Found Rabbit

Kat0121

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He is just the sweetest. :heartshape:

I love his new setup. Did you make that little bed for him? It's so cute.
 
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Kieka

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Kieka

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Peter has a vaccine appointment! July 1st he will be getting the vaccine, hoping for a smooth vaccine with no adverse reactions.

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He will stay in his new area until early August even with the vaccine. Partially so we can decide if we want to renovate his old area before putting him back. Partially because it takes a week for the vaccine to be effective. Partially because I might need to get a bunny sitter in July; it's a lot easier to get someone who just has to feed and not worry about putting him in at night during that time (since his current area is fully enclosed, the hutch is just for routine right now).
 
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Kieka

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We are building a larger hydroponic system and Peter has decided that he rather likes frequent company in his area. Every time someone walks in Peter runs up to see what they are doing including walking on their feet and nudging them to where he thinks they should be.

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game misconduct

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I had no desire to have a rabbit but I have acquired one. Growing up, we typically had 2 rabbits. Free range in the yard during the day, in an outdoor hutch at night. Our last one passed away 4 years ago from ovarian cancer. It was really bad towards the end. It was very hard for my Dad who was the closest to her. That last rabbit and about 50% of our rabbits before that were abandoned bunnies who we found. In all cases we did find the original owner and in all cases the rabbit was purposefully released.

Here's a sad statistic. Rabbits can live to be 10 years old, most of ours surpassed that with our last one dying at 13. Easter bunnies though? 80% of the baby bunnies given as gifts for Easter won't live a year. They get killed by poor ownership, too small cages, boredom, and lack of care in general. They get sold or given away to new owners and fed to snakes. They get let go in a park or just outside and run over by a car or killed by predators. Domestic pet rabbits are simply the wrong colors and don't have the instinct to survive.

This rabbit was found on the side of the road. I saw it at night about halfway down the street but it was too skittish. The next day on our neighborhood message board someone said the rabbit had been caught in their yard. I offered to hold it while we looked for an owner since I already have a large cage and knowledge of bunny care.

That morning I went to the pet store for food and saw a very dirty cage on the curb. My Dad went to knock on the door and ask if it was the person's rabbit. They slammed the door on his face and the cage was pulled off the curb. So we assume that they let the rabbit go. There haven't been any responses to found posters, lost posters put up, or responses to the online message board in two weeks.

We haven't decided if we are keeping the rabbit. It has a vet appointment Monday to find out gender and a pre-check to get spayed or neutered. Reproductive cancer is a huge epidemic in rabbits so whatever happens I don't want to run the risk of cancer again. Plus the only rescue in the area for rabbits only takes ones that are spayed or neutered. At minimum we will have the rabbit for the next 6 months while we wait for a space at the rescue. So I am ordering a new hutch to give it better living space and have bought supplies to last. I have a feeling though that my Dad is already getting attached.

*sigh* I don't think the rabbit is going anywhere. Sometimes I really dislike other people, especially those who just dump their pets.

View attachment 201462
your a good person glad to know theres people like you out in this twisted world we live in
 
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Kieka

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Peter got his RHDV2 vaccine today!! :yess: :yess: :yess: He is home, eating and drinking normally.

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In other news, the vet doing his exam before the vaccine said that he has swelling around his jaw. He has an appointment with his normal vet next week. I am hoping it is just beginning signs of his teeth getting too long and rubbing his gums. If it is that, we are looking at some minor surgery and figuring out what he will chew on more reliably. If it is more serious tooth issues we could be looking at a major surgery and/or long term treatment. It could also be an ear infection that is getting lower and spreading. Whatever it is, we will figure it out next week (although maybe sooner, I will be calling the office and see if we can slot on sooner). He is eating and drinking just fine so whatever is wrong is not causing him too much pain or discomfort. Of course, I would love to get him seen immediately and if we were talking a cat I'd been taking him to emergency. But there is only one local rabbit specialist I trust and most possibilities will require long term treatment or management. So we wait for next Tuesday and hope for earlier. Just means Peter gets extra lettuce and herbs to make sure he has softer food.

Also, when Peter got neutered I was told he was a little under a year old, which would make him now 3-4 years old. However, upon close examination of his teeth today to see if the swelling issue could be easily treated it turns out he is 6-10 years old. Which makes more sense why he has arthritis in his hips and why I swore he was older originally. I also get to call him a grumpy old man since his age is now middle age or elderly rabbit.
 
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Kieka

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24 hours post vaccine and I have a very annoyed bunny on my hands. He is growling if I get too close, thumping and glaring in full force.

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But he is eating, moving and drinking so the grumpy is probably just not feeling great and wanting to be left alone. I think it is fully the vaccine and not related to the jaw swelling since he is eating fine. Grumpy old man. :rolleyes2: Great timing that we should be finishing up the larger hydroponics tomorrow in his space (lots of activity in his area getting everything hooked up).

I will update as soon as we know what is going on with his jaw. Still on for Tuesday next week but I will be calling tomorrow to see if there is anything sooner.
 
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Kieka

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Peter is less grumpy today, almost back to his normal amount of sass. I gave him some blueberries (grown in Oregon, no known cases) which may have helped regain some of his good regard.

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We also finished the major work on the hydroponic system. I transfered the lettuce from the Aerogarden to the top level and started some herbs in the Aerogarden. The top level has deeper water to help get the roots established in the grow baskets. The lower level has maybe a half inch between basket and water so the roots need to be established before moving to the lower level. My plan is to buy some more leaf lettuce from the hydroponic farmer at the farmers market tomorrow. He sells full plants with roots attached so that will give me a few mature plants to trim off of while the smaller ones get established. I also have a tester in the top row to see if I can sprout on the larger set up. The whole set up sounds very much like a babbling brook, the sound of the water moving through the pipes and changing levels covering any pump noises.

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Kieka

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Peter has his vet appointment for the swollen jaw today. As soon as I have answers I will share, for now .... hydroponics are 99% completed.

There is a hose to drain the system, valves to switch on the drain, other pipe drain points if we need to just dump or clean it fast, air stones for bubbles in the tank and upward pipe plus a drop between level with fresh air input (plants like oxygen), water level indicator,, and plugs on empty spots to prevent evaporation and algae. The top row has deeper water for transplant plants to grow out roots, the bottom level is shallower for longer roots. All the lettuce I transplanted is starting to grow out roots and hopefully in a week or two I can move them down in time to move the herbs I am growing over.

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We have started playing a game I call "mana from heaven" too. I mist the lettuce down twice a day and am trimming off wilting leaves. Shock of transplant and reduced water intake while roots grow is causing the lettuce to drop leaves. So before they wilt up too much I am trimming them up. I drop the leaves on the ground near Peter and he dashes over to gobble them down. He's starting to get excited everytime he hears the mister spraying, I may have created a monster.
 
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Kieka

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Peter was seen by the vet and this deserves a story time.

Rabbits are prone to infections of their ears, teeth and upper respriatory system. In all these types of infections there is a chance of it spreading from one area to the other because they have tiny heads. There is also the chance of the infection being healed without vet care but leaving behind a pocket of puss that gets encapsulated by bone. Apparently, rabbit pus is thicker then other critters so their bodies will encapsulate deep bone infections rather then push them to the surface.

The vet felt the area, said it is either an active or encapsulated infection most likely. Since Peter has no outward signs of problems we could wait and see (keep in mind getting a rabbit to a vet can be hard to so in emergency) or get xrays to determine next steps. But facial xrays would mean anethesia so they could get clean images. A cat or dog has about a 0.3 to 0.11% risk with anesthesia but a rabbit has a 1.34% risk of serious problems. While it is riskier, I am not a fan of wait and see because in my experience about half the time you get a worse problem if you wait. So xrays it was.

The result? Nothing expected. Peter either has a birth defect or experience trauma at some point prior to his life with us. It looks like trauma is the more likely scenario because of possible healed cracks in his jaw. Peter should have 4 molars on each side of his jaw. Peter has half a molar on the right side and the bump on the left side is one of the molars where the root is coming through the jaw. Which means the swelling on his left side is the root of one of his left molars. The vet said he couldn't even guess what caused the damage he sees on the xrays. But Peter has adjusted to whatever happened and unless the left molar causes him pain or problems the vet recommends leaving it alone.

So not only is Peter a senior bunny with arthritis but he went through (and survived) something fairly traumatic in his younger life. And here is the very annoyed bunny munching on some lettuce after his xrays.

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rubysmama

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hydroponics are 99% completed.
Wow. That's quite a setup! So, will the humans get to enjoy any of that lettuce? Or is Peter the lucky recipient of all the harvest?

So not only is Peter a senior bunny with arthritis but he went through (and survived) something fairly traumatic in his younger life. And here is the very annoyed bunny munching on some lettuce after his xrays.
Oh, the poor bunny. Peter, you sure knew what you were doing when you hopped into mama Kieka Kieka 's yard, which ensured you would have a much happier / well cared for life.:bunnydance:
 
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