The Carrot Tribune - April 2021
In this issue...
Bunny of the Month
Knuckles Finds His Way Home
Cooperative Care
BUNS is closed to the public due to Covid-19. We're looking forward to reopening the shelter, restarting Hoppy Hour, and holding Basic Bunny and Guinea Pig classes again. Until it's safe to do so, we are here for the rabbits and guinea pigs and for bunny and piggie parents.
Bunny of the Month
Tiki is a calm and sweet chap with some wild Lionhead fur! His mixed breed good looks extend to a very soft and petable coat with snow white coloring, and beautiful pink/lavender eyes. This well rounded bunny is looking for a human who will give him a loving, forever home!
Knuckles Finds His Way Home
(a true story)
Knuckles was lost. He left his yard to visit that nice patch of clover. At the sudden barking of a dog Knuckles began to run. He ran until the barking stopped. He did not want to go back past the dog. He did not know how else to go home. Knuckles was lost.
A nice voice called to him and a gentle hand reached down to pet his head. Knuckles looked up. “Will you take me home?” The lady picked him up and walked to a home.
“This is not my home!” Knuckles began to wiggle.
“Just hop inside the cat carrier,” she popped him in and closed the door. Then she put him in a car and drove off in the wrong direction. When the car stopped, the woman carried him into a building that smelled of dogs.
“This is not my home!” Knuckles hopped to the back of the carrier to hide. Hands reached inside and began to pull him out.
“Cute bunny. Let’s see if he’s micro chipped.” A flat plastic thing rubbed up and down his back and began to beep.
“This is definitely not my home! That is no way to treat a bunny,” he thought as he was stuffed back into the carrier.
“Well, he’s micro chipped. Leave him in the carrier while I call his home.”
Soon Knuckles heard the happy voices of his family who took the carrier to their car. When the car stopped, Knuckles looked out the window.
“THIS IS MY HOME!” And though no one could see it inside the carrier, he gave a little binkie.
Knuckles found his way home because his family had him micro chipped. No bigger than a grain of rice, the microchip connects Knuckles to information about his family, address and phone.
Sadly, since 1992 no more than 10 stray bunnies out of 2,900 found their way home from the shelter. None of them were microchipped. A micro chip makes all the difference. After Hurricane Katrina, the pets that were micro chipped found their owners. Micro Chipping your pet is part of emergency preparations. Do it today. Your vet can microchip your rabbit. Or, you can contact BUNS for a microchip appointment. Call 805 683-0521 or email info@bunssb.org.
Cooperative Care
By Jean Silva
“Give her 1.5 cc’s by mouth twice a day.” the Vet Tech said handing me a bottle of medicine, a syringe and Fang’s carrier.
“How am I supposed to do that?” I thought as I smiled and nodded.
Once home, I checked the internet and found all sorts of helpful suggestions:
Wrap your pet in a towel like a burrito. No good. It took both hands to keep Fang wrapped in a towel.
Have someone hold the bunny for you. My husband held Fang. Fang tried had to bite my hand whenever it came close to her mouth. The burrito had been a big mistake.
Finally, I squeezed drops of medicine onto a mini shredded wheat until it soaked in. Fang, ate it right up. Problem solved – sort of.
In those days I gave medicine to the sick animals at BUNS. I tried many things. Pry the mouth open and shove the pill down the rabbit’s throat with a finger. Ouch. It worked for the vet. Use a Pet Pillar instead of your finger to place the pill in the back of the mouth. The pet spit the pill out. I held the mouth closed until the pet swallowed. If looks could kill. Mash the pill with banana and serve it on a tiny china plate. If the pet refused to eat it, draw the mixture up in a syringe. Hold the bunny and squirt it into the mouth. Small wonder the everyone began to back away whenever I came near.
Then I began to see zoo animals that voluntarily came forward and stood still for an injection. I bet they never even tried to wrap the hippopotamus in a blanket like a burrito. Hmmm. My friend Peggy Hogan trained her horses to voluntarily participate in dental exams, eye treatments and wound care. People were calling it Cooperative Care. Wow! Did I really need to pick up, immobilize and pry open an animals mouth to give it medicine. What if I just offered the meds to the bunnies?
I started with a honey flavored liquid anti-inflammatory (Meloxicam, also known as Metacam) that most bunnies seemed to like. I’d draw up the medication in an oral syringe and make a small “bead” of the stuff on the tip of the syringe. Then I would put the tip of the syringe right under the bunny’s nose near the mouth and gently move it back and forth until I felt the bunny take the syringe into its mouth. As I felt the bunny lightly chew or move its lips on the syringe I would slowly depress the plunger. If the bunny stopped so would I. When they began again, so would I. Some of the bunnies began run toward me as I approached with the syringe. That’s a good sign.
When Clyde was prescribed SMZ-TMP I picked him up, held him still, lifted his lip and gave him the medicine. He hated it. He would run away when I approached. That’s a bad sign. Well, I thought why not? I loaded the oral syringe and tapped it on the enclosure wire to make noise. Clyde came over, sniffed the syringe and drank the whole thing. The medicine was fine. Clyde just hated being caught and immobilized.
I offered the syringe when Bindi was prescribed SMZ-TMP. She was happy to drink the medication from an oral syringe. Bindi lives with her mom, Ponta. When Ponta saw Bindi happily drinking her medication, Ponta wanted some too. I started giving Ponta a rabbit pellet for each dose of medication Binda drank. One night as we sat on the couch, my husband asked, “Why are Ponta and Bindi standing there?” I looked at the bunnies who were liked up at the edge of their enclosure.
“They are waiting for their medicine.” I said, all cool. WOW! Not only were they voluntarily taking medicine, they asked for it.
Next I tried Juniper the guinea pig. She was new to the shelter. But she took treats from my hand. So why not medicine. Juniper swallowed the SMZ-TMP and tried to pull the syringe out of my hand.
When the Vet Tech hands you an oral medication, consider just offering it to your pet. You might be as surprised as I was. If your patient has a companion, please bring something for that bunny as well. Bunnies and guinea pigs are more comfortable in groups and no one wants to miss out on treats. Engaging both animals gets good momentum going.
It helps if your bunny or guinea pig is used to taking food from your hand. So long before your bunny or guinea pig gets sick, offer some parsley, cilantro or food pellets from your hand. Do that regularly.
If they don’t take medicine voluntarily, try changing the delivery method. I have had good success squirting SMZ-TMP onto spoon sized shredded wheat for example. Rabbits will eat the SMZ-TMP laced biscuit even if they declined straight SMZ-TMP. Mixing a medication with banana can work too. Tossing it as dressing on a salad is another possibility.
If none of those things work, then it may be time to get out the towel and try a bunny burrito. But try something else first. Your bunnies would appreciate your thoughtfulness.
Peggy Hogan can be found on www.clickertraininghorses.com