Saturday, October 18, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Pellets
Today's weight: 1.46
I have been giving her mixed pellets of what breeder gave us and the Sweet Meadows Blend because I already bough it for Buddy and had some left over.
Sweet Meadow was recommended by vet and the pet store where we got Buddy.
I use their timothy hay also.
So far, Poochie is eating mixed pellets fine, but I wanted to try different one.
After much research, I bought Oxbow Bunny Basics 15/23.
It has:Crude Protein min 15.00%Crude Fiber max 25.00%Calcium max 1.00%
Sweet Meadow Blend:Crude Protein min 15.00%Crude Fiber max 20.00%Calcium max 1.15%
The Sweet Meadow Blend is Timothy and Alfalfa mixed but Bunny Basics has Alfalfa only.
I prefer to go with Timothy mix since Alfalfa has usually more calcium and Poochie makes white clouded pee and that means too much calcium. But as far as I see the fact, the Bunny Basics 15/23 seems better because it has more fiber in it.
Now, I gave Poochie a little bit of Bunny Basic, and she was OK with it.
The problem is that I have to drive a bit to get Oxbow product. It is same for Sweet Meadow products, but I have to go different stores now. To my surprise, pricing of pellets and hay varies depends on the store.
I found a store sell it for 8 dollars and the other sells 4.99.
The closest store is Petco but everything is so expensive over there.
In adidtion, it does not carry Oxbow nor Sweet Meadow.
I have been giving her mixed pellets of what breeder gave us and the Sweet Meadows Blend because I already bough it for Buddy and had some left over.
Sweet Meadow was recommended by vet and the pet store where we got Buddy.
I use their timothy hay also.
So far, Poochie is eating mixed pellets fine, but I wanted to try different one.
After much research, I bought Oxbow Bunny Basics 15/23.
It has:Crude Protein min 15.00%Crude Fiber max 25.00%Calcium max 1.00%
Sweet Meadow Blend:Crude Protein min 15.00%Crude Fiber max 20.00%Calcium max 1.15%
The Sweet Meadow Blend is Timothy and Alfalfa mixed but Bunny Basics has Alfalfa only.
I prefer to go with Timothy mix since Alfalfa has usually more calcium and Poochie makes white clouded pee and that means too much calcium. But as far as I see the fact, the Bunny Basics 15/23 seems better because it has more fiber in it.
Now, I gave Poochie a little bit of Bunny Basic, and she was OK with it.
The problem is that I have to drive a bit to get Oxbow product. It is same for Sweet Meadow products, but I have to go different stores now. To my surprise, pricing of pellets and hay varies depends on the store.
I found a store sell it for 8 dollars and the other sells 4.99.
The closest store is Petco but everything is so expensive over there.
In adidtion, it does not carry Oxbow nor Sweet Meadow.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Jump
Today's weight: 1.45
She is just looking down from the table. She knows it's too high to jump.
When I left top door of the cage open, she jumped on the edge on top of the cage a couple of times. She stuck there one time.
I was afraid she might get hurt.
The cage is made by Marchioro and it's convenient that it has a large door on top.But it's not so high so rabbits can jump up on top of it and get their leg caught. Also, the front door also opens top to down. It works like ladder but I put wire so that her leg don't get caught (it happen once).
Our late rabbit, Buddy, also get stuck his leg on top and struggled once. Fortunately, he did not break his leg but his leg looked like hurting a little while.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Lost weight?
Today's weight: 1.40
Poochie lost her weight slightly. I am worried because she should be gaining weight since she is a young rabbit and considering she has parasites.
She is eating fine but a little less hay.
I gave her a little bit of oats and tiny amount of banana. She likes them.
We don't have any good vegetables now, I tried to give her carrot but she did not like it at all.
She ate a little bit of Napa cabbage too and she was OK with it.
This morning, I brought her feces to vet but I was told that it can be done next week when we visit to checkup on her skin. They did not take the poops I collected... When I asked last time, they said that I can bring feces in 10 days..
Poochie lost her weight slightly. I am worried because she should be gaining weight since she is a young rabbit and considering she has parasites.
She is eating fine but a little less hay.
I gave her a little bit of oats and tiny amount of banana. She likes them.
We don't have any good vegetables now, I tried to give her carrot but she did not like it at all.
She ate a little bit of Napa cabbage too and she was OK with it.
This morning, I brought her feces to vet but I was told that it can be done next week when we visit to checkup on her skin. They did not take the poops I collected... When I asked last time, they said that I can bring feces in 10 days..
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Litter training
Today's weight: 1.42
We have been working hard to teach Poochie where to pee and poo.
I already have several kinds of litter boxes that we bought when we are training Buddy.
History of litter pans:
At first, We were using the regular Pet International Corner pan found at pet store.
Buddy is very good at litter training, but his butt is often stick out from the litter pan and we had to clean up his mistake all the time. It was just too shallow in front.
I bought the Marchioro 2c Nora Litter Pan online, since this has a plastic lid so that the rabbit can not stick his butt out.
The Nora litter pan has an attached roof enclosure, I thought he can not stick his butt out.
Unfortunately, the enclosure was too narrow and low that he could not even enter the litter pan.
But we did not want to give up. We cut out the plastic enclosure using Dremel to make the opening bigger. But it was still too small for Buddy and he did not want to go inside by himself, he was already 2lb 9oz.
So, we gave up and switched to a very large rectangular dish pan, which I found at Dollar Tree.
and, we created wire floor for litter pan using the green garden wire mesh.
It worked so well.
Now going back to Poochie,
When she come from the breeder, she pee and pooped everywhere. She liked corners, but it did not matter.
I found one corner she uses often and place a litter box.
We started with the the Marchioro 2c Nora Litter Pan without wire floor.
We put soiled newspaper in there and litter (Carefresh).
She likes to go inside and relax... and she peed the other corner.
We switched the corner couple of times, but she avoided the litter pan.
So, we put another small pan (found at dollar store) to the other corner, and finally she start using the small pan.
Two litter pans!
The bad news is, she uses both pans so we have two pans to clean up.
Also, the wall of the small pan is too low that it can not retain pee when Poochie goes against the wall
After a week, we replaced the small pan with a metal utensil holder which we used for putting frozen bottle.
Buddy used to lay by with this on hot days.
Now, Poochie does pee almost all time in the corner litter pan.
She is still leaving some poops outside but I think she can not help it.
We have been working hard to teach Poochie where to pee and poo.
I already have several kinds of litter boxes that we bought when we are training Buddy.
History of litter pans:
At first, We were using the regular Pet International Corner pan found at pet store.
Buddy is very good at litter training, but his butt is often stick out from the litter pan and we had to clean up his mistake all the time. It was just too shallow in front.
I bought the Marchioro 2c Nora Litter Pan online, since this has a plastic lid so that the rabbit can not stick his butt out.
The Nora litter pan has an attached roof enclosure, I thought he can not stick his butt out.
Unfortunately, the enclosure was too narrow and low that he could not even enter the litter pan.
But we did not want to give up. We cut out the plastic enclosure using Dremel to make the opening bigger. But it was still too small for Buddy and he did not want to go inside by himself, he was already 2lb 9oz.
So, we gave up and switched to a very large rectangular dish pan, which I found at Dollar Tree.
and, we created wire floor for litter pan using the green garden wire mesh.
It worked so well.
Now going back to Poochie,
When she come from the breeder, she pee and pooped everywhere. She liked corners, but it did not matter.
I found one corner she uses often and place a litter box.
We started with the the Marchioro 2c Nora Litter Pan without wire floor.
We put soiled newspaper in there and litter (Carefresh).
She likes to go inside and relax... and she peed the other corner.
We switched the corner couple of times, but she avoided the litter pan.
So, we put another small pan (found at dollar store) to the other corner, and finally she start using the small pan.
Two litter pans!
The bad news is, she uses both pans so we have two pans to clean up.
Also, the wall of the small pan is too low that it can not retain pee when Poochie goes against the wall
After a week, we replaced the small pan with a metal utensil holder which we used for putting frozen bottle.
Buddy used to lay by with this on hot days.
Now, Poochie does pee almost all time in the corner litter pan.
She is still leaving some poops outside but I think she can not help it.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Her favorite toy
Today's weight: 1.34
Somehow she lost weight..
It may fluctuate but hopefully she will eat more!
Toys can be very expensive since rabbits destroy or soil it soon. At worst, your rabbit never touch the toy or not interested in the toy after sniffed one time.
In addition to that for the sanitary reason to fight parasites, I create disposable toys.
In the pictures, she plays with shoe box that I cut out a entrance for her. She do digging while she is inside the box so that the cardbox moves as she move around.
I also give her a toilet paper/kitchen paper core stuffed with hays. She loves it too!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Lap bun
She likes to climb up and jump down from my lap when I was sitting in a pen. It's like my lap is her favorite toy to play! She does not forget to lick my arms or foot during this play.
We are still fighting with parasites. Today, she was not happy when I approached her cage, she knew it's time for medicine. She thumped and did not come out!
According to wikipedia,
"Eimeria is a genus of Apicomplexan parasites that includes various species responsible for the poultry disease coccidiosis."
There are not too much information about Eimeria in house rabbit websites, but we can find a lots about coccidia. To kill oocysts, ammonia is the best. So I bought ammonia (which is hard to find) at the Wal-mart, and toss the carpet rug in the play area and installed vinyl (from Home Depot) so that we can wipe the playarea and cage.
Poochie is having hard time to run around on the vinyl since it's very slippery for her.
We put newspapers for her until she get used to it.
Today's weight: 1.36
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Mended fence
I did extensive search for a perfect playpen:
- Midwest Exercise pen 24" high - Opening space is too big, around 40 dollar + shipping or local store $64
- All Living Things® Small Animal Playpen, 24" high, $41 but shipping is too expensive
-Marshall Pet Small Animal Pen "29 high, it's too high.... $69 at local store or $40 + shipping.
So, I decided to add something to the current playpen to prevent Poochie from sticking her face out.
I made trip to the Dollar Tree, and bought 5 sets of wire cooling rack. Total: $5
Then, I made rings from #18 nickel wire using a jewelry plyer to attach them to the pen.
It was great success since it does not look bad and the pen can be still foldaway.
Today's weight: 1.29
Friday, October 10, 2008
Pedigreed rabbit
Today's weight 1 lb 2.6 oz
It seems like she started gaining wait more faster. She gained 1 oz today.
The parasite in her intestine may have been preventing her to gain weight fast.
I think she is too small for 2 month old.
She looks funny almost like poodle when she is laying down stretching out.
I can see she is still skinny but her hair getting fluffy.
She has a lots of hair on her head and hindquarter.
This is typical for a double mane lionhead rabbit.
She is a pedigreed rabbit anyways!
The paper that breeder gave us includes her father, mother, grandparents, grand-grand parents, and grand-grand-grand parents.
She look like poodle!
It seems like she started gaining wait more faster. She gained 1 oz today.
The parasite in her intestine may have been preventing her to gain weight fast.
I think she is too small for 2 month old.
She looks funny almost like poodle when she is laying down stretching out.
I can see she is still skinny but her hair getting fluffy.
She has a lots of hair on her head and hindquarter.
This is typical for a double mane lionhead rabbit.
She is a pedigreed rabbit anyways!
The paper that breeder gave us includes her father, mother, grandparents, grand-grand parents, and grand-grand-grand parents.
She look like poodle!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Wrapped rabbit
It seems that the lice medicine is finally working. She is less scathing her head and body with her feet and not shaking body too much.
She hated medicine though, but she is a good girl today.
I wrap Poochie with towel like this picture while holding her and she is more calm.
She started eating more hay and pellets also. I hope she will get bigger.
But I worry that her pee has a lots of white residue which is calcium. I am giving her only timothy hay and pellets, sometime a small piece of fruits and vegetable. The pellets contains some Alphalpha, which may contain more calcium. I am considering to switch to Timothy pellets, but she is still very young...
Today's' weight : 1lb 1.6 oz
She is such a good girl!
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