FLOP

When Daisy flops, she doesn't feel a particular need to roll back onto her side or her belly. She sleeps on her back. Sometimes I think maybe she's trancing herself.

Daisy thinks eating out of the bottom of the hay rack is boring.

Meet Daisy!

I know, I know, it has been awhile.  To be honest, I've been avoiding the blog.  It reminds me of Sogna, and it hurts like heck.  But I wanted to let you know how we've been.

First of all, Biff is great.  He has been no worse for the wear since Sogna left us.  He was a little bit more attention-needy, but every single bunny is.

I had a nice summer.  No school, only one job.  I spent the vast majority of the summer making this happen:

Meet Daisy. We adopted her in June, but it wasn't an easy bond.  Poor girl has been through the shelter twice now.  I don't know why anyone would give this adorable little girl up.  She clearly still has some trust issues. 

We're still working on teaching her to enjoy being pet.

 

 But she seems comforted by being pressed up against Biff, or against the stuffed bunny we got her so that she could vent her, ahem, sexual frustrations. 

She is happy with us though, and comfortable in her own way.  She zooms around non-stop, and based on her energy level, we think she's very young, maybe two years old.  She is the queen of the binky, and of the flop.  She races over to us, bonks us violently, and then races off to her next appointment.  

She is my new study buddy.

A message from Jon

Jon was disappointed that he was not consulted for the farewell post (see below), so he asked me to post the following on his behalf:

This is written in memory of the Sogna girl, whose rascality will always be cherished.

I met Biff and Sogna sometime in the fall of 2009 shortly after meeting Lisa.  At the time, I had never encountered a pet bunny, nor had I ever envisioned myself as a rabbit owner.  Sogna and I got off to a rocky start.  Why?  Because she seemed to love jumping on me when I was in bed and right about to fall asleep.  She was also quite adept at placing her face an inch away from mine so as to maximize my shock when I opened my eyes.  But, as much as that might have bothered me, she won me over rather quickly. (Note that I eventually built a fortress around the bed to prevent her from jumping on me which was somewhat less than effective.)  We spent a lot of time together in that apartment on the lower east side.  Lisa and I would build bridges for her across the wooden floors so that she could run around and explore since she was not quite as proficient as Biff at zooming over the wooden surfaces.  She loved to bonk my ankles and be petted endlessly (especially if Biff was also being petted).  And, of course, she loved to eat.  She always had the appetite of a large whale and she wasn't afraid to show her excitement about eating or her disapproval of being fed more than thirty seconds late.

In the summer of 2010, Lisa, Biff, Sogna, and I moved to Queens to an apartment filled with lush carpeting and, what to a bunny would seem to be, extensive open fields.  In reality, of course, it was just our living room.  I met Lisa there on the first night after she had finished moving in most of her things.  The rascals were still in a cage in the middle of the mostly open living room.  At that point, we decided it would be safe to set them free and see how they reacted to their new home.  Within minutes both Biff and Sogna were zooming around the living room at full speed and binkying like there was no tomorrow.  It was especially nice to see the Sogna looking so athletic on the new carpet, since she had previously had some trouble on the wooden floors in the old apartment. 

And that was the start of almost two years in the apartment with Sogna.  In the time that we all lived together there, I witnessed Sogna act as though she was the happiest bunny in the world.  Since she lived freely at all times in the living room, she had countless places that she loved to go.  Under the couch, on the chairs, behind the chairs in the corner, and, of course, sprawled out in the middle of the room, among others (on top of the kitchen table even though she wasn't allowed). She loved to binky in such a way that her ears flopped around wildly.  She loved spending time grooming and being groomed by Biff.  She loved being pet.  She loved sneaking into the bedroom.  She loved her meals. She loved Biff and she loved her mom and dad.  She loved her life.

It has now been more than a month since the Sogna passed away.  The first week without her was especially hard.  She was a part of the family and the apartment seemed empty without her. It still does, but things have gotten better.  Biff is doing well and carrying the torch.  Yes, he still zooms around the apartment like a maniac and we have given him extra attention in hopes that he can still be a happy bun without his special girl.  I don't know what I miss the most about her.  I miss the way she'd be waiting for me every morning when I woke up.  I miss how her ears flopped up and down in excitement when

she ran for her breakfast.  I miss giving her eskimo kisses and petting her.  I miss her binkying at dinner time.  Perhaps most of all I miss her lying down next to me and talking to her (EHSOGNA).

But, despite the sadness of our loss, I am happy that Lisa, Biff, and I were able to give Sogna a happy life.  I will always look back on the time we spent together with fondness and appreciation that we were able to bring happiness into her life and that she was able to bring so much happiness into ours.

I'll always love you Sogna, as will Lisa and Biff.  You'll always be with us in our hearts and in our minds.  Rest in peace.  EHZOGNA!!

Love,

Jon  

To Love a Prey Animal

I had been saving this reflection for Sogna’s gotcha day on May 17^th, but it seems appropriate to share it now.

Every evening, before I go to bed, I give each bunny a papaya tablet and pet them for as long as they like.  Biff was usually disinterested with the petting part, but Sogna almost always appreciated a good, long snuggle before I retired to the bedroom. 

One night, Sogna was particularly eager to snuggle.  I wish I had a picture but instead I will try to describe.  Sogna’s tail was in my belly.  My legs were wrapped tightly around one side of her, my face was in her other side.  And I was reaching my hand up from behind her and stroking her, pressing gently on the sides of her cheeks and then moving backwards, the way she liked.

Rabbits are prey animals, as we know.  They don’t like to be held, because if they are so restrained, there’s a chance a predator can swoop in and snatch them up.  And yet my girl was completely enclosed by my body wrapped around her.  And she was far from fearing for her life.  She was tooth purring. 

I always think back to moments like these when people ask me, “why rabbits?” I have always been fascinated by animal behavior and psychology, and I have a particular interest in unlikely interspecies relationships.  We take an animal whose every instinct tells her that other animals are dangerous, and at any moment she could be made someone’s dinner. We capture her in the home of a lanky, omnivorous beast, perhaps five or six or seven times her size.  We then not only manage to eliminate the perpetual fear that plagues her (and for Sogna, it took over a year before she stopped feeling the need to take cover under the furniture any time someone new would visit, although she was always an affectionate girl with me). We teach them that we are friends.  We show them love, and somehow, inspire love in return.  The fearful creature that once hid from all other beings learns to relish the interaction.  She comes to seek our attention at all times and will head bonk, show off, and even nip to get it.  She has learned to love her predator.

I believe there is nothing more incredible. 

I’m not knocking dogs. I think dogs are great. But it is no accomplishment to teach your dog to love you or seek your approval.  It is ingrained in his DNA.  Provide your dog with the bare necessities of life and he will consider himself your slave, he will worship you and live for you.  With rabbits, we manipulate nature, and we teach an animal whose every thought is of her imminent demise that people are good, or at least people can be good.

But loving a prey animal has its draw backs.  For even if you leap the hurdle required to gain her trust, she will always hide her pain from you.

Sogna showed her first sign of trouble on Easter Sunday.  It didn’t seem serious: she had eaten her breakfast, but refused the treat I tried to give her Sunday afternoon before Jon and I left to spend Easter with my family.  When I woke up the next morning, she was hunched outside the bedroom door.  Just waiting for me to wake up and help her. She passed in my arms at about 5:30 that evening, about 28 hours after the first signs of trouble. 

I thought she was about four years old.  When I adopted her, I asked how old she was and her fosterer said that the people who surrendered her thought they had had her about a year.  But given her near-death condition, they obviously didn’t pay much attention to her. It’s possible they had her much longer. I don’t like to think about that.

She was an incredibly special girl.  I guess I’m not much of a writer because I can’t translate all the special things about her into words.  She was the queen of the head bonk. We would get bonked constantly.  In the past few months she developed this new habit of standing up on her back legs and boxing us as high up as she could reach when she wanted something.  But her boxing was gentle, not real boxing but more of a caress.  It kind of tickled and made us laugh every time.  She would flop around the place with a look of pure bliss on her face.  She wanted to groom Biff or be groomed by him every second of every day—I couldn’t imagine her being a single bun and am thankful that I was able to give her a bond mate.  When both buns were all groomed out, she was content just to sit with her body tightly pressed against his.  She and Jon had a special relationship: she was his little girl and she loved him right back.  She was a flirt, too: if a man came over she would lay down across his feet. She had the softest coat and on the rare occasions when she would take a break from shedding, it was silky and beautiful. She loved this apartment: it was probably the first time in her life she had ample space to really stretch her legs and run as fast as she could, now that she finally had full carpeting.  And as a result, the evidence of her past life of suffering—her slight splay leg and muscle atrophy and calcification of her tendons—recovered dramatically.

Jon and I spend our evenings reminiscing about all of the wonderful things we like to remember about her.  We try hard not to dwell on regrets, or what if’s, or whys. We try to focus all of our energy on Biff, making sure he stays happy and healthy.  Biff is coping very well. I had forgotten how much he craved my attention before he had Sogna to dote on him at all times. 

We consider ourselves lucky that he is doing as well as he is. 

And now, I bombard you with photos, in no particular order, because I couldn't possibly choose just one or even just a few.  Most of them are of Biff and Sogna together, because I think that as much as she loved to be loved, by anything, her very favorite thing in the world was being a bond-mate.  I am thankful every day that we gave her the chance to live a happy, comfortable life, and that she had somebunny to share it with.

Very first picture of my Angel Girl

Bunny video!!!

Well it has been a busy and emotionally charged few months since we last posted, and we're afraid it will be several months more before we can post again. But, I have something in the works and hopefully if it all works out I may have some more time for blogging this summer. We'll see.

Also, I wanted to let everybun know that I am having a real hard time commenting on certain blogs lately. Just wanted you all to know that just because you're not getting my comments, doesn't mean I'm not visiting!
Anyway, I just stopped in to share this video of the very special and multi-talented Sogna girl taking her medicine like a champ. I found out she could do this quite by accident, I was hoping I could figure out a way to force-feed her medicine without having to pick her up to reduce the stress. She had been taking the medicine after a mild case of bloat, but she's all better now!

Also, Biff is jumping on me in the video because it's just about their dinner time, and both bunnies always harass us until we feed them! He has absolutely no interest in taking Sogna's medicine and when he's sick I can't even get him to swallow it after I dispense it into his mouth.

I got this nifty new iPhone and I'm hoping that will mean more bunny videos!!!!

That's all for now! Hope everyone is well!

Home Sweet Home

We are very happy to be home. Biff is dreaming wildly (his whole face moves and body leans back and forth when he's dreaming). Sogna is just enjoying the space. We are happy bunnies :)

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We are not thankful to be stuck in a cage at Mima's. But we will be very thankful when we can go home.

Study Time

While Momma was studying...

Biffy built a nest.

Doesn't he look proud of himself?

(First final is 12/6. Madness has ensued.)

Butt-Twitchin' Good

Every now and again the bunnies are treated to some naners with their breakfast.

They enjoy their naners very much.

Sogna eats hers off the plate like a lady.

Biff prefers to remove his to the carpet.

Tocks

Happy Tocktober!

Petition

Hey All,

No bunny pics today (since my computer is dead as a doornail, did I mention that?), I'm just stopping in to see if anyone might be interested in signing this petition calling for an overhaul of NYC's high-volume, high-kill animal shelter system.

http://www.mbpo.org/paws/

See you soon!

New Configuration: Survey Says...

A half of a maze...

...is still better than...

A whole cottontail cottage.

(our condolences to those who lost or suffered)

SHELL IS OK!!!!

Hi all,

I just wanted to let you know that I just spoke to Shell over at the Raspberry Rabbits and she and her family and the bunnies are all OK.

Despite mass destruction in their area, they managed to get through it.

She will be without power for at least another day, and has been busy helping friends who have been less fortunate, (would you expect any less from Shell?) but said she will try to get back on the blogs soon and update everyone!!!

I'll leave the rest for her!

No Harm, No Foul

Just wanted to stop in for a minute to let you all know that we came through the storm just fine. No damage to Mima and Pops' house at all, it seems. Our neighbors lost power but we didn't.

We should be heading back home to Queens any moment now (whenever Pops finishes getting ready... ). I called the building and they say the power is on and there is no damage.

Jon's rescheduled flight home from New Orleans (he was scheduled to fly back last night, that was cancelled on Friday, so he left early this morning) seems to be going ahead as scheduled, so hopefully he will come home and fix the wireless router soon :-p Seriously though, we missed him tremendously.

I've already heard and read a lot of people bitching that they were inconvenienced and forced to evacuate because of a "massive overreaction" by politicians just to "cover their asses." I would like to point out that weather is, by nature, unpredictable. Failure to "Cover their asses" in the past has meant the difference between a storm and a catastrophe.

Can't stop thinking of a certain friend of ours in NC. Our hearts are with her and her family. We continue to wait for a sign that she's ok.

Hope everyone and everybun came through the weekend OK.

Updates, and Our New Friend Spike

Hi Friends! We've missed you!

The Sogna has been doing fabulously since "the scare," she ate her breakfast the next morning and has been fine since.

We were in almost exactly the same scenario with Biff on Tuesday, perhaps a bit more frightening: He refused to eat dinner, and seemed sick and uncomfortable until breakfast the next morning. Biff has also been fine ever since, if disgruntled about syringe feeding.

The rascals beg for their morning slice of apple... AFTER they've already had their morning slice of apple. You can see Biff is just outside the kitchen.

The Sogna continues her wild digging extra curriculars, and nothing we can do to change her setup seems to curb the damage. She is currently able to fling litter box contents approximately six feet which is actually quite impressive in my humble opinion. I have ordered a screen from BinkyBunny.com that sits directly on top of the litter (not raised in the box) and is supposed to stop her from digging and also make it easier to conserve litter. I worry about her history of sore hocks, though, so if I see any signs of irritation on her feet I will throw the screen out immediately.

The cardboard box next to the overflow box is a new element I just added today. The litter box system just keeps evolving. But I doubt it will work. (Yes, I did dismantle the bottom level of the Maze Haven. It looked like an earthquake had hit it.)

Now for something completely unrelated.

This is Spike:

I read on the NYC Buns listserv that someone had posted to Craig's List that there were domestic rabbits all over a Queens park. I got in touch with one of the rabbit rescue volunteers who lives in Queens, and we decided to go on a trapping mission. She had gotten in touch with the original Craig's List poster and they went together on a Saturday, and had successfully trapped two Californians and discovered one body, in a matter of 30 minutes or so. (Two weeks ago it was very hot, so we suspect heat stroke). The next day, on a Sunday, she was in touch with park staff and they confirmed that there were still more buns in the park. So we went out there.

We found Spike more easily than I thought we would, as the park was thick with brush. We spent about an hour chasing him through the brush carrying x-pens in 90 degree heat. When Spike was ready, she just hopped into the open carrier of her own accord. While we were there a man and his young daughter came by with a Californian on a harness that they had said that they had caught quite easily in the same park. We tried educating him, but he didn't seem to want to hear it. We had thought that there had been another bun in the brush, but it was hard to tell whether it was the same rabbit since they were all Californians.

Spike had pretty severe mites, and an eye infection. Ticks are still being pulled off of her. I had wanted to bring her home to foster her, if only for the weekend, but Jon would have thrown me out of the house if I brought home another bunny. But she is being well taken care of at the shelter. In our last update from the park staff, we were told that there were no more rabbits spotted except one more body.

So, grand totals: Three buns taken to the rescue. One caught by the man and the little girl. Two succumbed to heat stroke. All Californians, all of adult size, all quite tame. None spotted before a couple weeks ago. What other conclusion can be drawn except someone dumped six helpless, domestic rabbits in the park?? Pretty disturbing, but at least four of them survived. Send your bunnies a hug on behalf of these poor little guys.

Back to school on Monday. Dreading it with all my heart.

Hope everyone and everybun is well and comfortable and beating the heat.

Sogna is FINE!

After a most terrifying night...

I woke up this morning and Sogna was behaving perfectly normally. Eating normally, temp is normal to the touch, and switching between moving about and stretching out comfortably.

I hate to speak too soon, and I am staying home today to monitor, and recover myself, but thank goodness it seems like it was "just" a little gas.

Sogna in Stasis

I walked in the door at about 12:45 a.m., after working two jobs and a total of 14 hours today.

I gobble down a slice of pizza and get the bunnies' nightly treat of one papaya tablet each as fast as I can, because I'm eager to get to bed and get a little sleep before work in the morning. Usually the buns hear the container from anywhere and come running before I even leave the kitchen.

Biff was waiting for it underfoot. When I sat down to give it to them, I realized Sogna wasn't climbing into my lap. So I gave a most anxious Biffy his, and went to bring the Sogna's treat to her, thinking she was probably hard at work in the litter box.

Still, it's not like Sogna to fail to come running to food immediately.

...and she wasn't in the litter box.

I found the Sogna camped out in her tent, and she wasn't leaving. I tried to give her her treat.

She refused.

What?!?!

I've always speculated that it's because of her year of starvation: Sogna does not refuse food. Ever. Until recently she wouldn't even take breaks eating dinner.

Couldn't coax her out.

Finally, I was scared enough to move the tent.

Chased her around the apartment to take her temperature.

Exactly 99 degrees Fahrenheit. Even after the "chase" should have warmed her. Sogna tends to run high. 103-104 is normal for her.

I should have known something was wrong by the way Biffy is acting. Completely out of sorts. Following me around like my shadow, attached to my ankle: "Mom! Help her!"

I gave her 1 cc of simethicone and approx 5 cc of lukewarm water. Also brushed her somewhat but she was becoming very stressed. Will start with critical care tomorrow if necessary, and I'm emailing the vet right now to find out how long Reglan will keep. If the stuff from October is still good I will give her some of that too.

I'm so exhausted I'm borderline incoherent. Is there anything I should be doing to contain this situation that I'm forgetting??? Should I turn off the air conditioner in the bunnies' room? Our AC is not on a thermostat, there is a unit with a low, medium, high dial. currently set on low which pretty much feels just like medium. It is somewhat chilly.

I have had one of the most difficult weeks at my day job that I have ever had. Too exhausted to think.

We're sorry... we can't stop blogging about digging

Hey All!!!

We feel bad for not updating you sooner to let you know that we did just fine 4th of July weekend, being left alone. On the 4th, after Jon and I returned home, we were actually able to see lots of fireworks all across the horizon from our 17th floor apartment, and none were close enough to be loud enough to scare the buns.

The buns pretty much looked like this when we got back, not disturbed in the least:

In other news, we replaced our litter boxes with a covered litter box. The idea was not so much to prevent digging, but a wishful thinking that the Sogna wouldn't be able to literally gut this one and empty it all over the floor like she was doing with the old one.

We were not so lucky.

Jon got clever and decided to install an "overflow" box to catch the litter box contents that Sogna removes from the litter box proper.

Sogna digs in there too.

In fact, the mostly-empty box seems to have diverted most of Sogna's digging attentions. So actually, the new litter box is a relative success quite by accident.

Biff prefers to observe digging activities from a safe distance. He knows by know what happens if he stands too close (litter box contents dumped on his head several times recently).

And by the way, the bunnies have shown me their opinion of celery, by not touching it whatsoever.

(The bowl from which Biffy IS eating contains our daily shared portion of 1/4 cup of Oxbow pellets).

We hope you have all been well and are enjoying your summer. Hopefully we'll be around more in the next few weeks. Only three weeks left of my internship! And only four until I go back to school :-/