Luna has been adopted! Now there’s just Licorice and Lahl to go. We visited them today in the shelter and they were so sweet. Licorice’s fur is so incredibly soft. Lahl has turned into a real cuddlebug, she just wanted to snuggle and give kisses. I’m sure that if someone actually picks her up they’ll fall in love with her.

Another kitten has been adopted from Petsmart, so now only Lahl and Licorice are left!

The bunnies have been growing and are doing very well. They are quite energetic and really love their time in their playpen daily. I have to be extra careful when transferring them from the cage to the pen, because they will see the pen and want to jump out into it too soon. Now I cover their head with my hand so they don’t try to jump too early.

I had been reading on the internet that you can “hypnotize” a rabbit by holding it on its back. I had tried a few times to do this so that I could tell what gender the buns were, but they didn’t seem to want any part of it. Today I discovered that I just needed to be a bit more firm about it. I’m now fairly sure that Minnie is indeed female and Max is indeed male. I didn’t keep them on their backs for long, because it’s not something they like, and I gave them lots of snuggles afterwards. Max showed his opinion (or maybe just his full bladder) by peeing on me.

These bunnies will be ready for adoption in a few weeks. They are very friendly rabbits, and see humans as the source of all good things. We’d prefer to see them go to a home where they could be “house rabbits” or at least get quite a bit of playtime outside of their cage. Rabbits are very easily litter trained and their little pellets are quite inoffensive and easy to pick up even if there is an occasional accident.

Opposite to popular belief, rabbits are not good pets for small children. They do not enjoy being picked up or cuddled except on their own terms. We would recommend the book “Rabbits for Dummies” or a book that is, sadly, hard to find, “The House Rabbit Handbook”.

We have three kittens from our “L” litter waiting to be adopted right now at the Preston Crossing Petsmart! Please spread the word, they really need good homes.

Luna is still really shy, having her kids back was kind of stressful for her as they were constantly moving and playing.

The ears of both Mac and Mini have lopped over now, is it possible for them to be cuter? Here they are playing.

Here we have some of the supplies used in fostering these bunnies. First, Bene-Bac, which supplies beneficial bacteria that they would otherwise get from their mother’s milk. This product must be checked for the expiry date when used! Then we have shelf stable Acidophilus in capsules. I take apart a capsule and add a bit to the milk and a bit to their drinking water, it’s more good bacteria for their digestive system. Next is the bottle of milk in a cup of near-boiling hot water, which is how I reheat the milk to drinking temperature. I make one bottle in the morning and the buns currently drink a little less than half a bottle per feeding. The milk can only be kept for 24 hours in the fridge, so I never mix up more than what I’ll use in that time. Finally we have me holding a thermometer in the milk to see what temperature it’s at. It’s important to not have it too hot so it burns their mouth, and if it’s too cold they won’t be interested in it.

It’s always a bit disheartening to come home to the unmistakable odor of poop in the house. Usually our fosters don’t smell bad, so if we actually smell something, it means that either:

- someone has pooped outside the litter box
- someone has had runny poo
- someone has gotten poo on their fur and will need a bath to get rid of the smell completely.

Guess which one happened yesterday? We check the enclosure, all visible poo is nicely covered in the litterbox. Next we let out each kitten and do the “sniff test”. Our lucky winner was Licorice. Somehow he got poo ON HIS HEAD. He had cleaned most of it off, but his head and ears were still crusty.

How does that happen? Our theory is that someone didn’t cover their poo, then Licorice ran into the litter box, got tackled, and ended up headfirst in the ick. Poor guy.

The first bath is always the most exciting. Licorice was doing OK for a while, but then suddenly he had HAD ENOUGH and yowled. Luna came out of the enclosure and mewed at us, obviously concerned. We quickly finished up and snuggled Licorice in a towel.

The truth is that they need to be in homes. The space we have for them is just too small, they need room to play! Please spread the word to anyone who is looking for a cat!

Most parents become obsessed with poo at some point, and we are no different. We’ve been dosing the buns with various forms of good bacteria, and yesterday we were thrilled when we noticed that they are producing perfect little healthy, firm, tiny poops! Yay!

They are definitely doing well so far. They are active and definitely know where the milk comes from. After they are full of nummy warm milk they want to cuddle for a bit, but they would just as happily run around and play.

Cute note: Their little ears twitch when they’re drinking milk. SO CUTE.

The remaining two baby bunnies seem to be doing quite well! They are definitely active and playful, and they have begun to realize where the tasty milk comes from. Now when we uncover the cage to feed them, they are both trying to get to us through the bars. It’s so darn cute!

This morning we found another of the buns sitting in their water dish, hardly breathing at all. We have a fairly shallow water dish in there and only his paws were wet, but he was very cold. We rushed to get a heating pad and towels and we rubbed his fur gently to stimulate him, but he didn’t make it. It wasn’t really a surprise, he was sitting apart from the other two last night, kind of hunched up.

Please send happy thoughts for the remaining two bunnies. They do seem very energetic and were bouncing around the cage this morning and eating timothy hay. Soon I’ll be trying to feed them some formula.

Our foster family has grown again! This is our “M” litter!

Today four baby domestic rabbits were found without their mom. We’re not sure where Momma is, but we’re keeping a lookout for her where the babies were found. Unfortunately one of the babies, Mortimer, was attacked by a cat and didn’t survive. He died in my arms this evening. He wasn’t looking well, but he didn’t seem to be in pain, and there wasn’t anything we could do but hope. At least his last few minutes were spent with someone who loved him.

The babies are about three weeks old. We’ll be feeding them some Kitten Milk Replacer and offering them hay and other food. They enthusiastically chomped down the timothy hay earlier, but they will still need milk until they are about six weeks old.

We have to warn our readers now: baby bunnies are very hard to raise to adulthood without their mom. Most of it has to do with how their digestive system works. When they are transitioning from milk to eating on their own, their guts need to get full of “good” bacteria. Normally this comes from the mother’s milk or from eating a special kind of poo the mother creates that is full of beneficial bacteria and vitamins. The babies may already have some of it, but they will need more. Most orphan bunnies die because of this bacterial imbalance. We can use a special supplement called Benebac, or acidophilus supplements in their water. Or, we can try bunny poo. Since there was another rabbit at the SPCA, I collected some poo and crumbled a bit in their water. We’re trying everything we can.

It’s criminal to be this cute:

Luna is doing well, she has a good appetite and was feeling playful this morning. She even forgave us a little, she came out and accepted treats and some petting. We didn’t try to pick her up. We will have to give her deworming pills very soon, hopefully that will go smoothly and she won’t hate us too much afterward.

I stopped by to see our foster kittens yesterday. They’re getting so big! Loki was adopted, so now only three are left: Licorice, Lahl, and Lyra. Lyra is so orange now!