Scraps of My Life

If you don't know it by now, WE are a family of rabbit lovers. We have our little Sophie and Ziggy, who I've mentioned on the blog over the past few months. When we first considered a companion for Sophie I checked the website for the local Rabbit Shelter first. I was overwhelmed with how many rabbits they had - almost 100. I considered getting one, but then we found Ziggy.

Just knowing all of those rabbits were out there got to me. I've continued to check the shelter website these past few months, and I've watched the number of rabbits slowly and steadily increase. Last week Audre and I counted almost 200 on the website, with a note that they had 52 more coming in. I talked it over with John, and we decided that we could just as easily be a 3 rabbit household, so we planned to go and pick one up on the weekend. I had already picked one out on the website - a fuzzy lop named Snickers.

We got to the shelter just after lunch on Saturday. It was an old farmhouse with battered old cages outside, and a huge dumpster that stunk of old litter and feces. We walked up to the house and were met be a couple of young girls, who led us inside.

When we walked in the door we were met with a horrendous stink, it was so bad I almost turned around and walked out. We were led into the "kitchen" where we saw the first batch of rabbits. The walls were lined floor to ceiling with cages, each one with 2 or 3 rabbits inside.

Over at the counter was a young boy, probably 4 years old. He was making himself a peanut butter sandwich, then licked the knife, stuck it back in the jar and got himself more peanut butter. He wiped his snotty nose with the raggedy old stuffed frog that was under his arm, then picked up his sandwich and wandered away. John and I looked at each other as if to say "should we just turn and run?". It turns out that the young boy was one of the shelter managers 7 children. The two young girls that met us at the door were hers as well. We thought originally that the shelter was their home, but we were relieved to find out that the shelter was just the shelter, and that they actually lived a few miles away.

We looked at several rabbits, including Snickers. One of the older daughters brought her in for us to see, and she jumped out of her arms. John reached down and grabbed her in mid air before she could hit the floor. She then struggled to get away from him and when she was finally safely back in her cage we realized that she was NOT the best choice for us. We headed into the next room, and the next. Each time looking in the cages and kind of shaking our heads. We picked up a few, and they wiggled and squirmed to get away, just like Snickers. Their fur was matted, and they all stunk. They were the mangeiest things I've ever seen and I was so sad. I just wanted to cry. Knowing that these were once someones pets, who had just been discarded without a second thought....it was really heartbreaking. It was clear by their reactions to being picked up that they never get held, and that they seldom get petted. Having their cages cleand and getting fresh food and water is probably the extent of attention they get on a regular basis.

When we got to the fourth room, the woman who ran the shelter told me that they had 5more rooms full upstairs. Shocked, I asked how many rabbits were currently there and she said that at last count it was 300. I couldn't believe it - 300 rabbits looking for homes, some of whom had been there for a year or more. One that we looked at, a fuzzy lop named "Piglet" had been adopted twice before and returned to the shelter both times - cute as he was, we couldn't take the chance on a rabbit with a history like that.

As we prepared to leave room #4 and head upstairs, I saw this little face. John had walked right passed her, but there was something about her that caught my attention. She was very quiet, sitting there all alone. She had this pleading look in her eyes, so we opened the cage and took her out. She was very clean and well groomed. She didn't smell. So far so good. She settled happily into Johns arms, and he held her for the next 10 minutes while we continued to look around and chat with the shelter manager. She fell fast asleep in his arms and we knew that the search was over - she was our girl.

She's a mixed Netherland Dwarf/French Lop, who sadly was dumped at the shelter by her breeder a few weeks ago. She was left there along with the rest of the litter, because they were a "mistake". They were an accidental mixed pairing that the breeder figured they couldn't sell. She's about 3 months old now, and the last one remaining from that litter. She's just the sweetest little girl with the nicest disposition. She just wants to be cuddled and loved.

Once we got her home we took her down to the family room where we keep Sophie and Ziggy. They have a big 5x7 area that's fenced in with an animal playpen. They hop in and out of their cage and have free roam of their "rabbitat". When we "bunny bonded" those two it went fairly smoothly. We took our time and let them get to know each other through the cages for 2-3 weeks before actually letting them co-mingle.

We put the new buns cage in the pen. They seemed to be very happy to have another rabbit around and paid some attention to her. After a few minutes Ziggy went about doing his own thing, accepting of the fact that she was there while Sophie just sat and stared at the cage. We decided to open her cage and see how it went, and at first it was fine. Ziggy and Sophie hopped in and out, licked her head, ate her food and it seemed promising until she came out of the cage. She wasn't on the floor for 2minutes when Sophie went after her. She chased her into a corner and attacked her. John jumped the fence and grabbed her as the fur was flying. We put her back in the cage and took her out of the pen, but Sophie continued to stare and give her the hairy eyeball. The new one just cowered in the corner of her cage, and I felt so bad for her that I grabbed her cage and carried it upstairs. I wanted her to adjust to her new home without being afraid.

It's been just a day and already she's made herself comfortable - we have her up in the living room, where we let her hop around freely in and out of her cage. She flops at our feet to be petted, and if I'm laying on the floor she hops over and lays down beside me. When I get up and leave the room, I return to find her laying next to my chair waiting for me to come back. She sits on Johns feet, and licks his ankles. We've had 5 rabbits but I've never met one like her before. She's a real "people" bun. Maybe we'll try to bond her with Sophie and Ziggy again, but she seems pretty happy to be a bun among humans...and I'm fine with her to be one too.

We still don't have a name for her, I've been calling her "new bun" - LOL. The girls just love her, and she has taken to them quite fondly.

So the shelter has one less bun today. Hopefully 299 more people will come along and give homes to all the others, although I think that's wishful thinking. As long as people buy rabbits from breeders or pet stores, the shelters will always be full. Sad.

This month’s kit contains:

~ (1) sheet Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg Elements
~ (1) sheet Cosmo Cricket Acorn
~ (1) sheet Cosmo Cricket Maple
~ (1) sheet Cosmo Cricket Autumn
~ (1) sheet Cosmo Cricket Clove
~ (1) sheet Cosmo Cricket Falling Down
~ (1) sheet Cosmo Cricket Cinnamon
~ (1) sheet Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg Borders
~ (1) sheet Dream Street Change is Good
~ (1) sheet Dream Street Seasons of Change
~ (1) sheet Dream Street Hoot Hoot
~ (1) sheet Jillibean Soup Hint of Gossip
~ (1) sheet Bazzill Swiss Dot Scallop
~ (3) sheets Bazzill Cardstock
~(1) Jillibean Soup Kraft Card & Envelope
~(2) pieces Maya Road Pom Pom Trim
~(2) Maya Road Velvet Blossoms
~(6) button flowers from Evalicious
~(2) Making Memories Copper Butterflies
~assorted Cosmo Cricket chip shapes
~(10) Maya Road Chip Leaves
~(2) Little Yellow Bicycle Fabric Tags
~Dream Street Sam Alphas
~(6) Little Yellow Bicycle Clear Cuts
~(1) Autumn Bird Tag from Cocoa Studio
~(1) LYB Autumn Bliss Mat

Lottsa stuff for $21.99!

This month I got to work with the kit and had a blast. Here are my projects: