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Forum DIET & CARE Petie won’t stop licking/grooming bunnypuppet

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    • lashkay
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        After I lost Buddie, I was desolate and I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t yet ready for another rabbit, but  I was desperate for some relief.  I bought several different sleeping bunny stuffed toys meant for infants and tots that looked appealing to me to sleep with, including a puppet and slept with each of them in the hopes they would bring me solace. They may have helped for the first few days, but missing Buddie’s wriggling and snuggling, the charm of the inanimate toys wore off and I knew I wouldn’t be comforted until I got another pet bunny. So I put the toys aside with the thought of selling them.  One of the toys was a fairly realistic lop rabbit in a “asking to be groomed” position -  a hollow puppet bunny very soft and snuggly and somewhat floppy being a puppet you put your hand inside and put your fingers in the paws and make him move around,. I was watching Petie wedge himself between some of the stuffed beds and chairs in his pen and thinking perhaps he is lonely and would like a little “companion” I put the puppet on his blanket. He immediately hopped over enthusiastically  and started grooming the puppet – licking it, at first its head for a while, then the whole body.  Do you think I dare leave the puppet with him overnight to lick some more and maybe sleep against?  I’ve heard of incidents where pet rabbits developed blockages from fibers they ingested from plush stuffed animals given them as toys and sleeping buddys. Is there a safer alternative then entrusting him alone with the plush puppet?  I’d like to try another inanimate companion but only if it’s safe.  THANKS.


      • Monkeybun
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          Moose grooms his bear all the time, and hasn’t had any issues with it. I think as logn as you check it regularly to see if its losing any fuzz you should be ok.


        • RabbitPam
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            I haven’t had much luck inspiring interest from either of my bunnies in toys. Sammy tries grooming her little tiger once in a while, but it became clear that it wasn’t going to groom her back, so she ignored him after that.

            My suggestion is going with the toy with the shortest hair/fibers, no small bits that can be chewed off, and if yu are concerned that he will chew and swallow, leave the toy outside the cage so it’s a daytime playmate when he is out of the cage. But if it’s pretty smooth and he hasn’t chewed or pulled any parts off, no major holes, and isn’t stuffed anywhere with beans, it probably is fine inside with him. As MB said, examine it routinely for missing pieces.


          • Elrohwen
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              Hannah groomed her stuffie all the time (and slept with it and carried it around) before she was bonded to Otto. I would worry if his grooming seems obsessive – maybe give it only under supervision for a few days to make sure he’s not going crazy with it, but some grooming is normal.


            • Deleted User
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                I made an edible plushy out of wool and stuffed with cardboard chips because I was worried too.


              • lashkay
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                  I will keep a close watch on it. From what I can see, Petie tends to leave the fabric items in his pen alone as far as nibbline or chewing goes. Last night I left the puppet with Petie and there are no signs of chewing, pulling plush, or nibbling. I did see him flop with his body against the head of the puppet before I turned out the light. I will closely monitor him with it, thanks.

                  Petzy, can you go into that a little more, that’s just what was rolling around in my mind last evening…I’m intrigued by your idea, thanks. Is wool edible, or only certain kinds? The outside of the buddy you made is wool, that you buy in a fabric store, maybe organic? Sewn up with cardboard chips inside? Do any of your buns nibble at the wool trying to get to the cardboard chips inside? And there’s no worry of – pardon the pun, “wool’block if they nibble it? I suppose you would need to remove it from them, if they do as with any other. I would like to make a wool buddy for Dustor & probably Petie too.


                • Deleted User
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                    Posted By lashkay on 12/02/2010 10:23 AM
                      Do any of your buns nibble at the wool trying to get to the cardboard chips inside? And there’s no worry of – pardon the pun, “wool’block if they nibble it? I suppose you would need to remove it from them, if they do as with any other. I would like to make a wool buddy for Dustor & probably Petie too.

                     

                    That pun is funny~ I thought that the main thing would be to avoid long fibers to be swallowed. The wool was from a lady I know who dyes her own wool with plant pigments. It was roven sheep’s wool the kind you can just pull apart. It’s not twisted into strong coherent fibers yet. It just comes apart. I knitted that into a tube thing with ears attached and inside I stuffed shredded cardboard. My rabbits did bite through the wool and dug at the cardboard.


                  • Deleted User
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                      I suppose you could use rabbit’s angora wool, undyed, but it would cost you.


                    • Deleted User
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                        huh, as a matter of fact, you could mix in some of your rabbits’ angora into the wool fibers as you knit or crochet the tube body. That would be a perfect stunt double for bonding too.


                      • lashkay
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                          Petzy, thanks for the great ideas for a stunt buddy for the bunnies. I guess I’m just a bit concerned that if I used a live rabbits’ angora wool, if they groomed it, it would stick to their tongues and become ingested, same as when they groom themselves. I suppose I could bind the finished thing in a hair net made for humans, to avoid their ingesting any wool, tho.


                        • Monkeybun
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                            Honestly, I don’t think you need to worry about it as long as the bunnies are eating alot of hay and drinking plenty of water.


                          • Deleted User
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                              Agreed with Monkeybun. It takes more than a few hairs of angora to get a blockage: hairs just pass through the bunnies with the hay. It’s when the rabbit is very much sedentary, as in a cage all the time, and ingesting lots and lots of fur over time without passing it, and also eating a low-fiber diet, that the rabbit can get the so-called woolblock. Other blockages can happen if foreign materials are ingested, but even a healthy bunny with lots of hay can sometimes get stricken with a blockage. If you wanted an edible plushy adding a hair net which is synthetic over top of it would defeat the purpose of being edible in the first place.


                            • jerseygirl
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                                I think you should give Petie Dustor instead.         Or vice versa.


                              • lashkay
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                                  Petzy, the hairnet was just a thought and it would be a hairnet made entirely of natural human hair, which I heard of. May take some doing to find one.

                                  Jersey, I wish Dustor & Petie were neutered and I had a neutral space to introduce them. The neuters hopefully will happen after the new year, but there’s some heavy-duty rabbit-proofing my apartment that needs to be done before I can let them loose in it. My phone/internet service ran a white cable all the way around the outer perimeters of the room so that and the other cords, need to be dealt with. Not that I welcome the onslaught of urine all over the place as if the carpet is dirtied beyond salvaging, there goes my pet deposit up in smoke. They’ll keep the money to replace the carpet when I move out. I’d love to let Dustor & Petie have free range and give them an opportunity to snuggle together tho. Of course, the best laid plans can go awry, but I’m with you. An inanimate object can’t hold a candle to a cuddle-bun fraternity bro, I’m sure, if it works out. It’s going to be an exciting new year!


                                • jerseygirl
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                                    Oops, I didn’t realise Dustor wasn’t neutered yet.  They’ll make an adorable pair.

                                    Human hair item for rabbits….there’s some irony in that.

                                     


                                  • lashkay
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                                      Thanks, MB & Petzy, and everyone, your points are well taken. For the time being, I guess it’s safe to leave the puppet in the pen as Petie seems to only be lying against it. He seems to be done grooming/licking it as well, maybe because he doesn’t get groomed back. He seems to be eating a lot of timothy and blue combo and I just put an automatically replenished water bowl in for him so now he has two water sources. SIGH I hope I’m being a good mommy. The main wolf i’m trying to keep away from the door is the ever-present in my mind worry of wool-block. I only brush them every four or five days because it’s so nerve racking to them, and so to me. I watched bunnytowne’s video of her combing one of her rabbits with a hair-buster comb, which I use as well, and she just combed combed combed and collected a lot of wool in the tines. I’ve been trying to be extra gentle but thinking that’s not effective enough, I tried to follow bunnytowne’s example but I know it pulls at their skin then. SIGH


                                    • lashkay
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                                        Thanks, jersey, I hope they make a pair at all! lol Knock on wood, fingers crossed, carry a rabbit’s foot OOPS! …I mean, a HORSE SHOE! The only rabbits feet we want to see are those attached to our precious bunnies!

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                                    Forum DIET & CARE Petie won’t stop licking/grooming bunnypuppet