Thursday 29 October 2009

5 BABY BUNNIES, 1 KITTEN, AND AN ENCOUNTER WITH A SICK RAT


Rabbit photos courtesy of Andrea Parkin. Top: group. Bottom: Basil the Baby Bunny.

So I was due to take Poppy (previously named Lulu the loose kitten) to the vets because her diarrhea isn't getting any better and then discovered I had to take Andrea and the five baby bunnies we've been looking after prior to re-homing.

My hands on experience with rabbits is quite limited so I was surprised just how friendly and inquisitive these little bunnies were in that they came to the front of the cage as I approached and happily sniffied my fingers. All of them were very happy, one at a time of course, to be picked up, held against my chest and stroked. Each one of them snuggled in comfortably and I found it almost as relaxing an experience as stroking a cat.

We were all seeing Honour, whom I've mentioned in several previous posts, at Vets4Pets. Not unusually, we were late going in but I never mind that because I get the opportunity to meet animals and talk to their owners about Animal Krackers. Anyway, Poppy, despite having physically grown a  little has actually lost weight since she was seen two weeks ago. Honour decided to try her on micro doses of steroids combined with this brown gunge which is supposed to line the stomach. If this doesn't work, then we have to decide whether to go ahead with expensive tests which could cost up to £800. The alternative is to put her to sleep; or, of course, let her die a lingering death and that is something no-one wants.

The bunnies were there to be sexed and checked out. Never seen a bunny sexed before and even a vet as experienced as Honour had to check them all twice before deciding which were which. She also pronounced them to be in hopping good health.

One the way out we saw Gillian of Feline Friends whom we've known for a number of years but my attentionwas drawn to a rat in a small plastic carrier with the top open. The rat's owner, a young woman called Kate Young, runs a rat rescue at Washington.

Here's her website: www.freewebs.com/herkulezratz

Her poor little rat had a very swollen eye which she reckoned would probably have to be removed.

That's it.


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