Piddles: November Update

 

Enjoy the following update into the life of Piddles

...an Extraordinary Rabbit!

written by S. Jebb

 

PART ONE: Click Here
PART TWO: Click Here

PART THREE:  November 2014

 

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Princess Piddles turned 3 months old about a week ago. She is now 1lb 15oz. She has completely turned the living room upside down. I have to say I never thought I'd live like this! As I write this she is in the cat's bed under a blanket tent in a leather chair sound asleep. What a life. I mentioned before that we raised 10 Borzoi at one time and have 4 cats now, but I have to admit Piddles is more work than all the others. Every piece of furniture is covered and in some places it has 3 layers of covers. Those teeth always want to check things out and leather furniture is at the top of the list and the wood on my vintage trunks are not bad either. My husband, Steve, gave her an old leather belt and sometimes it satisfies her and sometimes not.

She was getting to be more aggressive as we put her out in the mornings and brought her in at night. With what we had read and what we were seeing, we thought we might have to let her go. However, she has no fear of predators. As the weather turned cooler, Steve brought her house inside. I never knew what to do with the large hearth we have - well it's a good thing we have it - her house takes up one whole side of it. I thought with her fur coat and supper padded cubby she would want to be outside. Nope! What a difference in her behavior. She likes being in all the commotion and LOVES to tease the cats. It is not uncommon for her to be dancing on her patio when the cats are sitting under her house with their eyes intent upon her. She seems to be denying the fact that two of the cats would like to have her for Thanksgiving dinner. One of the other things we are working on is getting her used to a leash. She does pretty well until we can't keep up with her and then she panics. When she panics, she wiggles and can get out of the leash. The smallest leash we could find is still too big for her. Hopefully, when she is over two pounds we can get this to work, because it is fun to see her in tall grass.

Her latest diet is a gourmet delight. Now along with the arugula, she likes dried bananas, kale, cashews, almonds, and pecans. While she will put up with dried alfalfa, fresh alfalfa is the bomb. Since we now have chestnuts available, these are a wonderful treat. She loves chasing a chestnut, but her mouth is just too small to catch it. She has one to play with and we cut as many in half as she wants.

Not sure if I'll be able to decorate for Christmas. My Thanksgiving arrangements have taken a real chewing. It's taken her a while to figure out to the get to them, but she has managed. It's amazing to watch her put her mind to something and how she tries to do it and then when she does it, I have to jump up to save it. They say elephants don't forget -- well neither does Piddles!

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Your pet is getting older, but the care you give throughout its lifetime can minimize and prevent disease as he or she ages. Proper care includes periodic checkups, routine vaccinations, parasite control, dental examination, regular exercise, and a good diet.

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Winter Pet Safety Tips

The cold weather has arrived and so have the holidays. While this time of year can be great fun for your pet, be sure your winter habits don't leave them out in the cold. Cold weather poses special risks for pets, such as running out of water (frozen over or power outages) and increased pain from arthritis in senior pets. Winter dangers aren't just about the cold temperatures and it is best if you are pet-prepared.

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Piddles: October Update

Enjoy the following update into the life of Piddles

...an Extraordinary Rabbit!

written by S. Jebb

PART ONE: Click Here

PART TWO: October 2014

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 Just an update on little Piddles...October 16th she was 2 months old. It has been fast and curious for her. And yes it is official, she's a girl! She was 1lb 3 oz. The vet said she is in much better health than most of the rabbits she sees. (Dr. LeBeuf who sees our other animals, does not treat rabbits, so Piddles goes to another Vet) She has outgrown so many houses. Her store bought house has already been remodeled once and it is just about to start it's second renovation. This one will most likely become an indoor nighttime house. If my husband does what he wants, the bottom floor will be 4 x 8' and will be a 3 story! Which will include real grass and read sand, along with her potty box. It will of course have a race track and will be mobile so we can move it. Plenty of tubes, hammocks and other things to play on.

In wanting to learn more about rabbits we've picked up 2 books. The first one was about raising rabbits for fur and meat. I have to tell you that Piddles wanted nothing to do with it! She said she was too cute for that nonsense. I have to admit I was a little surprised too, that so many people do eat rabbit. The second book is really about domestic rabbits. Some of it she disagreed with as well. Such as the part about climbing. Piddles loves going up and down ramps along with climbing onto the backs of chairs. She also loves obstacles, which the book said we would have to train her on. No way, she figured it out on her own. We moved the ramp in an effort to keep her curious and playful. Her favorite thing to climb is actually inside the reclining sofa chairs. They have pockets in them for housing the workings. But she says the pockets are quite comfortable. We raised 10 Borzoi and currently have 4 cats, and I will admit I never expected to have a rabbit running around the living room. So I can tell you it's true...she pretty much potty trained herself once we put the kitty litter in her house. She does on occasion leave a few drops behind, but not very often. Now on the other hand, she can leave an amazing amount of little piles everywhere. I know this is for marking territory, but really 4 or 5 at a time!? Thank goodness they are dry and easily picked up. She plays in the living room for 1+ hour every morning and a little longer in the evening. Wow, can she kick up her heels doing happy dances. She loves to jump from place to place to clear obstacles. I think in some way she is getting even with the cats for pulling her out of her nest. She loves to race full speed to their bed, scratch it and then rolls like crazy. This has now become what we call the Piddle Roll.

Another thing the book said was for them to have a water bottle. Nope, she said no way. At least that is what we think she was telling us, because she always managed to get it off her house. She likes a full bowl of water. We are trying to figure out how to make a small fountain similar to the Drinkwell the cats use. Can't wait to see how this turns out.

The book also said she wouldn't like the wind. We thought this might be the case on the windy day we had a few weeks ago. Nope, we have a fan pointed at her house and we find her on the her patio all stretched out and tummy toward the fan.

What a life for a rabbit. But then again, she is Princess Piddles.

ps: As I'm writing this I can see her and I love watching her groom herself. She is very particular about getting her face and ears clean.

 

SPECIAL NOTE FROM DOC LEBEUF:

Rabbit pellets (poop) are an excellent garden fertilizer!

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Winnie and Doc

Thank You, Doc!

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This is Winnie and Doc.

She just loves Doc!

-Mark Shroeder

Winnie's Poppa

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