Life with Bunnies

Today everyone in the household is enjoying the fact that I have today off (except maybe my husband who is a tad jealous since he has to work).

This morning, bunny Naveen came to find me once she heard I was out of bed. It's kind of nice to be greeted first thing by your-bunny-who-thinks-she's-a-dog. This doesn't happen often since she is usually secured in her cage until I let her out. But I got to sleep in and my husband did the honours.

Later, Behr decided to break morning routine and explore the off-limits bedrooms. He doesn't typically explore in the morning so I felt safe leaving the doors open for the amount of time it took to go downstairs to close the bunny gate. However, he was in the kitchen and ran up behind me when I went in the direction of the bunny room. Luckily, he knows it's off-limits so it didn't take much to get him out of the bedroom.

And Zayne...she's the low-key bunny. An active day for Zayne consists of multiple jumps in and out of the litter box and a brief two minute visit out of the bunny room. But even Zayne makes me smile. Currently she's having a nap in the sun with her stuffed animals, Mr. Moo and Moo-too. Behr is near her, sort of as an afterthought. Can you feel the love?

I'm definitely enjoying my quiet day with the bunny monsters. But, I also feel it's important to mention that rabbit care isn't always so fantastic.

For example, they can be twerps. Rabbits are creatures of habit. This can be nice. They always let us know when to feed them. Sometimes the reminder is gentle death-stare. But it can also be a sharp nudge or a throwing of the food bowl. At this point, you need to get your butt in gear....because next Naveen throws her hay bowl (and hay goes *everywhere*) or dumps her water dish.

But their routines can also make it hard to go on vacation. Two trips ago Naveen got so stressed she stopped eating. And that's really serious in a rabbit. More recently, (and less scary), I've spent a few weekends away. All three let me know their displeasure by starting pee wars. All three peed out of their box for a few days and have since resumed proper litter habits since I've been home again. (I will say I giggled every time my husband stepped in the pee).

Another unpleasant thing is the cost of rabbit ownership. A single emergency vet visit can be upwards of $400. But even daily care is expensive. I went to the pet store today and spent $81.30. Two items are purchased infrequently, but the hay and litter cost $57.97. And this is a regular expense and today's purchase won't even last a full two weeks. Then add on other things like pellets and fresh produce.

Crazy, eh? Now, you could save some money on hay by getting it directly from a farmer. However, that comes with a risk of unwanted scary creatures getting in your house. Like, let's say a chipmunk. And you don't want the chipmunk in your house because they move faster than the speed of light. And they are scary.

So when you attempt to get said chipmunk out of your house you jump and screech at a totally normal household sound, sending chipmunk running out of his hiding spot...and head first into a wall causing a slow painful death of some kind of chipmunk traumatic brain injury. Or something. Due to these risks, I recommend just sucking it up and buying pet store hay.