The Bunny Camp Newsletter is brought to you by Leeds & Bradford Hopper Group in support of The Bunny Camp Sanctuary, who kindy let it feature on Rabbit Rehome. If you have any queries regarding the newsletter, appeals or rabbits in it please contact them directly not Rabbit Rehome.

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Bunny Camp News

Volume 2 Number 1 January 2004

Contents:-

  • All the latest from The Bunny Camp.
  • Bunny Health
  • The Barbara Peters Pages
  • A story from the Rainbow Bridge
  • Comment from our editor
  • Bun of the month
  • Flopsy Girl’s Agony Column new feature
  • Join the Leeds & Bradford Hopper Group
  • A reminder of who we are
  • Some useful contact details

Ø Bunny Camp News is produced by the Leeds & Bradford Hopper Group

Ø In support of The Bunny Camp Sanctuary.

All The Latest from The Bunny Camp

It’s nice to be able to bring you some good news sometimes. Below you will find some details of buns that we have re-homed subject to home checks & stuff.

Orlando is a medium-large English cross buck. He is white with brown markings and is a really handsome bunny. He is in good health and will make a lovely pet. He was used for breeding and does need neutering as he misses the female contact! He's inquisitive and was nervy when he arrived at the sanctuary but has really changed. He now loves being cuddled and kissed.
04.02.04. RESERVED

Violet is a blue and white Dutch. She is fit and well and has a nice temperament. She is approx 2 yrs old.
04.02.04. RESERVED

Emily came into the sanctuary this week. She came from a good home but the owners were not prepared for her exuberance and did not bunny proof their cables (she was kept as a house rabbit). She is approx 6 months old. She's quite headstrong and can nip occasionally, but she will make a nice pet for experienced rabbit owners . Her previous owners have kindly agreed to pay for her spay in return for us taking her on.
04.02.04. RESERVED

More of The Latest from The Bunny Camp

Chancy came into the sanctuary on 15th January after he was rescued from a neglectful home. He was kept in a yard in a filthy hutch, and went for long periods where he had no contact with any other living creature. He was often left without food or water, and yet he somehow managed to remain a lovely attentive, and healthy bunny. His exact age is unknown but he is probably medium aged. He is quiet and placid and loves being cuddled. He is mainly fawn with a few brown markings, like a marbled effect-but he's not a pure Harlequin. He's slightly on the thin side but otherwise he has surprisingly good health.
04.02.04 RESERVED

Bunny Camp still has lots of residents waiting for a loving home. You can see details and pictures of all of our buns that are available on the rabbit re-home website at :-

http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/search.asp?ContID=200

Bunny Health – What do I do if...

by Paul Hutchinson

The first thing to say is, if you are in any doubt about your bun’s health, you should visit your vet. There is no substitute for a well trained and dedicated bunny vet.

Although at Bunny Camp, we are very fortunate in having Simon (who is superb) nearby, and Francis Harcourt-Brown (who according to Dandy is the best bunny vet in the world) within easy striking distance, not everybody is so lucky.

There are other things that can help. A prime source of information and help is the internet. There are many discussion groups that you can participate in that are full of bunny people with a wealth of experience that are more than willing to offer advice.

My own personal favourite UK based group is UK pet rabbits, who can be found at:-
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UK-Pet-Rabbits/
They are a real friendly bunch who welcome new members with open arms.

Probably the largest group of all is an American group called etherbun. You can find them at:-
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/etherbun/
Sometimes, the huge number of messages that appear on this group can be overwhelming, but there is a wealth of knowledge to be had if you have the time and the patience.

Finally, I would like to recommend two websites, both American, but both excellent. They are:-
http://www.rabbit.org/
There is so much information on this website that I have STILL not managed to get through it all, and:-
http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabrefs.html
Lots of health and other advice.

The Barbara Peters Page

TISANES

In an effort to keep my rabbits in tip top condition over the winter, I have continued, on nice days to go out “weed collecting”. Of course during the winter months there isn’t that much growing and what is, needs to be conserved as long as possible. So I turned to my herb book and found the section on Tisane’s or herbal teas to you and me.

I have a snuffely cat and rabbit, so the wild mallow, yarrow and sticky weed I collected I chopped up finely, covered with plenty of boiling water and left it to steep for a good few hours until the water went nice and green. This I strained and put into ice cube bags for adding to the water bowl.

You can do the same with Fennel seeds bought from a corner shop that advertises “Indian spices”. Two of my rabbits suffered from gas attacks earlier in the winter as they had to eat more and more spring greens, so I was quite determined to find away of stretching out my fennel plant.

You can of course also use other dried herbs in this manner. So have a try.

SOUP

One or two new UKPR members have asked for the soup recipe recently so I thought it might be a good idea to re-print it.

Take one small saucepan

Thinly slice a small amount of garlic (an immune booster)

Thinly lice a small amount of onion (Vitamin C and good for colds)

Slice spring greens, dark Savoy leaves, blackberry leaves, grass (fibre)

Carrot (phosphor-good for weak floppy rabbits)

Tomato puree (phosphor and Vitamin .C)

Add any other vegetables that your rabbit likes. You can also add pellets.

You can use dried herbs such as:

Fennel, mint and marjoram (calming digestive tract)

Thyme (good for colds)

Parsley and dandelions (diuretic so be careful)

Add plenty of water, put lid on and boil until vegetables are soft and blendable. Tip the whole lot into a blender, and whiz as fine as you can. You must add the water not only for ease of blending but because all the vitamins and minerals are now contained in the water. ou can now add a pro-biotic.

I have always found that when it comes down to syringe feeding rabbits, they prefer the taste of the soup and mine have actually lapped it from a saucer.

You can “tailor make” your soup in conjunction with advice from your vet to suit the illness by adding or deleting ingredients.

A story from the Rainbow Bridge

Adapted from a story by Barb.

The bunny arrived at the Rainbow Bridge, and many rabbits rushed up to greet him. He braced himself, expecting a fight, but these were the first animals that binkied and kissed him instead of attacking him. It was beautiful here, and everyone was nice to him. None of them had been born in a bad place like he had, none of them had been neglected and left to die in the cold and all alone, because they were less than perfect, and had a torn ear and were not cute.

They explained why they were waiting... for their humans who loved them. "What is love?" the bunny asked, and God let him go back to earth, and find out.....

Warm, and dark, he squeezed in with the others and waited for the day to be born. Scared, he held back as long as he could, but finally got dragged out, by his hind feet. Hands without fur held him gently and rubbed him dry and opened his mouth and guided him to a warm nipple with milk. He didn't get a good hold on it, because one of his big fat brothers pushed him aside. The human hand moved the other bunny to another nipple and held his body, so he could drink. "Ahhh, that's better," he thought, and drank until his jaws got tired and he curled up to sleep next to his warm hairy mother. "I remember this," he mused... Too bad I'll have to grow up to be left out in the cold and rain to die. I remember what it's like, being unwanted." he thought sadly.

That night, he crawled up to his mother and tried to nurse, but he kept getting pushed off to the side. When they were full, the big brothers and sisters got their bottoms cleaned and he finally latched on to a nipple, but the human hands weren't there to hold him up, and there wasn't any milk in any of the nipples, anyway. He was weak and so tiny. It was even hard to stay upright, and he fell over on his back and couldn't right himself.... but suddenly the human hands were there, holding him up and putting a rubber thing in his mouth. It didn't taste or feel like mother, but it was warm and made the ache in his tummy go away.

He was having trouble breathing ... His lungs weren't fully developed, because he had waited too long to join the others in the womb, as he took one last run around at the Rainbow Bridge. He could feel the heartbeat of the human, who had laid him on her chest and covered him with a soft cloth, keeping him warm, and soothing his boney body with gentle circling touches. He kept thinking of his new friends who had been so nice to him at the bridge and asked God if he could go back. God said "Yes, but not just yet. You wanted to experience Love. "So for several hours (seemed like days but it was dark and he couldn't tell what time it was), the human supplemented his feeding and let him experience the warmth of his mother's body and tongue, and the pile of warm soft littermates.

He got weaker, and the human held him more often, leaving the littermates to sleep in a pile while he got caressed, kissed, and got to listen to the heartbeat which was strong and loving. Finally God came back and asked, "are you ready to come back to the Rainbow Bridge?" "Yes”, he responded, with a little sorrow, because the human didn't want to let him go, and was crying. He pushed the air out of his lungs and floated back to the Rainbow Bridge and looked back at the human, who was still crying and holding the limp body that he had borrowed for his trip. "Thank you, God," he said. "Love is beautiful, and I will wait near the Bridge and let the human know, when she arrives, that I loved her, too."

End column By Dandy

Ebony-Eyes

Hello Everybun, it’s nice to talk to you all again.

This month, I want to tell you about a very special place in Wales called Ebony-Eyes retirement home. It is a place where old and ill rabbits can go to spend their last days in comfort and luxury; it is run by two wonderful people called Jay and John, who spend every waking hour caring for the bunnies in their care. As you would expect in a place where all of the residents are old or ill, they often lose a precious much loved bun, which is never easy, but sometimes it is especially hard for them if they lose somebun who has been with them for a long time.

This week, Jay and John lost Poppit, who had been fighting illness for a long time. Poppit was the very last of the original residents of Ebony-Eyes, so the loss of this little soul was particularly hard for them, and they have not taken it well. Nevertheless, they are going to continue to look after for all the other buns in their care, and will no doubt have many more to look after in the coming months and years.

On behalf of all the buns you have helped, and are continuing to help, I just wanted to say thank you.

Bunny Camp News has a new columnist this month. My beloved Flopsy Girl is the new bunny agony aunt. If anybun (or any 2-foot for that matter) has anything that they would like to ask Flopsy Girl, just send an e-mail to her at bcnews@ntlworld.com and Flopsy Girl will give you all the answers next month.

Read Dandy’s live journal at http://www.livejournal.com/users/dandybun/

Bun of the month
Poppit

Flopsy Girl’s Problem Page

Dear Flopsy Girl...
We had a treat ball given to us yesterday by our 2-foot, now we had a little trouble getting the treats out at first, but we soon got the hang of it. To cut a long story short, our 2-foot tried to get a few treats out of the ball this morning, but had some difficulty. Our question is, do 2-foots have the same brain power as us buns? As sometimes we do wonder. – Loppy

Well Loppy. It’s plain that the 2-foots are not as intelligent as us buns. After all, they spend all day at work to slave away and make enough money so that they can afford to keep us in luxury, and we let them!

Dear Flopsy Girl...
The obvious question, how do we get MORE FOOD? We are on this diet to help Mister Jingles, but come on, we have been on this for a week or more ...... – TiGgEr & Honeybunny

I think that the best thing to do is to start to eat the carpet and the furniture. 2-foots think that these things are important, so if they think that you are eating them because you do not have enough food, then they will give you more.

Dear Flopsy Girl...
How long do diets last? – Mister Jingles

All diets last too long

Dear Flopsy Girl...
we have heard the saying of "you cannot teach an old dog new tricks" whatever that means. How can we teach Honeybunny to use the litter tray? We have tried everything. – Bobbin

Dear Bobbin, you have not said how old Honeybunny is. With buns, we get more intelligent as we get older, so we can always learn new tricks. You will just have to be patient.

Dear Flopsy Girl...
How do we convince our 2-foot (the one with not much fur on top of his head) to let us going in the rest of their condo? We are ONLY allowed to stay in their kitchen... It's a big kitchen mind! – Gin & Tonic

Ah this one also takes time and patience. You have to be really cute, so much so that the 2-foots can’t bear to let you out of their sight. In order for this to happen, obviously they need to allow you to go wherever they go.

Dear Flopsy Girl...
What do we need to do to get a bunnygirl? – Gin & Tonic

This is not an easy question to answer. You need to let your 2-foots know that they are being cruel to you by depriving you of a girlybun to spend quality time with. You need to appeal to their higher sensibilities. If I were you, I’d pee on the floor.

Dear Flopsy Girl...
How do we do to seduce a bunnygirl? We have spent Valentine's day together and had no girly bun to write a poem like Dandy did for you :( – Gin & Tonic

In my experience, the best way to seduce a bunnygirl is to pamper her. Leave all the best food for her, lick her ears clean, and generally submit to her every desire….

If you have a question for Flopsy Girl, please send her an e-mail to :- bcnews@ntlworld.com Flopsy Girl will be happy to help 2-foots with their problems as well as rabbits, or any other animals.

Why not join us?

The Leeds & Bradford Hopper Group meet about once a month, usually in a child friendly pub (yes Sonya brings her kids!). We talk about Bunny Camp and plans for the future, but we do not just confine ourselves to that. We are a general talking shop for all things rabbit, and would love to welcome any Bunny Camp News readers to join us.

If you would like details of where and when we meet, then call Allison Girt on 0113 239 7408 (evenings), or e-mail her on : alison.girt@btinternet.com

Who we Are

Here at the Bunny Camp Sanctuary, we strive to provide a safe haven for rabbits who, through no fault of their own, end up here because they have been mistreated or neglected, or simply because their owners can no longer look after them.If you are interested in re-homing or sponsoring any of the gorgeous creatures that we have, or simply wish to make a donation to this worthwhile cause, please contact:

Sonya and Jim McDonough
4 Stoney Ridge Avenue,
Heaton,
BradfordWest Yorkshire
BD9 6PA
England
Tel: (0044) 01274 821665
Email: bunnycampsan@talk21.com

Useful Contacts

R.S.P.C.A. regional headquarters
P.O. Box BR29
LS13 2XL
Phone (24 hours) 08705 555 999

The Rabbit Welfare Association PO Box 603,
Horsham,
West Sussex
RH13 5WL

Some Other Good Rabbit Sancturies

BUNNY BURROWS. RABBIT RESCUE
Gwen & John Butler
68 Whitefields Drive,
Richmond
North Yorkshire
DL10 7DL

Telephone: 01748 824788
Website:- http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/bunnyburrows/index.phtml
E-Mail:- bunnyburrows@ne.communigate.co.uk

Society for Abandoned Animals
The Peggy Henderson Animal Sanctuary
Barfoot Bridge
Stretford
Manchester M32 9UP