|
The Carrot Chronicle is brought to you by the North West Rabbit Welfare Project, who kindy let it feature on Rabbit Rehome. If you have any queries regarding the newsletter, appeals or rabbits in it please contact them directly not Rabbit Rehome.
Issue # 7, September 2003. Dear Friends, Alas the summer maybe over but at least we have our furry friends to keep us on our toes! As always we have a bumper packed issue of CC. With your help we hope to introduce some new features in the forthcoming months, but for now we hope you enjoy your ‘fix’ of all things rabbity. As always if you would like to contact us or subscribe to our emailing list either call the sanctuary on 0161 973 5318 or email carrot.chronicle@btopenworld.com Best wishes, Susie xxx. Things have started to pick up again – hooray! We have looked at our rehoming figures for the first 7 months of the year and if the trend continues it looks like we will have a 30% increase in rabbit rehomings this year – let’s keep our fingers crossed. So here is the latest news on who has gone where. 
Buttercup was the first lucky lady to be adopted this month. She very quickly bonded with her new mate and they are living in the lap of luxury as house bunjies. Her parents have also adopted one of puppies and so far buns and doggy are getting on remarkably well. One of our trustees lives next door to the furry guys so no doubt updates will follow. Snowbell (picture right) has really landed on her feet. You remember she had gone into foster care with volunteers Trev and Gwyn who have Dill and Amber? Well it was no surprise when two weeks later they ran along to adopt her. She really couldn’t wish for a better home. I wonder whether Trev and Gwyn will do anymore fostering for us! (For those of you who don’t know, Snowbell was born with a dislocated hip and knee.) Hughie was the last furball to find a marvellous home. You may remember he has suffered considerably with dental problems? Well he had both sets of front incisors removed and what a difference it has made. The little guy’s eyes almost instantly stopped streaming and he recovered very quickly. Volunteer Beth (whose parents are Trev and Gwyn), has always had a soft spot for the little fella, and she just couldn’t resist his allure any longer and has been whisked off to live with former residents Harvey and Harriet (not little and large, the other two!). 
ReservesWe are very excited by Lou Lou’s home. She is pictured left and destined to be bonded with a very handsome man named Jake, who not so long ago lost his lady friend. Her new mum Kate is fantastic and has had rabbits for some years as well as ratties and chinchillas. We can’t wait for bonding to begin and so Kate can become slave to the lovely Lou Lou. Bradley has himself a gorgeous, big fat fluffy white girlfriend lined up. His new lady friend is called Casper and she lives in luxury as a housebun. For those of you who know Bunster who lives with volunteer Jacky Maguire, Casper is a huge version of her! The family live in Warrington and have had house bunjies for quite sometime and have gone through dental troubles with Casper and she has had both sets of incisors removed too. So we are exceptionally confident in their bunny caring skills and will give our Brad (who was named after Brad Pitt by volunteer Debbie Fairhurst) a fantastic new home. They have had two bonding sessions so far and everything is going remarkably well.
New Arrivals in August
As you can imagine with so few adoptions we haven’t had many furry guys in, but that is not to say we aren’t overwhelmed daily with calls for us to take in bunnies, mainly unwanted children’s pets. Our waiting list is enormous at present. This coming week we will be receiving a mum and 5 babies as well as two males – all from the same home. So who is new? Scoot! Then there was Harry monster! New arrivals named by Bunny Birthday Club and Sponsored Hutch membersHarry was named by the ladies’ favourite bun volunteer, Casso, as part of the Bunny Birthday Club scheme. We think Harry would pair very nicely with Jezebel! Movers and JumpersThere are three beauties in from foster care – Lou Lou as mentioned previously, has been wonderfully cared for and nursed back to full health by Gilly and her family. You may remember she was brought in with a horrible abscess on her face that had gone untreated. 
And Willow and Indigo (pictured below) were dumped in their hutch in Longford Park and we believe are mum and son, have been having the royal treatment at Karen’s house for the last few months until the little man was old enough to be castrated. Both buns are neutered and fully vaccinated and waiting for a new home. Update on Mary’s babies
These pictures were taken of the babies when they were 5 weeks old. They were already nearly half the size of mum, Mary. They are now coming up to 8 weeks and are just big bundles of kissableness! They heap themselves in a pile together, run around binkying and giddying, and make the most fantastic mess! Mary is still very happy being with them and has proven to be a fabulous mum, she still gets anxious if she can’t see them but is still her curious, nosey self, jumping up on all sorts and causing her own kind of mischief! The babies are still too young to be sexed, but will soon be given names. 
Appeals and IdeasUpdate on SUMMER OPEN DAY – Sunday 10th AugustWell it may have rained but we all shined, and despite torrential rain until well after 1pm we still took a staggering £1736.11! The numbers of visitors was still really high and proceeds were only a few hundred pounds down on previous years. Well done to everyone for showing such spirit and good humour. We are especially grateful to Helena for all her hard work and steely determination when it looked like an Ark was more needed than a chance to win Atomic Kitten tickets! Other fundraising news...Throughout the summer, volunteers have been manning stalls at local fairs and fun days to raise money for the sanctuary. So far they have raised in excess of £700! The last summer fair is on Saturday 20th September at the Timperley Community Fair, located in the grounds of the Larkhill Centre where we held last year’s Xmas fair. If you fancy coming along it will be a great day out for all the family, just as it was last year. And Susie will be running the stall that day with her long suffering husband so come and give us some support! Society for Abandoned Animals FUNDRAISING COMMITTEENext year will be our tenth year at our site on Mosely Acre Farm. We want it to be a year to remember and to launch our fundraising drive to raise money to rebuild the sanctuary. As many of you know the dog kennels are long overdue for renewal but we are talking a vast amount of money and we need to get a move on! We are appealing to absolutely anyone who would like to come and join us on our Fundraising Committee, to help us raise money to keep the sanctuary running and to build for the future. We need people with enthusiasm, great ideas and a little time to spare. Helena and Susie can’t manage alone to achieve our fundraising potential, we need you! We are going to be looking at meeting once a month on a Monday and combining it with an opportunity to socialise, i.e. we will be having the meetings in a pub in Sale! If this lights your fire then please get in touch with us at manager@sfaa.fslife.co.uk FRONTLINE Pets in Practice...FRONTLINE, the manufacturers of dog and cat flea protection are asking you... ...does your pet have a prize-winning personality? You need to check with your veterinary practice first as to whether they are taking part in this competition but Frontline are searching for best pet personalities of 2003. All you have to do is:
Each practice winner will receive a photograph frame and will be entered into the regional final. There will be 13 regional winners that will each win a pet portrait and will feature in Frontline’s 2004 calendar. ...and finally...
Given everybunnies love of all things bobtailed we need your help to keep Carrot Chronicle up to date and packed full of bunjies! Have you come across any interesting items, stories or products recently? Have you found some fab websites you would like to share with everyone? Or maybe you have just taken a funny photo of one of your bunnies? They don’t have to be previous sanctuary bunnies to appear in CC. If you haven’t submitted an update of your furries for ‘Where Are They Now?’ – why not?! We need your contributions and suggestions for CC – got any good pictures or stories? Then please get in touch: carrot.chronicle@btopenworld.com Bunny lover Melanie sent in this rather fab, yet spooky picture. It is part her and part her own bunny – now that is just freaky!
Ethical Dilemmas of Bunny Breeding
Hello there, my name is TILLY! ‘Tilly Burdock’ to be precise and I am a naughty that lives with the Prime family. I am a head binky champion now but I never used to be this happy or healthy. I was found is a disgusting state, I had a coat of matted fur and poo, and all but my face had to be completely shaved. If you ask Gilly nicely she’ll show you the enormous mound of fur and poo that was cut off from my rear end. It was at least four inches in diameter and I can tell you I was a lot more comfortable after it was removed and for the first time in a long time I could move around freely. 
Tilly looks like a highland cattle beast, and her fur is just so dense that even daily grooming does not keep on top of her matting. Tilly is lucky to have a home with Gilly and her family, as they are dedicated to meeting her needs. At the sanctuary we too have breeds of rabbits that also have high care needs, which leads you to question how ethical is it for us humans to create animals with such fundamental welfare problems. Nature didn’t intend for bunnies to look like powder-puffs for a very good reason – it isn’t practical! Longhaired bunnies are more prone to furballs, more susceptible to flystrike and over-heating – all of which can be fatal. Pandora the angora has been with us for several months now, and that special home has yet to materialise. Pandora, also affectionately known as ‘Piggy’, came in to us because the owner had taken her from his sister who couldn’t cope with her grooming requirements, and after a few months discovered that he couldn’t cope either. Piggy’s beautiful white fur is so soft and thick that it matts so very quickly – as soon as you’ve groomed her! Keeping her in a hutch worsens the problem but we have no alternative way to house and keep her warm. Piggy desperately needs to be rehomed as a house rabbit so she can be free from a bed of hay, can keep cool easier, is less vulnerable to flies and so she can have the daily attention she needs for her coat. During the summer Piggy has suffered dreadfully with the heat because of her thick coat (we have had a fan running to try and keep her cool). Piggy is a very gentle and loving bunny that has been lucky enough to come into our care, but will she be lucky enough to find a dedicated new owner? She will very patiently sit for grooming and seems to enjoy the attention; do you know of the perfect home for her? 
Ren’s Bad Hair Day! Many of you will remember that Ren (right) and Stimpy (left) came into the sanctuary very many months ago from the same home as 11 other rabbits that the RSPCA had rescued from horrific conditions. The two boys had been paired together and have remained best friends ever since. Initially Ren seemed to be a typical lionhead but after his castration and as he grew older, his coat just went wild. He seems to have a large amount of angora in him too. The poor little man can barely see out at times but worst of all he is such a risk for fly strike. He is currently requiring daily bottom baths because as soon a he wees it soaks in his coat and he remains damp without our intervention. He is now requiring regular ‘hair’ cuts to keep on top of his coat, not to mention the need for daily grooming. Stimpy’s breed, netherland dwarf, also has it’s own welfare concerns. Stimpy is actually one of the few Netherlands we have encountered that does not have dental problems or broken bones. Netherland dwarfs are so prone to dental problems such as misalignment and overgrowing spurs because they have such tiny faces yet they have to fit the same amount of teeth in as any other breed of bunny. Netherland dwarfs have been bred for their ‘cute’ factor; no one can deny how appealing they look. Sadly they are a favourite choice for children’s pets because they can be picked up easily! Of course this means they can be broken easily. A rabbit’s strength lies in their muscles not their bones. Their bone density is 20% compared to 70% of humans – which is why children must always be supervised when handling rabbits. One swift kick from a struggling rabbit is enough to break it’s back, one drop and bones can be broken, poor handling may also damage their bones. This is true of all rabbits and not just Netherlands. The two boys are lovely bunnies, very friendly and full of character and nosiness. They too need to be rehomed as house rabbits and have been with us far too long. So how do you care for a longhaired rabbit?The Rabbit Welfare Association produces an excellent leaflet entitled ‘The Long and Short of it – caring for long haired pet rabbits’. It explains how to look after such bunnies and you can get a copy from either the sanctuary or by sending a sae to Rabbit Welfare Fund, PO BOX 346, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE99 2YP. In the meantime here is a brief run down of their care needs:
Special FeatureLethal Litter
As you know the local Altrincham (Cheshire) Branch of the RSPCA supports us financially with the care of the rabbits. A long-running RSPCA campaign has been about ‘Lethal Litter’, but are you doing all you can to help prevent unnecessary harm to animals? We have all heard of the harm thoughtlessly discarded fishing line can do to birds, and I am sure you have heard about the perils of tin cans with their lids left on. Have a look at some of these tips for careful disposal of your litter.
These pictures were taken from the ‘Lethal Litter’ campaign leaflet, for more information please visit www.rspca.org.uk
Let’s face it, the reason why you enjoy Carrot Chronicle is because of all the fab piccies of bunnies. This month we thought we would really spoil you with lots of photos of our old friends. ELLIE & DINKY
|
baths are becoming less frequent. (Scoot pictured below before amputation. He is an
agouti lionhead.)
