I need suggestions to motivate my bun to eat more hay. He had his yearly checkup today and the vet said his back teeth were a little long. He still eats well and doesn't seem bothered by them so I don't want him to have them trimmed just yet.

He always has a ready supply of hay. It is all over his room and I can never tell just how much he eats. I buy Oxbow Western Timothy Grass, Oxbow Orchard Grass and Oxbow Botanical Hay (not as frequently, harder to find) and give him a mix of both. He has timothy hay pellets every day too for a little extra nibble in addition to his greens.

What can I do to encourage him to eat more hay?

The Phooka has been having elderly-problems. About a month ago I had tried to start him on aspirin and glucosamine as per our vet. Whereas it did seem to bring him some pain relief, it also started up additional problems - poopy-butt,

Two weeks ago, the vet had me take him off all meds and foods other than pellets and hay, although I kept him on his papaya as he was shedding terribly, and one Cheerio at bedtime. Neither of those had added sugar to them. I also gave him more pellets at his normal salad time, because try feeding three cats and NOT the bunny. Ain't gonna happen, and he needed the extra food since I was essentially doing away with one meal.

For about two years, he had lost control of his "pooping" muscles. That has stopped almost entirely. Apparently he had gas so badly that the poop was coming out with it. I had never noticed, because he never showed any symptoms other than what I chalked up to old age. He is moving better and grooming more. He does still have some occasional bouts when he is asleep, now that I know what to look for, but they seem more fleeting. He still has arthritis-related issues - he can't jump up on furniture - but he is getting into mischief (had to pull him out of a closet today) and for the last three mornings, he has snugged up to my feet under my desk as I work.

Friday, the vet ok-ed to start him on liquid glucosamine as the powdered/capsule version was a disaster. This is cherry flavored. He was actually squeaking in eagerness before I had even given it to him, just from smelling it.  I've never heard him do that before. Honk, yes. Squeak, no. Today I gave it to him on a little plastic lid, rather than syringe and he happily lapped it all up. And lapped. And lapped. I thought he was going to lick a hole in the plastic!

I'm working on altering a ramp so he can get up and off the bed by himself. My father had made a ramp for Gekko many years and several homes ago, so he could scamper up to a window perch. It is about the right length to prop in the lower drawer of my storage bed at one end and the top drawer at the other end, but it doesn't have any traction for him and it makes him nervous. Still, I have plans to put ridges across for claw-holds. There's still a eight inch drop from the bed surface to the ramp surface and the ramp is the width for a mini-lop, not a French Lop, but it has a raised edge on the free-standing side, and I think it will work. I just don't want him jumping off the bed - even two of the cats have a hard time getting up and down from it because it's so high.

And he does love his naps with me on the heated mattress pad. He now shoves all blankets aside, so he can be right on the heat. His favorite way is to have me on my side, so he can shove his rump against my chest and under my chin, then stretch out with my arms on either side of him. As he relaxes more and more, he gets longer and longer, until he is out at his full length with his head shoved under my hands. There is lots of licking until he falls asleep. Yesterday, he sat up and dugdugdug... then suddenly FLOPPED! He hasn't done a real flop in a long time - just a Lean Against This And Slide Down type of movement. And he flopped while he was in my arms. Then he went into a very deep sleep and had dreams, with twitching paws and whiskers.

If a cat joins us, especially little Mew who will shrink against him if Smidge comes near, he is in even more bliss. He'll still teach them a thing or two; Mew was startled by his digging last week and bit him. He remained still for a moment and I could see the thought process: This is Mew. She's a scared cat. We give her leeway. But... We Do NOT Bite The Bunny! And he bit her back. She was very startled... but she hasn't bit him since. I'm taking a note from his book - when she bites me, I'm biting her back too, and her biting has backed off a lot since then. The Phooka is very wise and knew she was ready for discipline and not so much coddling now.

Dear Mew,

I am delighted that you are getting braver and that the brave is coaxed even further by curiosity. I think that by now, your sleeping during the day in the linen closet is more by choice than by fear, although I do wish that you would jump to the HighestHigh Shelf on your own without begging me to heist you up there. It's not much higher than the low shelf, which you manage quite well. I know you have short stubby legs, but if you can jump up onto the bed, you can reach the HighestHigh Shelf from the toilet.

Coming down is even easier, and you have managed that pretty well.

This, however, does not mean that I recommend that you walked off the HighestHigh Shelf onto my shoulders.

ESPECIALLY when I am cleaning The Phooka's poopybutt.

He is embarrassed enough by his elderly need for this cleaning. Not to mention is it a Delicate Area involved and that he has to be turned upside-down for such ministrations. Having you step off the HighestHigh Shelf onto my back, walk up my shoulders to peer over and watch for a few minutes, then turn around and SIT ON MY HEAD, BACKWARDS, with your front feet on my neck and your butt on my head and your tail hanging over my face... is not conducive to making sure the baby oil goes onto the right part of the rabbit. Most importantly, it does not help the grumpy rabbit to withhold his temper and not KICK THE BEJEEBUS OUT OF ME while your tail is drifting back and forth over him. In front of my face.

That rather ended all productivity. I managed to set The Phooka down. You refused to step off my neck. You weigh ten pounds now, kid. You hurt. I managed to wobble-walk to the bed, intending for you to step off there.

Smidgeon was on the bed.

This did not bode well.

Disgusted with the whole situation and smelling rather strongly of bunny poo, I admit, I shoved you.

Which meant that you, Smidge, and The Grumpy Phooka were now all within three square feet of each other.

I did the wisest thing possible.

I fled.

Under the guise of scrubbing my hands, of course, but yes. I fled.

When I came back, Smidge was still on the bed, tail lashing. You were in the clothes closet, and The Grumpy Phooka hadn't moved.

He glared at me.

Thumped.

Left the room.

He had waited just long enough to tell me off.

Next time, dearest Mew... STAY IN THE CLOSET! We'll all live longer.

that Geezer is well and truly back to his old self.  There is much eating and pooping and destroying of our house.  There were even binkies last night.

Once again thank you everyone for your support.

Just a quick update on Geezer.  He seems to be making a good recovery.  He is eating all his greens with gusto and even munching on a few pellets.  His hay consumption is improving every day, it's not what it was but I'm sure it soon will be.  There has been an increase in poops and are looking healthier, not quite back to normal but I'm sure they will be when he eats enough hay.

As far as personality goes, he is back to destroying the house and playing with all his toys and there are lots of flops.  All in all, almost back to normal, he tried to join in with me doing yoga last night.

Thank you everyone for your support and I hope my next post in a few days will be to say he is back to normal and driving me crazy.

Ok so I mentioned in my last post that Geezer ate a little food Thursday night and pooped a little and then ate some parsley Friday morning and then my partner got him to eat some more herbs and hay whilst I went to work.

I had a little panic when I came home from work on Friday evening though as it didn't look like there had been any more progress so I phoned the vet.  During the hour we had to wait I managed to get a syringe of liquid food into him and then also tried mixing some pellets with warm water.  He became interested and hate a few mouthfuls.  I cancelled the vet appointment as maybe I was being impatient.

Here came the problem we were meant to be having a small party, my OH convinced me not to cancel and I think that was a good thing.  Yes Geezer hid for a little bit but then he came out for some fuss, from anyone who would give him any.  I made sure no one picked him up but he was very happy with the attention.  When he went back to hide I slipped some celery into his hiding place and he ate some.  Once everyone had gone I tried some more liquid food.  Again, he didn't want and ran to his hutch.  I sat by it for a while and talked to him.  First there was some eating from his bum, yay at first, until I saw he left half of it, but then he went to his litter tray.  He was there for a while ate a little hay and then there was the most awful smell.  He ate some more hay and got up and I discovered lots of poop (smelly poop but the most in a couple of days).  I refresehed his bowl with new greens and went to bed.

I got up this morning and there were more poops, some hay eaten and half his greens were gone.  He doesn't seem as happy as he has been but has been grooming me most of the morning.  I tried some liquid food just to keep things moving but only got half a syringe.  However an hour later he ate from my hand 2 bits of leafy parsely, some kale, 3 basil leaves and a tiny bit of romaine lettuce.  He then wanted to eat the wall and none of his chewing blocks were good enough.  Currently he is sitting in his hutch hiding.

I'm going to try every few hours to tempt him with food and hope that eventually things get moving properly.  I have read up about GI statis and I think I am doing the right thing but I know I am being impatient.

Anyway I will keep you all updated.

It's been a while since I have been on LJ whether to post or lurk but I need to share as I'm so worried.

Basically I came home from work yesterday evening and my bundle of fluff (Geezer) didn't seem his happy self.  I tried not to bother him as I knew there were road works outside my house all day so maybe the noise had disturbed his sleep and he was tired but was a little shocked he showed no interest in raisins.  Anyway when it was dinner time, he still hadn't moved from the computer chair, so I changed his litter tray, tried to tempt him with dinner, gave him some fuss but eventually gave up and went to bed.  He was responsive but generally uninterested.

When I woke up this morning at about 6am I was bracing myself for the worst.  Luckily he was alive and sitting hunced in his hutch (we didn't lock him in there overnight as he was out of sorts) but his food was untouched.  Again he was responsive but not moving fast.  I went through his litter tray and no poops so instead of going to work I phoned the emergency vets and took him in.  After an examination he displayed pain in his abdomen and an empty stomach, so she gave hime a pain relief injection followed by a gut stimulant injection.

Whilst waiting in reception for her to type everything up for me and the my vets and so I could pay, we noticed he started to nibble on some carrot I had left for him.  Good sign yay!  I was given some liquid food to make up but maybe I wouldn't need it now.

Since being home he has drunk some water but that's it and although he started on some carrot it really was only a few nibbles.  After an hour I made up some of the liquid food and syringed a small amount into him.  He wasn't overly impressed and disappeared as soon as possbile.  There has still been no sign of eating of toiletting yet.  He is booked in at my vets for another gut stimulant late this afternoon but I'm just hoping he gets better soon.

Part of me feels silly for taking an emergency holiday day but I work 60 miles away from home so can't even go in and come home at lunch etc as it's too far.  The vets seemed to think we caught this before it turned into GI Statis but I'm worried if he doesn't start eating and pooping soon that it will go that far.   This is the first time I've had to deal with it so really am just getting this out there so it's not all in my head making me more tense.

There will be a delay in my writing of our holiday letter.

I was grounded today for trying to eat the notebook computer.

Woe.

Howdy.

I know rabbits like cold better than heat but what is too cold? I live in Portland, OR and I was thinking of building them a hutch and a run outside in the backyard. I don't know if they can go out there in the winter or only in the summer.

Any tips on keeping them warm? Or should I just keep them in the basement (which is where I live.)