Prayers for Chile

I just wanted to ask for prayers for Laurie's family that live in Chillan, Chile. CNN is reporting that Chillan, 60 miles from the epicenter, is one of the hardest hit areas from this earthquake. Right now, Laurie's sister-in-law and brother have not been able to contact her family. So, if you could include prayers for everyone involved, but a special prayer for Monica's family's safety, it would be greatly appreciated.

ETA: I know that Laurie commented, but as an update, all of her sister-in-law's (Monica's) family are safe and all of their houses are still standing. From talking to them, we know that despite the media skew, things are getting back to normal, in fact, they had newspaper delivery on Saturday morning (the earthquake was in the wee hours of that same morning). Thank you for the prayers, we are very relieved that the family is safe, but as there are so many people in need, extra prayers for the people of Chile and Haiti are always needed.

A visit to the vet

Well, yesterday, I took the bunnies into our vet, Dr. Holmes, who came very highly recommended from the rabbit rescue. Bennett had already seen him once before we even contacted the rabbit rescue (actually, Dr. Holmes gave us their website). He's a great bunny vet and I couldn't feel more confident that our two bunnies are getting the best care possible.

Dr. Holmes looked at Bennett's scratch and said that it looks like it's healing nicely. There's no reason right now to think that it's infected, but to keep an eye on it to catch a possible abscess early. He said to not worry about putting polysporin on it anymore, the scab looked good, and he was actually surprised that it had closed so quickly. We were worried about possibly needing stitches, but just like Kim at the rabbit rescue told me, he looked at it, said it looked fine and we just need to watch it closely. We did have a little concern about Bennett's weight though. He's lost half a pound since his visit in January. We had noticed how bony he is and have switched his food intake around. Now he's getting half a cup of alfalfa pellets a day along with a salad in the evening and free choice hay all day. We're hoping that this new diet will fatten him up a little. Though, Dr. Holmes did say that his muscle mass was looking better - yay! The vet was a little worried that his stomach was a bit distended, but he had just wolfed down half a cup of pellets before I put him in his carrier, so I'm sure that that was it.

Now, for Mahala's visit with Dr. Holmes. When we got her on Saturday, we were warned about her sinus/upper respiratory issues and since then, noticed a lot of sneezing and some green discharge from her nose. With her history and the new emergence of green snot, he decided she needed to do another round of antibiotics. She had previously been given Baytril, so he wanted to try a different antibiotic this time, so we're doing penicillin by injection. So yes, this pretty new bunny mama has to give poor Mahala an injection every week (thank goodness not everyday!). The tech walked me through it in the office and it's not that big of a deal, but it is a huge needle - 20 gauge, ouch! It will take two people to give the injection to her, one to hold her down and one to actually give the shot. She jumped a mile when the needle went in at the vet's office, poor girl! Dr. Holmes gave me a good pep talk, and the reassurance that if I need anything, being shown how to do it again, more pep talks or more advice that I could call or come in anytime. She'll be on the penicillin for 5 weeks, so only 4 more doses. Hopefully, this will help clear out the infection!

So that's what happened at the vet visit, I have to say that I love our rabbit vet. He came highly recommended and he definitely lives up to all that I've heard about him. His fees are really reasonable, too. They kindly only charged us for one appt, even though he saw two rabbits. The office staff is really great, too, they helped us carry out both rabbits (in separate carriers), with my sister pushing me in the wheelchair. (Did I mention that my sister, Andie, drove me? Laurie took the bus (on her birthday!) so that my sister could drive us to the vet.)

Happy Birthday, Laurie!

Just wanted to take a little time to wish the most important person in my life a very happy birthday! So, happy birthday, Laurie - you are the best best friend a girl could wish for. (Mahala and Bennett agree - Mahala's softly snoring at you and Bennett's definitely giving you licks for your birthday treats!) A message from everyone - we love you lots!

More rabbit antics

So, we took a look at Bennett's main wound, where we think Mallory scratched him and decided to play it safe and schedule a vet visit. We weren't able to get an appointment for him today, his vet has surgeries all day today, so he's going in to be checked out tomorrow. Mahala is going to tag along too, we figured it wouldn't hurt to have her see the vet and she's had a little bit of nasal discharge the last two days and with her history of sinus/upper respiratory issues, we want to be safe rather than sorry. Anyways, because of Bennett's wound and the fact that Mahala is very dominant, we've decided to take their bonding really, really slowly. We want Bennett to be fully healed (and hopefully fatter) before we put them face to face again. Now this is not saying that we're doing nothing towards the bonding experience, we're letting them live side by side in the rabbit room, with a baby gate between them, so they can smell and see each other. Also, we are switching up their spaces every night. So, last night Bennett was on the north side of the room and Mahala on the south, so tonight they'll be switching. This helps with territorial issues, gets them used to each other's smells and such, without the dangers of face to face bonding right now. I've read in a couple of places that you should do this for about two weeks before even giving the rabbits face to face time. It'll help them get to know each other slowly, and hopefully when we do get them face to face, things will go really well.

Anyhow, I just filled you in on all of this for a funny bunny story. So far Bennett's been living almost exclusively on the south side of the room, but like I said, we switched them last night so he was on the north side for the first time. I came in this morning to feed them and change the litter box and expected Bennett to be right at the door when I came in (the door is on the north side) and he wasn't, which was weird because a lot of times, he'll sleep there, right in front of the door waiting for us. And when he doesn't do that, he can usually hear my scooter coming and parking outside the door and is always at the door to greet me. I opened the door slowly, no Bennett... Checked the carrier, the nest box, etc on a visual scope of his pen, no Bennett. So, I'm beginning to panic a little here, what if he somehow got out into the house, or worse, into Mahala's pen, when I see him hop around the big box of bluegrass that we just got that is sitting on the outside of the pen. I have deduced that he used a towel that was hanging on the side of the pen leading to the couch and the part of the room that we don't want him to be in (read: lots of wires not covered), climbing it and thereby escaping the confines of the pen. There was a little bit of Bennett fur on the pen right by that towel that leads me to believe that he scaled the towel to make a desperate bid for freedom. Silly bunny! I thank God that he didn't not get into Mahala's pen. That could have been very bad for both of them. It was a narrowly averted disaster, but it was also rather amusing.

We think that he's gotten longer in the past few weeks, but he doesn't seem to have gained much weight. After all the rabbit rescue people commented on how skinny he was, we did some research and decided to up his pellet intake and change pellets for awhile. We had been feeding him timothy hay pellets (Oxbow Bunny Basics/ T), but we decided to change to an alfalfa based pellet, as those are usually used for growing bunnies. They have more calories and fat in them that the timothy hay based ones. We're really hoping that he's going to gain some weight. It will be interesting to see how much he weights at the vet's tomorrow.

Mahala's been a very good rabbit so far. She's very playful and today I watched her play with some of the bunny toys we got Bennett that he never ever paid attention to. She's so cute to watch run around, she is definitely a frolicker! I really need to pluck her this week, she's been pooping a bunch of hair, and when you pet her, it just lifts of her body, flying everywhere. I think she might be part satin angora, her hair feels much more like Bennett's that Mallory/Pearl's. Well, off for some bunny playtime. I want to keep working with Mahala to get her really socialized with people :). And I need to give Bennett some loving, too!

The situation and the solution

Well, the bunnies went and proved me wrong not long after I wrote my last post... Mallory/Pearl and Bennett were not having a particularly happy day together, and it got worse. They got into a really bad spat while I was briefly out of the room (I know, major bad on my part, but I had been checking in on them at really frequent intervals and all seemed peaceful), Mallory/Pearl got a lot of hair pulled out and Bennett got three (that we've found) bite marks (they are all looking really good and we're keeping an eye on them for a possible vet visit). This was Thursday night, so I separated them and decided to see how they were doing together in the morning. Well, a good night of sleep did not really help things and I put a call into the rabbit rescue bonding counselor, Stacey, for her opinion. She said that we should bring them into the adoption day they were having at the shelter thrift store today and talk to the volunteers (Rhonda, another bonding expert) and possibly look at other bunnies for Bennett to bond with. After thinking long and hard and talking about it, we decided last night that Mallory/Pearl was not the bunny for us and Bennett. A couple of things came up... She seems to have very bad eyesight and would startle every time someone tried to touch her, even when Bennett would lick her and she would nip out at him and provoke a fight. I'm sure from her view, she was defending herself, but not being able to see was a big problem. Also, she never seemed to settle in with us, always (or mostly) crouched in the corner with her ears up, sometimes shaking. She was kept in a 20" by 20" cage for the first two years of her life and hasn't really been socialized to people just yet, and I didn't realize just how much she mistrusted us and I think she needs to be in a home where it's just her, she doesn't have an adolescent boy bunny poking around her all the time, wondering if she want to play, that she can be worked with one on one to really get back to realizing that humans are good. She never felt safe enough really, to even eat in front of us and all of this basically adds up to not being a good fit for us. I hope she gets a really good home with someone who can work with her everyday to get to being the lovable, happy bunny that I know is in there.

So, we tried Bennett with two other lady bunnies today and we did take one of them home with us. I'm proud to introduce our new bunny friend, Mahala!

Mahala is a very sweet little girl, she's 4 years old, a bit older than Bennett (who's 8 mo today!). She was also rescued from a hoarding/abuse situation but has lived in foster care for the last few months, working with Steve one on one, everyday to get back to trusting people, again. She is leaps and bounds beyond Mallory/Pearl as far as the way she interacts with Laurie and me. She's an angora/holland lop mix, so she has the wonderful angora fur with the very adorable lop ears. She was actually one of the bunnies that I had originally picked out for Bennett's speed date last weekend, but she was sick, so she was unable to come. She does have chronic sinus/upper respiratory issues, so we have to keep an eye on that. She kind of breathes like a pug sometimes, her nose is so flat that it can make breathing a little loud at times (she is most adorably snoring right now, kind of sounds like a soft owl hooting). She is very happy, and very peppy, running around the room and sniffing and exploring everything - much like Bennett. (One of the things we were most looking for in a rabbit companion for Bennett was someone who would want to play with him.) She's already done her first binky!

Mahala and Bennett's date went very well. He groomed her, she mounted him several times, which he took just fine. (She did the mounting first thing, so he would know who's boss... Since Bennett returned home, he's been marking his territory like mad by dropping poops.) He groomed her a lot and they cuddled a little bit, just hanging out side by side or face to face. There was absolutely no fighting between them, and they had a lot of interaction. On the way home, they continued to sit in the little carrier side by side most of the way home, which Laurie tried to document, unsuccessfully. She did get a cute picture when they got home and were waiting for me to change the litter boxes of them sort of on top of each other, eager to be close to each other, but to still be able to see what's happening outside! That's the first picture.

We haven't done anymore work bonding since they've gotten home, we had to go to church pretty quick after we got them home and I think we'll start tomorrow, as it's getting late. As per what we saw last weekend, the Brambley Hedge rabbit rescue people were awesome towards us, and have encouraged to stay closely in touch. Everyone swooned over how handsome Bennett is and his wonderful personality, he was very popular with everyone there. That's my bunny! I really qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq 11111fgggggggg11111111111111111111111111111f11116iuonm , (<- Mahala says hi for herself! Like I said, she's very much like Bennett!) think that things will go smoothly, but we'll see. Bonding is a long process and I'm in it for the long haul and I think we have the right bunnies!

Rabbit antics

So far, bonding at home has been going reasonably well for Bennett and Pearl. They've barely fought since the first two days and have been grooming each other. Pearl is pretty mellow (or just too plain scared of us to be her normal self, which might be happening a little), except when she's in a bad mood. Yesterday, she grumpily went after Bennett for chewing her grass mat. Bennett's been his normal, cheerful, into trouble always self. For instance, he managed to find some left over pellets of Pearl's that I was going to throw away. I put them in this "soup" bowl with some of her fur after I had groomed her a few days back and forgot about them. During their together time today, Bennett found a yummy snack:

Then, when I moved the said pellets and hair ball, he tried his very best to get them within his reach again, and that's one long reach! Sadly, his herculean effort was not rewarded and he missed out on an extra snack.

I've been trying to get a good picture of them grooming each other, and for now this will have to do. They are so cute when they do this, right now, for the most part, Pearl has been grooming Bennett (although after this picture was taken, she reasserted her dominance over him by mounting him, which he was not to fond of, so they had a little spat I had to break up...). He gets total bunny bliss when she grooms him, he stretches out and lays his head on the floor and closes his eyes and just loves it. He always gets this look when she hops away like, oh no, how could you leave me?! She seems to be a little rough on licking his face sometimes, he'll jerk away like she had hurt him, but judging by the way he was grooming me before we got Pearl, I understand there are sometimes little nips involved. About 98% of the time, the female rabbit is the dominant one, and during their initial date, she did assert dominance over him and even mounted him and he was ok with it. He didn't really seem ok with it tonight though, so I'm wondering when he's going to have to accept the face that she's in charge. He hasn't licked her as much as she's licked him and I think that's going to have to change for a peaceful coexistence. I was hoping that we'd only have to do this half and half room for about a week, but I guessing it will be a bit longer. They're both just chilling in their respective corners at the moment, Bennett seems really relaxed right now but Pearl sort of looks on edge, but that could be the dog barking outside, she's still really, really shy and scared, I'm hoping that her bonding with Bennett will facilitate her relaxing a little and gaining some trust with us and her surroundings. OH- he's grooming her right now! Yay, progress, but I better go watch them a little more closely.

(formerly) Mallory the Marshmallow

Edited to include a decision that we made tonight:

We've changed Mallory's name (which was given to her in the rabbit rescue) to Pearl. I didn't like that Mallory means "ill omen" which just doesn't fit with Bennett's name (meaning "little blessed one") and Laurie didn't want to call her Megan, which I really liked that means "pearl" so we decided on just Pearl, which really suits her. I'll be going to fix all the names in this post. :)

So here's the big, exciting news! We went on Saturday to Glendale, where our local rabbit rescue, Brambley Rabbit Rescue, was holding an adoption/awareness day at a pet shop. Our intention was to take Bennett on a speed date with four lovely bunny ladies that we had looked at and selected from their adoptable bunny page online. Bennett decided that he didn't want to speed date and so it ended up that we just had one date with one bunny. Her name is Mallory, which we've changed to Pearl. She's an English Angora mix, probably mixed with some Lionhead, because she doesn't have the full angora coat, just around her front, like a lion's mane, on her face and the rest looks like a skirt around her body, with short fur on her back. Her fur is extremely long right now, I'm probably going to be plucking it this week, but we got some really cute pictures of her as she is right now. As you can see, she's mostly white or just off-white with little, tiny gray ears. The hair on her forehead is so long, she can't see, so we've been putting it up in a little pony tail so she can see. Even with the pony tail, she doesn't have the best eye sight. We were letting her run around Bennett's room for a little while, and two out of the four times she ran around the cage, she nailed the cage poles, head on. Ouch!

We're working on bonding Pearl and Bennett. Their date went very well, but the first day we had them home and together, they got into a few fights. Luckily, they didn't hurt each other, but I got a few scratches separating them. Yesterday, we only had one fight but we did have a lot of Bennett grooming Ms. Pearl, which I was very excited about. I'm sitting with them right now, doing a little bonding session. We've had mutual grooming and no fighting so far. They are quite the cute little couple. Bennett is really into her, but she's still settling in and has been pretty scared so far. Bonding is a process, so even though today is going really well, it's definitely not time for them to go to living together. They get short little bonding sessions, and if they go well, we let them hang out together for a little longer, then we give them a little more space and see what happens, and if all of that is going well (all of this is under strict supervision) we try them living together. Right now, we've divided Bennett's room in half, with each one in each half, the fence between them allows them to see each other and smell each other and even hang out through the barrier. One of the following pictures is of them kissing though the gate.

Let me tell you a little about Pearl. She was rescued from a abuse/neglect/breeder situation with 83 other rabbits. She spent the first two years of her life in a 20" by 20" cage, with little or no human interaction. She was rescued about a year ago and has been at Brambley Hedge ever since. She's very shy around us. She doesn't like to eat in front of us and it's just been today that she's come nosing around me to be a little curious about who I am. She's a petite girl, but she's definitely solid in a way that Bennett is not. She's cute as a button, though and I know with some time and some loving and some help from Bennett, she'll come out of her shell and be the sweet bunny that I can see in her.

Brambley Hedge has been fantastic in helping us bond them. We got all the information that we need, and the promise of lots of support from the volunteers there, especially Stacey. She's bonded somewhere between 60 and 70 rabbit pairs and she was a wealth of information. She gave me her cell number and promised us if it took us six months or six other bunnies, we'd bond Bennett, whatever it takes. I felt really good taking Pearl home with us knowing that help is just a phone call away. They also want permanent contact with us to check on how Pearl's doing and such. They are really a great organization. They even trim nails and clean scent glands (which I didn't even know about) for free!

So here some more pics of Pearl and some with Bennett, too!

Kissing through the gate :)

Back blogging!

I took a little unexpected break from blogging these last two weeks! We've been very busy with some happy happenings and late nights up watching Lost :)! Hmmm... I'm trying to remember exactly what I've been busy with, taking care of Bennett has been very time consuming, he's just so much fun to play with and gives me very sad looks when I hang out and spin with him (we're working right now on solving that sad look problem... I think it will be it's own post though!). I've been spinning for a shawl recently, with a group of people at our lys on Wednesday nights. We spin for 4 weeks and we knit for 4 weeks. I'm the only one working with a spindle, so I'm expecting to be spinning while others are knitting. I love the fiber I got (I'm still working on getting pics, sigh, that was one of the things I was waiting on posting for...) and I'm slowly getting this long draw on the suspended spindle thing down. I'm aiming for 3 ply, lace weight yarn, keeping my fingers crossed! I've been taking the bus down to the yarn store and Laurie has been picking me up there after she's finished at work. It's been fun!

Laurie's job is going really well, and it looks like she may be staying on at the Jewish high school for next year, too. I've been to the JCC, the school is located in the building, and have really enjoyed meeting her coworkers and watching basketball games. Everyone is really sweet and nice, it's kind of funny because the kids hang out at the community center, so there are students around pretty much all the time, even on weekends and such, which is a big change from St. Paul's.

My health stuff is still up in the air. We've been to see general surgery about the lumps that I've been getting, and we're still not sure what's up. I'm having an ultrasound of the one on my back this week, so we'll see if that turns up everything. The appt with general surgery was kind of funny, it took over 3 hours because we saw each level of medical personnel. First, we had the long, full medical history with the med students, then a look over by a resident, and then, just for good measure, the chief resident, too. Lots of fun. We'll see what happens. My PCP was wondering if it might be my muscle tissue separating and fluid getting in between, which could happen with the Elhers-Danlos stuff, but that's just a guess at this point. It will be interesting to see what the ultrasound picks up.

We had a fun outing today, with some of our friends from church, we went to the renaissance festival. It was a long day, and I was pretty tired from the rest of this weekend (to be mentioned in said other post!), but I managed to put in almost a full day there. We used my scooter, which worked really well, even though it makes me pretty tired to manage all the crowds, and it was a coupon day, so there were a lot of people there. I only hit one kid, and it was his fault :)! Although, I really can't stand the people who stop in the middle of the street in front of you, without any warning. I almost hit a couple people that way. It was a beautiful day weather-wise and we had a lot of fun. I learned a really funny song, that Laurie apparently has been holding out on me about constipated men of the bible. As usual, I got my hair braided. We used the same people who did it last year, it turned out really beautifully.

I think that covers most of what's been going on (minus of course, what I'm going to say in the next post, which might happen tomorrow because it's getting late and I'm exhausted... so I'm going to keep you in suspense a little longer!). We've been watching a lot of Lost lately, our watching is going to be coming to a bit of a close because Laurie's sick of nothing happening on the show. We have kind of been staying up late to watch episodes, so now I'm going to watch them in the day time, while spinning. While I'm on the topic of sleeping, I think now would be a good time to go do it.