Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloween Friends

Halloween has simply snuck up on me this year. I haven't had nearly the time to decorate as I normally do. There's a few things that are up, so it's not all bad, but not nearly enough that you'd even know we're aware of the holiday.

While getting out my box of Halloween decor, I found a few things that I thought Mickey might like. Perhaps they could be new buddies for him, like Clovis' friends over at Clovie Boy.

Friend #1 showed a lot of potential; Miss Witch Bear is about the same size and color as Mr. Mick, and he did seem to be attracted...



...but not interested enough, I guess.

I offered a couple more friends for his approval:



Unfortunately, while Mr. Black Cat was sniff-worthy, he just came off as having a flat personality, so no chance there. As for poor Mr. Bat, he was flat-out rejected. I guess somebunny is planning on going trick-or-treating solo this year.

Oh well...Happy Halloween, all! :)

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Bunneh Beautification

I've mentioned before that Mickey is a year-round shedder. There is not a day that goes by that the fur isn't a-flyin' in this household. However, even for those who shed 24/7, there are certain times of the year that are worse than others, and this is one of them. It's like living with a fur version of Br'er Rabbit's Tar Baby, except that in this case, the rabbit (fur) sticks to you instead of you sticking to it.

Fortunately, His Majesty enjoys a good grooming to a certain extent, and we have also had the good fortune of some sunny weather that's not too chilly, so I have been able to bring the grooming sessions outside instead of filling my mudroom with clouds of fur. Today, I decided to make it a full day of bunny beautification by adding a pedicure and an ear cleaning.

First came the pedicure, which was a bit of a necessity as somebunny's nails have been pretty dang sharp lately. Mickey tolerates the procedure, but neither of us really like it because of one thing; blood. (WARNING: the following details are not particularly graphic, but if blood makes you woozy, you might want to skip to the next paragraph)
A rabbit's nails are like a hollow tube, and can bleed when being cut for the first time, but usually after that, the nail seals off and does not bleed when cut unless you cut too much. Sometimes, though, for some reason the nail doesn't seal and will always bleed, no matter how little you cut it. Mickey has two nails like that, one on each paw on his left side, and they always seem to bleed like a stuck pig when cut, which makes things very messy. I don't mind the sight of blood, but I hate it getting all over him and I always worry about the possibility of infection. Mickey seems to get extra-jumpy when I do those nails as well, but they have to be trimmed like the others, so there's not much I can do. We both lucked out this time; there was much less bleeding than usual--I'm guessing the result of the cooler weather, but I'm hoping maybe the nails are going to seal up after all.

Once the nails were done, it was time for the actual grooming.  I try to keep the grooming to between 45 minutes and an hour, since that's usually the point where I'm never sure if I'm causing more shedding than fixing it. Mickey enjoys being groomed, although he tends to always want his left side facing me for some reason; when I turn him around to get his right side, he manages to maneuver himself so that he's facing left again. If I turn him so I can get at his back end, he decides that he wants to explore the table for a bit, so I'm alternating between combing and retrieving. Facing forward is his favorite part; he likes to sit up and place his paws on my shoulders, then he leans against me and tooth-purrs sweet nothings near my ear and gives me kisses...then tries to chew the neckline of my shirts.

In between grooming, I cleaned his ears as well. According to my vet, lops seem to have more trouble with accumulating ear wax (probably because of the positioning of their ears). I was mortified the day she took a swab and removed a humongous lump of waxy buildup from one of Mickey's ears during an exam, so I have been vigilant about cleaning them out at least once a month. Mickey does not approve of this, although he tolerates it to an extent. He certainly doesn't make it an easy process; there is much head-shaking and bobbing and weaving involved, but I managed to get them reasonably clean.

The final detail is combing his underside, and he hates it with a passion because it means being flipped on his back. It was even worse today, because I found not one, but THREE large snarled fur clumps at the base of his tail and had to very carefully comb them out without completely de-furring his poor little cottontail.
The entire beautification process complete, I brought him back inside and even posed him for a quick photo. (Yes, I was a bad bunny-mum and combed his fur backwards to make him look super-fluffy):

"I had better be getting some extra treats for this
--and stop calling me Mr. Fluff-n-puff!"

Hopefully, the birds and squirrels can use all the excess fur I left outside to line their winter nests. There's certainly enough of it out there; my husband says it looks like the bunny exploded.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Calendar Contest Results

The results of the calendar giveaway are in. Mickey himself picked out the winner; I wrote each entrant's name on a slip of paper (two slips for followers--and yes, those are stubs from an old charity raffle) and offered them to him:

Of course, being Mickey, he wasn't going to make the process easy:

"You want me to do what?!"


"Ok, fine, but I get one banana slice for this--and put away that camera, for cryin' out loud!"

Terms were agreed upon, and so he picked a slip (or more accurately, grabbed and tossed one), and so our winner is: The human (aka Buttons' mum).

Congratulations, my friend--please email me (jade@jademyst.com) with your mailing address so I can get your new calendar out to you (and international mailing is not a problem).

Thanks lots to everyone who entered--this may be my first giveaway, but it won't be my last. :)


Sunday, October 10, 2010

New food? Pew food!

A quick reminder: the winner of my calendar giveaway will be announced tomorrow, so if you would like a Bunspace.com 2011 calendar, go to this post and leave a comment (and if you're a follower of this blog, you will be entered twice).

On to the post:

I have mentioned in the past as to what a picky eater Mickey is; if I want to introduce him to a new food, it often takes days before he'll even give it a sniff, and then a few more days before he decides if he likes it or not. Over time, I have figured out some tricks to getting him to try things, and I have figured out some patterns as to what he'll like and what he'll pass up, but overall, it's a whole lot of trial and error.

Until last Tuesday, anyway; I think I may have found an exception to the rule.

One of my regular rabbit-related readings is a column by Phyllis O'Beollain, who writes about small animal issues for Examiner.com. One of her recent columns was about the benefits of cilantro for small pets and humans. I know a number of people who feed cilantro to their rabbits, so I thought perhaps I would give it a try, so I bought some when I went food shopping this past Tuesday.

As soon as I brought the groceries into the kitchen, Mickey started going spazbunny in his cage; not exactly abnormal behavior for him, but a little odd since he'd already been fed. Usually, a full belly means a long nap, and the most I might get is a glare of disapproval for disturbing his rest. I told him to settle down and started unpacking the groceries. I always save Mickey's greens for last, so after putting everything else away, I pulled the cilantro out of its bag...

...and immediately started gagging. According to Phyllis' column, the name for the cilantro seed, coriander, comes from the Greek word for bedbug. I now know why: good gawd, what a stench!

I looked over at Mickey in his cage, still spazzing out, then looked at the cilantro. I washed some of the cilantro and gave it to him; he jumped on it like a rabbit who hadn't eaten in days. It was gone in a heartbeat.

Well, that explains a few things, like why he likes my son's feet.

I have now added cilantro to my list of wabbit food, but I do so reluctantly since I need a gas mask to even handle the stuff. A good bunny-mum must make the occasional sacrifice for her pets, though.

Speaking of which, I need to feed him.

Here's his latest video for you to check out while I do that:

Monday, October 4, 2010

Calendar Bun Contest

The Bunspace.com 2011 calendars I ordered arrived today, and they are just lovely:

(For once, my flash actually makes a pic look even better. ;) )

Of course, I immediately had to open one and look for Mickey; I found him in March.


Where's Mickey?


There's Mickey!

Of course, somebunny was a little disappointed that his picture this year is much smaller than he expected, but he is trying to be humble about it, since he knows how lucky he was to be chosen in the first place. I told him that if his pic was any bigger, no one would want to turn the page when April came around, and that wouldn't be fair to any of the other rabbits in the calendar. That soothed his ruffled fur and put him in a better mood.

And now, the contest part--these are truly lovely calendars (and I do not say that just because Mr. Mick is in there, the cute is to die for), so if you would like one for yourself and haven't ordered one from Bunspace yet, leave a comment on this post. Next Monday, I will choose someone out of all the comments received and will send them a calendar. If you follow this blog, let me know in your comment and you will get an extra chance to win.  Good luck to all! :)