Kits, Kits & More Kits...
Revisited
Remember the story of the "dumpster diver" that kept "accidently" breeding?
Click here for archived story
We told you about the possibility of all the females being pregnant and updated you on Sunflower's kits.
Well, two of the three remaining daughters
Butterscotch & Sinne gave us a total of TEN more babies!
Our "thanks" again to ignorance for keeping us from helping those that need our help in lieu of these that were also given no choice.
So, instead of a handful of bunnies - that probably would not have been dumped at all if they'd just been "fixed" - to care for, we ended up with
seventy bunnies to care for, make cage space for, spay/neuter, and find homes for - just from this one month period.
Yes, it keeps us from our true mission. It seems sometimes like we're being thought of as a "bunny landfill" ... but - with your help, we'll just "keep on keepin' on".
Two Strikes To Start With
Scooter was one of the babies born from ignorance. Since the mother (Sunflower) received poor nutrition before & during pregnancy, she kindled five kits. Three lived past birth. One has recovered well, one died from Upper Respiratory Infection (URI) and the third is
Scooter.
Butterscotch also has the URI along with the both kits that are left. All are being monitored.
As if that weren't enough,
Scooter was also born with a tight Achilles tendon (or none) and has to walk on his knee with the foot dragging behind. The good news is that his name implies his mobility. Did I mention that he's also blind in one eye?
It continues to amaze us how these sweet little things can cope/adapt/improvise/perservere the way they do.
We don't have room for pictures on this page, but you can
click here for a popup picture page.
Scooter's problem is that he drags the hide off the "top" of his foot. We are going to have to remove the foot and let him support himself - as he has been - with the "knee/shin" portion of his leg. Our dilema there, concering surgery, is the URI. We're treating and hoping for the best.
This is another time we thank our supporters. No one with a "bunny business" would have let him live past the first glance at that foot. That's where we come in. We'll do whatever it takes to make him right and charge only our regular adoption fee. Those that support us think this is the right thing to do. Maybe you can help a little?
We feel that not only can
Scooter live a good long life, but we're sure that some kind someone that doesn't have to have a pet that's "perfect" will make him a wonderful home. We'll keep you posted
Swimming For Bunnies
No, it's not a new game show
We're in the Northern Sonoran Desert but there are more golf courses and private lakes, per capita, in this area than anywhere else in the country. So it seems inevitable, I suppose, that we would receive a call saying that a woman saw some bunnies on an island in a private lake!
We went and saw that there was vegetation (at water's edge) and turbid, not so sweet-smelling water ... not a high-quality restaurant.
We rigged some styrofoam "rafts" for carriers and swam/waded(chest deep) "to the rescue".
This would all be funny if it weren't so serious. This was actually giving these bunnies death by starvation. While it may have been able to support the three adults and three babies that we recovered, the island certainly would not have supported the population that would have come from the two adult does and who knows how many babies in only a couple of months!
Two Strikes Update
.. The Scooter Story
Scooter (and Ciara) have been on daily antibiotics all this time now, but the URI appears to be getting better.
However, we cannot get him into surgery until the URI is under control. For Scooter, this means that he's having all this time to get used to his crooked leg rather than an amputated stump.
Scooter has proved to us, once again, that bunnies are wonderfully resilient creatures. Because of his "adaptation" to his problem, we have now decided
not to amputate his leg.
Scooter is - more than ever - living up to his name. He has figured out how to "lean just right" and get his crooked foot out where he can clean it. He can stand, however wobbly, upright to "get a better view". It doesn't appear that he thinks he's disabled, at all.
We still are treating the URI, as we mentioned, but - as always - we'll keep you posted.
