Hacket

Here is Hacket the guinea pig, who has been staying with us since Saturday morning. He is a very quiet and shy piggy.  He has never made any noise since he has been with us, which makes him the quietest guinea pig we have ever had staying at Blackberry Boarding!!

Buttons

Here is Buttons who came to stay with us yesterday and is here for a couple of weeks.  She has been out today on the patio but the weather has been quite wet, so not great for outdoor bunny activities.  She seems to be settling in well and we look forward to getting to know her.

Bunny Breakfast Time

Here are some of our guests enjoying their breakfast, although Rosy and Skylark were in a big race to see who could finish first.

"Rosy does this suit me"!

"Just get on with it Skylark or I will eat them all"

"Carrot Tops My Favourite"

Dunky Tucks in to hers

Crunchy Munching Away

Poppy

Naboo

Tich & Dozer Tortoise

We said goodbye to Tich and Dozer today, who have been staying with us over the last few days.  Both love the sunshine and we managed to position their indoor house by the patio doors to get full benefit from the sunshine.  They also had some time out in the garden which they enjoyed.

Rosy & Skylark

Rosy & Skylark our other two housebuns have also been out today, as the weather was so nice they have also enjoyed their time outside playing and doing a bit of snoozing.  Both buns had a trip to the nail bar today as both of their claws were quite long, Skylark was fine about it.  Rosy however, was not quite so pleased about the idea and of course she has the black nails.

Crunchy

We have a new housebun in the camp and she is very beautiful.  She is very much a people bun and loves attention and is always up for some fuss.  She has been out today on our patio area playing with her tunnel and investigating everything. 

Mouse Playtime

Mouse who we have already mentioned was caught playing with his tennis ball and we thought he looked so cute we would share the photos with you.

Congratulations to Weight Watcher Pickles

Before

After looking very Slim

Pickles is like any other rabbit, he loves his food and we have to congratulate him on losing weight.  Extra weight on a rabbit can not only make them feel quite tired and lazy, it can also cause problems when they try to clean themselves.  Extra fat on rabbits internal organs, for instance their heart, can also be very dangerous.  Well done Pickles, your a fine example to all the fat bunnies out there,   Valentino......!!!!  who now weighs in at 5.8 kg is very close to his goal of 6 kg where he will indeed be on a cut down.  What no morning mini weetabix!

Mouse

This cute little rabbit has come back to stay with us and he is so funny and always looking for attention. Mouse loves playing outside in one of our runs and we have given him a large hay box and a tunnel which he finds quite entertaining.  He gets in the hay box and digs and kicks all the hay around and really makes such an effort to throw it everywhere, we are not really sure why of course.  Mouse is now eight years old but has loads of energy. 

Rosy & Skylark

We have two old friends back with us at the moment for a couple of weeks and these two have also been enjoying some time outside on our patio area.  Rosy the large, black rabbit loves running around but then tends to crash and wants to just snooze.  Skylark quite often chases her around and then she tends to get fed up with him.  We have them in our dining room in a large indoor cage and I think when the day is over, they are both pleased to come in and have a big sleep.  As you can see from the photos we took outside Rosy was crashed and quite camera shy.

Podge

Podge piggy is staying with us and has been outside today enjoying the sunshine and munching on the grass.  He was skipping and jumping around and very excited.  He is certainly an easy piggy to please and loves most vegetables, although strangely he didn't like sweetcorn and most of our other animals go mad for it.

Rupert

We have a tiny rabbit staying with us this week, his name is Rupert and he is a mini Lionhead.  He has been quite shy but does venture out in the run from time to time.  On arrival his owner was not aware that you do need to vaccinate your rabbit every year for myxomatosis.  Rupert had been done at a very young age and since then, he has not been vaccinated and he is now 4 years old.  All breeds of rabbits can be affected, including house rabbits and now vets are recommending that you should vaccinate your rabbit every six months.  We took Rupert along to our own vet to have his injection and he has had no ill affects from it and  will now be protected from myxomatosis although mmunity will take some 14 days to become established.  The disease is spread by blood-sucking insects, such as the rabbit flea and mosquitoes. The virus can remain alive in the blood of hibernating fleas over the winter.  Although no vaccine can ever guarantee 100% protection, it offers the best possible chance of immunity against myxomatosis.  

All rabbits who board with us have to  be vaccinated and this is why we took Rupert along for his owner on this occasion.

Naboo & Poppy's Special Visitor

Today was a very exciting day for the buns as their special visitor was their owner, Dave, who travelled all the way down from Manchester to see them, as he has been back in the UK for an unexpected trip.  Both Naboo and Poppy were extremely pleased to see Dave, who came with special treats and toys.  Naboo had a new grass tunnel and Poppy some special treats which she loves.  By the end of the afternoon both buns were all treated out and totally relaxed.  The buns have not seen their Bunny Mom and Dad since January as they have been away travelling, so it was nice to see them so happy in his company, as it is a long time since they had seen him.  Zephie, their Bunny Mom is still away in Thailand and we are sure she is missing them very much and say Hi to her. 

Dorothy & Walter

Dorothy

Walter

Dorothy and Walter are back with us this week and during this time Dorothy has been neutered.  Her owners were very interested to know how the operation was carried out and our vet very kindly took some photographs, which we thought we would share with you.  Please be aware that one of the photographs does show Dorothy on the operating table and in the process of being neutered and this may not be for the sensitive viewer.  I found this interesting myself as I had never actually seen what goes on.  Dorothy is now doing very well after only a week and has today been back for her wound check. 

Dorothy Being Tubed

Dorothy Being Spayed

Coming Round

It is very important to have female rabbits neutered as by the age of 5 years up to 50% (some studies suggest 95%) of does have a chance of uterine adenocarcinoma.  Spaying also removes all the behavioural problems associated with sexual maturity, such as nesting, mounting, aggression and mood swings.  Neutered rabbits are easier to litter train and neutered does can live in the company of bucks (preferably also neutered).

Simba & Dusty Share Nicely

When bonding bunnies, food can be a time for disagreements and here we have a clear example of how important a piece of cabbage is!  At one point I had to put the camera down to referee and managed to take a nice shot of the sky, apologies for this but the safety of the rabbits was my first concern.

Simba & Dusty

We have not really reported very much on our new boy, who is now of course five months old and 3 kg in weight so going to be a big lad.  Dusty has taken her time to come around to the idea of accepting him as her friend, only 12 weeks!!!  We have been running them out together, supervised and taking them for car rides and have started to see small bits of progress.  She actually forgot herself the other day and washed his ear, I nearly fell over with shock! 

Naboo & Poppy Playtime

Here are Naboo & Poppy playing and exploring other areas of our upstairs.  They dash along the landing to our bedroom and if they see us, run back to their room as if they have done something naughty.  Both are very tidy buns and do not make any mess and therefore we don't mind them having their fun.

Poppy & Oscar

Some old friends are back with us this week and here they are exploring their run.  Poppy & Oscar normally live in the house but they don't seem to mind their outside abode and have settled in very well.

Marv and Lucky

We shall be saying goodbye to these two buns this weekend, they have now been with us for almost two months and we shall miss them as they have almost become two of our own buns.  They are both more relaxed and will come to us more now than when they first arrived.  It does take some rabbits a while to build trust and take treats from your hand.  Lucky is more confident than Marv but both are really lovely rabbits.  Here they are chilling after their tea.