The Diary of Burgess the Rescue Rabbit Month 1
Hi
I am Burgess - the Burgess Pet Care's new official rescue rabbit! It's been a crazy few weeks with lots of emotional ups and downs but I am now really excited about my new life.
Anyway - to go back to the beginning I thought I would keep a diary of what I have been through - so that other rescue rabbits (and rabbit re-homers) can know what to expect when a bunny like me starts a whole new life!
Diary Week 1
A few weeks ago I was happily running around my house where I have lived for the past year or so when my owner scooped me up and put me in a box and abandoned me in a local park. I have no idea what I did wrong or why my owners did this to me (I always tried to be a really good rabbit and was really friendly and loving to them) but they obviously just decided they were fed up of the cost or effort involved in having me as part of the family and decided that it was easier to let me go.
People think that domestic rabbits can be released into the wild to live with our wild cousins. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that - we are not 'street wise' to living in the wild and are more likely to end up as Mr Fox's supper very quickly! Ughh it makes me shudder to think about that fate!!
I was lucky because some children found me and brought me to the local rabbit rescue in Dewsbury Leeds, called Sue's Rabbit Rescue (www.suesrabbitrescue.org.uk).
Sue and Mike took me in with lots of other rabbits who have been abandoned. They told me that summer holidays are a prime time for rabbits to be abandoned. People are going away on holidays and don't want to pay to put small pets into boarding kennels so either dump them in rescues (the lucky ones), set them 'free' or worse just leave them while they are away with no food or water - and if they are alive when they get back - well that's just a bonus. Often it's people who haven't researched what's involved in looking after even the smallest pet first - and didn't expect the cost or the effort involved. Particularly in the case of Bunny's - they start off as a cute cuddly childrens pet, then the child gets bored, and the rabbit is then literally 'out on it's ear' (pardon the pun).
Dairy Week 2
I had been at Sue's Rabbit Rescue for a week when a lady from Burgess Pet Care came to see me. I was on my very best behaviour - doing the full 'cute' and friendly bit - and it obviously worked as the lady said she wanted me straight away.
The lady (known as Mum from now on) wanted a pet rabbit for herself, but an additional benefit was because she was part of the Burgess Pet Care family I could also feature in any photography and videos they do because I'm so handsome and also because I won't get stressed doing it because it will all be done at our house with Mum so it won't be a strange environment! I am now the official Burgess Pet Care Rabbit Representative and part of the Burgess Pet Care family! Who'd have thought - a real rags to riches story in a few weeks......maybe I should start thinking about my biography and the fees I should charge and I think I might need a PA and definitely an entourage.........hmmn how long should I give it before I start making my demands?? I am going to be rich and famous I tell you - up there with the biggest and best of famous bunnies...!
Diary Week 3
Today I left Sue's and went to live in my new home with my new Mum.
Here is a picture of my new house - it's very grand with a run underneath so I've got lots of room to exercise in the day when she is out.
Mum says she is going to get another run so I can run around on the garden too and have access to lots of juicy fresh grash (and dandelion leaves by the looks of things).
Once I'd spent a day or so getting used to my house, Mum brought me into her house to let me have a nose around. I really liked the lounge (and Mum prefered me in there since there are no wires to chew) and it was fantastic fun jumping on and off the sofa (which Mum thought was so cute) until I urinated all over it - WHAT??? I couldn't help myself - it's important to establish your scent on things you know... show everyone who is boss....... Needless to say Mum wasn't too pleased to be sponging the sofa down that night - especially as she did it with some special pet mess cleaning stuff that's meant to cover up the scent of such an accident - so I won't do it again. However all it did was stink the whole house out of citronella for the rest of the week ha ha (well I thought it was amusing)!!
After I'd checked everything out I felt comfortable enough to poo on the rug. Again Mum was not impressed and also seemed quite amazed at how much I could produce!
With my work done I had another explore and a clean.
Finally it came time to go back into my house. However I'd enjoyed the run around so much that I didn't want to and when Mum came to pick me up - I kicked my back leg out (which is actually pretty strong I'll have you know) to try and stop her. Unfortunately it caught her best bracelet and broke it...oops. Mum said "it was a good job she has the patience of a saint" and "that I am such a pretty rabbit" .............and "that she thought she'd give Anne Mitchell at the Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund (RWAF) a call to find out if my behaviour was normal or if I was a totally delinquent rabbit". Huh I'm insulted! I am a normal rabbit? Just look how well I do my "you love me cos I'm cute" look!
So anyway, Anne, who is a lovely lady and works really hard to help people with anything they need to know about rabbit care and welfare (Tel: 0870 046 5249 or visit http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk) confirmed that no, I wasn't a delinquent rabbit and that my behaviour was totally typical of a rabbit establishing his presence and authority in a new environment.
She said it is possible to train rabbits to just poo in a litter tray so they don't do it all over the place, and that they can be discouraged from urinating and spraying everywhere by being 'neutered'. Not sure what that means yet but she also said it was a sensible thing to do for when Mum gets me a friend so that I'm not lonely in the day. If Mum gets another boy we should both be neutered so we don't fight, and if she gets a girl I should be neutered so we don't multiply. Either way it sounds a 'fait accompli'...hmnn!?!
Diary Week 4
Food!!
My favourite thing in the whole world!
I have to tell you about what I'm getting to eat here - it's so delicious!
I have loads of hay hidden in balls and tubes all over the place (hay and grass are essential forms of fibre that I need in my diet to basically keep me alive and well). The idea is to keep it off the floor so I don't go to the loo on it - and to also get me to work or 'forage' for it - so it keeps me busy. The hay is lovely and green and I could just eat it all day. Actually I do just nibble it all day - it even has bits of marigold petals and dandelion leaves in it and apparently it's called Excel Herbage - its delicious! (Hay is not to be mistaken for the straw which she uses for my bed area - this is to keep me warm - but hay is for eating!)
She also gives me some Excel nuggets - which have extra vitamins and minerals in them. She is slightly concerned that I like them so much that I tend to 'trough' them (her words) far too quickly and usually over eating my hay.
So she has now taken to putting the nuggets in a 'treat' ball - so I've got to work harder to get them too. I supposed it does give me something to do kicking the ball around all day to try and get a nugget out. It certainly keeps me fit! She says if I eat too much food and don't excercise enough I'll get fat! So...??
Okay okay I know - being fat isn't good for rabbits and gives us loads of health problems - especially that one called Flystrike where we can't reach our bottoms to clean them so poo can build up and then flys lay their eggs in the mess which hatch into maggots that bury into the skin and give us open wounds - Eugh it sounds horrendous!!
But the best thing she gives me are my lovely snacks. Again Excel make a range of them - and they are designed as another way to get healthy fibre into me while giving me something nice to hunt around my house for. She hides them all over the place - but my favourits are the rolled grass ones which she feeds to me directly because it means I get to spend some time with her (and keep her wrapped around my paw of course with the 'cuteness' thing).
