Another foster: Hillary, a Jersey Wooly

Hillary's staying with me till she gets rid of a cold. She needs medicine twice a day and I'm giving her probiotics and immune system boosting herbals more often than that.

She a sweet little thing--can't weigh much more than two pounds. If she looks bigger, it's really all fur. The Jersey Wooly was initially bred by crossing a Netherland Dwarf with an Angora rabbit. They come in lots of colors. Hillary looks sort of like a Blue Point Siamese or Himalayian cat. She has blue eyes, which is fairly unusual in rabbits.

Over the weekend, I built a condo for visiting rabbits. This one is perfect for a tiny rabbit like Hillary. It's 28" by 42" and 28" high, with little rooms on 4 levels. She has her two litter boxes, one with litter and one with hay. She can eat hay out of the latter but she still uses it as litter.

Speaking of hay, this long-haired rabbit needs hay even more than a short-haired rabbit because the risk of ingesting too much hair while grooming itself is considerable. She needs combing out often, but it's not onerous because she loves it--sits still and lets me comb. She must know her chances of finding a loving home depend on her looks!

Hillary is sweet-tempered and cuddly. Because she's so little the condo with four levels gives her considerable exercise. She likes to run around on the floor too, but you have to look at the world from rabbit level to remove all the potential hazards first. Things like wires she might chew or hidey holes she might vanish into.

In the picture, she's sitting on the 4th level. Rabbits like both high perches and little spaces so this little spot is perfect.

Bonding Bunnies

Bunnies are social animals and they like to have friends, but they're particular about who their friends are. Experts say the easiest to "bond" are are a spayed female and a neutered male, though same sex partnerships are often successful too, especially when bunnies are brothers or sisters and are adopted together.

If you have a single bunny who needs a friend, take your bunny along when you look for a partner. My dwarf albino Charlie didn't like the little hotot who was his size at all and picked a part lop bunny twice his size.

I took Topsy along and she got along with several of the bunnies. I picked Quinn because he was both cuddly and assertive. But he'd just been neutered so I decided to keep them separate for awhile. It took more than a month before his first impulse was not to mount her. And they always started to fight. So I started putting them together for short periods every day and separating them before the fight started.

The standoff seemed to be who would groom who first. I could almost hear them saying, "OK, if you lick my nose, I'll lick yours!" Finally, yesterday I saw Topsy grooming Quinn and then a while later Quinn grooming Topsy and sure enough, now they're friends. I'm not quite ready to leave them alone together when I'm not here but clearly that's coming. Thanks goodness. I was worried there for awhile!

Stormy, a Fuzzy Lop

The Bunny Buddies, rabbit rescue organization I belong to, currently still have more than 50 rabbits available for adoption as a result of a seizure of rabbits from a breeder who could no longer care for them. It's been a huge project for the organization. Individuals are "fostering" as many as 16 rabbits. Most of the rabbits are Jersey Woolies or Fuzzy Lops.

Recently I took Stormy, a Fuzzy Lop, home for the weekend from a local business where the owner is taking care of a bunch--and where I volunteer twice a week. I thought she needed socializing since she bit me twice. Turns out, though, she was just scared. She's really a lovely ball of black, white, gray and brown fur, with ears that go to the floor. She loves to have her fur brushed--good thing since it will have to be done often--and she'll sit quietly in my lap for hours. She's also an active investigator when I let her roam in my bedroom. All the "rabbit proofing" I did for Quinn is more than good enough to keep her safe since she's not the jumper he is.

I already have 4 rabbits, but am mighty tempted by this one!