After 2 weeks…

We finally settled into our new place. Setup our computers and have our internet installed.

After a few days we moved into the new place, I have to send Yuki for spaying. She has become so wild and unrest throughout the week when we were preparing for our move. Poor Kenji has to put up with her random marking and fur pulling. Her litter habit was totally off, she fought with Kenji and marked her territory everywhere in the temporary area that we put them in when we were busy unpacking, cleaning the new place and moving furniture.

I didn’t plan to send her off so early because I feel that she is still quite young. However, after checking with the vet, they think it’s ok for her to go ahead with the surgery. So I made an appointment and sent her off. We separated the two of them the night before, still side by side, but Kenji appeared to be very restless being away from Yuki.

Next morning when I took Yuki off to the vet, hubby told me that Kenji attempted to jump off the playpen by hanging himself on the edge of the playpen, literally choking himself to escape. I guess, he gets very uneasy by not knowing where Yuki went.

Everything went well. Yuki arrived home after being with the vet for the whole day. She started eating once I put her back into her playpen. This is a good sign. It shows that she is recovering speedily. Her movement was slow due to the pain at her abdomen. However, her movement appeared to be normal the next day.

Today is the third day after the surgery, she is moving faster, plays with her toys and eating more. Soon, she will be able to be with Kenji again.

We are moving!

I can’t wait!

I can’t wait to move to our new place so that I can start setting up a NIC cage for the duo.

Hubby bought these wired cubes from Carefour in KL, brought them all the way back to NL and that box has been sitting in a corner for a month!

I have in mind already what their cage will look like, and I plan to setup an area with the NIC cage inside. The 2 floors NIC cage will be sitting inside a playpen. The buns can go in and out of their cage as and when they like.

It is unfortunate that we still can’t move into a house with backyard. By then, I will definitely let them run free in the garden.

So I told my buns, have a bit of patience and wait for a little while longer buddies

How to toilet train your rabbit

My friends are so surprised when I told them that my bunnies are all toilet trained. Meaning: they know when to go and where the toilet is when they want to pee or poo. I have to capture that unbelievable expression on their face to really show you what I mean.

Rabbits are more intelligent and more sociable than what we think they are. Having them toilet trained is easy and they pick up very fast. Some takes a day or two, some takes longer. But it can be done with a little bit of patience.

Here is what you need:

1) Litter box – the normal cat litter box is fine. I prefer those that has a higher edge. Some bunnies raise their butt too high and they overshoot. It happened to my previous bun.

2) Hay – the hay that your rabbit is currently consuming

3) Bathroom mat or wire mesh – to cover the litter material to prevent the rabbits from consuming them. I have also tried wired document tray with holes before. All of them work well as long as you can separate the rabbits from the litter material.

4) Litter material – Paper based/Organic litter material is recommended. Newspaper or plenty of hay is fine too but you will need to be very diligent in cleaning the box. I avoid crystalite type of cat litter, corn cat litter, or other type of litter which are very dusty – they are not good for rabbits respiratory system.

5) Balsamic vinegar – to clean up any unwanted pee outside of the litter box to clear away the markings and odour. I find this vinegar works the best compared to white vinegar. It’s strong.

6) A bun that is already spayed/neutered. I would say this contributes 50% of the success rate!

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Let me share my litter training experience with you:

1) First, lay your litter box with the litter material, the bathroom mat/mesh, and then the hay on top.

2) Put your bun into a smaller area, and put the litter box in the same area as well.

3) Pick up any poos that are outside of the box. This action will move his/her ’smell’ into the litter box. When the bun pees outside of the litter box, wipe it away and use the balsamic vinegar to wipe on that spot. Talk to him in a gentle voice saying something like, “No no, not the right place buddy”.

4) If the bun keeps peeing in the same area, eventhough you’ve wiped the balsamic vinegar in that same spot many times, then move your litter box to cover that particular area. It is easier to accommodate him than he accommodates you. If you find that the bun is peeing in more than one area, no matter where you put the box, then you can try this:

a) Clean up the whole area by washing it thoroughly with cleaning products to wash away his ’smell’ and start again OR

b) Put another litter box OR

c) Reduce the size of the training area OR

d) Change the rabbit, this is a stubborn bun! (just kidding… )

5) If you see him poos inside the litter box, praise him by giving him a gentle pat on his head, or give him a treat that he likes.

6) When trained successfully, you will get zero pee and 2 or 3 poos outside of the box. Do expects a few poos outside of box now and then because that’s rabbit’s way of marking his territory.

If your bun is too young to be spayed/neutered and you need him/her to be litter trained, no worries, you can still do it. But do expect more peeing outside of the box (especially for male bun), and there is a possibility that your bun’s toilet habit might change after spaying/neutering. So you might need to retrain him/her after that. In any case, they all can be litter trained.

Once you reach zero pee stage, start to expand the bun’s area. Do it step by step. If you plan to let your bun free access to a big area, make sure that you prepare another litter box to cover the area. Some buns need extra litter boxes, some don’t.

In my experience, Kenji has a whole apartment (1000 sq ft) to himself then, and he knows exactly where to go to when he needs his toilet. He can recognise the way back to his litter box.

Enjoy the litter training experience!

I want airtime too!

This is Yuki’s complain.

So far, I haven’t seen her do anything special. If she has, I was so focused on her that I forgot to take pictures. But hubby managed to snap some photos of her yesterday. He was cleaning their cage and he tripped over the Dutch house while she is digging inside. As a result, she couldn’t get out.

Hubby found her so cute that he quickly grabbed my camera and captured these few shots.

Yuki:”Hey… you…”

Yuki:”Help… anyone… Kennnnji?”

Yuki:”Help!!!”

Eventually, before hubby let her out, she managed to jump out of the box ALL BY HERSELF!

I’m a digger!

The city hall gave us a set of gift (promotion brochures), all packed into this little Dutch house looking box.

I took away all the brochures, and cut a hole in front of the house. It became Kenji’s favourite digging spot.

Almost every morning I was awaken by his digging sound. This morning I managed to capture him in action.

Kenji:” I dig, I dig, I dig dig dig!”

Kenji:”What are you looking at? Haven’t you seen me dig before?”

Resting side by side…

Kenji:”See, mama is taking pictures of us again…”

Yuki:”Yeah… but I’m not going to move to show off my butt.”

Kenji:”Well… just lay still. I’ve been through this thousand of times. She will go off…”

German police baffled by rabbit deaths

DORTMUND, Germany, June 11 (UPI) — Officials in several communities in Germany admit they’re baffled by the grisly decapitations of more than 40 pet rabbits.

Instances of rabbits being beheaded then drained of their blood have been reported in Dortmund and surrounding areas on a weekly basis, Spiegel Online reported Wednesday. Sometimes the carcasses are left and sometimes the pet vanishes.

Read more here…

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This is so horrible. It sent shivers down my back. How can some human be so cruel?

Good progress…

Kenji and Yuki’s bonding process is progressing well! Better than I expected.

When I brought Yuki back from the holiday home, I’m slightly concerned because the playpen at home is Kenji’s territory. When I first put her in, she obviously found it a bit difficult to accept because when Kenji stayed in the holiday home, he was moved into HER hutch, after the introduction is made. Now, it’s the other way round.

Kenji is definitely a big man and he can’t share his space with his newfound love. I knew, both of them need to find a common ground. So, I’m fully prepared before letting them into the playpen. Water spray and broom both within handreach distance.

Yuki was forced to only stayed in the litter box, and Kenji basically dominated the other areas. She can’t go near Kenji, even though she tried. Kenji will instinctively want to nip her when she is about 10cm in range.

No sign of fight or attack. Kenji just ignored her. And this poor little girl was trying to make up and wonder what happened. However, Kenji can tolerate her by sharing his toilet and eating together with her. Definitely a very good sign!

After one day, they can get as close as nose to nose.

Two days later, I see Kenji demanded grooming from Yuki and she happily obeyed.

Three days later, they are side by side.

Just yesterday, I saw Kenji started grooming her as well. He finally released his love.

Rabbit grooming tool

I’m always looking for a suitable grooming tool for my buns. What I have now, is a normal brush-like comb which is used for cats. It doesn’t work as well as I wanted it to be because I remembered Kenji shed a lot early this year, and I have furs flying around when I groom him, and it makes me sneeze like crazy! Plus, it doesn’t catch much fur.

I came across 2 options. One is called Furminator small blue deshedding tool, another one is Kong Zoom Groom for cats. According to this piece of information on Furminator website, it has been tested on rabbit; and Zoom Groom has been used by many rabbit owners and have many good feedback too.

I haven’t tried any of them yet. But I’m keen to try Zoom Groom first. Furminator is selling at US$18.99/EUR 37.95 each and Zoom Groom at US$4.00/EUR 9.49 – geez… big difference isn’t it?

Rabbit holiday home in Den Haag

If you are a rabbit owner who is staying near Den Haag area, I found a very nice place to take care of your rabbit when you are going off for a holiday. It takes about 30m of travel time, by bus, from the Centraal Station to her place.

There are many places who take cares of rabbits, but I find this a very happy and joyful place for bunnies after my experience with her and her family.

The place is called Knabbeltuintje. Her website is in Dutch. So most English-speaking owners might not find her unless you have the time like me, to find out what is animal holiday home called in Dutch and google it!

She runs a rabbit adoption center as well. So if you want to find a mate for your rabbit, I think this is a good place. This is how Kenji found his sweetie darling Yuki! She definitely loves and cares rabbits very much!

The rates are reasonable. Plus she allows the rabbits to come out of the hutches so that they get some exercise time! This is very unlike many commercial pet hotel that I have experienced before back home.

She told me before that during summer, her place is full of rabbits!! So you need to be quick if you want a place for your rabbit to stay.

I’m not earning any commission from this. I just thought of sharing it.