Nail Patrol

Although rabbits are categorized as self-cleaning mammals,

they do need help with their nails,

a nail that is too long can catch, break off and cause lots of bleeding,

or in extreme cases a broken toe.

For almost a couple months, twice a month, I've been volunteering at the Rabbit Haven adoption show trimming nails, cleaning scent glands and performing minor grooming. Free nails trims are one of the services that the Haven offers the rabbit community. Donations are welcome, but not required. Rabbit nails need to be trimmed every 6 to 8 weeks, though some rabbits need to have them done every month. It took me quite awhile to be able to trim nails on my own rabbits, they were good teachers. I have developed three possible holds for the procedure, depending on what the rabbit will let me do. My preferred hold is to have the rabbit on it's back on a towel, slightly cradled between my thighs. This is not trancing because the rabbit's head is not tilted back and it is not unconscious. The position is comfortable and calming for many rabbits. The hind legs of some rabbits shake. Holding the rabbits legs so they stop shaking will not make the rabbit less afraid. Shaking is not a bad thing, it is, in fact, a good thing. Shaking is a neurogenic reaction to stress or fear. It is the body's mechanism for releasing tension/trauma. In a stress and shaking study using chicks it was found that the chicks that were stressed and shook were more resilient to disease and subsequent stress than chicks that were not allowed to shake after stress AND chicks that were not stressed at all. Sometimes people shake too, you may have experienced this if you have had to do public speaking, given birth, or been in scary situation. It is possible to access our shaking abilities and shake out old traumas to our emotional and physical bodies, the system is call TRE and you can find out more by clicking HERE.

Harriet is comfortable and ready for her nails to be trimmed,

Amelia is also comfortable in this position,

Sydney likes to sit up like a baby in a lap,

and Tyler must be done with four feet on the lap,

this is tricky and takes much twisting on my part, but it can be done,

and he insists it is the only way for him.

When I clip nails I work more slowly than the other people who are on nails. Unlike others I cannot talk while I am working. In my case the rabbits can tell if my attention wanders and it's then they will squirm over. They are still teaching me, have no expectations, just sit in the moment and see what it brings, clip nail. This last week I worked on a rabbit for the second time, I've been doing it long enough that I get repeats! The first time I was warned that this rabbit was very bad for nail trims and had been just awful the last time. Her nails were very long, I presume her human had been avoiding the issue as long as possible. I introduced myself to the bun, and petted her for a bit, then turned her over on my legs. I tried to stay focused and calm, and let the bunny turn over when she wanted, which was after each foot, then turned her back over. When it was done I massaged her and told her she was good and beautiful and perfect. This time she over turned once, for the first paw, then was still and relaxed for the rest. Everyone was happy.

Amelia patrolling in the Blueberry Bunny Park.

Rubbing Bunnies

Harriet and friend, waiting for a massage.

Some time ago I won, I won, I won!! through The Rabbit House blog a DVD called The Relaxed Rabbit massage techniques for your companion rabbit authored by Chandra Moira Beal, who is a professional bodyworker for humans in addition to being a dedicated bunny slave. If the title sounds familiar you may have seen the book by the same name, or like myself may have the book, but misplaced it during moving. If you already have the book you should get the DVD too, you really should. Although I had absorbed many of the techniques from reading, the DVD cleared up questions and provided excellent visual clarification. If you have neither the book nor the DVD you may be wondering why you should learn rabbit massage and isn't petting just the same thing? Massage is close to petting, but more specific and complex. Rest assured if you can pet your bunny you can learn to massage your bunny. The benefits of rabbit massage are extensive both physically and emotionally; effecting all the systems of the body. Ms. Beal does a thourough job of explaining the various aspects of rabbit massage from contraindications and endangerment zones, to feedback signs, as well as the techniques and how to put it all together in a complete treatment.

Because of her fur type Bernadette enjoys

the massage technique called "compression"

I waited so long to write about The Relaxed Rabbit because I wanted to be able to report on observed results. When I do nail trims at the Rabbit Haven adoption shows I do just a little massage on the rabbit before clipping. It's a nice "how do you do, I am not going to hurt you, you sweet little lagomorph". A few times owners have told me they have never seen their rabbit so well behaved and relaxed during a trim. Last week an apologetic human warned me that the rabbit was really bad for nail trims. Some massage and some Happy Pet spray did the trick, the rabbit was really quite good. The next time she will be even better because of the positive experience.

Daikon, formerly known as Radish, has issues to being picked up.

The massage technique called "tapotement", gently applied,

helps his muscles relax and he is easier to pick up

At home I have been pleasantly surprised. Sydney, who does not like to be touched, and I recently found out never has, does not object to massage and afterwards seems more inclined to be friendly. Harriet asks to be picked up since I incorporated some massage into our lap sits. Tyler is much more amenable to being picked up, not skittering away when he realizes what I am going to do. And, as you all suspect, Amelia wants it all the time. We give The Relaxed Rabbit DVD four paws up. You find out more about Chandra Beal and purchase a copy of the DVD HERE.

Adara, a red satin Angora, is staying next door,

she comes over for grooming and massage.

She will be available for adoption through

The Rabbit Haven after

she is spayed.

Hermes Finds a Home

Early on Hermes proved an interesting

photography subject.

Six months ago I took in a rabbit for Rabbit Haven with the understanding it would only be for a day or two, maybe three. The little half grown Rex had just been neutered and was sore and scared. He had been caught pilfering some one's garden. That was the story, why such a scoundrel would be given over to the Haven with a special towel and a name is odd. His name was Torrie. We re-named him Hermes, his gold ears looked like the wings on Hermes' helmet and his white slender athletic limbs lent him the air of Greek statue.

He began to enjoy being held and tooth purred

soon after being picked up

His first adoption show was a disaster, he cowered in the corner entire time and if someone did pick him up he stiffened up and tried to crawl away over their shoulder. It was clear that socialization was called for. I moved him into the kitchen and picked him up and held him two or three times a day. Often we would watch Hell's Kitchen or Master Chef on my laptop, excellent for desensitization and I picked up cooking tips from time to time. He was consulted often, healthy treats and pets abounded. My son also took to picking Hermes up and sitting with him. He knew his name and his nicknames, Little Guy, The Hermermermers, and if he was in his box house, on hearing his name shot out like a cartoon clock cuckoo.

Hermes enjoyed his time outside

in the Blueberry Bunny Park.

He saw the household through the deaths of my father and then my brother, through memorials and reunions. We considered him family. Whenever he went to adoptions shows something happened that threw him off his game. I took extra measures to keep him happy at shows. I brought him to the show myself, rather than accepting a ride for him with other bunnies, and held him until he was relaxed. I outfitted his pen with his little mat from home. Improvement was evident. Still the right person was not showing up. I learned of a product called Happy Pet from a woman who boarded her rabbit with us. Formulated from flower and gemstone essences it helps animals feel calm and uplifted. I put drops in Hermes' water dish and sprayed him with it. I sprayed his pen at the adoption shows too. He responded well to it and his shows improved more. Still he was dogged by bad luck. Even if he was calm and beautiful, no one wanted a white rabbit or the rabbit next door to him was very showy, so everyone was fixated on that rabbit. One time the rabbit next door, a Dutchie female, jumped into his pen and attacked him; not a good time for him. During the big Aptos rescue those rabbits were given priority and Hermes stayed home. I had bad ideas about keeping him and trying to bond him in with my four, wicked day dreams of an impractical person.

He knew his destiny lay beyond the fence.

Far away in a county called Marin a Dutch female pined, saddened by the death of her mate three months prior. Using her not insignificant powers of persuasion she got her human to drive to the Rabbit Haven adoption show in Santa Cruz, she knew her prince was there. She had heard via the Daily Dutch News that there was a handsome white Rex who wasn't not much of a fighter, but had the golden ears of enumerable rabbit legends. At the show her human brought her boy bun after boy bun, she rejected each one. Couldn't the fool see that these were not the golden eared one? finally there was but one male rabbit left, Hermes. He saw her in all her black and white glory and immediately feel in love. Once the Dutchie was convinced that he was indeed her destiny, she too was happier than happy. Of course, I cried my eyes out, silly impractical heart will miss him, even if the brain says it is better this way.

Pictures and Text

If real life pictures of a spay procedure are likely to upset you and your family, please go no further than this photo of a big, very big California girl bun in post-op recovery with a Rabbit Haven volunteer. You can read more about the Spay-A-Thon HERE. There is a slide show as part of the article, I took the photos even though the credit says Rabbit Haven, these things happen.

For those of you who will read on here is the story. You will recall that there was a huge rescue in our area, Aptos to be precise, 114 rabbits all of which were not spayed or neutered. Over the course of the days many were in San Jose and Palo Alto, driven over by intrepid and dedicated volunteers. One of our local vets on hearing of the rescue asked what she could do and the Spay-A-Thon was born. Just to be clear there were also neuters being performed but somehow a Neut-A-Thon doesn't have a ring to it at all. Three rabbit vets, Drs. Hawklyn, Stern and Sollenberger along with vet techs volunteered their time and expertise at the Santa Cruz Animal Shelter on 12/4/11, where two of the rooms were turned into a surgery. Rabbit Haven volunteers took care of the rabbits after their operations. Anesthetized rabbits can not be put back in a cage until they are awake enough to hop or they can hurt themselves trying.

Rabbits are anesthetized using a gas and mask, they are also attached to a heart monitor. The gas smells funny to them, but only briefly.

The abdomen is shaved clean and carefully sterilised.

Everything is kept very sterile. The incision for a spay can very tiny, leaving a barely visible scar and lessening pain and healing time.

Bunnies are kept warm and comfortable while they wake up. The females received subQ fluids to help with their recovery. To aid with waking the bunnies need to be stimulated, touched and petted on their ears and face, they need to be more upright than not.

Why do rabbits need to be spayed and neutered? I'm so glad someone asked that question. The answers are multiple. The first answer is that rabbits have an exetremely rapid rate of reproduction. The gestation time is about a month and a female rabbit can get pregnant immediately after giving birth. Sexual maturity and ability to breed occurs between 3 and 8 months. Doing the the multiplication on this problem yields that a female rabbit and her offspring could, theoretically, produce 50,653 rabbits in three years and 69 million in five years and a whopping 64 billion in seven years. In the wild this degree of fecundity makes sense, rabbits being breakfast, lunch and dinner to so many other guests in nature's restaurant, but for the domestic rabbit and it's caregivers it does not. Even if a rabbit is an only rabbit spaying will keep the animal from developing uterine cancer, very common in un-spayed lagomorph females. Neutering a male helps with box training and reduces/eliminates spraying. Although one would think that personality of males would be significantly changed by removing the testes from the hormonal picture, I can attest the Tyler, though not a humper, is very protective of his girl friends and competitive when it comes to other males. He has tried to take on a male rabbit 4 times his size, luckily there was a fence between them.

There are 8 rabbits left from the Aptos rescue that need homes, if you can help please contact the Rabbit Haven. They must be out of the shelter by the 18th or they are in danger of being euthanized.

The Rest of the Story

Rex rabbit, extra soft fur, on yellow towel

in Santa Cruz Animal Shelter

The rabbits in the previous post, True Story, have become the property of Santa Cruz Animal Care and Control, that's good for the rabbits they don't have to go back to the breeder. The rabbits are are currently the Santa Cruz and Watsonville Shelters however the Rabbit Haven is completely responsible for care, feeding, rescue, foster and adoption. The rabbits in the shelters only have until December 17th to get out of the shelters; at this point there are about 75. On the 17th of December the shelters will euthanize any remaining rabbits; Out of the frying pan and into the gas chamber. These rabbits need to get out ASAP. If you can rescue a rescued rabbit by adopting one or two or more, to be kept indoors, you will save a bunny's life. Contact Heather at the Rabbit Haven if you can open your home and heart to one (or more) of these rabbits; 831-600-7479 or director@therabbithaven.org Make the call and get a rabbit the same day !!

Another Rex, love his spots!, he was out in a pen

when I was there and having a really good time.

One of five adorable babies, this one is loving hay.

This guy may be small, but, I have the feeling,

he is big on personality.

A True Story

Once upon time in a nearby neighborhood, Aptos, in California, there was a man who bred rabbits. At first he didn't have very many rabbits and he took fairly good care of them. He found that it was terribly easy to have more and more rabbits and he could sell them to pet stores as pets and he could sell them to pet stores as snake food. He had lots and lots of rabbits, of course he couldn't keep them in his house, only crazy people do that, so he kept them outside, after all they are animals. One day a nosy, nosy man who just could not mind his own business was doing his job and saw the rabbit breeder's set up. It was Extreme Makeover from an opposite and evil universe. Some rabbits were swimming in 6 inches of water and some had 6 inches of feces piled in their cages. Instead of proper water bottles or cute dishes with Peter Rabbit designs on them to drink from the rabbits had mason jars of water. Yes, you already realize the problem, a rabbit can only drink from the top, once the water level is decreased by a a couple inches they can't reach it. Many were pregnant, wounded, or emaciated. However none needed to by euthanized. The county had been monitoring the breeding facility for years, it was zoned for 65 rabbits, but, oops, there were 114, so it was shut down and the rabbits were taken to two nearby shelters where the good people doing a difficult job did the best they could. The Rabbit Haven, the local rabbit rescue organization, has been helping by bringing in supplies and doing the cleaning, feeding, grooming, nail clipping and general love and attention. None of these rabbits has had a moment of kindness or care in their lives. Rabbit Haven is working hard to get them into foster homes because the shelters will begin to euthanize when they are full, it's just the way it is. The rabbits are also adoptable. Anyone anywhere in the world can help these bunnies with a donation to the Rabbit Haven, click HERE and find the donation link in the article. You can read the Sentinel version of the breeder raid HERE.

Tyler will be donating all the dandelions he cannot eat.

Portrait Session

I was next door the other day to take some pictures of new arrivals at the Rabbit Haven.

There were 6 babies, a Dutch and Lion Head Mix. They will be truly magical when their manes come in. You can't see in this picture but of the golden babies, one is a Harlequin and two are gold with classic white Dutch markings.

This is the mum, the breeder, yes,the whole family was a breeder rescue intervention operation, cut her mane and she pulled out a lot of her own hair for the nest. She is lovely bun, I can't wait to see her true do.

This is dad, I have never seen such a kinetic rabbit, he was playing with his ball and digging and generally being Mr. Entertainment the whole time. Most of the pictures were way too blurry!!

This is a mini Hotot girl, we are waiting for her to grow, but......This photo will probably not the one used to promote her, there is way too much disapproval. I usually disapprove of toys in pictures and sometimes of the stuffed bunnies (we'll get into that at another time) but the strangeness, cuteness and disapproval going on here convinced me to post it.

Here's another look from Miss Mini Hotot.

Hopefully all these rabbits will find their forever homes soon, you can visit The Rabbit Haven by hopping down THIS RABBIT HOLE.

No Mess Hay Rack

OK, not exactly no mess, but certainly minimal. Awhile back I got three of these from our friends at The Rabbit Haven and they do work remarkably well. Hinged on the bottoms the front wire is bent to fit the sides of the box and is velcroed to the back. There are holes cut in the grid for feeding. When un-velcroed the top swings out and forward for easy hay stuffing. Anything that makes cleaning easier and keeps hay from causing GI stasis in my vacuum gets the maximum number of stars.

7/9/11

A Day of Sequential Odd Numbers......

Paparazzi For Hire

An afternoon surrendered to rabbits.

The Lion Head Diva Girl

is not just

a pretty face.

Also she has a sister

who likes to dance.

Baby Lion Heads Growing Up

Today, 6/24/2011, nothing went as planned so when I was asked, for the third time, to take photos of the baby lion heads I said "Now, I'll do it now". You can see them just a few days old HERE. They are still growing, but you can see some different personalities emerging from the primordial cuteness of extreme babyness. I was also asked to come up with some short, unisex names that were not too weird. "Are Tibetan words too weird?" "No, that's not too weird." So I leafed through my Tibetan dictionary and choose some words that wouldn't be too hard to pronounce.....

Mospa-adore

Snobo-blue

Zerbu-clove

Kaba- Coffee

Campa-dance

Kurma-dandelion

Dadpa-faith

Yinmin-truth

Goba-imagine

Norbu-jewel

Bapo-magician

Padma-lotus

Ribon-hare

We'll wait and see which, if any, are used!

This last bunny is a ringer, he's an adopted orphan.

All these bunnies will be adoptable though Rabbit Haven.

Name This Bun

This cutie was rescued from a shelter, courtesy of The Rabbit Haven.

He's about 6 months old and weighs 1.5 pounds.

As you can see he's as cute as the day is long.

A very mellow fellow.

Leave name suggestions in comments.

All photos taken on 03/29/2011

Monday Bunday: Road Trip

WARNING: Photographs are not related to the text.

On Saturday the plan was to take all four rabbits to the Rabbit Haven Adoption Show. Tyler and Sydney were to have their nails trimmed and Harriet and Amelia had an appointment in the bonding room. Despite best efforts and treats offered, I was only able to get Sydney into the the carrier, Tyler jumped out the door when I guided Sydney in and would not be recaptured for love or rose petals, which pass for currency around here. Plans and intent change, life is change, what was going to be a pleasant family outing was now GIRL ROAD TRIP! More treats for the girls and singing contests and giggles galore. Sydney belted out a version of "Brass in Pocket" originally performed by The Pretenders. Amelia countered with Chaka Khan's "Tell Me Something Good". Harriet surprised us all with Brian Eno's "I'll Come Running". The fun ended far too soon and before she knew who had won the contest, Sydney was getting her nails trimmed and being told she was still too fat and to, simply had to, cut down on the pellets. When older rabbits, here she really took offense, are too fat, they cannot reach their cecals and that causes all sorts of problems.....

The bonding room became available and chaperoned by myself and one of the Rabbit Professionals, Amelia and Harriet were placed in a pen. What followed was not exactly what I had had in mind, but that is the way of Bun, to teach the human to see beyond their own small plans and dreams. There was no biting or chasing, instead Amelia set about owning the space with extensive exploration and peeing in each small litter box multiple times. Meanwhile Harriet let me know that I was hers by sitting in my lap and licking my arms, not just once but four times. Cindy, the Pro, laughed and said "I guess you won't be giving that one up." A couple times I scooped up Amelia so she could share my lap with Harriet and maybe have a little bond there. After about 20 minutes someone else needed the room so we vacated.

Since I had Sydney without her brother, Tyler, who can be bossy and over bearing, almost but not quite a Napoleon Bunaparte, I thought I'd see if I could establish more of a relationship with her. Sydney doesn't not like to be touched, petted, or held and all I want to do snuggle her and whisper sweet bun things into her black, black ears. You understand the problem. I am perfectly willing to settle for petting once a day and being able to pick her up in an emergency. [Ex: the house is on fire all rabbits must be evacuated immediately for their own safety.] With Harriet and Amelia in their respective carriers I walked around the adoption area with Sydney in my arms, just to gently stress her a bit, then I settled on a chair next to the girls. Pretty soon there we were joined by other bunny people. Nothing like a bunny to attract bunny people.

One Rabbit Haven volunteer took quite a shine to Amelia and wanted to hold her, I gave permission. Another came by with a rabbit that was waiting for adoption and a man with a white Netherland Dwarf ,whose had had its nails done, joined the gathering. Winter was a very small, short eared white rabbit had been adopted a 4 years ago from Rabbit Haven. He had attacked everyone who approached him until he saw his current human. At that historic moment he flew onto the man's shoulder and refused to leave. I imagine for a brief moment everyone who knew the bun thought he was going to rip off the poor unfortunate's head. Although it would seem that the relationship would simply take off from that point, once the man got the bun home it was a full six months before Winter stopped charging and biting. Still, he amazes one and all by sitting like a strange white parrot on his person's shoulder.

I learned some applicable and practical things at the show too. If you are holding a nervous bunny that needs to settle down, gently pat the bun on the shoulder. This seems to distract them and soon their breathing will normalize. When bonding, play gentle music, Heather, the Rabbit Haven Director, suggests meditation music, stay away from drums and percussive soundtracks! With this in mind I'll put together a bonding playlist. I have a Bunny Calm list, but I'm not sure about the Rain Forest segment, I think there may be too many bird noises, Tyler , in particular is not fond of birds since they could be hawks. And frankly, I think they are all freaked out by the whales.....After much encouragement Sydney relaxed and settled in my lap with half closed eyes, hopefully the start of a trend. Amelia was traded for Harriet and the volunteer proffered the opinion that they would both make fine therapy buns. The car ride home was quiet, all the girls exhausted from their outing. At home Tyler came out from behind the couch to be sure his harem was accounted for, then offered himself for petting, as a sign of his undisputed superiority over moi.

Have a great week.

A Night On the Town.

Amelia listens with one ear to the tales of other rabbits

Tuesday night or rather Wednesday morning I didn't get to bed until 2:45 a.m., as a person who attempts to lead a very moderate lifestyle this was completely out of character. It must have been an emergency or something very important, some sort of life or death matter to keep me up so late. In fact such was the case. Tuesday night Rabbit Haven volunteers were out capturing rabbits from the Moreland Park site in San Jose CA, and I was one of 14. Rabbit Haven is not the only organization involved in trying to help these rabbits. Save A Bunny, Rabbit Rescue Alliance and Team Fur have been doing awesome work to save the bunnies. If I forgot anyone please forgive and correct me, it was unintentional. Many rabbit had been rescued but the situation was getting more desperate. We had been hearing reports of teenagers shooting and chasing the rabbits, capturing them and maiming and torturing them. These almost adults must be really unhappy and confused to feel better after hurting a rabbit. There have been adults with dogs setting the dogs loose to chase the rabbits. This was life or death for the rabbits, we had to get as many out as we could.

Tyler and Sydney remember their own early life in the streets

I drove over two other rabbit people from the Santa Cruz area. Everyone was issued an ID card and an orange vest. After an orientation, that included a Lego model of the park and surrounds, we broke up into teams. Since I had the longest thinnest arms present I was part of the nest diggers. Long arms are needed to reach down the holes and check for the nest. I tried to be useful in other ways since we didn't find any nests. At this point the rabbits left are the survivors, they are fast sneaky ones, this is Darwin's dream and our nightmare. There are various structures under which the rabbits hide, sometimes you can stick a pole under and flush the rabbit out the other side into the XPen that has been cleverly placed, then someone has to quickly take a piece of cardboard and close off the exit. This works sometimes, but more often than not the rabbit underneath will evade the pole. Even food as a lure has only a limited appeal to these remaining rabbits. There were quite a few rabbits in the baseball and soccer fields adjacent to the park. In the open the rabbits have to be herded by the two foots into a U shaped XPen that is then snappily closed behind the bun. Add to all this that it is dark and we are working by flashlight and lantern. One of the structures in the park was large storage container under which many rabbits had made their home. Next week the school wants to remove it and fill in all the rabbit holes, regardless of whether there are rabbits present or not. The night we were there the only rabbit was a big white rabbit and a dead rabbit. Many times the teams returned to try to get the white rabbit out, and never was there any luck. I saw it's nose, just once. One team did get the dead rabbit out. We were collecting all rabbits, dead or alive. Live rabbits were placed in carriers and taken for assessment by a team member who had a set-up in the back of a camper. These rabbits received a dose of Revolution for the fleas and ticks that are prevalent. After assessment they were ferried to a foster site. The deceased went a pet crematorium. There were a few tense moments when large groups of teens came walking by, but once they saw us with our orange vests and rabbit nets they figured we were were nuts and dangerous and left. By 1 a.m. we had caught 11 rabbits and found 4 dead ones, it seemed time to pack up. On our way back from the fields someone spotted the big white rabbit who had jumped out of the Xpen and was running around the park; possibly upset at the removal of the dead rabbit who could have been it's mate. Determined as Ahab after his white whale a team pursued this Lagomorphic great white and in the end caught her; 12 rabbits rescued.

May she and all the Moreland rabbits find caring and living homes.

The Spots want to tell the Moreland rabbits that there will be plenty of hay from now on

Thump Day Report

Tyler exited the carrier and scooted under a chair, giving his opinion of the whole affair with a single strong thump. Sydney stopped and accepted the bribe, a few oat groats. Amelia remained unfazed for the most part. They had all been to the vet. Amelia for her introduction to the good Dr. Hawklyn and the Spots were in for just a check. My last rabbit had a lot of tooth issues, so I particularly wanted Dr. H. to peek into mouths as this is something I cannot access until there is problem.

All packed up for a road trip......

Everybun was given a clean bill of health and here are their reported weights: Tyler - 5.69 lb: Sydney - 6.25 lb: Amelia - 6.38 lb. In Dr. Hs opinion, which we trust implicitly, Sydney is not fat, but she shouldn't gain anymore weight, Tyler is was pronounced to be just right which matches his own feelings about himself. Amelia is thought to be at maybe 3/4 of her full growth. When she came here she measured about 18 inches from nose to base of tail when stretched, now she measures 24 inches, 6 inches in about a month. Of all the rabbits Sydney was the most upset and we had a bit of a scrambly moment on the table, she was much more comfortable in a wrap. Tyler showed me he trusted me by shrinking away from the vet tech when she tried to get him out of the carrier and coming towards me when I went to get him, having passed the wrapped Syd off to the tech.

Are we there yet?

Amelia was a piece of cake, that girl is SOOOO CHILL. When the tech was taking their "history" it took some explanation before she realized that these rabbits are not kept in cages or crates or enclosures which cannot be exited at will at any time. At the end of the appointment Dr. H wanted photos for the record and another tech came in with a camera "Will any photo do?" I asked, wondering if it had be a sort of ID/mugshot set up, "Yes, do you have pictures of your rabbits?" "Yes, quite a few......" Quite a few hundred that is. I may have even mentioned that the rabbits had their own blog, but that comment was politely passed over. I brought my portfolio of prints in hopes Dr. Hawklyn would say we love all of these and want to redecorate the office with your work. She choose two rabbit prints that will hang in her examination room; a small inroad to world domination.

Making 10 of these 22 by 22 inch signs, they can be hung or staked.

The Rabboratory has been busy making signs for the Moreland Park rescue operation. This an area in San Jose, CA, where people have been dumping unwanted rabbits and there have been litters upon litters. Rabbits are starving, dogs are being let loose on them, people are shooting them with pellet guns. It is a human made travesty that humans need to correct humanely. I am doing what I can for The Rabbit Haven and their rescue efforts. Soon we will be able to go in and get the rest of the rabbits, bureaucracy is currently the stumbling block.