He Said....

Wow! Julia is everything Mama said she was. I love her so much!! I grunted at her and danced around with joy. She was rather frigid with me, though, but I'm sure I can win her over. I gave her kisses around her face, showed her that I'd take good care of her by mounting her, and of course grunted at her to say "I love you" a lot of times. Julia seemed more interested in Mama than me. I've only ever loved one other woman, and Jenna would keep me on a tight leash. If I have to wear the pants in this new relationship, I hope Mama can help me figure out what I need to do. I even flopped down with happiness at one point on our date, though I was too excited and had to get right back up again. I'm trying to cover up the fact that I'm so shy, and I know I made some mistakes. But I can do better if Mama and Julia can give me a chance.

Conner

Goodbye, Jenna

Yesterday and today, Jenna seemed worse - weak, not very active, and the sparkle had gone from her eye. I decided to make an appt. to have her euthanized tonight.

When I got home from work, Jenna had fallen onto her side at some point during the day and wasn't able to get up. So much like poor PJ had been. I set her upright, then gave her treats (carrots and craisins - she ate them, but still no "sparkle"). A few minutes later, I loaded her and Conner into the carrier and took them to the vet.

Jenna was very brave, and Conner was very supportive. He solicited attention while also staying near Jenna. Jenna went quietly, and she was peaceful. Conner lay with Jenna's body for a while after she had passed, and he went into the carrier when I offered it to him.

My vet has called with the necropsy results. It was a problem with Jenna's gut and liver, with a lot of fluid in her abdomen, the liver shrunken, and the intestines very swollen and stuff.

So far, Conner shows no signs of having caught anything from her, and I'll be scrubbing down their house this weekend to clean everything up. I'll clean the litterbox tomorrow and the extra hay etc. in the house, but the place will still smell like Jenna until I scrub it down. Hopefully that will help Conner cope with being alone again.

Jenna and PJ are together again. Hopefully they'll let Jessica hang out with them. Jenna was such a great wife and nurse to PJ, and she enjoyed being married to a young guy for a second husband. She loved using Conner as a pillow, draping herself over his middle, making a squished plus sign. She didn't need to intimidate Conner much - he fled from her glare alone. I'm glad I was able to give Jenna two loving husbands and (of course) a very loving Mama.

Mama

Jenna and Flannery Updates

Well, Jenna is still weak and very messy with her stool, but she's hanging in there. She's going to get a butt bath (sure to be annoying to both of us), and that should clean her up a bit. The vet is investigating what else to try. She's eating and drinking well, but so did PJ. Conner still seems well, so hopefully it won't pass to him. He had some medication to ward it off, but since it hasn't helped Jenna get back to normal, it might not be the right kind.

Flannery hasn't hit it off with Julia or Calvin, or even DeVille, so she's going back to Red Door and go to a foster home tomorrow. I feel bad, for Flan really wants to be with someone, and she's had a lot of changes in her life. At least she's been here for a month. Hopefully she can scale down her neediness, not be so possessive of what she sees as her human or so desperate when dealing with other buns.

Mama

Jenna Gained Weight :-)

Jenna gained .4 lbs since Tues, so I'm a little more optimistic. I thought her spine looked a little less pronounced. Now if her hips and muscles fill out, we'll really have a better outlook....

Mama

Jenna Update

Well, Jenna lost weight and is weak. She's anemic, too, so we're treating her for coccidiosis (again) and giving her some stuff for her blood. They're still doing a few tests (slides of her blood and a fecal exam - she left a big clumpy icky pile of stuff on the towel at the vet's office, so they have a nice sample size), but I'm sure they'll find coccidiosis at least. Liver values and stuff all looked fine, so we'll see if I can get weight on her. If not, then the decision will have to be made again. I'm glad to take two buns to the vet and come back with two (Conner came along for moral support - at least it wasn't a goodbye).

Mama

Sad Future for Jenna

Jenna, PJ's widow and wife of Conner, is showing signs of wasting away like PJ did. I've noticed over the last week to week and a half that she's getting a bit weak. Considering she caught the same coccidiosis that PJ had shortly after bonding to him, which I'm guessing was a hepatic strain, I don't hold much hope for this special girl.

We're going to the vet tomorrow to see if they could find out anything that might help. With my main vet on vacation and my secondary off tomorrow, I might wait until Sat. to make the choice to euthanize her. She's not suffering much yet, but she will, and it's a very hard decision to make to do it now. She fell once today onto her side, but was able to get back up. She also slipped or something when she and Conner were out while I was cleaning their house. (Conner wasn't near her, so it was all her.). I can't let her get so weak like PJ got, but I could wait a few days while the clinic did some research into what might help. Or I might ask that she be euthanized tomorrow, if my secondary is willing to come in to do it. He's the one who did PJ, and I'd feel more comfortable with him doing it. Like it's ever comfortable.

I had wanted to get some pictures of Jenna and Conner together, especially how Jenna will use Conner as a pillow, but now that I know time is short, I don't really want to take them, for I'll know when they were taken and how soon before the end that they came.

It will be hard to work with Flannery, the girl who is dating Calvin, for she looks a lot like Jenna. I know that one day, the time will come for each of them, but it's still so hard. It only hurts so much because I love so much, but I'm not about to change that.

Mama

Actual Escapee and a Few Humorous Thoughts

This morning, Julia jumped out of her house. She hopped over to Cadence (who didn't try to rip her face off, which surprised me - I thought for sure Ms. Hormonal Evil Doe would want to eviserate any competition she'd see). Julia then checked out Jenna and Conner, who also just sniffed her. I put a little stuffed toy bun in Julia's house for the day so she'd have some company. Tonight, she and Calvin are going on a car ride together in a carrier to push things along. An 8 1/2 year old bun has to be pretty lonely to jump out of her house (24" off the ground or so) and go nosing around at the other buns near her. If nothing sparks tonight, I'll have to try her with DeVille again. If nothing there, seek to adopt somebunny for her.

I also either left Caspian's door open again on Friday or else I'm not securing it, making it easy for him to push open. He exhibited common sense again (I'm sure the third time will be the charm, so to speak) and stayed in his house.

Whenever I take Caspian out to the living room for a "couch cuddle", we pass Cadence's pen. I often wonder that if I accidently drop him in (or he jumps away from my hold and falls in), if Cadence will start singing "It's Raining Men." :-)

Enough rambling for a Monday morning.....

Mama

Exercise

I took Stew out this afternoon to stretch his legs for about an hour. He had fun, though he still won't go onto the top floor of the bunny vacation villa. I then took Jenna and Conner (the pellet marking maestro) out for an hour as well. Jenna seemed rather subdued, so I hope she's feeling okay. She has some matted fur around her butt from urine (not true urine scald). I have her on almost no pellets, so I'm sure that is messing her system up a bit. (She needs to lose weight again.) She ate weeds for most of playtime, so that was a good sign.

A neighbor walking by couldn't believe how fuzzy Conner was and took some pics of him with his cell phone. I picked Conner up so he could feel him. Conner looks like a hopping afro right now, so I need to give him a haircut tomorrow if the weather stays okay. Too windy today to do it. I end up eating way too much fuzz when I do it as it is without Mother Nature blowing more into my mouth.

Mama

We Have Cohabitation :-)

Today was litterbox cleaning day. I did Jenna and Conner last, putting them in a small pen in the bunny room while I cleaned their houses. I did Jenna's house first, then let them out of the pen while I did Conner's cage. Well, Conner moved in. He was in her house a few weeks ago, and Jenna kicked him out. Today, they're getting along!!

I have Conner's cage attached to the door of Jenna's house, so she can kick him out if she wants to. They've already lay side by side with Conner grooming her, so I think we're gonna be okay. There has been a little bit of chasing, but Jenna has a hiding box to get away from Conner's attentions. Conner does listen to Jenna when she tells him to stop or that she doesn't like something (although he often forgets and does it again), so she's whipping him into shape, so to speak.

I thought back to when Jessica moved into Calvin's house. It had been on Mother's Day. Today being Father's Day, I think Jenna and Conner are going to do just fine :-)

Mama

Conner's Fetish?

I trimmed Conner's and Jenna's nails yesterday, then left them in a pen for another date. They're really doing well together, though I have one question. Can rabbits have a fetish?

Conner seems obsessed with grooming Jenna's ears. Jenna will tolerate it, but she sometimes groans, like Conner is too rough or she's just tired of it. I've never seen a rabbit mostly groom just one place on another rabbit. Calvin would groom Jessica all over her face, and Jenna would groom PJ the same way.

So maybe Conner has the same thing as men who are "leg men" or "breast men"?

Mama

PS When I was feeding everyone this morning, Jenna actually wanted to come out of her house (I usually leave the doors open until I'm done putting in everything). She went over to Conner's house to talk to him through the bars. I'm going to do another date today (hopefully outside if the rain that threatens holds off). They might be further along than I thought. It'd be nice to have one less house to clean!

Back from Vacation

The buns and I spent a great vacation in NW PA. "Grampy" got to meet Stew and Conner, and I took Caspian out to meet a friend. Everyone thought he was cute. (He is my poster child for cuteness, and rotten-rabbitness - he's so stubborn!) It's a 6 1/2 hr. car ride to and from, so the kids were tired when we got there. Grampy got us some awesome hay, too (even better than what I've been able to get lately around here). I certainly had no room in the car to bring my own, so we really lucked out :-)

I did 2 bonding sessions, one with Calvin/Julia and the other with Conner/Jenna. Dad was surprised at how Cal and Jules fought. I'm telling you, rabbits can really fight! It wasn't a bad fight, but a big ol' chunk of fur was torn out of Julia.

On the way back, we got stuck on the Indiana Toll Road for a while because of President Obama's motorcade (he spoke at Notre Dame's graduation). I didn't even get to see it because he was way ahead of us.

I rearranged the bunny room a bit when we got home. There was a thumpathon that night as they adjusted to being in different places, with I guess different sounds and stuff. At least it was before I went to bed.

Mama

RIP PJ, 8-4-2007 to 2-4-2009

PJ's health had been deteriorating for a while. He's been falling over onto his side and being unable to get back up. I got home last night to find him on his side again, and it looked like he'd been there since shortly after I left for work. His back legs had stopped working very well, and he'd more stumble in a general direction than hop anywhere.

I made the decision last night that it would be better for him to be euthanized than to die from being unable to get food or water all day from being stuck. I slept on the floor near his pen last night, and he fell 4 more times. I'd help him back up and he'd go on doing whatever he was doing before he fell.

This morning, I gave him lots of treats. When the time came to go to the vet, I loaded him and his wife Jenna into the carrier and we drove to the clinic. PJ weighed 3.2 pounds just last week, and today he was only 2.12 lbs. He never stopped eating, but I don't think he could get any energy from his food. He went very fast after the injection, with Jenna by his side.

Jenna spent some time beside PJ, grooming him a little bit, digging at the towel in anger, and actually asking me for headrubs. Of course I obliged. Jenna went into the carrier on her own, her goodbyes over. PJ will be cremated and his ashes put into the same urn that Jessica is in, with a plate on the side with his name and date of adoption and death.

PJ had a great year and a half with me, getting treats, a wife, and lots of loving. He wasn't just a number (his ear tattoo was MRB6, a remnant from his former life). His life prior to his rescue was a hard one, leaving him crippled up with arthritis and other problems. He was probably 8 or so but he could have been younger - a rough life aging him faster than it should have.

I'll miss my little PJ, and I hope Jessica isn't beating him up at the Rainbow Bridge.

Mama

PJ is on His Honeymoon....

With Jenna



She's about 3 years old, and she's 3.5 lbs., about a half pound smaller than PJ.

She doesn't have a middle name yet. She and PJ hit it off so well yesterday that she was his first, last, and only bunny date! She's currently whipping him into shape so he knows that she'll groom him but also expects to be groomed.

At one point during their date, they both sat in the litterbox. Jenna actually gave him a little kiss before hopping out of the box. She sat for a few seconds on the floor, then hopped right back in!

They got along so well that they're "shacking up" already. There have been several chases through the cage, with Jenna doing the chasing, but she always kisses him and makes up. They are well matched, too, and photos of the happy couple will be along shortly. There has been some mounting behavior as they sort out who wears the pants in the family, but it doesn't seem to be hurting PJ's back when it happens (she's been mounting him more than t'other way around).

When it was play time yesterday, they didn't come out of the cage. I guess the honeymooners didn't want to leave their hotel room ;-)

The only problem that there might be is that she's eating all of his food! I hope PJ can keep up with her so he gets to eat, too.

Mama