Monthly Archives: March 2014

Which Do You Prefer, Dead Or Alive?

If asked to pick one from the following, which will you choose?

Picture taken from gas2.org/

Picture taken from gas2.org

Picture taken from zastavki.com

Picture taken from zastavki.com

Both are mustangs in different forms and both are magnificently gorgeous!

I don’t know why but for some reasons, I tend to choose to have the real horse because since from a very young age, I am always drawn to animals. While growing up, most of my friends in high school were into cars and down to the very technical details. As for me, I spent most of my time raising dogs, cats, green iguanas, hamsters, fishes, sugar gliders, hedgehogs and everything in between – rabbits of course!

My rationale, it is better to spend money on something alive than dead!

I like taking the responsibility to keep pets alive and ensuring that they not only thrive but live very long and healthy lives. It gives me a great sense of achievement to have companion animals live through their full lifespan. On the contrary, I totally hate spending money maintaining a car, have it breakdown, burst a tyre and feeding it expensive fuel throughout its lifespan.

We live in a very digitized and materialized world. We move in such a high paced world and have no time to pause for another living being. Most of the time, our jobs tend to take so much time from us that our lives seemed to be drained from all the stresses. We have become people that shun responsibilities and inconveniences. Picking up our pets’ poop seemed to be an inconvenience though we can make a choice to get them litter trained (initial time investment). It is due to convenience that we saw the birth of the Tamagotchi (if you remember), Furby and the many toys that mimics pet animals. They all come with less hassle and just consume little battery power.

As I was walking around the toy store over the weekend, I saw something that reminded me about this simple choice in life.

Between the very much alive and the mechanically alive, which will you choose?

Dead Or Alive?

Dead Or Alive?

On the left is what I saw at the toy store and on the right is one of my daughter’s pet hamsters.

That goes to show that until today, I still choose and prefer LIFE!

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Charmed Kinda Life

Not to mention name, a friend of mine recently gave up rabbit breeding. Like many former breeders I know, she expressed her sadness of “losing” fellow friends in the hobby. I believe that when other priorities catch up with life, we tend to give up some less important things just to strike a balance. We only have 24 hours and spending 2 hours a day just to do bunny chores can be a little overwhelming and meaningless. That is usually the problem when keeping large quantity of rabbits while holding a day job and at the same time juggling with many other things in life.

In all honesty, you will find yourself surrounded by like-minded people whenever and in whatever hobby you immersed yourself in. Your circle of friends are usually found through discussions of the same interest and while seeking help with the problems you face in the hobby.

Being social animals ourselves, we are constantly seeking for affirmation and a sense of belonging. To a certain extent, your life becomes “charmed” and because you are so hooked on the sense of belonging, the thought of giving up a hobby can be quite daunting. To give up a hobby is fine but the fact that you will drift away from the friendships you have established will usually be the reason for reconsideration.

Someone I hold dear and close to my heart once told me, “You do not need rabbits to belong” and rightly so makes me feel that I belong in a circle of great people with or without rabbits. It is totally up to me to decide whether I should drift away or not. In whatever you do, you tend to find very sincere friends and people who are there for you without the expectation of anything in return. They push the boundaries of mutual benefit especially now when the world needs love more than ever.

Somehow we are so geared towards scepticism and are always on the guard so not to be taken advantage of. Due to all the negativity in the world today, we have no faith in one another and are suspicious of each other’s agenda so to speak.

I have met many people in this hobby and more often than not, have found myself being taken advantage of. Out of the many, I have also found many gems along the way.

Whenever a gem appears, I get charmed all over again and that makes the hobby worthwhile…

Baby Charm

Baby Charm

I would like to take this opportunity to inform that Golden Pines’ Alfalfa Hay (Premium Quality) is now available at TinyCritterz.com. Please check out our free shipping (Peninsula Malaysia only) packages!

GPAlfalfa

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Filed under In The Nestbox

His Legacy Lives On…

Just received a very sad news that Truffles has since passed on. The last time we had Truffles over here was almost a year ago and he was still a very determined little guy even though stricken by an unexplainable nerve disorder. Although the nerve impairment has caused him to be mobility challenged, he still has a lot of character. I really have his human daddy & mommy to thank for giving him such a wonderful life. My heartfelt condolences goes out to the “Chestnuts”. I am truly sorry for your loss.

Binky free my lovely boy…

Truffles

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Animal Rights Activists Need To Rethink

There is a little “activist” in each animal lover. We all tend to get angry and feel compelled to react to any incident of animal abuse. But at the same time, we tend to forget that we might have helped or contributed directly or indirectly to the cause of these abuses.

For example, we all get excited whenever there is an pet expo/fair. I have friends who totally boycott such events because live stock are sold openly and most of the time there are no regulations as to how the animals are caged. Since I have always like and intrigued by animals, I used to visit these expos and fairs until recently due to my busy schedule.

With better clarity of the situation now, I can safely conclude that there are many sources and causes to animal welfare problems. Abuses, neglect, abandonment and many other problems take root from overpopulation and animals being treated as commodity.

And up until today, I am still trying to figure out how to strike a balance and whether or not I am indirectly or directly causing and supporting people that are causing the same problems we are trying to avoid.

What if I told you that the event that you are promoting is organized by the same people who are causing the problems you are trying so hard to render your assistance? You may be spending most of your time volunteering to re-home abandoned dogs but at the same time you are encouraging people buying from unscrupulous sources.

I do not know about hardcore animal activists. I do not think they own any pets but if they do, I wonder where they get their pets in the first place.

By you re-homing abandon animals, do you think that your action may encourage unethical breeders to breed even more since there are demands?

I do not know about you but I am very careful what I promote these days be it on this weblog or on my facebook account as I do not want to waste my resources “helping” someone else create more problems.

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A little charm emerged

charm

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by | March 10, 2014 · 11:22 pm

A Highly Sustainable Hobby

Major spring cleaning is a yearly affair at Tru-Luv Rabbitry. Today was such a productive day as I spent a few hours not only cleaning the rabbitry but also perform minor maintenance work on the cages. Then the thought of cost came into mind. Not that I am particular in spending on my beloved rabbits but I was thinking how I can help fellow rabbit owners out there to save some monies while enjoying this wonderful hobby.

Recently, PetFinder.com published a very good article entitled 10 Reasons Rescued Rabbits Rules. I have to concur that rabbits are one of the easiest animals anyone can have as pets.

However, with the rising cost of living, a rabbit can be wise choice for those seeking to own a pet without missing out on most of the benefits other common pets like cats or dogs have to offer. Throughout the years, my observation is that there is a direct correlation between rising cost and number of abandoned pet animals. I feel that if we are prudent in our spendings and with good financial planning and prioritizing, we do not have to make the awful choice of giving up our pets.

In hope that we do not see a rise in abandoned rabbits here in Malaysia, I am going to share some tips how to keep expenses low for fellow rabbit owners.

I believe most rabbit owners use the 6304 Cage that measures 24 in. x 18in. x 20 in. This cage is by far the best rabbit cage in terms of cost and effectiveness. It truly serve its purpose way better than any other fancy rabbit cages. It is easy to clean, a good size for a dwarf breed rabbit and with minimum modification, provide a very comfortable home for its inhabitant. The only drawback one will find in this cage is that the gaps between the wire at the bottom of the cage seemed to be a little too far apart. There is a very good solution that I use to solve this issue – by enforcing the bottom of the tray with “coated” wire mesh purchased from the hardware shop.

Every year during spring cleaning, I sanitize the cages especially the bottom and clear it from all calcium build up and residue and at the same time, change the wire mesh. To change the wire mesh for 4 cages today, I only needed to purchase 4 feet of wire mesh from the hardware store that cost RM14 (RM3.50 per feet). I also bought a bag of cable tie at RM5. It could be cheaper but RM19 a year for 4 cages is very reasonable in my opinion.

Yearly Cage Maintenance

I first cut out a wire mesh measuring 22 in x 16 in. Removed the old wire mesh and clean out the cage. Then I place the new wire mesh into the cage and secure it with cable ties.

Cleaning

The Most Cost Effective Pee Guard

In the past I have used pee guards made of metal plates which can be a hazard to bunnies that like to chew – there has been incidents of bunnies injuring their lips. The metal plate pee guards that are placed inside the cage (instead of outside) reduces the size of the cages making the cages too small for the rabbits.

On the other hand, this DIY Pee Guard is less invasive as well as cost effective. For the past three (3) years, I have been using this wonderful idea made possible by just chloroplast board and cable ties. All you have to do is buy a piece of chloroplast board that is larger than the bottom of cage (24 in. x 18 in.). Fold the sides and secure them using cable ties.

PeeGuard

This my friends, is the most cost effective pee guard

This particular DIY Pee Guard was made 3 years ago and it is still in good condition. It is very easy to clean and highly reusable. If you are wondering where to get chloroplast boards, one of the places you can find them is Popular Bookstore. And the good thing about chloroplast boards is that they come in different colours and you will most probably find a colour that you like. 🙂

I hope this post has been informative and useful for you.

Time for me to take a nap….

ZZzzZZZzzzZZzzz…..

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Filed under Bunny Business, Bunny DIY, Community Service, General Care, Interesting Stuff, Rabbit DIY, Rabbit Education, Tips For Newbies