Rules and regs

In order to live in harmony with our humans there are always a few things to rethink and get straight. Once they understand basics and think they have things sussed as far as communication with us is concerned this is the time to block their vantage points.

For instance, kisses. Kisses please, they will say. Now this is ok. You push your face close to theirs and give a quick lick on the nose. However, if you hear Big, huggy kisses, you run like the wind. Run rabbit run!! Anywhere. Vantage point blocked. Why? Because you know this is going to involve being picked up, clutched to their chests and slobbered over. If you are really unlucky they will sing to you when you are at your most disadvantaged and probably unable to breath.

Then there's night-night time. Perhaps you used to give in straight away to the temptation of carrot which is synonymous with bedtime. Don't. Try to block out the carrot thought and think bed, a long time without attention. Make them chase you round the furniture, hide underneath the piano, hide behind the curtains or under a chair. Duck and dive. Pretend you are prey, or if you are a cat imagine a rotweiller one inch from your tail. You will be doing them a good turn. It's great excercise for them and they will realise you are not a pushover.This trains them to stick to the rules. Your rules. Always be prepared to alter your strategy and retrain them away from things you don't like.
Now, my PCG has decided to teach me to sit and stay when she leaves the room for a short time to collect my evening nibbles. I can and have done this many times with not very good grace. In fact I had to thump on one occasion to remind her I was still waiting so now if I get bored, I give her a minute then dash to meet her on the way back with the daily fruit ration which we share on the sofa. It speeds her up and trips her up.

Finally, It's poop check time. Well, even they know not to say THAT out loud!
It's all go if you need to keep one step ahead with the training schedule in this house.
Good luck.

Huh! Such a sneaky bun and who has started taking a bite out of several pieces of apple so no-one else can eat them?

Let it snow......

When I have finished this small bowl I'm going to start on the big bowl. My stocks should last until the snow goes.

The utility room is out of bounds because they think the quarry tiles are too cold for my feet! Personally I think they are being over protective so I keep an eye on the door and sneak in to cool off when they aren't looking. In the meantime I'm sort of being coddled like an egg. My feet have fur on them for goodness sake and some rabbits are still living in hutches out in the freezing gardens. Why is this? Why can't they come indoors and share the fire like I do?I like to pop out to have a close look at the snow when they feed the birds because I need to keep a check on how many of my raisins are put on their feeding patch.

I feel sorry for the birds. Today a big brown labrador came into our garden and ate two cheese and raisin scones with extra fat, some grated cheese, chopped apple and a scoopful of mealworm crumble. I hope it is sick all night long.

Rabbits and hamsters should be brought into a warmer area in the winter. Water is freezing almost as soon as it is put outside. A utility room would be ideal. There are warming pads to heat up in a microwave and this should be kept up regularly. The Rabbit Welfare Association gives excellent advice on how to look after your pets in cold weather.

My gift.

Everybody seemed to be giving other people things for Christmas but I didn't know what to do.

I couldn't go shopping by myself and I know they don't eat hay. They don't seem to play with cardboard boxes and they never share my breakfast. I don't know how to cut up fruit for them or put it on a plate. I couldn't help them to hang up decorations and I had nothing to wrap in pretty paper to put under the tree.

I was so unhappy then I had a really good idea. I could leave them something special on Christmas morning after all. Something I know they really like. Something they always wrap up and take away to keep.I left two pieces of my very own poo on the kitchen floor instead of in the utility room! It was the first thing they saw when they came downstairs and the smile on their faces told me I had done the right thing.

"Thank you, Harve," they said and gave me a big Christmas kiss.

There is no hope of Harvey realising he should eat his caecotrophs for further nutrition. He doesn't need to as a house bunny and any inherent racial memory of this no longer exists. He has none of the true rabbit needs. He occasionally goes into his cardboard box if he feels like chewing it but prefers to lie at our feet or, in this winter weather, in front of the fire or under the kitchen table where the heating pipes run. He is a perfect companion animal. Apart from the poo on the floor once a day!!

Why?

I am a deprived rabbit. I have no hutch in the house, I have no haystacks in the house to bury myself in and I have no large bunches of carrots hanging from hooks at rabbit height in every room for me to munch on all day long.
Can I go on living like this? Should I consult the European Court of Rabbit Rights?
Why can't I have my own TV? Why do I have to wait for my tea at a certain time of day instead of when I feel like it?Even when I sit in the place they know is my teatime spot they still don't take the hint. Why do I have to tolerate my back end being checked every day? Why do I have to put up with all the hugs and kisses all day long? Why can't they keep stroking my face and ears for hours on end instead of just for the odd half an hour or so? Most of all why can't I have my Christmas sock NOW?
Harve has had a few of his old problems with his digestive system and has felt a bit grumpy and out of sorts. Probiotics in his drinking water for four days has sorted it and things seem to be back to normal.

Cushions and Me

It's been another busy day in front of the camera. A very famous designer came to take pictures of me to use on a cushion. I was photographed from all angles so she could get the feel of a rabbit. Of course I look good from all sides but I let her get on with it and sat as still as I could for her. She wondered what the bit sticking out was when she looked at me sideways. It was my nose! I know it's pretty flat but that was gong a bit too far.Mind you, I'm used to the things humans come out with but it still amazes me each time.
If you Google Anna Steiner you can find out about her work. She has done lots of theatre and opera stuff so I might get the chance to tread the boards one of these days. I can sing reasonably well when I hear words like Teatime or Carrots. I'm sure somebody could work those words into an aria. They sing about much sillier things than that.

I'm sleeping most of the time these days. Probably because I'm going to be eight next year. We older buns are just like old dogs and cats. We dream a lot about the days when we could leap about and run about for hours on end. I still play in the evening and I'm very careful about my bathroom habits. Well, these things are important when you are a house bunny. Especially one who has modelled for a cushion.

Harvey is eating and poohing just as he should and the vet is very pleased with him but we miss the hectic, exocet missile type behaviour. The kitten days are over. He is becoming very staid but content and very loving.

http://www.annasteiner.com/

Cold Feet?

My table is wearing socks! No, really. It gave me a bit of a surprise so I sidled up to it, sat beside it, sniffed and wandered round a couple of times in case I was seeing things but socks they were. I think it must be a new fashionable idea. I've heard the Victorians put skirts on their tables to hide the legs but this is ridiculous. It wouldn't matter so much if the socks matched but they don't. I might try to pull them off when nobody is looking. I can do it with real feet quite satisfactorily.I told one of my best friends about it. He is my blue dust-catcher who thoughtfully picks up any bits I might have mislaid. I'm quite attached to him. I like the noise he makes and I always run in to see what he is doing. He's probably some sort of relation because he smells just like me. Anyway, he had nothing to say about the socks so I am no further forward solving the mystery.

Harvey has never been a destructive bunny but he seems to have decided these feet need a good licking. Must find something else for him to play with in the evening.

Battle stations.

They've tried it on again! There's been another Timothy Hay invasion into my bowl of dried grass but it failed miserably thanks to your hero! I like my dried grass. I'm used to my dried grass. It's just a nice, comfortable size for my mouth and I can snuggle my nose into it to breath in its perfumed delights without getting prickled by ends of hay. I can rest my chin in it while I munch. Mmmm.

It's out now anyway. I chucked it overnight so they weren't there to interfere. Sorted.

Some things I can't do anything about though. No matter how much I object at the time they still take me to see my vet. I bounce, I sing, I eat and drink, I keep myself clean, I'm a happy, healthy sober bun in his eighth year but they still do it. Why? Have they got money to burn?

This time it's for another myxi jab. I had one six months ago but the powers that be have decided it should be every six months especially now I am an older chap.. The disease is getting so clever at changing it's attack mode.Some rabbits who have had one jab are still getting infected but my vet says he has seen much less of the disease with two injections so here I am again. My treat is dried apple skins at the moment so things aren't too bad.
On top of that, they decided I should have my back end shaved. How degrading is this?

The myxi vaccine is not produced from the myxi virus but from the fibroma virus, a close relation. This means the myxi vaccine is the same every year but the virus is crafty. It mutates like human flu. It's a shape shifter. Some years it is close to the fibroma vaccine, others not. This is why when inoculated your bunny can have 100% protection one year or only 70% another. At least this means it has a chance of surviving the disease. Non vaccinated buns have no chance.

While a 12 monthly injection was thought to be sufficient it is now considered it should be given every six months which gives a higher antibody response and anyway the vaccine only lasts for 6 months.
The fleas and flies that transmit the virus are out there in town and country just waiting to feed on your bunny and inject the virus. Make an appointment with your vet now. Our pets are worth it.