Category Archives: General Care

Alicia of Pet Epicure recently sent me information about the latest product that her shop carries call urineOFF. I was very interested to check this new product out because I have not encountered any other that is able to remove those stubborn calcium deposit buildups that we love to hate in rabbit urine.

So this is the review that I would like to share with everyone on my experience with urineOFF for small animals.

These are the steps given at urineOFF official website for litter trays:

1. Empty the litter box

2. Wash and dry as usual, being careful to rinse away all traces of
soap.

3. Liberally coat the entire box, inside and out, with Urine Off.

4. Allow to air dry – 30 minutes or so.

5. Initially it may take more than one treatment to remove built-up urine.

Once box is odor-free, wipe with a paper towel and put it back in service!

As instructed, I sprayed on Hope’s plastic litter tray and allow the bio-enzymes to work their wonders. I left the litter tray for approximately 30 minutes to be air dried.

This is the litter tray before:

And this is the litter tray after:

Alright, let’s be realistic here. It is 2 am in the morning and I am trying to prove that this product actually works! But I did not have the patience to wait for the 30 full minutes so I settled for 20 minutes of air drying the litter tray after spraying with urineOFF. I must admit that the stain came off easily with a little scrubbing. I had the impression that the stain would come off without a scrub but as I said, we must be realistic here. Those are stubborn stains that has been accumulated for the past few weeks and without urineOFF, it is impossible to get rid even if you scrub it for 30 minutes. With urineOFF the scrub was made easier. I believe if I leave the urineOFF for longer time, it would be squeky clean.

As for now, I am very satisfied with the outcome. Let’s see if I can make Skor’s litter tray look brand new. I believe I have to soak it overnight. His litter tray is the ultimate. If urineOFF can clean his litter tray, it can clean anything!

It smells really good too I must say!

We shall see…

And by the way, Moesha finally posed for me and wanted to say “Hello” to everyone:

Rabbits have a lot in common with men because there is a saying that goes, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”. The same goes with rabbit. The way to a healthy rabbit is through a healthy digestive system.

Do you know that rabbits reingest their droppings? Yes, it means they eat their own poop! Don’t feel disgusted just yet. They do this for a good reason. But before you let your imagination run wild, I must mention that they do not normally reingest those big round hard droppings.

Re ingestion normally happens during dawn and dusk. Those that they re ingest are called caecal/cecal/cecotropes/caecotrophes. These pellets are also known as “night faeces”.

Now, why do they re ingest the cecals?

To cut the long story short, reingestion is part of a rabbit’s digestive system and they do it because there are certain elements or nutrients in their diet that could not be “processed”  or absorbed fully. The cecal pellets are filled with extra nutrients and therefore, reingesting these would help them strike a balance in their diet.

So how does cecal pellets look like? If I really need to describe without any real cecal to show as an example, I would show those interested this picture:

What’s this?!

Take another look:

Yes! These are PAPAYA seeds. Don’t they look like CECALS?

LOL!!! Bet I gotcha there!

Actually papaya is known to provide good enzyme for rabbits and although unproven, it is said to help lower the risk of fur blockage.

Saturdays are normally papaya day for everyone at Meadow Haven!

I read of breeders showing their doe and one fine day, the doe turned out to be a buck (descended testicles). On further investigation, most often then not, the “doe” turns out to be a buck with split penis. I have always wondered how does a split penis look like and thanks to Donna Williams for sharing these photos in her PhotoBucket. These photos are not mine. I am just placing a link to Donna Williams photo album just as a reference for my readers.

NEVER BREED A BUCK WITH SPLIT PENIS!

I am about to pass on offspring of my imported Holland Lops to fellow enthusiasts. They will of course come together with pedigrees and it wouldn’t be quite complete in my standards to pass on a pedigree without a form of identification to state that the rabbit is indeed what the pedigree states.

In order to have a form of identification, I would like to consider tattooing my rabbits as mentioned in the previous post. The most conventional way of tatooing is using the clamp version and this method is well known among breeders in US to cause rabbits to break their legs or worst, backs. It is a very risky procedure.

Than I came across this tattoo tool called RabitTatt by Glenna Hendrix. It seemed to be a great tattoo kit to have but I would need to lay down the facts and get my priorities right.

Let’s go back to the basic by asking the question, why breeders tattoo their rabbits?

Tattooing a rabbit is part of the Show requirements. Each registered rabbit must be legibly identified and tattoo is known to be the most commonly used.

Then, what is the significance for me to tattoo?

Personally I would love to track my rabbits and if they are being used as breeding stocks, at least I can trace the lineage back since the rabbits will always come with a pedigree. But we do not have shows to begin with and there is always a possibility that my rabbits may be cross bred with a different breed (Lord, I hope this never happens), would it be in vain if I tattoo them?

Most breeders in US rather not tattoo their rabbits for the same reason that there is a possibility that the rabbits may be injured in the process. But if you are dealing with exportation, a form of identification has got to be in place. Since I have no intention to export at the moment, I may not need to go through that process.

So my question to myself and you fellow readers is, if IDENTIFICATION that important?

Because the only reason for tattoo is for identification, Identification and IDENTIFICATION.

Every other day, the bunnies in Meadow Haven will be given fresh vegetables. A big bowl full of chopped Bok Choy, Celery, Carrot & Chinese Parsley is the usual menu. I must say that they eat more fresh vegetables as compared to myself. I am not a fan of vegetables but I do have them as much as I can.

It is difficult for city dwellers like us to find a real meadow for our beloved bunnies to enjoy themselves. So I have decided to paint the bunny area at our new place for them and hope that would make them feel comfortable. Thus, I am naming this place Meadow Haven.

Frankly, I was so reluctant to share photos after the previous “drama” but I felt that there are more people I want to share my experiences with and that outweighs the negativity by a mile. To hell with those trouble makers.

I promised to post some photos didn’t I? The rabbitry is not completed yet because I just started setting it up. I am too tired to type a long one, so here you go (the preview):

Most people here have the worst perceptions and impressions of rabbits and I felt that they deserve some justice. So before giving the justification for each bad perception, I would like to list down why the general public do not think that rabbits make good pets:

1) They are smelly

– The reason for the smell is due to bad waste management. They are many good litter materials available in the market and has high absorbency rate. To eliminate smell, ensure that the rabbit’s environment is kept dry and clean at all times.

2) They poop a lot

– Again, with good waste management, this should not be an issue because with other pets, you need to clean their waste as well.

3) They kick whenever I try to carry them

– Rabbits do not like the feeling of being lifted up in general. You can either go down to their level or handle them more (the right way). Never ever pull a rabbit’s ear. Grip on to the shoulder and provide support for its rear when you are carrying.

4) They breed like mad

– You can opt to neuter or spay your rabbits. That improves their behavior too. Always separate matured rabbits. No, THEY WILL NOT FEEL LONELY separated.

5) They always spray or shoot urine at me

– Bucks spray their girlfriends. You should count your blessing if he shoots at you because that shows that he LOVE you. Get him neutered!

6) They bite!

– Aggression are caused by hormones most of the time. This is quite common in females when they have raging hormones pounding on their brain to mate. Get her spayed! That will tone her down.

7) They poo and pee everywhere!

– This is another sign of territorial marking. For me personally, as long as I get the pee into the litter box, I am not worried about the poops. Just need to clean up after them.

8) They are not responsive (not interactive)

– DEFINITELY a myth! Rabbits can respond to their names!

9) They cannot live indoors

– They definitely can but first you must litter train them. They make great indoor pets!

10) They eat their own poo!

– They need those nutrients from their cecal to help balance up the flora in their tummy. It is natural. No one ask you to kiss their MOUTHS! LOL…

If you have anymore outrageous perceptions please do add them through the comments. Thank you…

Found that Noob has pulled quite an amount of fur. I suspect it could either be boredom or false pregnancy. It looked more like false pregnancy because she did line the fur at one corner as if she’s building a nest.

The weird thing is that she is still nursing Holly Hope. Neither boredom nor false pregnancy does not seemed to be a good thing for me. I dislike behavior that does not reflect the nature of things.

I just need another 2 more weeks to get everything settled down. Cannot wait till the end of this month.

Any breeder out there experience this with their does before?