Chuck as most of you know is blind and deaf, so he only has three senses left and is often a little nervous. Two things I'm working on is his comfort level and his enjoyment of playing and life in general.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on this! I'm sometimes not the most creative so there may be better things I could be doing for little Chucky.

One thing is his comfort level-He does immediately figure out where he is by thouching all the corners when placed somewhere. To accomodate him in this regard I always put him in the same two exact spots. His couch, I put him in the same spot on it, on his blanky. Back to his 'room' I put him down in the same position in the same litter box. This way he can sort of hopefully start to predict where he's going and feel more confident and less helpless.

The other thing I do is I don't pet him out of the blue, it makes him jump. Can't really tell him I'm coming either. Sooo I gently touch one whisker before head pets. It seems to be working as he immediately lowers his head for nose rubs now when I do this.

Another thing is his exercise or fun. The ONLY thing I've found so far that he loves (beyond eating alot and sleeping in majorly cute flop positions) is digging and attacking his blanky. Soo he has one on his couch and a towel to play with...they both look like swiss cheese. And he has a little blanky in his home area. He's doing really well and even lost his fat 'skirt' he had when he first came, even though he's a massive eater, presumedly from finding some daily exercise terrorrizing blankets.

Just wondering if anyone had more suggestions to make him feel more comfortable and help him play more?

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omg K&K, what an amazing person you are! sounds like you really have it under control and he looks pretty happy!!!

would bonding him w/ another bun help him to be more comfortable? or would the bonding process be too stressfull?

how did Chuck end up deaf/blind and how did you end up w/ him?

OH!! Sooooo sweet.  He's just beautiful too.

I was researching tips and came across info about blind deaf cats, and picked some things out of there that would work for bunnies.   

You can also gently blow on them to get their attention.  Seems to be less startling according to article.   Also when putting food down wave your hand  across the food bowl to give him a strong whiff of food. (though it seems the food itself would be strong enough), but if you don't want to startle him with a treat or bowl right under his chin, then that's where I guess the gentle flow of air from your hand over the food will help him look for food before he's startled.

Source:http://www.petpeoplesplace.com/reso...034-02.htm

KK - please keep us updated on what you learn about helping him as there just doesn't seem to be enough on the net, and I'll mark link this in the FORUM FAQ section for quick reference.

Being deaf he does have advantage of not being suddenly startled by noise as other bun do. Does this make him more relax or more anxious as he has to rely on limited senses?

I just though of something.  How would he go in the bathtub (if you have one) ?  Would he feel a bit trapped in there?  My thinking is he could suss out the parameters, enjoy the nice cool surface, and you could put things in there with different textures to explore.  Willow balls and rolled up socks that he can push around or toss.  Or would he just get bored and lie down?

I am loving this bunny and loving everyone's advice! What creative bunny-lovers we have here!

And it must feel strange to be picked up when you can't see your surroundings, and even hearing could help a little bit when being picked up, so it must feel incredibly disorienting, like he's falling, and since he has no idea how far he is from the ground, he probably is just trying to get somewhere stable. Maybe a bunny burrito would be more comforting when you pick him up? Something close and secure around him - hard to know what might keep him calm under those circumstances.

The diggy box sounds like that would be fun as it does really cater to smell and touch. Can't wait to hear how he reacts and we have to see pics of those flops!

chuck is such a sweetie!   i was also going to suggest blowing a gentle breeze on his wee face to get his attention.  i do this with baby bun who i think is at least partly deaf too.  when she sleeps she does not hear my approach and if i pet her she starts terribly and scrambles away in a fright... so i gently blow a waft of air so that it tickles her nose / whiskers & then she wakes up gently for pets. 

have you tryed getting chuck to play with dangling bits of paper?  since i read the thread a while back about the 'jellyfish' toy where you cut strips of newspaper & dangle them down i've made good use out of flyers & old papers doing this.  both my girls will basically ignore them unless i dangle them in their fav spots to hang out in & low enough so that they have to brush through. 

Ok trying to add videos, wanted to show how good the diggy box idea was!! He loves it!! I tried the regular box we had and he was upset, but making a diggy box in a box he knows and can go in and out of on his own-what genius...

So here's my chuck happily terrorizing paper!!

http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/...ction=view¤t=MVI_1853.flv

http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/...ction=view¤t=MVI_1854.flv

Diggy box videos were sooooo adorable!!

yes he sure is a sweetie!  he obviously loooves that diggy box... so cute.  i loved watching him dive right in & go to town