My rabbit came home today…

[Boing]

Thank you all for your help answering my comparatively boring, hypothetical questions all this time!

I adopted the rabbit that I had been considering from the humane society today.  He is two years old, arrived at the shelter as a stray at the beginning of July, and was neutered in July too.  Unbeknownst to me, he was the pet of the week this past week, so it must’ve been meant to be – this was his last day at poster pet.  There were posters all over the place advertising him, and yet no one had adopted him.  I can’t see why.  

He is very curious and extremely confident.  The shelter staff said that he was the sort of bunny who would likely rearrange their pen.  This is good.  My cat is curious, but hasn’t done any of the teeth chattering I-want-to-eat-you that they can do.  I didn’t realize that I would have to quarantine him from her, because of the potential for a cat virus on him.  As such, his exercise pen is now in my spare bedroom, as that is the only place she doesn’t go.  She can still see him through the pen and the ‘gate’ (made from storage cubes).  She is just fascinated, and looks like a person would, watching TV.  He sits there staring right back and sucking in hay.  He is around four pounds.  Do you think that this is a good start towards peaceful cohabitation?  

He only seems to eat hay.  I find this odd.  I gave him Oxbow timothy pellets too.  The shelter feeds Martin Mills Little Friends pellets, but my pet store was out of them, because of a sale.  The hay is Knee Deep Farms herbicide, pesticide free, grown, cut, cured and packaged in Ontario (where I am), and is first cut timothy.  I called the company to ask about what cut it was, and they told me that their timothy hay for small animals is always first cut, because the second cut has too many legumes, I am assuming alfalfa.  It’s nice that he likes hay, but I’ve never heard of a rabbit that doesn’t eat pellets, and prefers hay.

He smells a bit musky.  Why is that?  He is definitely neutered.  It was done at the shelter, so they aren’t just taking someone’s word for it.  I don’t mind it, but find it a bit odd.

I still haven’t settled on a name.  He is a boy, but all of the names I keep thinking of are for girls.  I’m not fond of the name they gave him at the shelter.  Do you think he’ll mind if I change it?  He’s only been being called it since July.

I will post pictures later.  It would be a lot easier if he weren’t quarantined off in the other room, but I think it is good for my cat to see, but not be able to get close.

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who are celebrating it!

[LopLove]

He sounds like a nice bunny. I’m not experienced enough to be able to give you the kind of advice you’re looking for. However, I have heard of lots of people changing their rabbit’s name without consequence. I feel like it’s funny though that you have a boy and can only think of girl names – for me, it was the opposite. I got a girl and could only come up with boy names. XD I’ve always wanted a male rabbit named Earl. Because it has the word “ear” in it. I don’t know anyone else that likes that name though. :p

[MoveDiagonally]

A bunny needs to nutrition pellets provide unless they are getting large quantity and variety of veggies (veggies must be introduced slowly). Another thing to consider is that switching pellets suddenly can cause a lot of stomach issues. I would find and purchase the brand he’s used to eating and see if he eats it. If he does you can slowly switch him over to another brand if you wish. If he doesn’t then I would contact the rescue and see what his eating habits were there. If he’s suddenly stopped eating pellets there could be an underlying medical or dental issue.  

On smell, are you saying his space is musky or he himself is musky? If it’s him, have you checked his anal scent glands? They might need cleaning. If it’s his room/cage/space it might be a litter issue. What are you using?

 Cleaning Anal Scent Glands:

These are little slits located on either side of  the genital mound. They are pretty well hidden, but once you’ve found them, you gently open and “WHEW Stinky!” – But don’t worry, the smell quickly disappears.This is where that disposable cup filled with lukewarm water  and q-tips come in handy.  I just place it right next to me and dip the q-tip into water and gently swab out the area.  Check every month. You’ll soon find that some bunnies build up a waxy substance very quickly while others only need cleaning a few times a year.

https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO…fault.aspx

[Boing]

Thank you both for your comments! I am still pondering the name. Earl is an awfully cute one.

He ate the pellets last night. Maybe he was just adjusting to the idea of having moved.

The musky smell is definitely him. I think I will have to leave cleaning that to the vet; some of my cat’s vets apparently see rabbits too. He smelled like that when away from litter, etc. He is using Yesterday’s News, like my cat. So far, he is doing all of his urination there, and some of his defecation. Considering he just moved, I think that is pretty good.

They were right about him rearranging his pen – he keeps moving his cardboard house, and has dumped his hay out. As soon as he is out of quarantine, I am going to install more pen walls, so as to enlarge it. He is a pretty big bunny – I think that he is actually around the same size as my cat (6 pounds-ish). When he is out in the main room, I will post pictures; I don’t really want to post pictures of my guest room on the internet.

[Author]

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