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Forum DIET & CARE Leaving the buns for the weekend?

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    • Hokankai
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        I go home to my parents’ house every weekend and packing/unpacking the rabbits to go and come back is getting very tiresome. I was wondering if leaving them at my apartment would be feasible? Two of them share a cage, but I think I’d divide the cage in half so that they each get their own food/water source. Is this a good idea? I don’t want to stress them out, but I also don’t want Theodore eating Ariadne’s food (she gets twice as much as he does and eats it in little spurts), or vice vera.

        I leave this afternoon and come back Sunday evening, so that would be 48 hours unsupervised. I’d put a heaping pile of veggies in each half of the cage, fill their bowls with more than normal food, and put a large amount of hay in there. Would this work? The only thing I worry about is Theodore eating all of his veggies first and then stuffing himself with pellets and not having any left halfway through the weekend. He’s a HOG and will eat until he can’t eat any more, haha. 

        This is how I would divide the cage

        downsized_1009121913_zps33955664


      • Sarita
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          I wouldn’t divide a cage of a bonded pair.

          Do you have someone who can come and check on them while you are away? Is that a possibility?


        • Hokankai
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            I don’t. My housemate is gone on vacation and I literally don’t know anyone in this area 😐


          • Hokankai
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              I’ve decided to leave them here and not divide the cage. They’ll just have an more pellets than normal, which isn’t that big of a deal since they’re Oxbow.

              Not only is it super obnoxious breaking down the cage and setting up their xpen cage at my parents’ house, but they spend 1.5 hours each way in the car, a couple hours in their little travel cage once we get there because I don’t feel like setting it up right away, and then poop allllll over the floor of the cage every weekend. Plus they go from being in my room where it’s nice and quiet to living in a house in the main area where there’s a ton of noise (tv, brother, dogs barking), and a cat who likes to stalk them from outside the cage. That and Ariadne has chronic white snot issues, and I don’t want the stress of moving her to cause flare ups.

              They hate it and I hate it, so why do I keep doing it? Haha

              On a normal weekend my housemate can pop in and feed them, this weekend just isn’t one of those.


            • Beka27
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                48 hours is a long time without anyone feeding or watering. Personally, 36 is the longest I’d go, and I feel like even that is pushing it.

                Do they drink out of a water bottle? I’d leave a large water bottle (or two) and a bowl if that’s what they’re accustomed to. Give twice as much hay as they’d normally eat (since they won’t have pellets or veggies for at least 24 hours).

                For the future, it would be a good idea to make contact with someone who pet-sits. For a nominal fee (maybe $20) they would be able to stop in once half-way through to feed and water.


              • NikitaSue20
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                  I live in the same boat you do. I go home to visit my parents frequently and sadly i had to work it so i go there friday afternoon and come back saturday night. Sometimes i wish i could stay longer but i just can’t leave the buns for any longer than that because they tip there food dishes and spill all their hay


                • Hokankai
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                    I’m really really not worried about it. I think we’re all just a little bit paranoid sometimes.

                    When I left they each had a bowl of pellets that equaled enough for another full day without me there, both hay racks full of hay as well as a wicker basket full of hay, a bowl full of hay fines (from the end of the bag), two huge crocks of water (they drink out of bowls and I know how much they drink in a day), and two days worth of veggies.

                    My guess is that they ate the pellets and veggies last night and will have hay to go off of for the next 24 hours. With the amount of calories they’ll have eaten they’ll be perfectly fine. They’ll get pellets tomorrow night when I get back.

                    There’s no way I’m paying someone $20 every weekend to come in and check on my rabbits -_-. I’d rather just pack them up and bring them with me, but they don’t like coming and I don’t think they’ll have any problems.

                    Edit: Oh! And I left a treat ball full of pellets and almond slices for them to work on when they get bored or eat the easy to get food.


                  • Hokankai
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                      I just wanted to update that they SURVIVED!

                      They made it 52 hours without any supervision. Their water was close to empty (I brought they’re huge water bottle home for next time) and they made a HUGE mess, but that was expected since I left a big bowl of hay fines for them to rummage through.

                      They had plenty of hay left, and were excited to have their pellets and veggies tonight, but I’m pretty sure they’re a bit pudgy from all the pellets they ate. Also, I MUCH prefer the looks of excitement from seeing me than the looks of contempt as I toted them around with me, haha!

                      This is going to make my life SO much easier!


                    • Beka27
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                        Posted By Hokankai on 10/13/2012 05:01 PM
                         
                        There’s no way I’m paying someone $20 every weekend to come in and check on my rabbits -_-. I’d rather just pack them up and bring them with me, but they don’t like coming and I don’t think they’ll have any problems.

                        You said in a previous post that your roommate can usually always check on them, it was just this one time the roommate wasn’t available.  I was not suggesting that EVERY weekend you hire a petsitter, but it would be beneficial to at least know of one for the rare occasion when it’s necessary because your roommate is not available, or if you choose to be gone longer (a long weekend for example).

                        I’m glad things worked out this past weekend.  I do feel you took a great risk not having anyone check on them for over 2 days.  I’m not sure how familiar you are with the various health risks rabbits face, but if digestive stasis was to become an issue, they can take a turn for the worse over a short period (12-24 hours).  Not being present to seek vet care (or having someone else available with the capacity to act on your behalf) could prove devastating.

                        You are, of course, within your right to do whatever you want.  I just hope nothing bad happens.  And as a general rule: nothing bad happens, UNTIL it happens… and by then it might be too late.


                      • Sarita
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                          Well, I’m glad they are alright. I do think though that it would be beneficial to find someone to check on them at least once during the weekend just in case. Hopefully in the future your housemate will be able to check on them as you probably don’t want to make a habit of worrying every weekend about them when you go to your parents…that’s no fun.


                        • Hokankai
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                            Don’t worry, my housemate is home and loves the rabbits, so I’ll have her feed them Saturday evening next weekend. My rabbits have never had any stasis problems, but I am familiar with it which is why I left so much hay and water in there for them. They just finished their molt, but I pluck them everyday for loose hair, and since they were left in their own cage in a quiet environment there weren’t really any environmental stressors. I think the stress of packing them up, driving them home, unpacking, having a ton of noise around them, and then packing them up and driving again would be more likely to lead to stasis but yeah, you never know.


                          • lindsay715
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                              I often visit my mom for a night or two over the weekend and I always bring the bunnies with me – even if just for a night! Mine never seem particularly stressed, but they have gotten used to the carrier and love going back to my mom’s house because it’s fully carpeted on the second floor, and they have run of the house (which gives them a bit more space than having run of my apartment… ) And my mom loves to see them too. And they get lots of basil leaves from the garden which is their favorite.

                              I think it is not too stressful for bunnies to travel especially if they have a companion. I guess it depends on the situation, but I think it is possible to make it work. What are the main problems for you in transporting them? How long is the drive?


                            • Hokankai
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                                I have been bringing them back and forth with me, it’s just way more work than I want to have to do. Ariadne hates going in the car and never eats while she’s in the travel cage, which is 1.5 hours each way. I don’t have a permanent cage at my parents’ house because they don’t want it set up all the time, so I have to drag out the xpen and the coroplast base, set it up, set up their litterbox, toys, food, waterbottle. Then they poop all over the cage the entire weekend because it’s a “new” place, so when I leave I spend at least an hour packing them up and cleaning everything up. That and packing to leave with the rabbits is annoying. When I go HALF of the stuff I’m toting around is for the rabbits -_-

                                It’s not that I can’t take them with me, because that’s what I’ve been doing since June, I just don’t want to anymore.


                              • lindsay715
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                                  I understood that you have been bringing them with you – I was just wondering if any of the problems were things that could be changed/improved. I agree it’s definitely a time consuming process. I guess I’ve just gotten used to it! By the way – my drive is about 50 minutes each way, but I don’t bother offering any more than a bit of hay in the carrier. I think most rabbits will not eat when travelling, and it isn’t problematic in short drives.

                                  I would recommend having your housemate not only feed them but also check for any signs of illness maybe a couple times over the weekend. You might have to explain to her the warning signals in rabbits if she doesn’t know. I don’t say this out of paranoia – there are a lot of really sad posts on this forum from people who have lost rabbits very quickly after showing symptoms, even if the rabbit was fine the day (or hour!) before. 24-48 hours can make a huge difference when a rabbit is ill. So if your housemate is able to inform you if anything does happen, it could be really useful


                                • Monkeybun
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                                    Posted By Hokankai on 10/13/2012 05:01 PM

                                    Edit: Oh! And I left a treat ball full of pellets and almond slices for them to work on when they get bored or eat the easy to get food.

                                    I want to add, never give your rabbits almonds. Nuts of any type are not good for them whatsoever.


                                  • LittlePuffyTail
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                                      I agree with Lindsay. It`s important to have someone at least check in on your rabbits at least once a day. I`ve had a rabbit who was never sick a day die within hours of showing stasis symptoms.


                                    • Hokankai
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                                        Posted By Monkeybun on 10/16/2012 04:17 AM

                                        Posted By Hokankai on 10/13/2012 05:01 PM

                                        Edit: Oh! And I left a treat ball full of pellets and almond slices for them to work on when they get bored or eat the easy to get food.

                                        I want to add, never give your rabbits almonds. Nuts of any type are not good for them whatsoever.

                                        The amount of almond they get in a day is pretty insignificant compared to everything else they eat. They were being used for training because they loved them and the slices they get are seriously like 1/5 of an almond…meaning they got like, one almond a day. I feel like that’s better than the papaya treats they get too, which are full of sugar and a lot bigger. Both treats used extremely sparingly.

                                        Again, my housemate will be home, so the rabbits will be seen everyday. They’ll be seen all Friday until I leave, Saturday by my housemate, and Sunday when I get home and by my housemate if she feels so inclined.


                                      • Monkeybun
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                                          Almonds are on the toxic foods list I use, so I would stop if I were you. There are other, safer treats to use.


                                        • Hokankai
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                                            Why are almonds toxic? I know that wild (bitter) almonds produce cyanide, but domesticated almonds do not.


                                          • mocha200
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                                              This quote is from a article written by Dana Krempels, Ph.D who is a very reliable sorce. Here is the link to the article: http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html

                                              Remember: a rabbit is a lagomorph, not a rodent or a primate. The rabbit digestive tract is physiologically more similar to that of a horse than to that of a rodent or primate, and the intestine and related organs can suffer from an overindulgence in starchy, fatty foods.

                                              NEVER feed your rabbit commercial “gourmet” or “treat” mixes filled with dried fruit, nuts and seeds. These may be safe for a bird or hamster–BUT THEY ARE NOT PROPER FOOD FOR A RABBIT. The sole function of “rabbit gourmet treats” is to lighten your wallet. If the manufacturers of “gourmet rabbit treats” truly cared about your rabbit’s health and longevity, they would not market such products.

                                              Don’t feed your rabbit cookies, crackers, nuts, seeds, breakfast cereals (including oatmeal) or “high fiber” cereals. They may be high fiber for you, but not for your herbivorous rabbit, who’s far better able to completely digest celluose (“dietary fiber”) than you are. Fed to a rabbit, the high fat and simple carbohydrate content of “naughty foods” may contribute to fatty liver disease, cecal dysbiosis, obesity, and otherwise cause health problems. 

                                              Almonds are also on the toxic list on this website that is recommended by the House Rabbit Society:

                                              http://adoptarabbit.org/articles/toxic.html


                                            • Hokankai
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                                                As a treat, I don’t think an almond a day (or less, they have 4 different training treats I rotate through in a session) is going to cause the diseases mentioned above. It takes a lot over a long period of time to cause those things, and the amount of almond that they eat in a day makes the risks extremely low. I think the high simple sugars in fruit people give their rabbits is just as dangerous and those are usually given in quantities larger than an almond. Treats are just that, treats; severely limited in quantity and not meant to be given on a regular basis.

                                                I appreciate your comment, and while it’s true that bitter almonds ARE toxic to many animals, the domesticated almonds we eat on a normal basis are not a threat. I think the House Rabbit society put it on there as a “catch all” just in case. They tend to error on the side of caution in a lot of things.


                                              • Hokankai
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                                                  Double post.

                                                  Also, considering my almond slices are almost gone (I have a tendency to eat them while I’m training…LOL), I just won’t buy more and will stick to the arguably healthier papaya and dehydrated banana treats I have for training.


                                                • bmt87
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                                                    This thread has gone all over the place but I wanted to add 2 things:

                                                    1. I know the feeling on having a bun that hates (HATES!) traveling. It is SO stressful to my bun and she is seriously shaken up and anxious/seems sick/not herself for at least a day or two after a car ride. So I completely support your decision not to take them anymore. It’s hard. I get ya. I know you were in a bind with the someone to check on them thing – even though I know we all have our pets best interests at heart (I mean we are taking the times out of our day to post on a bun forum after all!) sometimes we have to make the best out of a tough situation – so props. I would have been so stressed the entire weekend.  I’m glad you have someone to check on them now.

                                                    2. About the almonds… I have a SEVERE nut allergy (as in – I have had to use an EpiPen twice). I am only allergic to true nuts known as ‘Tree Nuts’ and am not allergic to peanuts because they are not actually nuts – they are legumes and I have been very curious about almonds. I know I have had almonds before by accident – you’d be amazed what they hide nuts in! – and not had a reaction and always thought I was crazy until I started really reading up on it recently and have read that almonds are actually not nuts but a seed of the drupe family. I’m not willing to be a guniea pig and test this theory – anaphylaxis is *slightly* dangerous – but maybe knowing that almonds are not nuts and also not a seed of the traditional variety (like, say, bird seeds) so maybe this is just an under studied area and not really been looked into in a rabbits diet. Just curious and thought it might cause a conversation and be interesting.


                                                  • Hokankai
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                                                      Yeah I’m not sure what happened to my thread…but you know online forums, you post one thing and it seems like everything else you’re doing gets called into question as well. I’ve been part of the pet forum community for several years now so I’m used to it, haha. 

                                                      Thanks for the support! And that’s really interesting about almonds. I know they aren’t in a shell or hull and are in a kernel instead, so maybe that’s one thing that separates them from the nut family.

                                                      They seriously loved staying home, and I bought Xpen over the weekend so they’ll have a little run while I’m gone.

                                                      I actually wasn’t stressed at all, haha. Stressing does nothing productive so I try to be laid back about most things. I feel like when things go wrong it’s usually when I’m thinking about it too much. LOL


                                                    • Monkeybun
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                                                        Ha yeah sorry I kind of shifted the topic there for a bit I’m always of the opinion of Better safe than Sorry when it comes to my buns


                                                      • mocha200
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                                                          Hokankai: I wanted to let you know that I wasn’t try to attack you or anything. You asked why they were bad so I did a little research and that was what I found. I enjoy figuring out why things are and stuff like that. I know that humans know very little about the human body know WAY less about rabbits! Things are always changing because people are finding out knew things! So they may be wrong and they may be right. Who knows. That’s science for ya! I really hope you didn’t take me the wrong way. I apologize if you did.


                                                        • Hokankai
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                                                            Nope, I didn’t. I figured there was going to be some research done when I asked why they’re considered toxic. I’m actually in the middle of my chemistry rotation at a hospital (where I actually DO toxicology analysis everyday) becoming a medical lab scientist, so I was legitimately curious. I know that things like obesity and fatty liver take a long time to develop, and because the amount I was feeding was so little the risks were minute. It’s like saying drinking one beer a day is definitely going to cause cirrhosis of your liver or something, which isn’t true.

                                                            I’ve learned to take everything with a grain of salt, so no worries!


                                                          • mocha200
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                                                              That’s good! Its always hard to tell over the internet :p We have had quite a few people come on these forums and take something wrong and angrily leave!

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                                                          Forum DIET & CARE Leaving the buns for the weekend?