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 :-/