Professor Rabbit

HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS?

RabbitWise is here.

There's a New Rabbit Organization in Town

Some old friends have gotten together to create a new rabbit organization designed to respond to the kind of questions and provide the services that both new and veteran rabbit people want most. Surf through our web site (www.rabbitwise.org) to get connected to the rabbit resources available in the metropolitan DC area and on the web and find answers to your rabbit heath, care, and feeding questions.

Looking for a rabbit veterinarian? All the vets in the area that say they treat rabbits are listed there with their contact information. Did you just find a stray rabbit and need some help? RabbitWise will guide you through the process. If you need more help than the web site can provide, RabbitWise will put you in touch with rabbit-wise people who can help.

RabbitWise is proud to also include the information and resources that lagomorph (rabbit) lovers need to advocate for their favorite furry friends. Learn how you can give a voice to the voiceless and work to improve the status and welfare of rabbits all over the USA. Your rabbit will love you for it.

Finally, RabbitWise wants to build connections within the community of rabbit folks that will also extend to other animals organizations. Please feel free to contact us with your ideas, suggestions, and comments.

SONATA

On The Fleecy Bed

Collecting Sonata's Urine Specimen

By Evonne Vey

When my rabbit, Sonata, had a urinary tract infection (UTI), she chose to urinate on her fleecy bed. "Softer on a bare bottom than hay," she told me. Her practice turned out to benefit both of us because I needed a urine specimen. By spreading a piece of saran wrap on the bed, I thought getting the urine would be a piece of cake.

When I spread a piece of saran wrap over her bed and she obliged me immediately. I quickly sucked up the urine in a sterile eyedropper and refrigerated it. The next day I called the vet to tell him that I was bringing over Sonata's urine that I'd collected the day before. "Oh no," the vet tech said, "that urine won't be any good. It must be collected within the last two hours!" Oh, well, there's always tomorrow.

The following morning Sonata was not so cooperative. She would not urinate. She just hung on until I left the room. Finally, she relieved herself, but dug at the saran wrap and managed to discard the urine. It was soaking into the fleece when I returned. Sonata grinned.

The next day, I waited for her to urinate but to no avail. Finally I had to leave the room again. Lo and behold she did it and this time it was on the saran wrap! I quickly syringed it up and wrapped the dropper in foil and put it in a plastic bag. To my dismay, I couldn't see any urine. I studied it. I gently shook it. There was nothing there except a few drops in the area where the glass tube goes into the rubber top. To my horror I realized all the urine had leaked out!

Well, as they say, try, try, and try again. I called a second vet's office. This one told me that I could store the urine for 12 hours as long as it was refrigerated.

The next day came and Sonata decided that she didn't want to be in the bunny room anymore. She even dispensed with breakfast. She scooted off and found a nice spot under a chair in the living room. Trying to outwit her, I delivered her salad and her bed lined with saran wrap. She immediately eyeballed it with disdain.

Time passed. By noon, there was still no urine. I herded Sonata back into her room where there was another fleecy bed swaddled in saran wrap that I prayed that she would flood with urine. She ignored it, spending the entire day and evening on the top of her cozy cat lodge looking out the window. Not once did I see that rabbit urinate; bunny berries, yes, but not a drop of urine! I thought surely she must have a tremendous blockage and would explode at any minute, but she behaved normally except, to my knowledge, she never urinated.

By the fifth day, my husband offered to transport the urine sample to the vet's but Sonata waited until he finally had to leave before she urinated. On top of that, she had tried to remove the saran wrap but a little bit of urine had collected on it. I syringed it up and joyfully and prepared to race it to the vet's. Before I left, I decided to call and warn them that I had finally been successful and was on my way over with a little bit of urine.

"What do you mean by a little bit?" the receptionist asked me. "Well, just about a half of a teaspoon," I said. "Oh no." she said. "You have to have a couple of table-spoons!" *&&^% I thought. "Are you sure about that?" "Yes," she replied, "but I'll check to make sure." She came back to report, "It's not two tablespoons, it's three tablespoons they need to do the test." Foiled again!

The following morning I gave Sonata sub-Q fluids and then put her on the bed lined with saran wrap. Then I put Sonata and the bed on top of her Lazy cat lodge by the window, added some hay, and hoped for the best. I was astonished when I saw her urinating. I frantically grabbed a packet containing a syringe and used it to draw up the urine since the eyedropper was such a colossal mistake. After collecting 9ccs, I rang the vet and was relieved to learn that it would be enough. My husband packed the urine filled syringe in a huge cooler bag and zoomed off to the vet's office. I was tempted to call in armored guards to accompany him and the valuable contents of the syringe, liquid gold!

The vet called several days later to say that Sonata's urine was free of bacteria and that there was no infection. She does need to drink more water however. Sonata reports that she just loves all this attention that she's been getting. She also warns that if it stops, so does the urine!

So much for that piece of cake.

THE RAINBOW BRIDGE

THE BRIDGES

By Lana Lehr

I got my Doris Day Animal League 2004 "Best Friends Calendar" a short time ago. Underneath each animal picture of the month there is a quote. I took particular note of the one under the picture of a burro for November. It read as follows: "There is an Indian legend...when a human dies there is a bridge he must cross to enter into heaven. At the head of that bridge waits every animal he encountered during his lifetime. The animals...decide which humans may cross the bridge...and which are turned away." Author unknown.

One could wonder if this legend had anything to do with the Rainbow Bridge story. Here is the story of the Rainbow Bridge, author unknown. See what you think.

"Just this side of heaven is a place called the Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to the Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water, and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who have been old and ill are restored to health and vigor; those who are hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing: they miss someone very special, someone who was left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when suddenly one stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; his eager body begins to quiver. Suddenly he breaks from the group, flying over the green grass, faster and faster.

You have been spotted and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face, your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into those trusting eyes, so long gone from your life, but never absent from your heart. Then you cross the Rainbow Bridge together..."

NOW IN SYNDICATION

MUGGINS ROCKO RABBIT

From The Coney Courier,
Special to The Metro Rabbit News

By Muggins Rocko Rabbit

I had never intended this column to be an advice column but lately I have talked with a lot of rabbits who are having a similar problem. It seems that their FLRs (Funny Looking Rabbits AKA pet humans) are seriously falling down on the job especially at breakfast time. During the week, they do manage to be more punctual. But on the weekends it is nearly impossible to get them out of their burrow to get room service in a timely fashion. Good help is getting harder and harder to find these days. It has something to do with them not being crepuscular. How they ever got to be at the top of the food chain is beyond me. FLRs even have a saying that "the early bird catches the worm." It is obvious that they do not take their own recommendations seriously.

So what's a hungry rabbit to do? My bunny buddy, Cassidy, and I have come up with a strategy. We are happy to share it with all of rabbitdom. It is probably best not to let your FLRs know about it though.

Our first step is to run a few laps of the Bunny 500 in Goddess' room. (She makes us call her Goddess in return for certain favors). This is usually not successful so we try our next gambit. We bang our ceramic salad bowls together. Sometimes this will get Goddess' attention and in a raspy voice she will say "Good morning boys. Let me sleep a little longer. Go munch on your hay. I'll get up in a while." Go munch on our hay? We don't want hay. We want breakfast!

It's time to get serious. Last Christmas, Goddess gave us stockings that had toy balls with a bell in them. We have one in our room and one under Goddess' bed. It is absolutely critical that you get one of these balls under your FLR's bed. Don't have a ball with a bell in it? They can be purchased at most pet stores. Whine, beg, cajole, or manipulate but get your FLR to that store with the mission of bringing home that ball for you.

When you have got the ball in paw, get it under your FLR's bed as soon as possible and see that it remains there. The idea is to kick it up at an angle so that the ball bounces off a wall or a piece of furniture while it's jingling on the way. You soccer players will have no problem with this. The rest of you will have to practice, practice, practice. This usually wakes Goddess up. Shortly thereafter she's off to the kitchen to make a bunny salad breakfast.

Every now and again even this tactic won't wake up your FLR. At this point, you have to jump up onto the bed where your FLR is sleeping. The way Cassidy and I do it is by him working the lower body and me working the face. Cassidy walks up and down Goddess'legs. I stand just close enough to her face so that my twitching whiskers just brush her nose. I then repeat this move. If all else fail, I bonk her on her nose. The funny thing is that when she wakes up she's not angry. She just laughs. Then there's time for pets before she's off to make breakfast. She says she doesn't get angry because rabbits are magical, and so we are. This strategy works every time.

AROUND TOWN

Carole Van Wie and Laura Roland of BunnyMagic have had a great year for the rabbits. At the close of 2003, Carole and Laura have placed 182 abandoned rabbits in new homes. They have taken in huge numbers of rabbits who would have otherwise faced certain death when the sheltere ran out of room. When there's no room anywhere, BunnyMagic somehow manages to find a place for just one more.

Linda Seeman of Bunny Lu Adoptions has written a seminal article on "Bloat in Rabbits." Find it at www.bunnulu.org. Click on "Care," then on the article.

Gary a. Schwartz, DVM, of Wheaton Animal Hospital, 2929 University Blvd. West, Kensington, MD 20895 is published in Rabbit References. He wrote about the antibiotic treatment of infections and abscesses involving bone tissue, "Antibiotic Impregnated Polymethylmetacrylate Beads For Use in Rabbits." Go to Rabbit References (www.morfz.com), then to Health and Medicine, then to Abscesses and Severe Wounds, then to Bead Method. He can be reached at (301) 949-1520.

Another local vet published in Rabbit References is Laura Lathan, DVM, of South Arundel Veterinary Hospital, 85 West Central Avenue, Edgewater, MD 21037. Her article is titled "First Aid For Rabbits." She may be contacted at (410) 956-2932, (301) 261-4388, and savet@annap.infiline.net.

In the fall, 2003, rabbit vet, Scott Stahl, DVM, DABVP, opened his own practice at 111-A Center Street South, Vienna, VA 22180. It's known as Stahl Exotic Animal Veterinary Services (SEAVS). He can be reached at (703) 281-3750 and www.seavs.com.

Anamail, a publication of the Montgomery County Humane Society, Inc., featured rabbits on the cover of their Summer/Fall 2003 issue. The article, "Rabbit Care," by Marcie Engel, DVM, Brookeville Hospital, 22201 Georgia Avenue, Brookeville, MD, 20833, (301) 774-9698, appeared in the "House Calls" feature.

Calvert County, Maryland, Bans Live Prizes at Carnivals.
The State of Maryland To Propose A State Wide Ban.

By Lana Lehr

Jean Radaeckar of PAWS and Evonne Vey of Evonne's Art Creations joined forces with various other rabbit folks and animal welfare organizations to stop the practice of giving away baby rabbits as carnival prizes. In August 2003, Vey wrote to Jimmy Mattingly, President of the Solomon's Firehouse, to complain about the appalling carnival situation. Bunny Magic, Calvert Animal Welfare League (CAWL), Chesapeake SPCA, the Humane Society of Calvert County, and the Patuxent Animal Welfare gave Vey their full backing.

A copy of her letter appeared in the "Letters to the Editor" section of the Calvert County Recorder Newspaper Co. Another copy went to the Calvert County Commissioners where it caught the eye of Commissioner Linda Kelley.

Radaeckar's complaints about the carnival practice became part of a letter that was sent to the Lewis B. Riley, Secretary of Agriculture, on September 5, 2003. In late October, Katelyn Turner, a reporter for the Calvert County Recorder, picked up the story and wrote the article "Calvert County Animal Groups Starting the Push to Save The Bunnies."

All this activism paid off. When the Calvert County Commissioners drew up their 2004 priorities, Kelley arranged for a "ban on live animals as prizes in games of chance" to be a top initiative. Rep. Owings and Sen. Dyson, Maryland state legislators, will support the ban.

Family Therapy Cures Rabbit Rivalry

By Lana Lehr with Karen Hamrick

They are just like kids. And what does a pair do when a third one is introduced? They become rivals, of course. That's what happened when Karen Hamrick decided to introduce a new rabbit, Samantha, to her bonded pair, Sebastian and Akina.

The initial introduction went well until the rabbits were all together on the home turf. Fur flew, literally. After failing at numerous methods designed to coax them into amicable relations and détente, Karen decided to call in an animal behavior specialist.

After assessing the situation, the animal behavior specialist changed the bonding process. Previously, the pair had been removed from their home turf, which is the standard recommendation for bonding rabbits. In some cases, however, the increased stress from breaking with the normal routine has the opposite effect, which is what happened in this case.

To treat the problem, the behaviorist put Sebastian and Akina back into their old living space and their usual routine. Samantha was then re-introduced to them by putting her in a carrier in Sebastian and Akina's space during the day. This way they got used to having Samantha in their space but in a controlled manner. In the evening, they visited Samantha in her space. After about a month of alternating visits, they were finally all able to run free together harmoniously in the same space.

Peace had been restored to the Hamrick household.

THE HAPPY TRIO

Akina, Sabastian, & Samantha

IN MEMORIUM

A sad footnote to the above story, Akina, beloved companion of Karen, Sebastian, and Samantha, left for the bridge on 5/1/03. However, her leaving points out an advantage of having a bonded trio. When one rabbit dies, the others will have one another to turn to in their grief.

Joe & Sandi Monaco of House Rabbit Sanctuary, 14095 Betsy Ross Lane, Centerville, VA 20121, lost their beloved mascot rabbit, Domino. He's the black and white Dutch that was the model for the logo that's on all the Monacos' sanctuary literature. They may be reached at (703) 830-8359 or bunrescue@juno.com.

ACTIVATION OF THE BUNDERGROUND BUYS STAY OF EXECUTION FOR 47 RABBITS

Phenomenal Cooperation Among Animal Rescue Groups Credited For The Success

By Lana Lehr

Shortly after Christmas the call went out. It was time for Mary O'Malley, volunteer at the Fairfax County Animal Shelter and Bunny Lu Adoptions, to alert her "rabbit people." Forty-one rabbits had been seized by Animal Control and housed at the shelter. The court decided to turn the rabbits over to the county after the former owner's appeal period expired. There were also six other rabbits unrelated to the seizure at the shelter who had been surrendered by their owners. A large number of rabbits were desperately in need of homes. The rabbits required the assistance of the Bunderground. O'Malley e-mailed everyone she knew and urged all the recipients to do likewise. It was almost New Year's Eve.

On December 30, to get the word out, O'Malley did the pictures and write-ups for each rabbit and then walked through the shelter with Katherine Thompson of Friends of Rabbits, telling Thompson about each rabbit. Meanwhile, word and the rabbits' pictures were spreading like wildfire. Shortly after BunnyMagic was notified, Laura Roland began forwarding the e-mails, one of which came to Lana Lehr of RabbitWise.

Lehr, who had contacts in Pennsylvania, notified Ellen Harter, an Animal Rescue volunteer and a shelter animal fosterer in Lancaster, about the rabbits plight. Harter contacted Ted and Melody Groff, of Willow Ridge Pig Sanctuary in Southeastern PA. The Groffs in turn notified Melissa Susko of PIGS, a pig sanctuary in West Virginia. Susko, who had had 13 rabbits living in her sanctuary and found homes for all but three of them, offered to take all 47 rabbits if need be. Meanwhile, Roland had contacted Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah. They offered to take ten of the rabbits. All the rabbits would be accommodated. The New Year was not shaping up so badly.

After the New Year holiday, Roland and Carole Van Wie, also of BunnyMagic went to collect the rabbits from the shelter. Thus began the arduous and costly process of getting the adult rabbits spayed or neutered and then everyone into their placements. As it turned out, Ellen Harter took five rabbits. BunnyMagic placed three with a new fosterer. Four babies went to Tommy, a new fosterer. Carol Rose Duane, a fosterer for several rabbit organizations, took a mother rabbit and her four babies. Friends of Rabbits facilitated three babies going to the Washington Animal Rescue League. The Fairfax Humane Society took three rabbits. Four rabbits were moved out of BunnyMagic into foster care so that four of the shelter rabbits could be accommodated and in addition, twelve of the shelter rabbits will remain at BunnyMagic. No rabbit was left behind and the West Virginia and Utah sanctuaries could be held in reserve.

A heartfelt gratitude is extended to all the organizations that worked so hard over a holiday to ensure that 47 rabbits would get their second chance. It is amazing what we all accomplished. Readers, please remember these organizations when you are making your charitable giving plans.

NOTE: if you have any ideas about streamlining the Bunderground so that we can all work more effectively, please e-mail RabbitWise at rabbitwise@verizon.net.

Calendar of Events


MARCH, 2004:


13-(Saturday) BunnyMagic Adoption Day at PETCO, 15461 Excelsior Drive, Bowie, MD 20716-2208; (301) 805-4447; from 12N to 3 PM.

27-(Saturday BunnyMagic Adoption Day at PETCO, 6612 Richmond Highway, Alexandria, VA 22306; (703) 660-1300; from 12N to 3 PM.

BunnyMagic is at the Bowie PETCO every second Saturday of
the month and at the Alexandria PETCO the last Saturday of the month.

-27 (Saturday): 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM, Rabbitology I Class, an Introduction to Basic Companion Rabbit Care and Behavior, and Grand Opening Reception at George Mason Regional Library, 7001 Little River Turnpike, Annandale, VA 22003; telephone (703) 256-3800. Contact RabbitWise for more information.


APRIL, 2004:


-11: Easter

-17 (Saturday): 2 PM to 4PM, Rabbitology I Class, an Introduction to Companion Rabbit Care and Behavior, at Leland Community Center, 4301 Willow Lane, Chevy Chase, MD 20815; tele: (301) 652-2249. Contact RabbitWise for more information.


Check RabbitWise's web site for more up coming RabbitWise events.

The Metro Rabbit News is published quarterly by RabbitWise, an all-volunteer, non-profit group. While we make great effort to be accurate, RabbitWise cannot assume responsibility for unintentional errors and/or omissions.

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