Portia's progress

When Portia came home with me, I noticed that her nails were pretty overgrown.  Part of the reason they are so desperate for fosters is that they have more bunnies than they can give actual attention to, so I wasn't surprised.  I thought I'd let her settle in a bit before tackling them.

Except the very next morning she got a back nail caught in the rug, and was so panicked that she pretty much ripped the nail out entirely in an effort to free herself!  Now, I've read about people who have had this happen so I know it's no big deal - you just stop the bleeding and then check it regularly to make sure it doesn't get infected.  And I've nicked the quick during nail trims a couple of times so I know that they seem to bleed FOREVER!  So here I am, in the midst of a little bunny-bloodbath, trying to calm a terrified bunny and get a paper towel on her foot.  Yeah  - not exactly my favorite way to get ready in the morning.

So when I got home that night, like it or not she was getting a full bun-icure.  She has the oddest nails - her splotchy coloring extends down to her feet, so she has some clear/white nails and some black nails.  And she is a very squiggly bunbun!  Next time I either start with the front feets or wrap her in a bunny-burrito, because she wriggled loose at one point and tried to scrabble up my chest with her untrimmed claws (ow ow ow).

So between the injury and the indignities, she went back to being pretty skittish.  I have let her be for the most part since then.  She gets out time in the evenings, and I alternate between leaving her alone to explore and "floor-and-ignore" (where you sit or lie on the floor in the same room and read or otherwise do something besides pay attention to them - which usually makes them terribly curious and they will usually come over to you and investigate). Mostly I wanted to get an idea on what she was likely to do - would she pee where she wasn't supposed to, or chew the carpet, or bite?  She did a bit of territorial pooping on one corner the first day, but other than that has been very good - so tonight she get access to the long hallway for runnings.  Right now she's attempting to dig a tunnel under the china/books cabinet.  Good luck with that - it's  a hardwood floor!

She is a very curious bunny. She 'periscopes' (stands up on her hind legs to look around) a LOT, but doesn't seem inclined to jump up on things.  She likes to dig on me, which is apparently a bid for attention.  Portia, dear - my back isn't the part that pets you!  She is a definite ADD bunny, never spending more than a few minutes on any given activity.  She likes to hang out in the little cardboard-box house I made for her inside her condo.  She's still pretty shy, but she got her first face-rubbins last night and I think she might like them.  She is MUCH less food-driven than Pepper.  Sometimes it takes 3 sessions before she eats all her pellets because she keeps getting distracted by other things.  

They said that she had an attitude, but either she's still too skittish to show it, or possibly I have a very different idea of what constitutes "attitude" after having Pepper  :)  She doesn't even try to rattle or chew the bars of the condo when she's inside.  Aside from digging on me, she's not nipped or otherwise pushed things.  We'll see how that works out down the line.