.

I don't have any rabbits currently but we had a bunch when I grew up. Still miss my first one like crazy, he came to our family when I was four years old and left us when I was fifteen. He was just two years younger than me so we totally grew up together. He was really something special, could jump like no other. I have no idea what breed he really was though, it was said he was some Australian breed but whenever I try to search, be it google or books, I can't find any info so I think the former owner just fooled us.

Anyway, his teeth also grew crazy fast despite toys and carrots and sticks to chew on. We ended up buying our own cut tool from the vet and fix them ourselves to save us from vetbills.

[Galactica]

Oh a Flemish Giant! I had one of those!! I adopted him and his wife from a rabbit rescue. He had the sweetest personality (but his wife had a LOT of rabbitude- I think she had been a school pet and was not treated well)- https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-UdRIsMxmol8/SeJ59YdGziI/AAAAAAAAAPU/qA8kEEaDQ1E/w674-h814-no/dave%2B3-15-2009%2B2-45-34%2BPM.jpg


As for poopy butt- bunnies are so sensitive so it could be anything- is he stressed out? Is he getting enough timothy grass and fresh veg?  I see that you are feeding them pellets- honestly that could be it.  Giving them lots of timothy grass and a variety of fresh veg seems to be the best.  Here's a list! http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/

Definitely steer clear of fruits like banana and strawberry- yes they like them but they are terrible for bunnies- it can really mess up their extremely sensitive digestive systems. I know fresh veg is expensive- but what I was doing was going to the market and produce stands and asking them for their carrot tops and other greens that they might not be keeping (trimmings and such).   Also I picked as many dandylion greens as I could- and mint (which grows like weeds around here).  Both favorites of my buns!

[melodys_angel]

Kiwi may know a few things--she has a few of her own

Love the names you gave them^^

[barbgirl1999]

Oh a Flemish Giant! I had one of those!! I adopted him and his wife from a rabbit rescue. He had the sweetest personality (but his wife had a LOT of rabbitude- I think she had been a school pet and was not treated well)- https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-UdRIsMxmol8/SeJ59YdGziI/AAAAAAAAAPU/qA8kEEaDQ1E/w674-h814-no/dave%2B3-15-2009%2B2-45-34%2BPM.jpg


As for poopy butt- bunnies are so sensitive so it could be anything- is he stressed out? Is he getting enough timothy grass and fresh veg?  I see that you are feeding them pellets- honestly that could be it.  Giving them lots of timothy grass and a variety of fresh veg seems to be the best.  Here's a list! http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/

Definitely steer clear of fruits like banana and strawberry- yes they like them but they are terrible for bunnies- it can really mess up their extremely sensitive digestive systems. I know fresh veg is expensive- but what I was doing was going to the market and produce stands and asking them for their carrot tops and other greens that they might not be keeping (trimmings and such).   Also I picked as many dandylion greens as I could- and mint (which grows like weeds around here).  Both favorites of my buns!

Thanks for the link!  They do get pellets every day, but they also get a big salad every morning, lol.  They usually fill up in the morning on their veggies (mostly romaine lettuce, a few bits of chopped up carrots or bell peppers, and mint leaves...i also grow cilantro, dill, and basil that I'll chop up and toss in there, depending on what's got the most growth on it at the time, lol)...I usually put less than a cup of pellets in there for them to share, and they never eat the whole bowl, so I wonder if I should just cut that out all together...I try to keep their box filled with hay...they do run out sometimes while I'm at work, but I always fill it every night, and I assume he's eating some of it, and it's not all Toby, LOL! 

The poop butt is driving me insane though.  Maybe I'll try cutting out the pellets all together for a while, just to see if that clears him up...I want the poor little man to be all clean and pretty again, haha.


ALSO - OMG, your Flemish is huge and adorable!  I was told that Toby was a full-blooded Flemish, but he's not NEARLY that big.  I was really hoping for a huge bunny, but oh well, I love the little booger anyway.

[Galactica]

Oh a Flemish Giant! I had one of those!! I adopted him and his wife from a rabbit rescue. He had the sweetest personality (but his wife had a LOT of rabbitude- I think she had been a school pet and was not treated well)- https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-UdRIsMxmol8/SeJ59YdGziI/AAAAAAAAAPU/qA8kEEaDQ1E/w674-h814-no/dave%2B3-15-2009%2B2-45-34%2BPM.jpg


As for poopy butt- bunnies are so sensitive so it could be anything- is he stressed out? Is he getting enough timothy grass and fresh veg?  I see that you are feeding them pellets- honestly that could be it.  Giving them lots of timothy grass and a variety of fresh veg seems to be the best.  Here's a list! http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/

Definitely steer clear of fruits like banana and strawberry- yes they like them but they are terrible for bunnies- it can really mess up their extremely sensitive digestive systems. I know fresh veg is expensive- but what I was doing was going to the market and produce stands and asking them for their carrot tops and other greens that they might not be keeping (trimmings and such).   Also I picked as many dandylion greens as I could- and mint (which grows like weeds around here).  Both favorites of my buns!

Thanks for the link!  They do get pellets every day, but they also get a big salad every morning, lol.  They usually fill up in the morning on their veggies (mostly romaine lettuce, a few bits of chopped up carrots or bell peppers, and mint leaves...i also grow cilantro, dill, and basil that I'll chop up and toss in there, depending on what's got the most growth on it at the time, lol)...I usually put less than a cup of pellets in there for them to share, and they never eat the whole bowl, so I wonder if I should just cut that out all together...I try to keep their box filled with hay...they do run out sometimes while I'm at work, but I always fill it every night, and I assume he's eating some of it, and it's not all Toby, LOL! 

The poop butt is driving me insane though.  Maybe I'll try cutting out the pellets all together for a while, just to see if that clears him up...I want the poor little man to be all clean and pretty again, haha.


ALSO - OMG, your Flemish is huge and adorable!  I was told that Toby was a full-blooded Flemish, but he's not NEARLY that big.  I was really hoping for a huge bunny, but oh well, I love the little booger anyway.

Yeah- big Dave was BIG-  but seriously, he had a BIIIG appetite too- it was actually very hard to keep him in veg!  And he was picky too- he didn't like greens that were at all wilted- or that had been refrigerated for too long.  I was running all over the place for greens- even asking neighbors for their dandylion greens and mint (for some reason nobody really objects to someone volunteering to weed their yard, heh)

He was strong too- I had no idea he was sneaking out of his pen area until I found a wall board chewed all the way up...  he had been opening his gate, chewing wood, then sneaking back before I noticed! Bunnies are smarter than they look, the wily critters...

OH! and if your bunnies aren't yet chewing tree branches- definitely get some!  It will probably help both the teeth and the poopy butt!  http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Food/Branch/Branch_en.htm

We have a huge apple tree in our yard- so I used to save the trimmings-  but maybe you can hit up a list serve or ask neighbors who have fruit trees?  Dave used to go through apple branches like they were wafers. It was amazing!

I've heard of some bunnies really liking pinecones- but my buns never were much impressed...

Or if you can't find any local- I'd be happy to mail you some!  But they are wood- so obviously a bit heavy...

[ponycake]

My q is he getting too many fresh veggies? That can give them issues. They shouldn't be eating a ton every day, I think it's like a cup perrrr? let's see.

"An approximate amount to feed would be around 1 cup of greens for 2 lbs of rabbit body weight once a day or divided into multiple feedings a day."

I don't think you should cut out all pellets. Hay is what they should be eating most of course but a cup of pellets would be good too to give them the rest of their needs.

Anyway! I love bunnies and yours are sooooo cuteee!!!

I have a white bun and a black bun. I did have my Bunbun (black and white), he passed in January, still makes me super upset to talk about. :'(

Spoiler

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Hmm gotta dig for pics of my other babe!

[Princess Lala]

Oh cute!!!!! :-3 A flemish giant!?? My local pet store sells them!! I call them bunny zillas!!! They are so cool!

I used to own a bunny named Pepsi!!! She was chocolate brown and I had her around 11 I think. I was about in fourth grade! She was so nice but my mom gave her away because she smelled, but at the same time, my mom didnt want her to be an outside cage animal because of our dog.

[barbgirl1999]

I'm a member of a few bunny forums and I did some searching last night, and the common advice is to actually cut veggies OUT of his diet for a few days, and cut his pellet intake in half, so that he's pretty much forced to just eat the hay...I suppose I'll try that and see what happens.  I know his tooth problems aren't helping the situation, and it looks like he's going to have to go BACK to the vet soon because it's not getting better.  He still has about a week's worth of medicine left from the last trip, so we'll see if it clears up by then.

I'll pull Toby out and give him his veggies separately...no need to punish him because Hershey is sick, lol. 

I love that there are several other bunny-lovers around.  Keep those pics coming, everybody's babies are so cute!  I cleaned their corner of the living room last night (like, DEEP CLEANED) so I may take some pics tonight.

[kaoskat]

Very cute buns! I hope Hershey is well soon!

[barbgirl1999]

Very cute buns! I hope Hershey is well soon!

Thanks so much!  I think he's slowly getting better.  I'm going to take him to the vet and drop him off in the morning to have them check his teeth again because he's still having issues. 

Ah, the joys of pet ownership

[Chrissytree]

teeth and bottoms were the biggest problems I had with my bunnies.
I had one with problem teeth that caused an ear infection which wouldn't clear up. He had to keep having them filed in the vet. We didn't know about fruit tree wood at that time. We didn't have problems with rabbits who chewed apple wood.
Another had terrible runny tummy issues. We tried everything the vet told us to do but nothing helped. I think live yoghurt was one of the things we tried. Eventually we had to just keep her clean, which involved washing her often. I'm not sure if romaine lettuce is too watery - we were told to steer clear of lettuce, celery and cucumber as the water content is high. Our liked greens best.

[Galactica]

Barb seriously if you need some apple wood I can send it to you!  We have a nice organic never-been sprayed tree

[barbgirl1999]

Barb seriously if you need some apple wood I can send it to you!  We have a nice organic never-been sprayed tree

I may take you up on that!  I've been asking around to see if anyone has any in their yard, lol.  Living in the middle of nowhere, you'd think it'd be easier to find, haha!