Once upon a time, there was a crazy lady that really loves to watch the online classified ads like Craigslist and Hoobly and WLEN’s (that’s a new one… thanks Julia!) and such like that.
And when she sees something odd, she likes to enquire and see what goes.
So when she saw an ad for angora bunnies, for $20… she was puzzled and wondered… and called. And since she had a little time to waste in the big city while her youngins were visiting… well… she went.
And she was pretty surprised by what she found. Bunnies alright. English angoras… two of them. And a family that was a little overwhelmed at the moment with work and kids and livestock and a little hobby farm of their dreams that was a lot of work, it seemed. They had a little corner of a tumble down barn set aside for a rabbitry, but to be honest, it was a little on the rough side. Super hot, most of the animals didn’t have a lot of water or food, and the cages were well, pretty ah, dirty.
Now, mind you, I understand, a farm is a farm and it’s rarely pristine unless some big corporation owns it and it’s a pretend farm for visitors. I get that. But there are occasionally times that you have to say, wow… ah, a little rough here, eh? And yeah, we’ve been there, and you get out the shovel and rake and you clean it up and all. And having been in small animal rescue, let me tell you, I’ve seen FAR FAR worse. But overall, it wasn’t the cleanliness issue that really startled me, it was the overall condition of the rabbits that bothered me the most.
Young man handed me the buck and this poor bunny was SKIN and BONES… it was bad enough that his underbelly and feet were filthy and matted badly, it was the fact that I could feel every bone in his spine and his sides and legs, it was dreadful. The lady told me she feeds them hay… and apparently that was all. Now, I’m no expert, but from what I’ve always known and such was that hay was kinda like a snack… fiber from something to do to pass the time. They need a decent quality rabbit pellet to really keep weight on and be healthy. And hay can vary in quality and nutritional value. It was just dreadful.
The pictures, honestly only show the surface of the matting and filth. It was just pretty nasty.
They were apologizing for their rabbits condition, and telling me they only had then a while and they just didn’t have the time to groom them (or apparently feed them appropriately) and I could see that they were taking the necessary steps to find homes for them and perhaps get their bearings before embarking out on more homesteading adventures. I hope so. And I’m really sure that they probably didn’t realize that angoras need a lot more care then, say, Californians or some other utility breed. I just couldn’t leave them there. So I paid for them and got them in the car for home.
The little girl, the buck’s daughter, was not as bad, for grooming, but she was just as starved as her sire. They told me that she had a litter from her father but they all died. I can’t imagine why. Nutritionally, I doubt she could have delivered a healthy litter or fed it when she was starving herself. Apparently they had the mother as well but she cut her foot and then got frostbit and lost her leg and then died. Hmmm. Imagine that. It was just heartbreaking to hear any more.
I really didn’t have anything prepared for these guys in the car, but I did have a big tote I had gotten for the homegrown chicks, and a cat carrier, so the little girl went in the carrier and the buck in the bucket! haha… And I stopped and got a pair was water bottles and a bag of super premium feed for them. Got them home and watered and fed them, the poor things were eating like mad. I didn’t want them to get sick, so I doled out a little feed at a time over the night and daytime, every hour or so, a little more. Each time, they just ate and ate until it was gone in record time. Gave them each a little carrot and a wee bit of greens and then just let them rest and rehydrate. They drank so much, it was just hard to watch. We have been having some record hot days in the high 90’s and more!
The next day, we all started to groom and trim and help these babies get to feeling better. Jessy has all the sudden become the bunny champion, as she explained to me… she really wanted to deal with a farm animal that didn’t mean she had to go out to the barn! She’s not super at ease with the chickens, and though she likes the sheep a lot, she’s just not the super outdoorsgal of our little trio. Since Maggie has really fallen for chickens and her egg business, and I the sheep, well, it was really cool to hear that Jessy had the bunny bug! We made plans to build her a lovely hutch for the screen porch, so they would be closer and easier for her to care for her buns.
Well, the buck, she is calling Odin. And his daughter… Grizzelda. Which goes in hand with Gwendolin and Oswald. Ancient Norse and Anglo Saxon warriors and maids. Can’t say my kids aren’t into their ancient history! (haha) And right now her plans on nursing the two English bunnies back to good health. They are super sweet and friendly, which just makes me even sadder… it always seems to be a sweet natured animals that take poor conditions in stride. Even after 24 hours of good hydration, cool temps and a bag of premium chow, both Odin and Grizzy were a lot perkier and hopping up to see us and visit. They tolerated our intensive grooming efforts so patiently, even though we keep it to just 10 or 15 minutes at a time. And they loved being able to get out and hop around the living room.
After we clipped away that really nasty tags and mats from Grizzy, and let her down to play, she was just hopping all over the place and doing these happy little bunny twists in just extreme happiness! She was pushing a dog ball around and nibbling carrot and just so friendly and lively! It was wonderful to see.
Odin, he was another situation though. We began to realize that his back feet were bound tight in mats! His fur was so badly matted and filthy that he could not extend his feet out and hop! It took us a good deal of very careful clipping to get his legs free and when we got the first free, he just kicked and kicked as if he was finally free of the torment! We got the other free as quickly as we could and then set him down to play. He had the most unusual gait for a while, weak, and hesitant, I’m sure he had been this way for a while. He had to rest frequently, just so weak from the lack of food. We settled him back in his crate for the evening and let them both rest.
Dog crates are not great for bunnies, but for a day or two, they will work. We went and designed a great big 4 cage bunny hutch and bought our lumber. We’re starting tomorrow to get it all put together. It’s going to be just lovely… and it will be on the back screen porch for easy access. It’s been 2 days now in our care and they are still skinny, of course, but you can sure see their increased energy level and spunkiness coming out. We have been letting them have a little play time with our Frenchies, of course, watching Odin like a hawk because we are not ready to breed bunnies yet at all. Odin likes to romp with Ozzy, our neutered French male, and they are getting along nicely. The little girl, Grizzelda, she adores Ozzy and just follows him around, grooming him and nuzzling up with him. We’ve let her stay with him and Gwen in the afternoons and visit some and everyone is getting along nicely. Jessy has been retelling me every detail of angora bunny lore, care and history as she reads our book and is searching the internet for more education. I love it! She’s even got the paperwork for joining the Angora rabbit association and all ready to be sent it. She’s hooked! Haha…
Me? I just like sitting and combing and brushing them… they are so soft and sweet. Odin is a doll baby, he just loves any attention you give him. And of course, a little treat is always welcome.
Even Edward likes the bunny flock… haha…. he was walking around with them and trying to figure out what the heck these hairy giants were! It was pretty funny to watch. The kitties are silent observers… the French angoras are bigger than them, but the English are about the same size. Still, they are just not sure what the heck those things are!
Just another little tale from the Windhaven homestead…
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