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Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
This guy came home with me on Saturday




He's skittish I don't have any good pictures.

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Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso

FactsAreUseless posted:

Is that an English lop?
Totally, his ears are like big fuzzy bananas and he trips over them all the time.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
I've already had issues with Ludo spraying on the couch once he settles and gets comfortable on it. But it's only been 2 weeks since he was neutered; can I expect that to taper off?

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Last night Ludo sat on my lap and a) miraculously didn't pee, but b) made this weird wet belching noise a couple times. I've read that rabbits can't belch or vomit and don't cough up hairballs, so I wondered if it's something to be concerned about. I started worrying that he wasn't getting enough hay and it's a GI issue, but his appetite is as strong as ever.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Ludo kept making GBS threads and pissing right next to his litter box instead of in it. I figured out that since they like to eat hay while they poop, he was therefore pooping wherever he ate hay. Solution: just slide the litter box next to the hayrack. Seems to have worked.

Because of the various messes and his magical ability to undo two carabiners closing his pen, we moved him from a pen to a dog crate. It's about the same amount of space, but I felt bad, so I used the pen to make a fence that divides the laundry room in half. Since I've bunny-proofed the rest of the laundry room, he has the run of it and the adjoining hallway when we're at home. He also kept dragging his ears through his water bowl, so we switched him to a bottle. It took him awhile to get the hang of it and I worried about dehydration constantly, but he figured it out. Another advantage of a crate is that I can fit the hay rack and bottle on it, giving him more floor space.

Really I worry way too much about giving him the precise balance of hay and pellets and vegetables. The bunny rescue operator said we were going to need to buy whole bales of hay because he'd go through it so fast, but we let him eat as much as he wants and there is still plenty left. He's about 10lbs. and I'm giving him 1/2 cup of pellets and up to a cup of greens and vegetables a day. (This is in accordance with the guidelines in the approximately two dozen rabbit books that my wife checked out from every local library. I have read a book on house rabbits and a book on lops specifically and I think that's enough.)

One of our parrots absolutely loves him, calls him "pretty bird" and preens his fur whenever he gets the chance.

Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Apr 8, 2019

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Mostly kale and the same "spring mix" that I'm eating, with small amounts of carrot, celery, bell pepper, and occasionally brussels sprouts.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso

wafflethief posted:

Thought I'd share this nutcase. Attila the bun.


French Lop?

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
We've been restricting Ludo's water intake because he has recurring problems with inappropriate peeing. That is, he doesn't seem to be deliberately spraying, he'd just pee on the couch if we let him sit on the furniture too long, and would sometimes pee outside his litter box and outside his crate. Giving him less water seems to have helped.

I know denying him water sounds awful, but what I mean by that is that we're only filling his bottle (32 oz.) once every morning. The books I consulted said that rabbits drink up to 16 oz. per 5 lbs. of body weight, and he's about 10 lbs. I'm not being evil, am I?

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso

wafflethief posted:

How old is he? When was his least vet checkup? Sounds like he needs to be checked out.

Electric Bugaloo posted:

I mean, this really sounds like you should take him to the vet. Are you sending him to his room without supper too?

Edit: yeah, no- I can’t think of any good reason to restrict an animal’s water intake unless they’re having surgery/being slaughtered for tripe shortly.
We've only had him for a month, and he got a checkup and was neutered a week prior to that.

My wife has had a rabbit before, but I haven't, and I was so worried about feeding him exactly the right amount of hay, pellets, veggies, treats, the ratio of leafy greens to root vegetables, etc. that an obviously stupid idea started making sense. I was just being impatient about the housebreaking process, and he hasn't peed anywhere outside his litterbox for a few days. I've been giving him water ad libitam, same as hay. I think we were just encouraging him to stay on the couch too long.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
It turns out that I'm extremely stupid, and the reason Ludo was "drinking too much water" and "peeing everywhere" is that he "spills as much water as he drinks."

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
I don't think he's mounting anything; he's neutered, and humped my leg exactly once about two weeks later, and I've never seen him hump anything else. We examined him to make sure he healed well, and cleaned his scent glands.

Electric Bugaloo posted:

He may still be peeing. Rabbits aren’t the sharpest and sometimes “next to the litter box” is the same as “in the litter box”. Same thing goes for if the litter box is too annoying to hop into in the moment (the lip is too tall) or they’re having mobility issues (arthritis, obesity, sore leg, etc). Having a bigger litter box helps (every pet store sells xxl “multi cat” boxes for cheap) as does keeping hay in/accessible from inside it. Rabbits like to poop while they pee and they loving love to eat hay while they poop.
He definitely sprays sometimes--like when he's been sleeping in his crate, and I come in to let him out in the morning, and there's a small pool of liquid three feet from his crate that somehow hit the door, yeah.

I always put a handful of hay in his litter box, and his hay rack and water bottle are right next to it. (Putting his hay in a trough seemed to confuse him about where he's supposed to poop.) I'm thinking about moving the water bottle a little further down. I eventually figured out that this huge amount of liquid that has pooled around his litter box, that is completely odorless, is only staining the paper towels slightly yellowish because hay has been sitting in it.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Ludo likes the sunroom so much, I figured he should get to visit the actual yard.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
When he found a dandelion he was moving too quickly to film

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
I think it's time to get Ludo a litter pan with higher walls. He keeps peeing outside of it, and flicking droppings out when he gets out of it. A sidewall that goes all the way up to his hay rack could also stop hay bits from falling in the gap.

Anyway, he likes cherries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGIr5CXxpAQ

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
I worry about Ludo's teeth sometimes because he just...doesn't chew stuff that isn't his food. I give him chew sticks and toys and he just doesn't seem to care. But his teeth look fine to me.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso

Electric Bugaloo posted:

Does he seem to have any tooth or mouth pain? Are you guys good with you prodding his face and checking? Rabbits with dental issues will often limit their chewing/grooming/picking poo poo up with their mouth to the minimum but eat enough to keep going.
He only teeth grinds when he's happy, and he's very food-motivated. I've actually never seen him pick up toys or chew sticks and carry them, though he will sometimes lift a chunk of something out of his dish. Doesn't seem like he's hurting at all.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Earlier this week Ludo just pissed in the corner of the TV room in front of God and everybody. We've figured out that his brain reads "corner" as "litter box." He's not bright.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
A rabbit is like a little dog that uses a litter box, and that you can't take to a winery. You win, society wins.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso

Neddy Seagoon posted:

...What did your rabbit do to a winery? :ohdear:
Nothing, because I don't want him getting eaten by some bougie couple's unleashed dog, or trampled by their vile children.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Anybody have experience with their rabbit suddenly deciding to dig out their litter box? Ludo suddenly developed this habit while we were on a weekend trip. At first I thought he was acting out because we left him with a pet sitter for a weekend, and maybe because his little playhouse got damaged. Now I think he just likes doing it.

A big lop can kick a lot of litter around, and after I cleaned it up, he'd just do it again as soon as he needed to use the litter box. Fresh litter didn't make a difference; the only thing that does is putting some paper down on top of his litter. But I'm reticent to do that, since it's a health risk.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
I forgot to mention, I took him outside in his harness yesterday and tried to get him to dig in the garden, but he wasn't interested. I should take him out more often, though. He also got a nail trim; maybe that will help.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
I must add one crucial thing any new rabbit owner needs to be informed of right away: It is totally normal for a rabbit to have blood-red urine. Creepy, I know!

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Things have been up and down with Ludo lately. First, I solved the problem with him digging in his litter by putting some slats in there. In the proces of doing that, i realized that there's just no reason to keep him crated anymore. I wasn't even closing him in the crate anymore, since his room is rabbit-proof, it was just convenient to keep his food and litter on a big plastic tray. I kept the plastic tray and put the cage in the cellar.

A few days ago, I thought he might be sick because he wasn't eating his pellets, and I noticed that there were some uneaten cecotropes in his litter box. Now I think the problem is that a) I gave him too much fruit and vegetables on Thursday night and b) the company (Dumor Advanced Diet) changed their formula and he doesn't seem to like it. He'll pick at it, and he's still eating hay, and the romaine lettuce and carrot I offered him, and he's pooping. Is it time to switch to another brand like Oxbow?

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Ludo just...forgot how to drink from his water bottle. Since I took the crate away, his hay rack and bottle are now mounted on the fence that blocks off Kate's art desk. He didn't forget how to eat hay, thankfully.

I've tried to show him how to drink from it, many times. When he's thirsty and I show him how to get water out of it, he just starts lapping water off the floor. So I'm just giving bowls of water and hoping he comes around.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Well, I'll put him back on the gravity waterer, but last time he had it he was just dumb as hell and constantly got his ears wet and immediately found something dirty to drag them through. (I know lops need to dip their ears in hot weather, but his room is the coldest part of the house.)

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
So uh I'm sorry for turning this thread into my personal Dumbass Learning How to Own a Rabbit Thread. I also bought him some Oxbow pellets and he took to them pretty well.

Anyway, I gave Ludo back his gravity waterer and he took to it right away. He peed on the floor this morning, and I noticed that it was very thick. Not "toothpaste thick" like the pages on bladder sludge say, but thicker than I've noticed it before. I'm afraid that may be a problem.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Ludo is fine. He took to the Oxbow pellets and his urine is normal. I just need to get him a spillproof bowl.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Can I ask what litter y'all prefer? As with the food I used to buy, I've just been using the Cozy'n'Fresh stuff they have at Tractor Supply. It works, but I feel like I have to really layer it on for it to be properly absorbent, so I go through a 20lb. bag like every 2 weeks.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
They have a joint at the base of their skull; it's weird.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Ludo pissed on the couch a couple times shortly after we got him (and shortly after he was fixed). In retrospect I think he was just not acclimated to his new space and new litter box. You were right to eliminate the odors, for sure.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Ludo's at the vet and I've been on edge all morning, to the point that I've only calmed down because I'm exhausted. He didn't eat his dinner last night, and still hadn't touched it in the morning, so I rushed him in. They're treating him for stasis right now.

One thing this has taught me is that, as with birds, it's not enough to have contact info for one or two vets. You need a list of every vet that sees rabbits in a 200-mile radius because there's a very high chance that any given vet is off that day, out of town, has an emergency, or just doesn't do the procedures you need. I wasn't able to book an appointment until 4pm, so I did a walk-in-and-wait. They were stuck in surgery, so they referred me to a place 10 minutes up the road that could see him right away. (It's weird that I wasn't aware of this emergency place; they're partnered with the avian vet that saved my lovebird.) I had to contact three different hospitals to see who could do the follow-up appointment; fortunately, it's the one 45 minutes away and not 2.5 hours away. So in between figuring out the problem I've been calling around all day.

The vet noticed one side of his mouth was swollen--I never noticed because there's no inflammation--and he has some malocclusion (upper and lower teeth don't meet correctly). A full-body x-ray revealed he definitely has stasis, and probably a spine/hip dysplasia issue like you see in dogs. That's why his back feels thin and bony even though he's a healthy weight, probably why he gets sore hocks on his right foot, and probably explains the times he doesn't use his litter box. I'm going to need to replace his box or cut down and sand the front of it so he can get in and out more easily. AFAIK these issues aren't common in a rabbit less than 4 years old.

I keep freaking out about what I hosed up. I went over with the vet everything that could have caused these issues from improper feeding to improper bedding to improper flooring to improper handling and she said it's a thousand potential causes and you just don't know. I don't expect a vet to honestly tell me "Your rabbit's gonna die because you hosed up" anyway, but if it's something I did then I want to know.

I wanted to bring him home, but they can give him better care; I can syringe-feed him but I can't give him fluids subcutaneously. So I'm letting them keep him, and if they can get his bowels moving this evening then they'll call me to pick him up. I can wait until Monday morning to get the dental issues taken care of, but if they can save him from the GI stasis I can come down off the high-wire I've been on since I woke up.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
So.

I took Ludo in to get dental x-rays, but their exotic vet said he was very cooperative, she was able to get a good look in his mouth, and she doesn't see any sign of serious malocclusion nor an abscess. She figures his mouth is lopsided because of some injury suffered long ago, like a deviated septum or something. So they just sent him back home with my wife yesterday. He had already regained his normal appetite by Sunday afternoon. No one is sure why he stopped eating. The only takeaway with regard to diet is that I should give him less non-lettuce vegetables.

The significant long-term issue is his back problem. I cut down the front of his litter box and sanded the edges, so he can walk in and out of it. He's still getting used to it, but providing a lot of hay directly in the litter box seems to encourage him to use it.

He also has a prescription for Metacam now. She told me to give it every other day, or every day if he seems uncomfortable. Unlike most rabbits (or so I'm told) he won't take it from the syringe. He'll eat it with dry food, but he really likes it if I put it in a little coconut water.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
I realized I haven't posted a pic of my chonky disabled son since his recovery.




I put the Metacam on the banana.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Yeah, I can barely clean Ludo's bowl and get his food without him running around my legs trying to get punted in the head.

That is a beautiful rabbit.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Oof, I now know the pain of finding a pet sitter who has experience with exotics. Had two fall through before I found someone who can do it. At least in the process I found out that our local vet can board rabbits. It didn't occur to me at first because I've never boarded a pet before.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
I was worried about Ludo again this past weekend because he was sluggish and not eating most of his food. But he kept drinking, and pooping, and eating a little, and seems to have returned to normal.

He seemed like his back legs were weaker than usual, so the upshot is that I'm now giving him his Meloxicam every day instead of every other day. Poor arthritic bunny. I'm glad I got a preemptive refill--I did the math and realized we'd run out right around the New Year when it would be difficult to get a scrip.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Ludo died on Christmas Eve.

We went out to eat and when we came back, he was gone. He'd been doing fine since his arthritis flareup a few weeks ago. It looked like it happened suddenly while he was eating his lettuce.

Christmas was miserable but my parents were understanding. I just held it together as well as I could. The next day I called the shelter to let them know. I felt a lot better--I agonized over everything I could possibly have done wrong. She told me that he definitely had genetic issues and probably died from a heart attack or seizure.

I used to worry about my pets all the time, especially Ludo, and think about how long I'd have them and if I'd be there when they died. I'm not going to worry about it anymore, because it doesn't prepare you or make it any easier. I got very attached to him in the nine months we had him. I'm glad he got to play under a Christmas tree.

The shelter would gladly give me foster bunnies tomorrow, but I'm not ready for that yet. I went down to volunteer for a few hours, just feeding and cleaning up after the rabbits. It was good for me and I'm going to do it as often as I can.

I wrapped Ludo in one of his old blankets and set him down on the fluffy top from his play box. I buried him in a corner of the yard by the raspberry bushes.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
I hate to be the constant bringer of doom and gloom to the thread, but I encountered a weird situation that I'm not sure I can or should do anything about. In our county there's a specialty grocery store that also has a petting zoo with domestic farm animals--goats, exotic chicken breeds, pheasants, guinea fowl, a couple rheas, stuff like that. I go there often. I stopped by on Sunday, when the store is closed and no one is there, but the petting zoo is open.

They have rabbits now. Two of them live in the enclosure with a turkey, a few pheasants, a few pigeons, and a few quail. But then I saw another one just...hopping around outside. At first I thought it escaped, but then I saw that they'd put up a couple "Rabbit Xing" signs. Apparently this is just the outdoor bunny.

This just seems unsafe and irresponsible. I know that this is basically a farm, and there are different rules for livestock--for all I know, they keep them as meat rabbits. Chickens are also prey animals, and I sometimes let my chickens out for a few hours while I'm not at home. But I put them away before dark! There's a lot next to the petting zoo where they store all their outdoor furniture for sale (mostly Adirondack chairs) and the bunny spent most of its time hiding in the maze of chairs. (I thought about trying to catch it, but it was impossible anyway.) I feel ridiculous telling a farmer how to raise livestock, but I feel like I ought to say something.

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
Anyway here are some shelter buns

Cute girls, don't remember their names.




Angel and Jareth, who inspired Ludo's name. Moose is an enormous Flemish Giant.




Not my photos. I did not get the chance to take a good photo of Shadow. The pictures really do not convey how painfully cute she is. Have you ever seen an animal so cute you wanted to cry? Shadow is that rabbit.



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Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003

La morte non ha sesso
I'm very sorry. While there's no cure for it, I know some shelter rabbits that continue to have good quality of life for months, maybe over a year at this point, after being diagnosed. It's a good sign if she's responding positively to the Metacam.

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