| You might ask why For Other Living Things™ has
begun business with a product line exclusively for
rabbits. It all began with a rescue effort. Two
little dwarf bunnies took up residence in my front
yard. Which happened to be lava rocks and a few
weeds on a four lane highway. Why on earth did
they choose my yard?
I never would have chosen rabbits as an addition
to our family. Sure they are soft and cute, but
they just sit there quietly forever and you have
to clean up after them.
The doe appeared to have something wrong with her.
She made a snuffly sound with each breath. She was
a perfect albino, white with large, red eyes. We
named her Snuffles. The buck seemed to be in good
health, slightly larger and all brown. We named
him Peter and got him neutered right away.
Gestation being around a month for rabbits, two
weeks after the neuter, we were presented with two
adorable, jet black babies. One male (Cleo) and
one female (Persephone).
The first thing about Peter and Snuffy that
surprised me was the extreme tenderness between
this mated pair. They would groom each other,
cuddle and when we tried to separate them when the
babies were born, Peter fell into a deep
depression and stopped eating.
We put the cages next to each other. It was like
visiting day at jail. They went to each other on
opposite sides of the wire, put their tiny paws up
on the side of the cages and greeted each other
whole heartedly. I ended up putting Peter back in
with the family. Boy were they happy! Hopping
around the cage and grooming and cuddling. I can't
recommend leaving the buck and doe together with a
nest full of babies, but it worked out for us
until Cleo (the little boy) reached puberty. Then
we neutered the babies and put them in their own cage.
For years, we would look at their dreary little
cages and say, "Poor rabbits." With too many cats,
a couple of dogs and no spare time, letting them
hop around the house was out of the question.
It turned out that Snuffy had an incurable
bacterial infection that some rabbits can get
called snuffles. With a lot of care, she lived to
be four years old. In her last days, an abscess
formed in her head that threw off her balance.
With her world spinning, she would thrash around
the cage in a frightening manner. I discovered
this one morning when I was feeding them and they
didn't come over for the food. Peter was sitting,
holding Snuffy's head under his chin to stabilize
her. Christmas eve. It was a terrible thing.
It wasn't until much later that I happened upon
the House Rabbit Society and got good sound advice
on rabbit care. The food I'd been using, readily
available at all the local pet stores, was not
good. (Unless you're intending to eat them.) The
litter I'd been using, cedar chips, was harmful to
them. They suggested toys and floor coverings.
What a difference these items made to my bunnies.
Talk about animation! The first toy was a toilet
paper roll stuffed with hay. The next one was a
little wire ball cat toy.
I spent the next many years driving form store to
store trying to find untreated natural wood
baskets and safe toys and floor coverings. Most of
the time, striking out and coming home empty handed.
The rabbits we have now, Snowy and Pebbles, have
toys galore and a wonderful varied diet. They are
happy, little clowns. Did you know that rabbits
"purr" and do a happy dance? I would like all
rabbits to be happy little clowns.
So that's why. That's why rabbits.
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