Nova decided from day 1 that this was her forever home. If she had bags, she would have unpacked them. She is very comfortable with Buttons, so over the first week or so we continually pushed their pens closer together. Then I came up with a brilliant idea… Why don’t I make a big outside fence, and then separate it with a second fence down the middle. Of course Buttons figured that out really quickly, and he pushed the middle fence so much it nearly collapsed. I promptly changed it after that. I forgot that Buttons is an excavator hare… he loves pushing things and shoving things around, so even if it’s a little bit moveable, he will find it’s weakness and work his bunny magic.
Feeding Nova is another thing. The foster carers said that they were only allowed to feed her 1/4 cup of pellets for breakfast and that’s it. So naturally, Nova was starving and so excited when food was given to her. I wanted to get her off the grey pellets, for many reasons, but I could only do that over a week or so. Bunnies have weak digestion systems and a big change can cause issues. I thought about the amount of fibre she will need to stop her little body relying on the bad fibre in the grey pellets, and I immediately thought of grass. Luckily, grass is abundant at the moment, and it’s proper long, wide, thick, dark green grass that any bunny would love to have.
I started her on a small portion of grass. Around the same size as her body, because I wasn’t sure how much she had ever had before, but I knew it was harmless and what she needed for her diet. She gobbled it down like it was nothing. It was gone in less than 10 minutes. The poor baby was starving, literally. I make sure to not give only one type of grass because that can cause vitamin and mineral imbalances. I make sure to get different types of grasses, plantain, dandelion leaves and flowers, anything that looks like a bunny would love to eat.
Over the next few days I increased her amount of grass, and it fills her up so much that her digestion is fantastic, and she doesn’t rely on pellets any more. They are a few lumps of annoyance she gets for breakfast now – I only give her a few of her grey pellets (maybe 10-15) and about 8 of the Science Selective pellets. She isn’t a pellet fan any more because she is getting enough fibre and a belly full of grass.
She isn’t a big fan of being picked up, because she hasn’t been taught how to do it properly, it will take time. But when she has been picked up, she snuggles down. She loves being cuddled in a soft blanket (or my Oodie). She can stay there for 2 or more hours, and then she refuses to wake up. She is happy to snuggle down on a cushion and have you cuddle her.
Eyes
We noticed that Nova wasn’t reacting to any of Buttons’ silly behaviours. She doesn’t even flinch. This made us test her eyesight.
We found that her left eye’s iris doesn’t contract and relax, it is stuck as one size. Her pupil is also a strange sunken star shape. When we flicked torch light near her left side on the floor, she didn’t react. She couldn’t see the light. We tested her right eye the same way, and she slightly reacted. She could see the contrast between light and dark, but no definition.
We did the same test with Buttons, and he followed the torch light with no effort. Although the look on his face was utter confusion – What is this you are doing to me? It’s confusing… Look the light is over there… Now it’s there… what is this magic?
We think Nova is “legally” blind in her left eye, but can see OK, not perfect out of the right. To compensate her hearing and smell are very acute, and with that you wouldn’t know that she had that problem.
So, when it comes to things like picking her up, I have to train her by touch and voice, because she cannot see my actions. That is why she jumps away when you try to pick her up because she doesn’t like being grabbed, rather than being patted and have certain points pressed and carefully picked up.
UPDATE: 25 Jan, 2024
We think that she can see a bit, but it is really blurry – she needs glasses.
She has learned to use her ears instead of her eyes, and you’d never know that she can’t see.
Thumping and Food
Each night at about 8:30-9pm, I give the bunnies a handful of Selective Naturals pellets. They love them so much that now there’s a rush to get to them first – even though they are still in separate pens. Nova has started to thump with excitement when the pellets are coming.
Nova gets a wild look in her eye just before she zoomies really fast. She is like a lightning flash. We call her a speed rabbit.
Buttons always stays so sweet, his eyes are so friendly and gentle.
Because it’s winter now, the bunnies go outside if it’s a nice day. But the wind is often quite cold. It seems to get colder about 1-1:30pm, and I always try to bring the bunnies inside then. We call it lunch time for the bunnies. I give them some nibbles to eat, and today (10 June) Buttons was so happy to get his nibbles that he flicked his ears, ran up to me and binkied. It was so cute to see.
Nova was clearly not fed very well as a baby, and she missed out on some nutrition, fibre and protein. She obviously was on a pelleted diet, because her front teeth are weak, and she relies on her molars to bite harder foods, rather than nip parts off with her front teeth. She is used to grasping pellets with her front teeth, like tweezers, and then chewing it with her molars.
When I got her she was starving and underweight. The lady who I collected her from told me that she was told to give her 1/4 pellets for breakfast each day. That is not enough food for a bunny to live on. That’s barely keeping her alive. All because they didn’t want “unnecessary vet visits”. I’m not bashing the sanctuary at all, because they are doing the best job they can. But I think more education needs to occur for foster carers in the wellbeing and health of the bunnies they care for. Either Nova’s foster carer misunderstood the information she was given, or someone didn’t make sure they were making sense with the presentation.