My sister and I went to collect Cherry from her Foster carer’s house in a south-east suburb of Melbourne on Friday, 26th May at 10:30am. They were a really sweet young couple, who clearly loved the small black bunny very much. They explained to me that she loves oaten hay, her pellets and pats. Cherry was their first bunny, so they were relieved to find out that she came litter trained, and ready to eat everything. She was free roaming in their house, and the husband explained that she somehow found two phone chargers one day and had a nice nibble… bunnies and spicy hay… The lady explained to me that she doesn’t really like being picked up; however she loves being patted.
They gave us some of her pellets, oaten hay, and a pink blanket that she slept on.
She immediately (with a little bum prod) hopped straight into the carry box and minutes later we were strapped in the car ready to head back to my sister’s house.
Bunny Calming?
When a bunny is lonely, sad, or feeling a negative emotion, give it a cuddle. It feels your body warmth and hears your heart beat. Talk in a low, calm voice. Stoke its head to tail. Be gentle and caring. The bunny will settle down and stop feeling those emotions. It will end up relying on you to make it feel better.
You can tell when they relax:
- their breathing slows down
- they lean into your body
- they sigh and/or purr
- their body is relaxed, floppy
- their ears aren’t tightly pressed into their backs
- their tail drops and is floppy
Just remember, bunnies love love.
Picking Up Cherry
Cherry didn’t mind, as long as you pick her up a particular way – one hand on each side of her body and support her feet. She immediately snuggled into my shoulder, and relaxed. She even sighed – which is a bunny’s way of relaxing. After about 3 minutes, she started to grind her teeth and purr. She loved being picked up and cuddled.
I had a late night coming back from the cinema watching the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which made me want to get up and leave the cinema half-way through the movie due to the horrible CG animal cruelty, and especially Floor, the rabbit character. I was tired and had a headache, but I heard Cherry rattling around at about 7am. I got up and patted her. She asked me for a cuddle. She stood up on her back legs to reach up to me, then she sat in a “pick me up” pose.
She is on my lap, again, as I’m typing this.
She cuddled me for 2 hours. She craves human contact. I can see now, and I haven’t even had her for 24 hours, that Cherry is a purring snuggle-bun, and she is going to get a lot of love.
From what I have seen so far with Cherry, her first family loved her very much, because she has particular attitudes and skills that only a loved rabbit would have. For example, she let me touch her anywhere, including her feet, bum, tail, and cheeks. She loves her cheeks rubbed.
Cherry’s Vaccination
I received an email about Cherry’s heath record, which stated her microchip number and her vaccination status. She was vaccinated with Cylap in early January, which means that she will need a Filavac in June. That’s OK, I’ll get that done, and that means Buttons and Cherry can have their vaccinations of Filavac at the same time every year – in early June.
One thing I should have asked was which vaccination she had. But I guess it doesn’t really matter, because she’s due anyway. I can now extend Button’s out by a couple of weeks next year and get them vaccinated at the same time.
According to the Filavac documentation, it lasts about 3-4 weeks after the injection date has passed, so there is a little time to play in with Button’s vaccination.
I’ll organise her vaccination asap for the end of June.
Updating Cherry’s Microchip
I was thinking that it was strange that the Rabbit Sanctuary didn’t tell me how to update Cherry’s microchip record – or whether they would do it themselves. I wasn’t sure how that worked.
So, I googled “how to update a pet’s microchip” and it led me to this PetAddress website.
It returned: “We have found your pet detains at Central Animal Records”.
I clicked on the link and it sent me to the Central Animal Records website.
From there I couldnt find any help, so I clicked on the Forms menu item, thinking that I may have to fill in a form to change her ownership.
By the looks of things, The Rabbit Sanctuary has to update Cherry’s records to show my name as her owner on the chip. That’s good. I’ll have to contact TRS again and see if it has been completed. I’m guessing it has been done because they emailed me the number, but no harm in checking.
I contacted the lady who helped me choose Cherry and it turns out that Cherry’s microchip stays registered with TRS and if she gets lost the people who scan her will contact them, and then TRS will contact me. Which I disagree with, that is just ridiculous, after all she is my rabbit now.
This is all fine and good, but vets will ask you to prove that you are the rabbit’s owner, and if you don’t have their health record (shown above) they can confiscate the animal from you.
You can try to update the details and gain ownership through the microchip website, but it will be denied from TRS’s side because they want to still own the rabbit. That effectively makes you the foster carer for the rabbit even though you paid for it.
This also means that they have the rabbit in their books and they can claim tax deductions for it. It is not legit.
I also found that Cherry is registered as a brown and white rabbit… How is that possible when she is black?
That’s because rabbit adoption services are dodgy.
Update – March, 2024
After a long discussion with the Rescue, the microchip colour has been updated to black.
The Meeting
On the 29th May, I packed up from my sister’s house and headed back home so Nova can meet Buttons.
Cherry was relaxing this morning looking out the window. She had no idea what was going to happen. We had to pack up and hop in the car for the 2 hour drive home. Luckily, I didn’t have as much stuff as I did when I had Chester!
Cherry and I arrived home at 4pm. I chose to introduce her to Buttons as soon as she arrived. They sniffed each other and played. Buttons had the behaviour like he thought Maple was back, but something was different.
I gave Cherry a large feed of fresh grass. She scoffed the lot in about 3 minutes. She then had a rest.
Buttons watched her, carefully. He then decided it looked comfy and joined in.
They were relaxed with each other immediately, and laying next to each other after about an hour. With that behaviour, Cherry obviously had a partner that she lost. She was very comfortable with Buttons straight away. Buttons saw her immediately as Maple, but different. We joked that Maple went away and had her hair done at the hair dressers. But we know it’s not the case, Cherry and Maple have different personalities.
Cherry perked up within about 3 hours and became a super happy and bouncy black bunny. With her little personality coming through we decided to change her name. She is now called Nova.
Later that night, after playing and running up and down the middle fence, both Nova and Buttons started copying each other. They groomed at the same time, ate at the same time, went to the litter box at the same time, came up for pats at the same time, everything at the same time.
By 10pm, Buttons and Nova were flopping and splooting next to each other.
I covered them completely with polar fleece blankets, because it looked like they were doing the maths to jump into each other’s pens during the night.
Good night bunnies. Sweet dreams.
