wendyzski: (Default)
[personal profile] wendyzski
Last night was date #3 for Winslet and Irving. 




My only experience with bunny bonding was the disastrous 3-day weekend with Pepper and Frisco, when he sprayed anything and everything (he was a month past neuter) and she tried valiantly to get through the double-gate and kill him. My house smelled like a barn, both of them bit me, and I ended up bringing him back to the shelter. * So I’m super-nervous and super-paranoid this time around.

They spent more than an hour together in a pen at the shelter, first with an exerienced volunteer supervising, and then me. Only two small incidents - the first when he suddenly turned around and she nipped a bit of fur off his butt, and the second when mutual sniffing turned to circling - but I managed to defuse both pretty quickly. The rest of the time alternated between ignoring each other, sniffing/investigating, and even some tentative snuggling. All of the volunteers who stopped by (it was a busy night, with 3 other sets of dates going on) said that things looked to be going very well. She even laid down at a few points!

So Irving ** came home with us.
 
He’s a good-natured little mini-rex boy. At one point last night, she thumped pretty loudly and he never even stopped eating. Compared to Winslet, he’s soooo tiny - at most he’s 2/3 her size) and his head is quite small. I can’t get over how a huge lettuce leaf fits into that tiny little mouth! He seems to have settled in pretty well - has pooped, eaten, drunk some water, etc. He seems to most enjoy the battered cardboard box I put in there, both for climbing on and hiding in.

She was visibly uneasy when she realized he was actually here, but I gave her some reassuring pettins and she seemed to calm a bit. There has been a lot of sniffing through the bars, and they have startled each other a few times. I doubled up the pen with some grid panels to make sure nobunny gets their nose bitten. Winslet has tugged at the bars a few times that I saw - not in an aggressive way, more like a “this is in my way” way. She slept in her usual place in the hall just outside my bedroom door but was back over by his pen when I came out with my breakfast.

Still going to go slowly, but I’m cautiously optimistic.

*After being adopted soon after this, Frisco came back to the shelter several years later. He had a series of jaw abcesses that his people couldn’t afford to handle. He’s still a sloppy boy even after all this time. He’s healthy now, and has been adopted again.

** I’m not enamored of the name though (he was found on Irving Park Rd). We’ll need to come up with a better one, if he’s going to live at Thumpington House.

Date: 2012-08-02 03:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] justphoenix.livejournal.com
He's a cutie! :)

Date: 2012-08-02 05:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wendyzski.livejournal.com
He's a good-natured little boy - still young enough to be bossed around a bit (he's *just* old enough to be neutered)

Date: 2012-08-02 03:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tryst-inn.livejournal.com
*fingers crossed*

Date: 2012-08-02 05:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wendyzski.livejournal.com
Everyone is telling me that it's going well, but I'm sooo nervous

Date: 2012-08-02 04:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rileybear67.livejournal.com
zOMG! He's so adorable!
I wish them and you the best...

*hugs*

Date: 2012-08-02 05:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wendyzski.livejournal.com
He's a good-natured little boy, young enough to still be bossed around a bit when an older boy might push back.

Date: 2012-08-02 04:44 pm (UTC)
sheistheweather: (900-Years)
From: [personal profile] sheistheweather
BUNNY!

Date: 2012-08-02 05:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wendyzski.livejournal.com
TWO BUNNIES! *points to icon* *points to entry*

Winslet is a Havana Satin - about 6.5 lbs, which puts her smack in the middle-size for bunnies and on the slightly-small size range for her breed. Satins are known for their particularly sleek and shiny coats. She's about 3ish

Irving is a mini-rex. Rexes are the "velveteen rabbits" with very short very plush fur and curly whiskers. Not sure how much he weighs but he's significantly smaller than her. He's about 6 months old, just old enough to be neutered.

I'll try and get a photo with both of them in it at some point this weekend

Date: 2012-08-02 05:28 pm (UTC)
sheistheweather: (Default)
From: [personal profile] sheistheweather
D'awww.

Date: 2012-08-02 06:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] replyhazy.livejournal.com
Don't know if I could have a bunny! I might never stop petting him/her and make them crazy!

Date: 2012-08-02 07:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wendyzski.livejournal.com
oh, they definitely let you know when they've had enough! It is said that bunnies bite because they can't bark!

A friend was worried abut bringing her kid over because she thought the kid might try to poke the bunny I explained that bunny was all able to take care of herself, and it would be a learning experience! kid pokes bunny, bunny nips kid just hard enough to hurt, kid learns not to poke the bunny.

But when I first got Pepper, I remember sitting on the couch thinking "how can I manage to leave my house when there is all this CUTE going on!"

Date: 2012-08-02 07:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] replyhazy.livejournal.com
how can I manage to leave my house when there is all this CUTE going on!"

Oh geez, yes, we look at our Siamese cats and think that too. "Watch out, he's being adorable again! Aaaah!"

Date: 2012-08-02 07:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] qnofhrt.livejournal.com
Our Abbycat has adorable down pat.

Date: 2012-08-02 09:03 pm (UTC)
dawntreader: (teh cute)
From: [personal profile] dawntreader
squee!!!! i kind of like Irving. 42nd fastest gun in the west. ;)

Date: 2012-08-02 09:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wendyzski.livejournal.com
I know, but I've come to really like absurdly pretentious names for bunnies.
If he's going to be consort of Her Grace Duchess Winslet von Thumpington (of Thumpington House) he needs to be a baronet at the very least

Date: 2012-08-03 07:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rileybear67.livejournal.com
And, Baron Irving von Thumpington has SUCH a cute ring to it!
*giggles*

Date: 2012-08-03 08:18 pm (UTC)
dawntreader: (piano man)
From: [personal profile] dawntreader
well, according to wikipedia, Irving Berlin's birth name was "Israel Isidore Baline (Beilin)" so you could go somewhere in that direction. make him a star!

Irving Israel Isadore Berlin sounds awfully distinguished for a bun. ;)

Date: 2012-08-03 09:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wendyzski.livejournal.com
Hrm - I like Isidore (could be shortened to Izzy).
But I'm also leaning towards a breed-origin for him. He's a Rex, but not show quality, so I was thinking of a nod to this with Fitzroy

(for the non-history nuts, FitzRoy is traditionally the name given to a bastard son of a king)

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