Farewell to Bruce

Bruce died peacefully at home the day after Christmas. He suffered no particular health problems, in fact he'd been at the vet's office just a couple months ago for a checkup which found that he was extraordinarily healthy for his advanced age. At 11 1/2 years old when he died, he was the oldest rabbit we've ever had, beating the record previously held by our fuzzy Demetri by about half a year. 

Nine year-old Bruce in 2020:

When we got Bruce from the shelter, he was about a year old and had languished in the shelter for eight months. Though I thought he was plenty adorable, his shyness and plain coat didn't manage to attract any adopters. When he was put on the euthanasia list at the shelter (I was a volunteer there at the time), I brought him home. 

Me and Bruce in February 2012:

He had incredibly soft fur, but absolutely hated being touched. For the most part, we just let him hang out and do his bunny thing in peace... well, it was peaceful until the small humans were born when Bruce was five years old.

With Bruce's death, for the first time in 20 years I have no bunnies to look after and hang out with. It feels very strange. I will definitely have at least one rabbit again in the future, probably when the boys are preteens and want nothing to do with their lame parents. For now, being able to travel without having to arrange petsitting (or having to drag the poor critter with us, as we did with Bruce these past few years since our previous petsitters retired) make sense. 

But it still definitely doesn't feel right not having a bunny in the house.

Goodbye to White Rabbit

As our rabbit population ages, it seems I only post about them to mark passings. But I suppose that's a sign of the bunnies' stable and relatively happy lives. 

White Rabbit (aka Scarlett) was at least twelve years old when she died today. She was a remarkably sturdy and healthy rabbit, but old age finally caught up with her. With her death, Steve and I are back to a place we haven't been in 18 years: we only have one rabbit. 

Last bunny family portrait from 2015, our remaining rabbit Bruce on Steve's lap, White Rabbit on mine:

White Rabbit had a big personality to go with her fairly large size, with expressive ruby-red eyes, and I found her very amusing. As soon as I got home from the vet today without her, I found myself immediately reverting to looking to her condo every time I passed it in the living room, expecting to see her there giving me a funny look.

Steve and I caught White Rabbit living outside our previous rental house as a stray, and she's lived with us since November 2010. Our vet said she was the smartest and luckiest rabbit ever to have ended up hanging out in front of our place. 

First picture we ever took of White Rabbit, after setting her up with her own pen in our bedroom:

For eleven years, she was a fixture in our house: biting well-intentioned petsitters when they didn't move fast enough to give her breakfast, and being beyond sweet to me, Steve and the boys. She will be (and already is) terribly missed.

Belated Farewell to Kiwi

Kiwi died nearly two months ago, but I was holding out writing a memorial post until I could dig through my old files and find some pictures from her early days.

Kiwi, approximately one year old:

Kiwi was ten years old when she died. She was with us so long, she knew us when we looked like this:

It's amazing the difference made by the passing of a decade and the acquisition of children. Anyway... 

Kiwi was a funny rabbit: curious, fearless and very opinionated. She had been hand-raised from infancy by the director of a local rabbit rescue, and had been very snooty toward all potential adopters, much to the dismay of said director. At the time, I was filling in at an understaffed rabbit adoption show, so I sat down at the front of her pen, to coax her out to meet the people. Instead, she hopped in my lap and stayed there, refusing to interact with anyone else. So, definitely not needing or wanting another rabbit... I brought her home (of course).

Kiwi moved with us from our old apartment to our beloved house, and dealt stoically with months (well... years) of construction and the arrival of two mini-humans. 

She used to be so spoiled...

Kiwi was a fantastic rabbit, and deserved the best of all possible homes. Instead, she got (picked) us.

She was a good rabbit. We really miss her.

Sharky

Sharky died earlier this month from age-related complications. He was at least seven years old, but likely much older.

We took Sharky in after the young man who was his original owner died of a heart attack and the young man's parents asked the local rabbit rescue to help find the bunny a home. Sharky (formerly Ari) couldn't be adopted out through the standard channels because... well... he would bite people if he didn't like what they were doing. He needed a highly experienced and tolerant rabbit family who would just let him be himself, so the rescue's director called me. We took stewardship of the little guy seriously and gave the opinionated rabbit as good a home as we possibly could.

Pictures of him from our last family photoshoot:

Steve cobbles the family pictures together in photoshop since our rabbits don't all get along, so I'm sitting on the couch in an attempt to convince Sharky to stay in the proper part of the shot. I'm in an apron to keep rabbit fur off of my clothes for the later picture that had me and Steve in it.

At the end, Sharky was blind in both eyes and arthritic, but a tough little dude who continued his existence as if nothing was wrong. He was a funny little bunny and is greatly missed.

Goodbye to Violet

I made the decision yesterday to euthanize our rabbit Violet. She had lost nearly a pound in the past few months and stopped eating Wednesday night. She was quite the elderly rabbit at 11 years old.

Violet curled up with her favorite person, Steve:

Steve and I took Violet in to live with us in January of 2010. I convinced the previous owner to give her over to me. That previous owner was abusive to her, which I suspect led to a lifelong mistrust of women. Violet never much liked me, but I was amused by her difficult temperament, and Steve's kind and gentle presence in her life was a real blessing for her.

This is the fifth time I've had to make the decision to euthanize a rabbit. It doesn't get any easier, but I do feel confident I did the best I could for her.

She was a troublemaker, occasional biter, and grumpy beyond all reason. The world just doesn't feel right without her scowling at me from her condo.

The long awaited, totally epic and amazing 3-story rabbit palace!

Okay, that title is a bit excessive. But this construction project has dramatically changed the function of our house and made a few bunnies very happy.

I don't have a "before" picture because the room was such a disaster I was ashamed to even photograph it. Picture if you will, two rabbit pens, one arranged awkwardly under metal shelving crammed with stuff, the other stuffed under an ugly plywood shelf on which a beat-up dozen-year-old rabbit condo perched. There were random boxes blocking Steve's exercise equipment and... well, just take my word for it, it was a horrible mess.

To remedy the situation, Steve and I picked up some Ivar modular pine shelving from Ikea, a whole bunch of moulding from our local lumber yard, a couple rolls of coated chickenwire, and a large assortment of various hardware and got down to business.

In order to push the shelving flush with the wall, we had to compensate for the small box we built over the bizarrely uneven foundation at the base of that wall (visible to the right of Steve in the picture below). To do this, we picked up some furniture feet and attached them to the front post of each frame panel.

Steve tightens one such foot:

We had already installed a shelf above the windows to store carriers. The carriers do collapse somewhat, but in the interest of emergency preparedness, I wanted to leave them assembled. I can grab them from that high shelf with either a ladder or, if things are really crazy, simply by knocking them off with a broom.

Steve looks for studs to attach the tip-over prevention straps to the partially built shelving:

Next we had to build the panels and doors. I wanted each section of the shelving to have a separate removable panel, for easy access and cleaning.

Steve building one such panel frame:

Once the coated chickenwire was stapled to the frames, each panel was attached with a couple window screen buttons, which allow the panel to be fully removed with a quarter turn of the buttons. One panel on each level is on hinges with a cupboard latch, forming a door for easy operation to refill food, water and hay.

I insert one of the panels on the lower level (after laying down the indoor/outdoor carpet on each level):

Et voila!

Sharky occupies the top level, Bruce and middle and White Rabbit the bottom. They have boxes to play in and chew on, toys and plenty of room to stretch out. In the near future, we will be building detachable ramps so the rabbits can take turns exiting their housing to run free in the room for more exercise.

Wider shot of the finished project:

Steve's treadmill and elliptical machine (in their upright storage positions in the bottom left of the picture above) are now actually usable for the first time since we moved into our house. Steve's bike is parked in the room temporarily; there are plans afoot to build a bike shed eventually. 

I'm still fiddling with the storage opportunities presented by the new room layout, but since I will likely be tweaking things for some time, I figured I may as well get this project posted now. It's really making life in our little house so much better already. 

Family Portrait 2015

Back in 2008, I was amused by the idea of doing a family portrait with Steve and me surrounded by all of our rabbits. We took the picture at our first in-town (not the scary mountain garage-conversion we lived in for far too long) rental in Santa Cruz. The result:

(left to right: Kuipo (on back of couch), Demetri, SweetPea, Lola, Johnny and Buster)

Two years later, on the back deck of our new little rental house, we took this updated shot:

(left to right: Demetri, Violet, Lola, Johnny and Buster)

With the chaotic home buying and renovation process, we ended up delaying taking a new portrait for more than four years, until this past weekend. My parents were visiting and were very helpful in taking the photos and corralling unruly bunnies. The result:

(left to right: Violet, Kiwi (on Steve's shoulder), Bruce, White Rabbit and Sharky)

We enjoy that it looks like Violet was throwing up over the arm of the couch. Togetherness, it makes me sick! She's like that, so it was a perfect shot of her to use.

Sharky (standing on his back legs on far right) is a total ham, and gave us a ton a great shots to choose from. 

As with past portraits, Steve used photo editing software to stitch together several separate shots since the rabbits don't all get along and it's too challenging to get them all to hold still at once. However, I present the following in-process picture to prove that Kiwi was in fact trying to sit on Steve's shoulder (since her dark fur makes her look badly photoshopped even when she isn't):

I know I seem somewhat insane, given the whole half-a-dozen-rabbits-living-in-the-house thing (and Steve for putting up with it) but they bring me a lot of joy. If it means I'm known as the crazy rabbit lady, that works for me.

Bunny Laundering

I want to make clear that actually laundering rabbits is not nice. However, when they are running out of time at the San Jose animal shelter, it is a nice thing to make a temporary home for them in the laundry room.

Alana and Amanda:

I have asked the director of the local rescue to only call on me in cases of true emergency for temporary fostering (since I acknowledge that having five permanent resident rabbits is a lot). When I was informed that these girls were out of time, I talked it over with Steve and, with a gracious smile and comment about my sweet nature (okay, he may have said I'm a sucker, but close enough), he gave me the go-ahead. So a shelter volunteer delivered the bunnies this afternoon.

I know I have a problem. The first step is admitting it.

But... they're so fuzzy!

What's two more?

Due to what was described as a "dangerous domestic situation," a woman fostering a pair of rabbits had to leave her housing in a hurry this past week. Though I don't do much fostering anymore, I have told the head of local rabbit rescue that I'm available in true emergencies. And, thus, new bunnies in the house!

They really hate the camera, so these were the best pictures I could get.

Their names are Zinnia and Dahlia... which I think are boring, so I've been calling them Zorro and Tribble.

They are dwarf/lionhead mixes, which means they are small, have relatively flat faces and short ears, and the hair around their necks grows extra long (giving them a wispy mane). This type of rabbit has never been my favorite... in my experience, they're temperamental and picky. But these girls were originally confiscated from a hoarding situation, so they eat well and, other than being a bit people and camera shy, are calm in their pen.

They will hopefully be adopted or transferred to another foster home later in March. But for now, it's fun having them around.

Grand Rabbit Debut

For the first time in our new house, things are cleaned up enough to allow...

 ... rabbits in the living room! (Kiwi lounges above) The rest that follows for this post is just rabbit pictures, so those who are less than enthralled with our lagomorph friends, please feel free to leave now.

Violet lurks on the floor to the left. She doesn't like it when I watch her too closely, so I do my best to look disinterested.

 Kiwi makes a run for it.

Kiwi investigates the new coffee table (not pictured: her chewing on it and getting scolded).

 

Violet investigates the slippery wood floor.

 

 Kiwi crashes poolside (water-bowl-side... whatever).

It feels good to be able to let them run around in the evening. It's been a long time coming, since we've been in the house more than a year now, but better late than never.

Rabbit Thoughts of the Day

There are times I am acutely aware of the little ways in which the life of a rabbit owner is different. Today when the shopping list called for carrots for cole slaw, Steve and I took care to not only locate the top-on carrots, but also to compare the bunches of carrots to each other to find which one offered the most greenery. The orange bits are really just an afterthought... primary in our minds is always which carrot tops will the bunnies like best? 

The rabbits inhaled their carrot tops before I got the camera, so here are White Rabbit and Sharky working on some dandelion greens (bunnies really don't like flash photography, so I apologize for how dark these pictures are):

Sharky is going through a major shed right now and looks a bit like a hedgehog, but he staunchly refuses to allow me to brush him. Both he and White Rabbit love to spread their hay all over the place. I sometimes wonder whether refinishing the floors is really the way to go. Maybe we should just let the hay pile up like a natural carpeting. Like those restaurants where you throw peanut shells on the floor. I'd probably go for it, but Steve believes in keeping things somewhat clean, so I suppose that idea is off the table... for now.

Shark, In Photographs

Shark the rabbit's original name was "Ari," but I never felt it suited him all that well. After he bit me (to be fair, I probably deserved it, I was restraining him in order to trim his nails, very rude), my mom suggested "Sharky," and the name stuck. He cracks me up... he has a lot of attitude in a tiny, speckled package.

What do you want?

Seriously, what is your problem?

I'm warning you...

Faster than the eye, attack!

Learned your lesson? I thought so.

I admit, he wasn't actually attacking in the picture above... just moving hay around in his box since he never likes how I arrange it. I like the attacking story line better, though, and he was giving me very dissatisfied looks as I invaded his space. Sharky is a funny rabbit... he's very aloof, doesn't like being touched or petted, but he's not at all timid. He's absolutely fearless, in fact. And he gives the best disdainful looks. Definitely my rabbit. 

Housing Upgrade

In our previous rental housing, Steve and I never bothered to try to make the rabbits' housing attractive. We just improvised with whatever space we had to make the furry critters I kept bringing home as comfortable as possible. Now that we own our home, we were definitely hoping to come up with more attractive habitats. I had thought about modifying a piece of furniture, but hadn't come across the right thing. That is, until we took our semi-monthly trip to the Santa Cruz Habitat for Humanity ReStore. There we found this (pictured standing on end since we weren't planning on buying furniture that day and hadn't cleared space): 

I immediately had a vision of what it could be... so off to the hardware store we went.

Using simple wooden trim, small metal brackets and coated fencing designed for garden use, Steve built panels for each open bay in the lower two levels of the shelving unit. 

I used small nails to attach 1/2"x1/2" wooden "stops" in the sides of each bay to prevent the panels from pushing inward. Steve attached half-turn buttons (normally used to hold in window screens) on both sides of each panel to prevent the panels being pushed out, but allow for easy removal of any panel for cleaning or bunny-harassing access.

There is a hinged door on each level, secured with a cupboard latch. We didn't stain or paint the wood in the panels or stops in case the rabbits nibbled on them... which they have.

Finished product:

Kiwi is living in the middle level, a roughly 4' long space, which is at least a foot longer than her previous cage. When we first put her inside, she ran around in circles like a crazy thing (how rabbits express happiness, so I think it's safe to say she approves). Violet is living on the lowest level in a space approximately 6' long, which is comparable in size to her previous "rabbit table" housing, but infinitely more stylish. 

Unfortunately I've got piles of stuff on top of it currently so it's not necessarily evident in the finished picture, but I think it's a beautiful piece of furniture and it makes an awesome rabbit home.