Food fit for a Princess!!

This what Suze and Hero get to eat for their tea, all lovingly prepared and served on blue china plates. With a nice bit of balsamic dressing I could go for that myself !!!!

Princess Suze and Scrummy Hero

This is Suze (the agouti) and Hero, currently residing in our third bedroom. As you can see they brought their own rugs and toys and have settled in quite well. Hero loves having his face washed by Suze and occasionally will do the same for her.

More goodbyes...and a hello too!!

This weekend we have said goodbye to more of our guests. Rosy and Skylarks' owners returned from their honeymoon and picked them up on Friday. Rosy was a very inquisitive bunny, whereas Skylark was very chilled and relaxed most of the time.

Speedy guinea pig went home on Saturday. She was a very gentle and quiet little piggy, but quite friendly also.

Today we said goodbye to Giselle and Lilly, the very young guinea pigs. They were very hard to catch when trying to get them in from the garden and I was happy to hear that the owners also have problems in this regard. They were fine once in your arms and were very friendly and quite used to being handled.

We saw the arrival today of Suze and Hero bunnies. They had travelled all the way from Banbury in Oxfordshire to be with us and are here for just over a week whilst their owners are away on holiday. They are residing in our third bedroom and came with a paraphernalia of pens and toys to keep them occupied during their stay.

New Boy in the Camp - Valentino

We have a new boy in the camp, he is our new pet and a French Lop currently about 19 weeks and already nearly 10 lbs in weight. Valentino is going to be a house bun but will of course need lots of playtime so will have this outdoors on our patio area. Today he was really having fun jumping and investigating everything. Currently flopped out in his indoor cage and quiet but when awake, he is very awake and quite the entertainer.

He is a big softy and loves cuddles . We will keep you posted on his antics.

Giselle and Lilly

This is Giselle and Lilly, who came to us last Friday. They are only very young....and super fast. We have let them out in the garden runs on quite a few occasions, but catching them again to put them back in their hutch has been interesting to say the least.

We are handling them daily and we hope in due course they will become quite tame. They sat very quietly on Sharon's lap for this photo, as trying to photograph them in their run was virtually impossible, as they never stay still long enough.

Caramel

This is Caramel who arrived this morning. He looks a lot like Timmy, who has been with us for the last 6 weeks, and goes home today.

He came with his own bag of vegetables, including parsley, which is his favourite. We were told that he likes running around outside, so we put him straight out in a run in the sunshine.

Speedy!

Here is Speedy guinea pig having a run in the sunshine. She is a very friendly piggy but can be quite shy when in her hutch. She came with her own little blue igloo, which she enjoys sleeping in. She has had her nails done whilst staying with us and is here until Saturday.

Cheeky Girls

We thought you might like to see a picture of our Degu, Monica and Gabrielle who we have had now for two years and are certainly very friendly little characters. Degu are generally quite easy to look after but you have to be very careful with their diet as they are not allowed high sugar foods as they are very likely to get diabetes. Degu can be quite territorial but often live in small groups. Once you have a couple it would be quite hard to introduce any more and by doing so would quite probably spoil the current relationship of existing Degu. Degu enjoy fresh food but this has to be limited to small amounts and they can also have small amounts of seeds and nuts. You can feed them dried mix food specially for Degu and also a small quantity of Chinchilla food.

Harvey & Parker

Our old friends Harvey & Parker are back with us this week and congratulations are in order to their owners who got married on Monday. Both Harvey & Parker are doing very well although we did move Harvey into one of our sheds as the weather has changed and we felt it would be more comfortable for him. Harvey is 13 and quite bright for his age but likes his home comforts. We are panacuring both rabbits at the moment to help their owner as it's a daily medication for 28 days and sometimes rabbits are not the easiest of creatures to syringe meds into. Parker has decided to accept it coming and doesn't really put up much of a fight now. However, Harvey is not so keen and even though we tried to trick him tonight by giving it to him in between his critical care (he has this to top him up and really loves it) he took hold of the syringe with the panacure and quite clearly said "I certainly don't want that" so we have to persuade him otherwise and tell him it was for the best to avoid him getting any nasty bugs. He seemed to get the idea it was good for him after a while but for an old boy he certainly has a big and strong personality.

Rosy and Skylark

Rosy & Skylark have had a lazy day, weather has been very wet here in Hardwicke and therefore house-bunnies have not been out today and Rosy has been a little bored. We have given her things to play with but she has spent most of the day moving things around in her cage, I am sure in a previous life she must have been an interior designer. Hopefully, the weather will improve tomorrow and both of them can go out and play on the patio.

Timmy Last Night

Timmy is having a big cuddle as he will be off home tomorrow and we shall miss him. Timmy asked us to tell his owner Edward that he was very much looking forward to seeing him and coming home. He has had a great holiday at Blackberry Boarding but there is nothing like home.

Timmy's Nose

As you may all know little Timmy has been suffering with a rather unpleasant nose problem for nearly a month now where he has a discharge and this has been treated with several different types of antibiotics along with a mucous thinning powder. Up until now, although well in himself, there has been little change and the only thing the vet said was that perhaps he may have something lodged in his nasal passage. To our surprise last night a small piece of hay was protruding out of his nose and we gently pulled this which appeared to be quite long and we were amazed at how it had managed to get inside his nostril. His nose bleed a little bit but we hope that now this hay stalk has been removed from his nose that the infection he has been suffering over the last month will quickly clear up.

How many??

Just a small collection of all the animals that have stayed with us over the last month. (Click on photo to enlarge).

Rosy and Skylark

Here are Rosy and Skylark, who despite being house rabbits have enjoyed a lot of time out in the garden on the patio. As you can see, carrot tops are a favourite with them and these did not last long.

For the rest of their time they are in a large indoor pen in our front room, but as long as they are well stocked up with hay then they are content.

Farewells!!

We have said farewell to so many of our guests this weekend. We are left with just the 4 rabbits and 6 guinea pigs, as well as our own animals to look after. The house seems very empty after having so many furry friends about the place over the last month.

So, goodbyes were said to Smoky, Toto and Cottontail, Barley, Oscar and Mooey, Flopsy and Sandy and also Fern and Donny. We also said farewell to 4 rabbits and 3 guinea pigs, all from the same family. They were Winnie and Ronja + Woody and Shelley and Anton, Abigail and Amanda. They took up residence for 3 weeks in our third bedroom, but alos spent time outside when the weather permitted.

We have some more going home on Tuesday and then we can have a big rest........after cleaning all the many and various hutches and pens of course!!

Cricket weather!!

Today was a bit like being at a cricket match or at Wimbledon, with the covers going on and coming off throughout the morning due to the inclement weather.
Luckily, normal play has now resumed and the animals were able to have a run out in the garden, albeit for a shorter period than usual.

Some more arrivals

We took on some more arrivals today. A guinea pig named Speedy, who at 6 years old has lost some of her dash, but still seems full of beans. She lost her partner 3 years ago but has thrived and has become very friendly with her owners in the meantime.

We also had Lilly and Giselle guinea pig arrive this afternoon. Their young owner was reluctant to leave them behind but was persuaded by her mother that they would be OK . They are both very young and the journey to be with us had been a bit stressful, but they have seemed to settle in with no problems.

Primrose

We thought we would introduce our guinea pig Primrose who is a long-haired Peruvian and although she came from a breeder she was in fact a rescue and going to our local rescue centre, Windwhistle Warren but we fell in love with her and decided to keep her. Primrose can be very vocal and sometimes we allow her to roam free range in our garden, supervised of course and she really enjoys waddling around munching grass.

Blitzon

Blitzon Guinea pig came to us yesterday and we are getting to know him. He is a shy piggy and it may take a while but he is quite a character and enjoys attention.

Cottentail

We think this is Cottentail but then it might be Toto but just thought it was a cute photo and would blog it. Both are doing well and enjoying time out in the garden.

Smoky

Smoky is an amazing little rabbit and so keen to be your friend. We give him lots of fuss as he is on his own but he is such a character and always come to greet you and say hello. Smoky goes home this weekend and we shall miss him.

Sandy & Flopsy

Sandy and Flopsy are doing lots of funny things they play with each other and are always trying to get ahead of the game and both are trying to be in charge. They had a big bunch of carrot tops for their tea which they really enjoyed. Strangely though they do not like the actual carrots. Flopsy is completely over her earlier bout of gut stasis and although both still have a healthy treat each day they are also eating lots of hay which is good for their digestive system. We also pick bramble leaves for the bunnies and all them really like these. Our vet recommended this as its an excellent source of fibre.

Cappuccino and Snuffles

Cappuccino and Snuffles continue to enjoy their holiday with us and are such friendly little rabbits. We have had fun looking after them and both of them are such gentle natured rabbits.

Fern and Donny

Today saw the arrival of Fern, the black and white female, and Donny the tan and white male rabbits, who travelled all the way from Oxford to be with us.
This is the second occasion we have had the pleasure of these two rabbits, and we hope they enjoy their short stay with us until Sunday.

Oscar & Mooey

Oscar continues to improve his mobility and enjoys doing normal rabbity things, like washing himself, which only a few weeks ago he was unable to do. He has adapted in many ways and although his head is severely tilted it is quite incredible how much he has improved.
The one last thing he needs to learn is to be able to drink by himself and then he will become self sufficient.

Unfortunately, since Oscar has become ill he and Mooey live separately due to the fact that he does still occasionally roll, which is quite typical in a head tilt bunny, but Mooey does not understand and becomes frightened.

Timmy plays hide and seek.

Timmy continues to enjoy his holiday with us even though he has to endure daily medication. However this recent antibiotic he is having is banana flavoured and he actually quite likes it.
We continue to monitor his breathing and general well being and he appears to be in good spirits and enjoying his time out in the garden.
Timmy would like to thank his owner Edward, for the postcard he received yesterday, and to say he is missing him also.

Medical update Shelly

As you can tell from the previous post we have a few animals who are on medication or need special care.
Shelly has been into hospital to have a small abscess removed from her ear and though she came home yesterday she has only just started to eat this afternoon. We took her back to the vet this afternoon as normally following surgery they like to have the bunnies eating and pooing the next morning. To ensure she did not become dehydrated or any gut stasis occur we have been feeding her with Critical Care food throughout the day. Within the last hour she has started to eat her carrot tops and spring greens for her tea.
Shelly will need to see the vet to have her stitches out in 12 days time, and once the fur has regrown her ear should look perfectly normal.

Sorry!!

Apologies to anyone logging in to see the blog over the last few days. We have been very busy, what with getting rid of all the rubbish (it's amazing how much poo rabbits can create in a few days), taking delivery of the Woody Pet Litter we use in the trays (just 160 bags or one metric tonne), and going to re-stock with hay (just 3 bales this time).
We have also had one of our guests going in to hospital to have an operation to remove an abscess from her ear. She had had it before and the previous surgery had not totally removed it. We asked our vet to look at it and he decided it would be better to remove it completely. She is now back with us and a very good job he has done too. Hopefully when the stitches are removed there will be little sign she had any problem at all.
We have also had the return of Oscar, who we looked after when he was very ill earlier this year. He still requires a lot of attention as he is still not drinking on his own. This means that he has to have his drink from a syringe 3 times a day.
This has all been extra to the general day to day care of the animals staying with us.

Barley

Barley, the little dutch rabbit is back with us this week and he is just as energetic as ever. He loves cuddles and is very friendly. When his owners come back from holiday, Barley is going to be neutered and then the plan is to find Barley a girlfriend. I am sure he can't wait!

Is it Toto or Cottentail?

These two boys came to us last year bonded but as so often is the case two bonded males do occasionally have fights and quite often it is difficult to re-bond them. Thankfully, Toto and Cottentail's owners decided to keep both of them when they had a fight and now they live quite happily on their own. Both are so very similar its very difficult to tell them apart.

Timmy in the Garden

Timmy enjoyed himself in the garden today. We positioned his run next two a couple of female guinea pigs (Katie & Minnie) so that he could chatter away to them and he seemed to like their company. Of course Timmy being Timmy was the perfect gentleman.

Cappuccino and Snuffles

Here are Cappuccino and Snuffles. These two little boys are very affectionate towards each other and spend a lot of time grooming. This is quite unusual with two bonded males, when it is more likely for them to have the odd scuffle. These two seem really great friends.

Flopsy & Sandy

This is Flopsy and Sandy. These two girls came to us with special instructions to give them their afternoon treats, which consisted of typical Pets at Home popcorn sticks, and other naughty treats.
Unfortunately, Flopsy experienced a gut stasis and we had to seek veterinary advice. Sometimes gut stasis can be brought on by stress and on other occasions it can be related to diet.
Following the advice of the vet we have now given Flopsy and Sandy a high fibre diet which still includes treats, but of a more healthy nature.
They both seem to be enjoying their new food regime and we have had no re-occurrence of gut stasis.

A chilled Rabbi rabbit

Rabbi spent the day chilling in his run. He is quite timid, but friendly also once he begins to trust you. He goes home tomorrow and we shall be sad to see him go.

Katie and Minnie

Here are Katie and Minnie guinea pigs. They have stayed with us on numerous occasions and are always cuddled up together like this. As you can see Katie has had a haircut recently which must keep her cooler in this warmer weather.

Home and Away

Over the last few days we have had quite a turnaround in our guests and we have had to say goodbye to some and a big hello to others.

Thursday saw the arrival of some old friends in Toto and Cottontail. They are two male rabbits who have to live apart. They are residing in our split level hutch and take turns to come out in the attached run. We had a bit of late night stamping from them the first night they were here, but they have settled in well now.

Going home that day was Daisy guinea pig. She is 5 years old but still enjoyed getting out in the run and taking in the nice weather we are having at the moment.

Friday saw the arrival of Katie and Minnie guinea pigs, who have stayed with us on numerous occasions and also the return of Barley rabbit, who only went home last week, but is back again whilst his owners are away on holiday. We also had the pleasure of taking in Rosy and Skylark, whose owners got married on Saturday and are now off on honeymoon for the next two weeks.
Sadly we had to say farewell to Bigwig, who has taken a special place in our hearts and made us hope that we can get ourselves a French lop with such a nice, gentle nature. He is coming back for another short visit soon and we look forward to seeing him again then.

Other arrivals were Snuffles and Cappucino, two males that came from the rescue at Windwhistle Warren, and are very quiet natured. They get on really well together and we have already seen them in a mutual washing session.

More departures were Archie, the house rabbit, who was very cute and quiet and yesterday the owners of Sandy and Squeaky guinea pig collected them also.

Oscar rabbit and his friend Mooey arrived for a weeks visit. When we last saw Oscar he was was very ill. Oscar is still recovering from his illness, but is making great leaps and bounds (literally) since we saw him last. He is now able to run around and feed himself, although he still has trouble drinking from a bowl, but is persevering.

Pictures and more updates will follow later today and over the coming week.

Bigwig

Finally, how could I not mention our favourite (well my favourite boarder) Bigwig enjoying his teatime veg. We have had cuddles again this evening and when Bigwig has had enough or needs to return to his cage he scratches you gently with his front paws to let you know. What a clever boy.

Sandy & Squeaky

These two little gins are very cute and only 7 months old, they have also enjoyed time out in a run today and this pic shows them enjoying their teatime veg.

Flopsy & Sandy

Both Flopsy and Sandy are very energetic rabbits and need lots of time out. They have spent most of today in one of our runs on the lawn.

Archie

Archie who is a house rabbit has today had some time outside in a run on our patio area, we kept a close eye on him to make sure he did nt get frightened but he did seem to quite enjoy lying in the sun and relaxing. We put the bottom section of his indoor cage inside the run to make him feel secure and this seemed to help him. Archie never normally goes outside so we had to be careful not to scare him.

Timmy's medication

Here we see Timmy having his medication this morning. As we had the vet out yesterday doing the vaccinations we got him to check on Timmy and he was concerned that he still had some discharge from his one nostril. He decided to give Timmy another course of antibiotics, but of Septrin this time instead of Baytril. Timmy is with us for another two weeks and this will give the Septrin a chance to do it's job.
He hoped this would clear any remaining infection, although he thought that as only one side was affected, there could be an obstruction (hay seed for example) in that one nostril causing the problem. He thought that his owner could make the decision to have this checked on their return from holiday.

Florence

We thought we would introduce our rabbit Florence who has on a few occasions been mistaken for a cat with a short tail and long ears, yes she is a rabbit but extremely furry. She takes about an hour to groom and is referred to as a "high maintenance rabbit" not because she likes rich food and high living but because of her long fur she needs to be groomed regularly or she would become very matted and her coat would get very tangled. She was a rescue rabbit and before she came to live with us was a much loved family pet. For personal reasons Florence ended up in the rescue and it is always very difficult to home a long haired bunny as you need to ensure that they will receive the special care required. If you are considering a long hair rabbit please give lots of thought to the time you need to spend on grooming and keeping their coat in good condition.

Vaccination day

Today was vaccination day for all of our own rabbits. They were all due their myxomatosis jabs and our vet came to the house to do them all here. It is good for us as it saves us having to ferry them all to his office and he tends to give them a minor check-up in the process. Thankfully they all got a clean bill of health.

Cuddles with Bigwig!

This is when my job could not be any better! Bigwig is a very cuddly rabbit, despite his size, and will quite happily lie like this for up to half an hour.
He is actually only 16 weeks old, and they say you can tell a rabbits future size by how big his back feet are at this age, and as you can see, he looks like he will grow into a big lad.

Rabbi the rabbit!!

Here is Rabbi the rabbit (he was named by the owners young daughter). He is a lovely white rabbit. He really likes to come out into his run, and like Smoky, keep himself occupied and busy.
He is a bit nervous of us at present but we hope he gets to trust us more as the week goes on as he seems a really gentle chap.

Smoky relaxing

This is Smoky relaxing in his new run. We have moved him to a new hutch as the close proximity of two female rabbits was causing him some stress, due to the fact he has not been neutered.
We try to keep the neutered and un-neutered rabbits separate if possible as this can lead to squabbles amongst bonded pairs.
Additionally this can be quite frustrating for an un-neutered buck to be next to two neutered females.
He is a very friendly rabbit and now seems much happier in his new house.

Woody and Shelly again.

Here are Woody and Shelly out for a run on the patio. As you can see it was quite a sunny day and they made the most of their time out.

Shelly is a very gentle rabbit and very friendly also. Her teeth chatter when she is picked up to be taken to the garden.
Woody is very protective of Shelly and will often run in to guard her if we try to pick her up. He does like to be first to the food though and Shelly usually has to wait her turn.

The big clean up!

Apologies for anyone logging on yesterday for an update and finding nothing. Two reasons. One was a camera malfunction (you guessed it, the battery ran out), and the other was due to the amount of cleaning we had to do after the departure of so many guests over the weekend.

We take the cleaning pretty seriously here and tend to do a spot clean each day, rather than leave it for so many days and have to do a big clean out. Of course, after a guest has left then the whole hutch has to be disinfected and laid up for the next resident. This can take time to do properly, but luckily, due to the warmer weather, things are drying out reasonably quickly. With the hot weather comes the problem of Flystrike (see earlier post) which is why we do the spot clean, as it is a way of checking each animal daily.

Bigwig Big Snooze

Bigwig is so funny, being a young rabbit he has lots of energy to use up and then he crashes and falls asleep for quite some time. We are enjoying looking after him and cuddles with a 12 week old French Bun are just adorable. When you carry him out to the garden he tucks his head into my arm, as if to say, I'm scared to look, I might fall.

Coco in her Run

I think Coco was a bit spooked by the camera on this shot.

Coco & Benjamin

We shall also miss Coco and Benjamin who go home tomorrow as they are also very friendly rabbits. Coco has been dashing around her run today and poor Benjamin has been a bit worried as to where he should go to ensure he doesn't get trampled on. Coco has so much energy and Benjamin is Mr Chill Pill.

Ronja and Winnie

Ronja and Winnie have enjoyed time out today running on the patio area, Winnie is the Daz white lionhead and Ronja the little silver fox nethy both are very cute and friendly.

Dexter Goes Home

We are feeling quite sad today as little Dexter goes home tomorrow and we shall miss him very much. Today he has time outside in a run and although he enjoyed himself, he was nt too impressed with his toilet (a washing up bowl) not that you would think he appeared that bothered and he seemed quite happy munching hay.