Hiya folks,
I'm back from the murky depths of lurking hell. Actually, I'm back from spending the last few months up to my elbows in rabbit shit. Now I'm hoping to pass along a few of these rabbits to a few of you fine folk, so you, too, can be up to your elbows in rabbit shit. (Share the love and all that.)
Here's the deal: I'm active in small mammal rescue/fostering, but primarily stick with the exotic critters. However, I also work several area shelters, as a volunteer, caring for the small mammals that show up there (primarily guinea pigs, rats, mice, hamsters, and rabbits), as best I can.
A couple of months ago, one of the other volunteers approached me about possibly fostering four baby rabbits for a month or so, while she was in the hospital and then home recovering from back surgery. The baby rabbits were seized in several raids down at Santee Alley - they were being sold cheap, as perfect pets. Problem is that they were WAY too young to be separated from their mothers - they were sold the week their eyes opened, which happens about 10 days - they should be kept with their mothers until at least eight weeks of age.
Anyway, I said that sure, I'd be glad to take the FOUR babies for a month. Well, somehow I ended-up with FOURTEEN baby bunnies - some of them just tiny little ones. We've gone through several rounds of coccidia (a nasty intestional parasitic infection) that involved me syringe feeding each baby once every three hours for a week at a time.
But now the babies are all healthy (except for the one that died of siezures), well-socialized with humans and cats, active, and they need to go to forever homes - NOW!!!
The woman who'd originally asked for help has basically flaked out on me and I'm stuck with these little ones in my apartment. I do not want to take them back to the shelter, because they'll likely be euthanized, and all of the rabbit rescues are over-flowing already and cannot take any of these little ones.
These are house rabbits - they need to be kept inside as a regular member of the family, not kept outside in a hutch.
For more information on caring for a house rabbit, check out:
http://www.rabbit.org/
http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/
http://www.bunnyluv.org/
http://www.catsandrabbitsandmore.com/
If you'd like to see photos of the babies I have up for adoption, please see:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/impasinopnwindos/album?.dir=95aa&.src=ph
If that link doesn't work, then try: http://photos.yahoo.com/impasinopnwindos and check out the "7-13 Santee Alley Bunnies" album.
If you're interested in adopting one or two of these little ones (two would be best, as they're social animals and tend to live longer, healthier lives with a bonded friend), please send me an email at: laura @ lauraslist dot org.
Many thanks! Laura
― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Monday, 29 August 2005 04:41 (twenty years ago)
i'd take on a couple rabbits if i could have animals in my apartment Heck, this place doesn't allow animals, either. But they did when we moved in, so we got in with the two cats in the one apartment and my tortoise and hamster in the other.
Currently we have:
Apartment #1 - two cats, 13 baby rabbits, one adult rabbit.
Apartment #2 - one tortoise, one Syrian hamster, two rats, three male dwarf hamsters, one female dwarf hamster, one mother mouse and her eight surviving babies, and ... six hedgies, with another rescue hedgie coming in this week, but one going out to the Colorado rescue this week, too.
Sad fact: all but one of the animals are rescues from either the street, shelters, or idiots who were going to freeze them (I took in three rats from an idiot who thought that was "humane" - two of the rats were female and VERY pregnant - thank goodness the Rat and Mouse Club of America had space in their local rescue to take in the two female rats, who had 13 and 15 babies within five days of being snatched from the plastic bag going into the freezer). Really makes me disgusted with humanity in general (though I still like individuals, which means I've not totally given-up on our species).
― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Monday, 29 August 2005 05:38 (twenty years ago)