Brando needs a seeing eye bunny!

Beautiful Brando came to us several months ago from Huntsville Animal Services. Since he was an older bun (about four years old) we thought he might be happier in a foster care situation than in the shelter. He seemed a bit subdued, but we thought it was probably because he was distressed about leaving his old home.

Over the weeks he was still subdued - not the normal, bouncy, childlike Dutch bunnies we usually see. I wasn't sure what to make of it, but we didn't notice anything physically wrong with him. He was a big eater, his poops looked good, and nothing else seemed amiss. Still, even though I couldn't put my finger on it, something just did not seem right.

Finally, feeling like an idiot, I took him to Dr. Moore. What could I tell her except that he seemed subdued? I was glad I took the chance of making a fool of myself, as within just a couple of minutes Dr. Moore gave me the answer. Brando is blind.

It all made sense. He was subdued because he couldn't find his way around, and had to go slowly. This was undoubtedly made worse by my rearranging his pen, changing his toys out and generally trying to keep him from being bored. With a normal bunny this would have been great, but it was only making Brando more insecure. Everytime he turned around, his pen was a different layout, and he had to learn where things were all over again!

Dr. Moore also noticed that his pupils weren't contracting when exposed to light, but otherwise thought his eyes looked ok. We decided that Brando deserved to see a veterinary eye doctor, so we took him to Dr. Korsch. She's our favorite veterinary opthalmologist and works at Veterinary Eye Care in Bessemer.

Dr. Korsch checked him out thoroughly and told us his eye structures were fine, so the problem was apparently in his brain. He could see, but his brain wasn't processing the information. She asked us to get some blood work to rule out a liver problem and infections.

We ran every blood test imaginable! Well, maybe not every single one, but a lot of them! I'm happy to say they all came out fine, so he apparently doesn't have an infection or liver issues. On the advice of Dr. Strother we did give him a course of antibiotics just to be sure, but his problem is most likely the result of a mini-stroke or past infection. At any rate, he is stable and other than his blindness he is doing great.

He's much less subdued, too, since I have stopped changing his pen around! Since he now knows where everything is, he navigates quite well and bounces around with no problem. We've also found that he's very smart! He recognises his name and will come when he's called. He also knows the sounds of the pellet jar, and runs to his food dish when he hears it. Likewise when he hears me passing out veggies, he runs to his veggie tray. He likes to rearrange his cotton rug, and he's perfect in his litter box. I'm realising that the poor guy probably just couldn't find it all the time before. It's easy to have accidents when your litter box keeps moving!

The only other blind buny we have had was my old guy, Mark, and he was bonded to other bunnies who helped him get around. I'm hoping that some kind hearted adopter with a very gentle senior bunny girl will fall in love with him. I think he'd be happy to have a girlfriend. Perhaps she could be his seeing eye bunny!!

Photos of Brando copyright 2009 Casey Savage. All Rights Reserved.

Bunny Hugging!

We had a yard sale and Open House/Bunny Hugging event last week - it was wonderful! We raised $513 for the foster bunny's vet fund, did some great rabbit education while selling the items people donated, and, of course, hugged bunnies.

Here's Capt. Reynolds getting some loving from Laura. He's obviously enjoying the "bunny hugging" part of the event!

A big thanks to everyone who donated items - people we didn't even know gave us boxes of good stuff to sell. Once again I'm touched by how many people love bunnies! I had been worried we wouldn't have enough to sell, but once again the bunny fans came through and we had tons of stuff.

Friday was our best yard sale day, as usual. I think the serious yard salers come out on Fridays, so we did most of our sales then.

It rained torrentially late Saturday morning, but I was surprised to see that it didn't stop people from coming to the garage sale. Apparently if your sale is at least partly indoors people will still come in the rain. There are some hard core yard sale folks out there! Some of them were real characters, too....!

Despite the rain we had a good turnout for the Open House as well. Most of our folks came, except for a few who live further out.

I love it when adopters come over with photos and updates on how the bunnies are doing. And the food was amazing, too (although the foster buns were disappointed that there wasn't more salad....)
We did have one mystery - during the yard sale on Saturday a woman drove up in a black SUV. She jumped out of the vehicle, ran up to Bruce and handed him a ten dollar bill. "This is from Swiffer!" she said, and jumped back in her SUV and drove off.

You all may remember that Swiffer is one of the babies we took in around Easter. But this woman wasn't his adopter, Jaime! In fact, when we saw Jaime later that day, she didn't know who this woman was!! Does Swiffer have a secret girlfriend?!!


Swiffer, you need to watch yourself!!


And speaking of Swiffer, Jaime and Justin told us he has gotten very big - much bigger than they expected. But judging by the photos they brought he is one handsome bunny!

Introducing - Project Furball!!

I spent an hour this morning with a baby bunny sleeping on my chest. This is Vickie, one of the Decatur lionheads we rescued. She was probably about five to six weeks old when we took her in, and she is still tiny even though she's probably doubled in size.

Vickie is also known as "Flea", because she is small, black, and hops. This bunny doesn't just hop. She can actually go up about three feet vertical. Jumping on our bed is no problem. In fact, nothing seems to be a problem for little Flea.

Jumping on tables? No problem! Jumping on the toilet seat cover? No problem! Jumping in the bathtub?

Big problem. Fortunately no damage was done, but Flea is not allowed to keep me company while I'm taking a bath anymore!

She loves big brother Cousin It, aka: CoCo. Well, he looks just like her so it isn't surprizing. What is surprising is that she has no problem with boxing him in the face if he won't groom her. He's easily three times her size, but she doesn't care!

We've been trying to socialise her with everything from visits to our vet when we take other bunnies (so that she learns that it's a happy place where the front desk people give her big kisses!) to bringing her to a Petco adoption day (where she was allowed to stay in her carrier and peak out at all those crazy people!).

I have to say, it may have back fired a bit. She's now totally fearless and even put her ears back and boxed at one of our cats through the bars of our condo the other day. Oh dear!!

She does slow down though for cuddle time. Yesterday Molly came over to drop off yard sale things and held her for almost a half hour. And this morning she bounced up on my chest and put her head down for groomies. A few minutes later her eyes closed, she did some tooth purring and then...

I didn't have the heart to wake her up. So I turned on the TV and watched the goofy bimbos on VH1 for awhile!!

Here's another photo of the two cuties. Clearly Flea wants to be just like CoCo when she grows up!!

TV Stars!!

Miss Flower and /or Miss Angel with be TV stars tomorrow (Friday, August 28th)! They will be appearing on Channel 48 at noon to help our veterinarian, Dr. Jan Strother of North Alabama Cat and Bird Clinic, talk about bunny care.

Well, we're not sure they'll actually be talking, but they'll certainly be doing their best to look cute!!

We're very happy to help Dr. Jan spread the word that, while bunnies are cute, they do need special care and are very different from cats and dogs. I'm thrilled that the bunnies will be getting much-needed air time! Thank you Dr. Jan!!

I'm planning to pack the bunnies a nice lunch. If they get wiggily, hopefully they can be distracted with some juicy lettuce or crunchy kale. I'm not too worried, though - both bunnies are very handleable, and Angel is downright cuddly. I'm sure they'll be well-behaved.

So if you are in the North Alabama area near a TV tomorrow, tune into Channel 48 at noon, and watch as two furry stars are born!!

Happy Couples!

I have some big thank you's to hand out today! We have been desperately in need of a second big dog crate, partly for bonding bunnies and partly to house those crazy bunnies we sometimes have who just will not stay in an exercise pen. Do you know some bunnies can jump out of a 48" exercise pen?! I am sadly familiar with this!

We have had so many vet bills with the lionheads we took in, and so I had been putting off getting a dog crate. Unfortunately this was holding up bonding Callie and Cotton, two of our Sanctuary bunnies, who really we really wanted to get together. I was telling Kim about this one day and, whaddya' know? She offered to do some fundraising for a new crate!!

Before I could say "WOW!" she had rustled up just about all the money we needed. A gift from Rebecca and Stephen put us over the top!

So I need to thank Kim for getting this together, and also Katie, Mat, Rick, Rebecca, Stephen and Penny, who contributed. You all are the best! Talk about friends of rabbits! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Here is the lucky couple in front of their bonding crates. The new one is on the left (black). I'm so excited! Callie and Cotton have been doing pretty well, and are eating together without a problem. They do still put their ears back at eachother, but I don't think they really mean it! Still, I think they will need to be separated when we're not with them for a few more weeks.

There are some more happy couples in my life, too! Fans of Mr. Linford will want to know that the craziest rabbit in town is now living in Tennessee, with Rachel, Seth and Flopzilla, his new girlfriend. She is a cutie, and apparently can handle an exuberant guy like Linford! I'm sure she fell in love with his plus-sized ears!


Rachel took this photo of the obviously happy couple hanging out together, looking very cute. I love how they have similar colored fur. they could almost be siblings except for Flopzilla's lopped ears.

Here's another happy couple - remember the baby bunnies we rescued around Easter time? Well, Dorian has been adopted, has been renamed Boo, and is all grown up with a girlfriend of his own! He's on the left, with his sweetie, Scout.

I'm bunny sitting for their mom, and really enjoying having Boo back for a few days. He's very attached to Scout, who is obviously quite a little queen. He loves to sit with her and groom her.

They are very social - when I walk in tot he room they have been jumping up on their carrier to see me. Got any treats, lady?!
And how about this sweet pair? This is Daisy and Sam (as in Samantha), and they are the bunnies of Rhonda, who I just met the other day! They were so adorable I just had to post this photo of them here, so you can all bask in the cuteness. Sam is a very young mini-Rex, and she's quite an imp. You can tell she intends to run the show!

Daisy is a sweet, older Netherlands dwarf who reminded me so much of our little Loki. He has the same loveable personality. They haven't been together long but obviously are quite in love.

I think Daisy probably needs to keep an eye on Sam, though - she is a bun who is definately looking to get into trouble. Just check out this photo of her in a very, ahem, sexy dress!

Normally I am a little skittish about rabbits being dressed up, (because I've never known one who would put up with it!) but having met Sam I'm sure she was not at all disturbed by putting on this cute little number that her mom picked up for her.

Seriously, this is a bunny dressed for action!

I'm posting some more Cayce cuteness today - you know you want to see more adorable bunny photos!!

All photos copyright 2009 Cayce Savage. All Rights Reserved

And Molly - I forgot to tell you, the olives were delicious!!!!

I officiated at a dog wedding last week!

Pound Pup-tials and Bow Wow Vows was presented by Auntie Jen's Petsitting as a fundraiser for Huntsville Animal Services and SNAP. Members of the public were invited to bring their happy canine couples to be married (in Las Vegas and Hawaii themed chapels)
and a ceremony featuring dogs from Huntsville Animal Services also took place.

Here I am marrying Onyx and Amigo, the HAS dogs. Onyx made a beautiful bride, and Amigo was a very dapper groom. I'm happy to say that several members of the wedding party, including bridesmaid Daisy, were adopted after the ceremony! That's Daisy on the right, snoozing through the ceremony!

Of course, Huntsville Friends of Rabbits had a table and even did the honors writing up the marriage licenses. Even though it was an event mainly for dog lovers, we had a lot of people come to our table who were interested in rabbits.

Check out Kim and Heather's T-shirts. They are available in our Cafe Press Store!

You all may remember I was caring for Kim's bunnies, Hollywood and Vinnie, while she was having chemo for her cancer. Well, may I take this opportunity to congratulate Miss Kim, who is having her last radiation treatment for her cancer today at 4 pm!! It's been many long months and I know she is ready to have this over with. Congratulations Kiddo!!

And now, how about some more happy endings? Since we all need large doses of cuteness in out lives, I present to you the following happy couples:

Scout and Boo! You all may remember Boo as little Dorian, who came into foster care with four other baby bunnies this Easter season. Well, the baby bunny is now all grown up, has a new name, new home and new girlfriend.

Scout is a wonderful lop who thinks she is a queen. Fortunately Boo agrees and they spend most of their time cuddling together. I petsat for them while their mom was away for a weekend and I was so happy to see Boo so in love. He has gotten bigger, too! And his fur looked beautiful. He is definately a well-loved bunny.

Miss Laila has a new home, new name and new boyfrind, too! Our two pounds of cuteness is now named Kate (after kate Moss) and is living with Nathan, Susan and their bunny Nigel.

Nathan and Susan fell in love with Kate when they saw her on Petfinder because she looks exactly like Nigel! When they sent me his picture I knew it was meant to be, and when I did the phone interview with Nathan I was impressed by how much he obviously loved Nigel. What a great home for Kate!

Obviously it's love at first sight for these two - and who can blame them? It's not often you meet someone who looks exactly like you!!