What's Worse Than a Pissed Off Bunny?

The answer is, of course, two pissed off bunnies.

[This post contains much blather about rabbits, medicine and pee. Consider yourself warned ahead of time.]

Bella looks much, much better after 5 days of treating her with medicine. Her eye is less swollen, though her face is still puffy. She's taken to hiding in her cage when I come and get her, but once she's inside with me she relaxes a little more. It's quite nice actually; rather than running off and sulking, she actually comes up and lets me have a little cuddle now. (Rabbit/Momma bonding! Who knew?)

She is hilarious when she has her meds; she makes it hard for me (but has never bitten, thank goodness) but eventually she gives in. When it goes in, out comes her tongue, and she sits up on her hind legs and swipes at her tongue with her paws. If I could speak bunny, I'm sure she'd be saying "What the FUCK was that? Get it off! Get if off!"

Bella goes back into the vet tomorrow morning, to show the vet the progress since the last visit and we see what happens next. I'm hoping it will be positive news, and that it won't require surgery because I? Am still paranoid about subjecting my wee rabbit to anaesthetic. Bah! (And this, folks, is why I never did finish my Veterinary Nursing course. Am a big sook.)

Lucy rabbit was always my favourite (Gasp! How rude! Favourites out of children? Naughty!) when she was a baby, because she was a dwarf lop who fit into the palm of one hand. As she grew up, she changed colours and grew a LOT (dwarf, my arse!) but was still just as adorable. She was very affectionate, she actually used to climb up on my chest and lick my cheeks - bunny kisses! Then she turned into moody, angsty teenager rabbit. Imagine a cranky teenager without the doors slamming, but with biting teeth instead. Yeow.

She was clever enough to figure out what a litter box was for. I don't use kitty litter, just line it with newspaper and shredded paper instead; and all of a sudden, they just started using it! Crazy, eh. All sounds wonderful, except for one thing. Lucy likes to sit in the litter box. The used litter box. Therefore, I have a cute rabbit who smells like pee. I've tried all sorts of things to get her out of it, putting in two litter boxes, having a hay corner. Nope. She quite likes sitting there, thankyouverymuch. Must be warm or something.

The downside to this (aside from the smelly pee feet, that is) is that her fur around her feet, butt and back is all matted. And also smelly, but that's not the point. I've soaked her butt in warm water to try and un-mat the fur, which works for a day but then goes right back to the way it was after she gets back in the hutch. I've trimmed clumps of matted fur off, but it grows right back. Gah!

Today it was time for Lucy's butt-check, and my poor silly rabbit looks quite worse for wear. Her tail used to be a white fluff ball, is now more like a stick. I spent the better part of an hour giving her butt a huge trim, but some spots are so matted that I had to carefully chop right down to the skin. And it's a bit irritated, quite red and sore looking in spots. See rabbit? That's why we don't sleep in our pee.

Anyone got any ideas about what I can do to soothe her legs? She's not bothered by it, she was her usual snarky self trying to bite the scissors as I was trimming her. Tomorrow when she's calmed down, I'll give her another warm soak and get the last bits off. Short of shaving her butt, I don't know what else to do! (And I'm so not game to do that. Hell no!) I've taken out the litter box completely, as well.

So now I have TWO rabbits that think I'm a horribly sadistic human.

Oh, and did I mention that the vet's office are looking to find a home for another bunny? It was found a couple of months ago in a random backyard being attacked by dogs, so it was rescued, healed and is now looking for a home. They told me about her last week (since they saw me there with Bella) and asked did I want her? (Note: Bad idea to ask me if I want a new animal baby for free. Psh.) I was too worried about Bella though, so I said that if she was still there next week, I'd think about it. See? A sucker for pets.

If she's still there, I'm thinking of giving her a home. My hutch is big enough for one more bun, my girls are friendly (if not to me!) and I'd hate to think of that poor rabbit being put to sleep simply because noone could find her a home. I'll let you know tomorrow. (She's a real Easter bun, white coloured but with evil red eyes. Squee!)