Category: Bunnies

They’re furry, they’re furious, and thy’re very, very cute. Be Afraid.

Who is Dr Harry?

Sally asks a few very good questions.

Here is Dr Harry’s official website. Basically, he is a TV vet. Australian only and I believe he is based in Tassie.

I am sure I’m not the only person who hates him. But you might be able to count us on one hand. He is cheerful, and jovial, and he “loves animals”. Most people thing he is like their favourite uncle, or grandfather. But he makes my flesh crawl. Like a pedophile. I am not suggesting that he rapes children, but I really wish the man would shut up, or get a clue.

My feelings for him are not new. I’ve disliked him since I first saw him on TV talking about rabbit care.

Most vets don’t have a clue about rabbit care. It’s not their fault – even the “best” vet school in Sydney (Sydney Uni) has bugger all training in rabbits and guinea pigs. As a vet in Australia, you can specialise in large animals, or small animals. Large animals = horses and cows, small animals = dogs and cats. In the UK, rabbits are the third most popular pet, after dogs and cats – the vets that I see in Sydney have invariably done training or residency in the UK, and understand current best practice in lagomorph care.

I forked out a few hundred dollars on Amazon a few years ago to buy the latest “Textbook of Rabbit Medicine”. I will admit that I need to look up every second word to follow the text, but I do have the resources to find out if a vet has a clue or not. I’ve also used the book to convince a shelter vet that pain relief was a lifesaver for rabbits after spay surgery. Any woman could tell you that pain relief is absolutely necessary after a hysterectomy, but some vets need convincing that rabbits feel pain. The book was worth every penny, and every time I know that the shelter desexes a bunny, I think about the value of good information.

So why post now? I saw him on an ad. And I was reminded that I hated his ignorance, and hated his wholesome image, and hated that his word is never questioned.

I just want people to ask questions. And demand a better quality of care for their long eared friends.

Once upon a time, a friend lost her beautiful bunny. From what she told me of the care he received over about a week, I strongly suspected that the rabbit died as a result of veterinary malpractice. But I couldn’t say anything to my grieving friend. Not then, not ever. But I can encourage people to get more educated about best practice.

10 reasons why I hate Dr Harry

1. I won’t get serious straight off. I’ll start with the hat. Really, the man earns a packet, he can afford a stylist.
2. He promotes products that are really, really bad for small creatures. It may be hard to hear this from someone who doesn’t have a veterinary degree, but ask any vet who knows rabbits what they think of the Dr Harry rabbit food. You’ll hate him too.
3. The rabbit advice he gives on his show. One of the worst was removing rabbit teeth, and feeding grated apple as a “cure” for bad teeth. The human equivalent to removing teeth and feeding pure sugar, instead of advocating good nutrition from the start. And let’s not go into the housing he recommends.
4. He went to university about 3 billion years ago – and hasn’t learned anything since.
5. He won’t ever admit to being wrong.
6. He advocates breeding, so that children can learn about the “cycle of life”. It might be better to get kids to volunteer at a shelter in the euthanasia room – then they would really learn about life and death.
7. His godlike status brooks no dissent. I am surely being un-australian by even committing these thoughts to computer – let alone publishing them in a “public” forum.
8. OK, let’s get into the rabbit housing situation. Rabbits are social creatures. They crave the company of their own species, and go quietly insane if they are confined to a small space with nobody to hang with. No wonder many rabbits are aggressive and “anti social”. I’d bite Dr Harry if he picked me up by the ears.
9. He’s so fucking cheerful. All the time. Even when your pet has an inoperable tumour, and has less than a week to live, he has some revolting, condescending homily to dispense. He talks the talk, but to me, his understanding of the bond between man and animal rings completely hollow. If you’ve ever had your heart ripped out by the loss of a non human animal, you’ll know what I mean.
10. I never really thought I would get to ten. But apparently I hate him even more than I thought I did. Is that a reason to hate him? Probably not, but this is – he makes money out of being “a good guy”. And I hate him living off the pain his misinformation causes.

Oooooo… Bitter much?

Items #5 & #2

I’m sick. I’ve been pretending that I’m ok for a few days, but today I have the sore throat, sneezing, coughing, and swollen glands thing happening. So in order to proceed with the list, I am doing some “research” from bed.

The RSPCA has a few bunnies, but they all look quite small – and the RSPCA doesn’t bother with describing rabbit personalities (maybe they think they are all the same?), so it makes it hard to adopt from there when you are seeking a particular personality. But they do have ducks! And chooks – even budgies. So if you’ve been thinking about getting chooks, this could be a good chance.

The Keysborough shelter in Melbourne have a few likely candidates, and I have emailed the carer to ask about personalities. Leigh lives for the bunnies she cares for, and I am sure she will have an opinion on the right match for Custard (if she thinks it’s a good idea to get him a buddy).

Apparently 2007 has been unofficially declared “Knit from your stash year”, but I’m afraid that just isn’t going to happen. I will use some of my stash yarn (my Lornas Laces is waiting patiently for just the right inspiration), but yarn shops of Sydney will rejoice in the knowledge that I intend to buy more yarn. Especially if the TC buyer comes back from his trip with the tasty supplies that Kris told me about on saturday night.

I have started to create a button for the anti KFYS (Knit From Your Stash) movement, but my drug addled brain and photoshop are not compatible right now.

As for specific projects, I am going to use some stash yarn (I have 10 balls each of burnt orange, lime green, and purple) that I am going to dive into for a little jumper/cardi/jacket for niecephew to wear next winter. I promise I won’t use all the colours together.

And for this project, I will break out my Christmas present from Mark, that I picked up from Karen and Chris on sunday. Karen and Chris took their baby daughter Lee to the US this year for the first time to meet the extended family. While they were there, they picked up a few things from Knitpicks…

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I got the basic kit with a few doubles in the 3mm-4.5mm range (the needles I tend to use the most), a few extra cables, the pattern holder thingy, a few extra sleeves, and the needle sizer with the nifty viewing window. I believe Karen has an extra set that she’s going to ebay, if anyone is interested, let me know and I will post when she puts them up.

Can you feel the love?

I have a job

I start on monday fortnight. I have the use of a company car, and a letter of offer will be sent sometime this week (hopefully). The pay is a big step up from my last job, but I’ll have to work bloody hard to earn it – and learn what a spirometer is (amongst other things).

I haven’t done ANYTHING else today (except make my own coffee). I am watching Oprah, and sitting in bed with my foot up. I had plans to be all busy and start to get my life in order, but hell, getting a job is enough of an achievement for one day, don’t you think?

In other news, Mark has officially resigned, so we keep the status quo, with one job between us.

I have two weeks to dry clean all my old business suits that still fit me, and possibly buy at least one summer weight jacket, a few tops, and a few pairs of pants (or a skirt to take advantage of the first tan I’ve had in years). I also want to pack up all the clothes that definitely don’t fit, give away things that I can bear to part with (like about 10 bras that I’ve never worn), and sort out the wardrobe room.

Also on my list of things to do are

1. Organise the craft room/study. We need bookshelves for all the books, and I need to sort the stash, and craft supplies. Make the rec room look like a happy place to be.

2. Make a knitting project list. Buy yarn for specific projects, and consult the stash BEFORE I buy anything new. Also, I want to make time for knitting, since I won’t be knitting on the train anymore.

3. Weed the roses in the front, prune and fertilise. Perhaps even plant a new one.

4. Try to get in charge of the weeds in the backyard. Plant some basil and at least have a little herb garden happening before I go back to full time work. To be able to come home and get a salad together from the backyard is a huge luxury, and one I’m not willing to do without any more.

5. Make a decision about Custard. He needs a friend, and I am terrified of him attacking Monkey if we keep up the bonding process. Maybe we’ll find a big, mellow, girl bunny to love on Custard. He’s lost two bonded partners (as well as Grasshopper) in his short life, and he really seems depressed living on his own.

6. Organise our laundry system, and linen closet.

7. Get rid of the junk that Sarah helped us sort a few months ago, and do some more sorting of the garage.

8. Have a total attitude adjustment, and get over the sense of humour bypass I’ve been experiencing since we came back to fair Sydney. My life is pretty good, and though it’s normal to feel sad at the loss of a beloved furry friend, and a bit at sea without a job, and a little out of sorts at being plucked from a tropical island and landed back in suburbia, I am determined to be a happy and cheerful person that doesn’t wallow. Wallowing is soooooo last year.

Basically, I want to revamp my life. Put more in, get more out. Be more organised, do more exercise, plan meals and eat better, eat less, drink less booze, and be healthier. 2007 is going to be a better year, because I am going to stop expecting things to fall into place. I am going to push them.

Home

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On the 5th of Jan, Damian (who was house and baby sitting for us), noticed that Grasshopper was acting strangely, and took him to the vet.  An hour later, the vet called him to say that the damage was too bad, and that he had to be euthenased. 

After Grasshoppers last trip to the vet, Custard had bullied him, so we separated them while Grasshoppers leg recovered.  We tried bonding Custard with Blueberry and Monkey, but a fight broke out between Monkey and Custard, and I ended up with a large wound.  There wasn’t enough time to bond them properly before we left, so I decided to put Custard back in with Grasshopper.  There were a few scuffles, but I wasn’t worried.

I should have been.  While Damian was at work, Custard attacked Grasshopper, and basically tore all the skin from his belly.  There wasn’t enough skin left to sew up.

Grasshopper came to us 3 1/2 years ago as a tiny leveret, less than a week old, and far too young to be away from his mother.  Someone took him to the local vet, the vet tried to look after him, but he wouldn’t eat, and they phoned me to see if I would take him in.  It was either that, or the big green needle.

Dad went to pick him up from Rooty Hill, and brought this tiny frightened bundle home in a fruit box.  I was told that he was a hare, but I believed that we didn’t have hares in Australia – but one look at him and I knew he wasn’t a rabbit.

You can see pictures from his first day here.

We fed him farex mixed with lactose free milk until I could get some rabbit milk replacement formula.  On further research I found out that his weight indicated he was very young, and since he had been at the vet for four days, and not eaten for that entire time, he was very lucky to be alive.  The survival rate of  leverets who are raised by humans is very, very low.

For three months he was with me constantly, sleeping in my sleeve and popping his head out when he was hungry.  More pictures here, and here.

Eventually he got bigger, and more independent.  He became more skittish, and preferred to stay away from humans.  He was growing into the most amazing creature I had ever seen, and though it was painful that he was drawing away from me, I understood that it was natural, and seeing him healthy was the best reward.  Pictures here.

Eventually we were able to house him with Rhubarb and Custard – he had no manners, but they tolerated him.

While he remained a wild creature all his life, I loved him very much.  I realise that I could never have anticipated that Custard was capable of such savagery, but I still feel guilty for placing him in danger.  I also realise that he probably would have been dead years ago without my intervention, and I hope that he had a measure of comfort and joy in his time with us.  He was  a rare and precious jewel, and meeting him has touched the lives of many people.

Many thanks to Damian, and to mum and dad, all of whom had to take care of the vets and the body, and the decision not to tell us until we got back.  I know it must have been a difficult decision to make, but I am grateful to them for keeping it until we got back – knowing sooner would have put a big dampener on our holiday, and there was nothing we could have done for him once we knew. 

We will bury him tomorrow.

I’m back on the internets!

Small problem with out hosting company not being overjoyed about the growing popularity of my blog. Apparently, more traffic = more downloads, and once we went more than 15% over our bandwidth limit for the month, we got shut out.

So we gave them more money, and we have double the bandwidth for the next 12 months. I am going to have to host my images somewhere else in future though – especially for picture heavy posts like the Nundle trip.

Glad to be back, but a little stressed – in the next 2 days I have to pack, tidy and clean the house for the wonderful Damian who is housesitting for us, sort out a knitting project for the plane/train/bus, and sort out what is going on with my lungs. Got a doctors appointment at lunchtime today to review my asthma treatment plan, and then a wee yarn crawl with the lovely Emma.

We tried bonding Custard With Blueberry and Monkey, but Custard ended up with a torn ear, and I am loathe to put him under that pressure again, but I also hate the thought of him being lonely. Grasshopper is mending well, and hopefully will be able to join the general population in the condo when we return from Vietnam.

We have liftoff!

We have travel insurance (thank goodness we applied for that before my lungs went haywire), we have visas (thanks to Mum for both), and as soon as we have tickets we’ll be ready to start packing.

Grasshopper is moving around a little better today, probably because of the pain meds, and he is eating well. I had an email back from the new vet, and we’ll continue to keep a close eye on him this week.

My new “unvented” stitch pattern is a winner, and I have finished the first hat (finally got the degreases working satisfactorily), and am well on my way to completing the second, proof of concept hat. I’ll write up the pattern, and hopefully someone will like it enough to knit it.

Next, to research what I can take on the plane. It’s not a terribly long flight, but I am a bit anxious about not being able to knit on the plane. I am also starting to think about travel knitting. I’ll need something lightweight, something a little bit interesting but not too over the top challenging. I’m thinking lace, because a big project can still travel light, and provide a few good solid weeks of knitting, and something not too furry in case the weather is warmish. We’re scheduled for a mild winter, a little like a Sydney spring, but there could be some warm weather at some point.

Some warm weather would be nice. I need to keep absorbing the rays 😉

Grasshopper adventures

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Last night, everybunny was fine. This morning, Grasshopper (our special needs child) wasn’t putting any weight on his left rear leg. I rang Matthew the wonder vet, but he was on day leave. Damn. I had visions of the day we lost Rhubarb, when a suburban vet sent us home without painkillers, and my precious boy died in a lot of pain. Vets are wonderful, and it is a tough job with not much reward, but bunnies need a vet with knowledge about bunny medicine, and a vet that has 20 years of experience treating dogs and cats is very unlikely to “get it”.

Then I remembered Dr David Vella. He’s an “exotics” vet, and has a particular interest in rabbits. I’ve heard good things about him, and I am so glad I thought of him today. He’s never met a European Brown Hare before, and was absolutely rapt to meet His Chops.

David gave him some opiates, and we saw a relaxed Grasshopper for the first time ever. Examining him was hard without a sedative, but x-rays without a sedative would never be possible. During the examination, I was covered in fur, and my lungs stopped taking in oxygen. I had a Ventolin with me, and went out in to the waiting room for some fresh air. Thirty minutes later, I had taken about 50 puffs of Ventolin, and still couldn’t breathe. I was considering calling an ambulance when the vet came back with Grasshopper, who was starting to wake up.

The good news was, his bones are in perfect condition. His teeth (which can be a problem with pet rabbits), are in superb condition. And I think the vet has a little crush on him.

We put the boys in the car, and I rang my GP, who recommended a trip to hospital for the human. We came home, gave Grasshopper his pain meds and set him up in a convalescent home, and Mark dropped me up at Ryde Hospital. Apparently Asthma is one of those things that they make a fuss about, so I saw a Dr. pretty quickly. By that stage I was breathing pretty well, and they put me on a nebuliser for a while. Then they gave me steroids, and made me hang around for an hour, after which time I was sent home with some meds, and a recommendation to find a home for the hare.

Not likely.

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