12 weeks on - 9:32 PM, 15/8/2009

I am very happy to say that Poppy (above) finally had her abscess removed.  YAY!!  She still has a heart murmur but her surgery went well & she's been recovering now for over a week.  She's on relatively high doses of pain relief and still on daily antibiotics to stop any repeat infection.  We certainly don't want that to happen again.  I'm really hoping that this is a whole new start for Poppy - her third chance for a happy life.  Poppy is just adorable!  We call her "big bird" as her nose colour looks like a big beak & she's often lying in her hay filled tray like it's a nest. 

Lulu (pictured above) was having daily tummy problems.  One really bad time she was straining and making noises.  She had xrays taken but that didn't show up much.  The vets did feel a strange lump around her surgery area so she possibly also has an internal abscess.  She's now on antibiotics and seems to be a little better.  We give her the entire hallway each evening & half the kitchen to run around.  She also now wants the adjacent bathroom which she quite likes to visit.  She's a friendly bunny to me but terrified of visitors to the house.

Izzy (Isabelle - pictured above)) seems to be the only bun who doesn't have to take medication..... yet.  She's a happy bunny that's taken to sleeping in our paper recycling box.  A huge bunny in a little box - pretty funny!  Izzy does sneeze quite a bit & white snot comes out of her left nostril.  Nothing from the right but the left is always wet.  I need to have that checked out too.  It would be great if we could get rid of that problem for her as it obviously annoys her.  She does like having her nose wiped though so I help her out with that.

8 weeks on - 6:53 PM, 24/7/2009

Poppy's abscess tripled in size after coming home from the vet.  It was quite horrible.  However, it has since burst which must have been both a relief & also painful for her.  I really hope it stays small or even disappears on its own with another month of daily pain relief & antibiotics.  She's really happy, eating all her food & following us into the toilet as she normally does so she seems really happy.  She's booked in at the vets on 4 August to try again for abscess removal.  Once they sedate her they'll check her heart rate again.  If it's still beating strangely, surgery won't proceed & she'll go on heart medication.  Not sure what happens then though?!

Lulu has decided that the loungeroom is her home.  She doesn't like her spot in the kitchen next to Isabelle.  She wasn't going to the toilet in her tray or drinking her water until we would let her out for a run.   All night she'd just lie in her tray & mope for the next 8 hours until someone got up & let her out to the loungeroom.  Straining to go to the toilet I think was because she was holding on.  She seems quite fine now since we've opened up the door from the kitchen so she can have permanent access to half the hallway. She now has non slip mats, a second tray full of hay & a second cardboard box to play with.  She seems much happier.

Isabelle has sneezed a number of times & a little bit of sticky snot comes out of her nose (she's done that since she arrived).  She's probably spread it around to the other two buns but it doesn't seem to be too bad and probably expected from that cess pit that they came from.   She's quite a character & pops up under our feet around the kitchen.  She's taken to spreading out on one of our rugs right under the stove.

7 weeks on - 7:16 PM, 14/7/2009

Buns are doing great!  Miss Poppy,  however, has a heart condition which saw her come home from her impending abscess surgery as it was too risky for her to go under anaesthetic.

Lulu is hilarious!  She is so bouncy & excitable.  There are these worrying moments where she kind of comatoses in the afternoon, sleeping in her hay tray.  If she doesn't bounce up for dinner at around 4.30pm it means she needs to come out for a run in the lounge room.  She might have a digestive issue that may cause problems later on but she usually comes good pretty soon after going for a run.  I'm concerned that she tries to strain to go to the toilet when she has these "moments" which could indicate she may have bladder stones (problem that happens to bunnies on an all pellet diet).

Isabelle had a quiet night recently where I was a bit worried about her.  She hasn't had as many runs as the other two but we're working on it!

Five weeks on - 3:28 PM, 28/6/2009

It's been five weeks since four farm bunnies came to live with us.  The time has been eventful, happy & also sad.

The bunnies are big girls, probably New Zealand white crosses.  All weigh around the 3.5 - 4kg mark.  All four buns came from a breeding shed in an intensive rabbit factory farm. 

I wouldn't think it unusual for rabbits from these unhygienic & dirty environments to have health issues.  Isabelle has a minor nasal discharge.  Poppy has ear mites.  Isabelle's leg was strangely shaved when she first arrived.  All four buns had enormous ear tags - Poppy's ear was infected.  One of Lulu's ears has quite a few pieces missing.

So, in our panic that possibly all four buns were pregnant (coming from a breeding shed) we quickly had all of them spayed by a very experienced rabbit vet.  All seemed to go well.  We were told that all four buns were probably around 2-3 years of age.  All girls had had multiple litters in their lifetime, which could be seen during desexing.  The two mostly white bunnies had experienced extra large litters as both had internal stretch marks.

Spaying a female bunny is pretty routine these days.  However, two out of the four girls developed unusual infections.  Zoe, the only grey bunny, suffered a very deep abscess.  The vets decided on removing the abscess as it was life threatening but she unfortunately died soon after the surgery.  We were very saddened by her passing as she was such a gorgeous & friendly bunny that wanted a chance to experience a happy life.  I feel that I failed her.

Our second bun with the infection (Poppy - pictured above) is doing much better but she's supposed to still be on antibiotics for another week.  Today the abscess burst so we'll be taking her to see the bunny doctor tomorrow for an updated opinion of what to do about her condition & whether she too will need surgery.

To somehow understand why two out of the four buns experienced infections post spay, there is a possibly that these rabbit farm bunnies are fed antibiotics to keep them "healthy" living in unhygienic & cramped conditions.  As factory farms are also rarely cleaned, the farm bunnies could also have unusual bacteria on their skin. 

The truths of rabbit factory farming - 9:45 AM, 18/6/2009

Whenever you see rabbit on a menu or sold in a butcher shop, this is where they come from.  There is no nice way of "farming" rabbit.  Conditions are dirty, smelly & disgusting.  Processing is cruel & inhumane. 

Every state of Australia farms rabbit.  These rabbit farm sheds are hidden in outer areas of cities and are kept away from the public view so the community is unaware of what happens behind closed doors.  Slaughter houses are nearby so the public never see rabbits on the move to their fate.  Rabbits are not stunned before slaughter.  The inevitable killing of these animals is beyond the imagination. 

These factory farms are jam packed with tens of thousands of rabbits packed into small metal crates stacked next to each other in grouped sheds.  Each rabbit is kept in a small wire box with only enough space to sit & turn around.   Food is cheap pellets fed down in a shute.  The floor is open wire so poo & wee falls through to a densely caked area below. 

Imagine living in a box all your life, no sunlight, no room to stretch or stand up.  Every 4 weeks if your're a female breeding rabbit, you're raped by an unknown male (rabbit mating is quite aggressive, leaving bites & scratches).  Four weeks later, you give birth to your babies in this dirty, cold crate.  Another few weeks later, a lid opens above you & your babies are grabbed & taken away.  Then the whole process starts again!

After continuous breeding for 2-3 years, that's it.  Your life is useless & you are off to the slaughterhouse.