Can rabbits count?

Anne Mitchell, who is the most important person in the world because she runs the Rabbit Welfare Association, says rabbits can't count. Is she right? Does a doe bun know how many kits she has? Would she go looking if she found she was one short? Would she really know if one were missing?
Birds know. They spend hours in my garden searching for babies once they have left the nest.

Our old labrador could count but only up to three because she was the fourth member of the family and she could only see three others. If J gave her 4 little biscuits she used to take three of them away under the stairs then only come back to look for more when she had eaten them. If she was given three, she didn't bother looking for more.I've been given a pot of green buttons from Waitrose to count but I just knock it over when it's put in front of me. We are saving them for a rabbit charity although the collecting box is a long time coming. We have given Waitrose lots of information about the Rabbit Welfare fund and how badly rabbits are treated and how people like Ingrid Tarrant are great supporters of buns so we are hoping for something. If you have a Waitrose nearby you could ask them to include rabbits in their list. Dogs and cats seem to do very well with collections but rabbits seem to have been ignored. Shame on you, Waitrose.

One, two, seven, twelve, nine..............zzzzzzzzz

Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund
PO Box 603
Horsham
West Sussex
RH13 5WL

Birthday portrait.

I am eight and this is my one hundredth entry in my diary so it's a very special day. As nobody knew my exact date of birth I celebrate for the whole of July. Well, I try to.

Now, do I times by ten or by seven? If it's ten then I am eighty but if it's seven then I'm only ummmm, would it be sixty four? No. That sounds like a song.

Anyway, I'm still as fit as a fiddle and can still jump as high as a kite and can run as fast as a ....rabbit. I get plenty of practice in this house.

I was to have a birthday portrait done but only on condition I would allow J to groom me before hand. Nope. Not for a hundred birthday portraits. I don't mind my head and ears brushed gently but no further down my back thank you very much. We buck rabbits have our pride. Doe buns might like to be titivated so they can attract good looking chaps like me but not yours truely. If I can't get to some bits to straighten then they have to stay fluffy. Rabbits don't get fur balls like cats, thank goodness. Well, rarely.

Eight is a good age for a rabbit. My cousins in the wild rarely live longer than eighteen months,or so I read in a book. This is my pensive look by the way.
I might take a short nap now. Napping is one thing you are allowed to do when you are as old as I am.
Before I go, I thought you might like to see my latest artistic creation. I did it all by myself on the best sofa. I know George will like it. He loves frills.

Happy birthday to me.

Parisian chats.

They've been away again which pleased me no end because they arranged for a friend to come and watch TV with me in the evening. I still had my usual maid, Pauline, who deals with things in the morning. The best bit was, Bev didn't know how much carrot I am allowed so I OD'd on it and put on a few grams .

All in all, they were delighted because I had been losing a smidgeon in this hot weather. Bev said, "He likes to be hand fed doesn't he?" You betcha!
Mind you, she sent a text message to my lot in Paris complaining about how loudly I snore. Did she have to mention it?

Talking about putting on weight, what do you think of Mimi's friend, Tom Tom?

It must be difficult to get enough exercise being an indoor, apartment-living cat but he can still jump up onto kitchen benches.

Mimi keeps telling TT he should not be trying to steal croquettes from her tin because he's too fat but the problem is, Mimi is bi-lingual and is speaking English while TT just speaks French. I think Dani, his mum, should teach him a few phrases before she takes him to Mimi for his holidays or maybe Chachat who lives in Edinburgh could give him a few words of advice. I think she speaks French. Now, yours truly can fly through the air like a puff of wind. I can't imagine TT will ever be able to do that.

Midsummer.

We had rain on Midsummer day and it was a bit blustery so I stayed home to look after things while the other two went off to visit Twigs' family of eighteen rabbits, some hens and a couple of tortoises and to nibble on the carrot cake in the garden.Parsley is a very sensible chap and when the rain hurtled down he took to his shelter and watched things from the comfort of his garden house. Wet paws and fur are something I hate too.

I had news about them all. Damson is recovering nicely after his operation to remove a kidney stone but was resting in the nursery sick bay today to make sure he didn't get underfoot.













Viola Rose is looking very beautiful again now she has completely recovered from her myxie attack. It was an uphill struggle even though she had her jabs. Twigs and Steve had planned to go on holiday but the morning they were due to leave Viola Rose went to them and showed them her streaming eyes and nose.















so they unpacked their cases and stayed with her.

Her great love is Mistletoe Snowgoose. You can see him here with Viola Rose. He was bought from a pet shop when he was small. The pet shop owner said he would love to live alone in a hutch on a balcony. Well! How ignorant is that? Six months later he turned into a large, powerful, hormonal fury. Not the pet shop owner, Mistletoe Snowgoose. Anyway after one or two problems someone told Twigs about him because Twigs knows how rabbits should be kept.
One thing is a bit of a worry though. Steve sent me a message to say bought packets of curly kale might not be good for me because of the stuff they blow into the bags to keep it fresh. I'm eating my own from the garden at the moment but I will make sure anything else from a shop is washed thoroughly before going into my bowl even when it says washed and ready for use.
We are all such lucky rabbits to have such lovely, loving homes.
In the meantime I have been digging in the corner of the sofa. First of all you have to toss the cushions out of the way, then pull and tug at the arm covers ( this takes a very long time. I've been at it for three days so far) and then the scrabbling can start in earnest. I have other things to play with but I prefer to make up my own games. I'm quite excited. I wonder what I will find when I get to the other side? There is a nice frilly bit at the edge of the cover now. I don't know who could have done it because I've been there most of the time and I didn't see anyone.


Money raised at the open day is for the RSPCA programme for rabbit neutering.

The Living is Easy.

I have found outside again! Great space and so much to sort. I did a really good job of clearing up this morning. Nibbled on some fallen Ena Harkness rose petals.

and found my parsley patch, so trimmed that up too then I hopped up top to loosen the soil around my beans.

Some mallards had moved in so I did a couple of very high binkies close by and they left in a hurry. That showed them! I wrote a little poem about them.There are ducks in my garden today,
They come in each morning to play
I don't like them much
They should be in a hutch
So I'l binkie and chase them away.

There was a bit of a commotion when I discovered the sprouting carrot seeds. Just tiny little fronds ready for me to munch. So delectable but seemingly a no-no. Why sow carrot seeds if not to munch as soon as they start to sprout? That word/sound NO is not nice. When I hear it I run for home. No point in arguing. Might be picked up and thrown over her shoulder like a sack of sprouts. I hate sprouts.

Still in a tidying and trimming mood I started on the carpet fringe. My usual stretch had disappeared. I didn't eat it. I could never munch through that much. I think it might have been tucked under for some reason. Spoil sports abound in this house.
It was a full morning, so the afternoon was spent napping. Got to keep up my strength for tomorow. Who knows what is in store. Bring me that horizon! I think my favourite pirate, Johnnie Depp said that first but he won't mind sharing.
This is such a great poster for Twigs' money raising day this month. I think there will be carrot cake for tea. Yummmmmmmmm. Please come.

A pet of my own.

I feel so much better on my new food regime so I've been thinking of going outside for a look around. Just thinking about it mind you. I'm not sure what I used to do out here last year. There was my herb garden and lots of chairs to sit under but I can't see them there now. Nope, I've forgotten. It all looks too big so I won't bother. Although I think that's my dandelion.I was a bit worried about the reduction in my bought, pellet food. I only have 12 grams a day now. All the vitamins and minerals I need are there and I have a huge pile of greens to start the day to get my digestive system going in the right direction. Then it's hay, a few herbs mixed in with fresh grass for tea and finally my evening carrot with a taste of apple or pear. Not a bad day's supply all in all and I have put on a couple of grams in weight too. Just in case they forget the pellets I always give a few good tugs at M's trousers while he is having his breakfast until he gets the message. He's quite bright really. In fact they both understand my contact language pretty well -for people.
It didn't take nearly as long to train my dog, Willow when I lived with Joanne. A couple of bites on her nose did the trick and my control was in the bag. You can see her ear is raised so she doesn't miss a word I say. Good dog! My rabbit friends who live with Twigs have their own tortoise. A tortoise can be very useful for finding dandelions then all you have to do is grab the flower out of its mouth. It's quite easy because tortoises eat slowly. I might ask for a tortoise for my birthday in July.

Sad Goodbyes.

From Teasal for Twigs and Steve.

"And when I fall before his reaping
And when my stuttering speech is dumb
Think not my love is dead or sleeping
But that it waits for you to come."
Eugene Field

From Twigs in memory of Teasal

"Teasal was the most stunningly intelligent, gentle, handsome and mischievous house rabbit - my own favourite, who lived with us for over eight years after coming from Wood Green Animal Sanctuary. He had three girlfriends, Florence, Sage and Robinia each of whom fell in love with him at first sight. He is survived by Robinia."

We are devastated.

From Harvey

I know you will worry about your family Teasal. They will find it hard to manage without you.