Second day with Willow...
I'm sorry if I'm boring you guys with all this, but it's so *exciting* around here!!
I've noticed several things today: Willow does *not* wish to explore anywhere but the kitchen. I don't know if the prev. owners "taught" him to stay in the kitchen, but he won't stray into the dining room even with the door wide open. Maybe it will just be a matter of time until he gets his courage up, though he doesn't seem shy about exploring every nook & cranny of the kitchen. :D
I went and got an undercoat comb, and suddenly Willow isn't too fond of my combing him! :eek: He put up a protest (peed all over me yech!) and bee-lined for the safety of his cage. I did get some trimming in as well (with safety ball pointed scissors) but he doesn't like that very much at all either. I'm thinking that when I talk to the vet tomorrow, I'll see if they will professionally groom him the first time, and show me how to do it. I'm pretty insecure afraid that I'm going to hurt him. He still looks pretty scruffy!!!
He *LOVES* it when I let him out of his cage. He does this little dance (it's sooo cute!!) and circles around and around my legs. He will nudge with his little nose to get me to move my feet apart, and then he will do figure eights. :) Silly bunny!!
Willow loves carrots but only BIG ones. I offered little baby carrots, (the already peeled kind) but he won't have anything to do with them. I have read lots of conflicting advice as to how many veggies per week you should give them. One source said only 2 carrots per week, and another said every day. One said only a few veggies a couple of times/week, and another said every day. Willow is really skinny (you can feel his backbone knobby through his skin) and I really want to get him healthy but am not sure of how much to offer without causing diarhhea. I just got some alfalfa today which I understand has lots of calories, but should be given in limited amounts because it contains lots of calcium. We also found carefresh, so no more nasty cedar!! I heard that un-neutered male bunnies smelled?? I dunno if it's just me but I don't notice a thing!! But that's a good thing, I guess! :) :rolleyes:
He peed twice on newspaper today, and twice he missed by about 3 or 4 inches. :rolleyes: But that's OK 'cause it's easy to clean up. You just got watch where yer walking in bare feet now. :p
I loved those cages that you pointed me towards Zippy, and so did Mark when I showed him. However, he wasn't too pleased with the $ (men!! :rolleyes: ) so we went ahead and got a bigger, plastic bottomed cage this afternoon at a local petstore. Mark is working on fixing it up to be two storied on both ends, so at least for now it will give Willow more room, and no grate bottom!!!
And to answer your question, Vermontcat, about the whole story behind Willow....*ahem cough cough*...I don't think many people are gonna like this. :o He was for sale at a yard sale. :mad: I felt so bad for him sitting in the sun waiting for some kind compassionate person to pick him out between all the used books and stained sweatshirts. I dunno, I just couldn't drive away and leave him there. The lady said that her primary reasons for wanting to sell him were that she wanted to travel and not have to pay someone to take care of him, :eek: and she didn't have time to properly groom him the way that he needed. I knew that she wasn't committed to him like he deserves to have someone committed to love him. So ready or not, we brought him home, and know that this is his FOREVER home. So please don't think bad of me for buying him at a yard sale...I hope you can understand that I just couldn't leave him behind.
Whoops!! I guess this is kinda long....:o