Sharing a seat

 

Sterling really likes to sit on a throne. Even when I'm sitting on it already!

New decoration on my shelf

 

Sterling got up to the stage and proclaimed himself as king of the world!

Sterling on standby

 

Collateral damage

 

I've been in my new place for less than 3 weeks and Sterling has already found a security hole. As you can see from the picture, he managed to sneak into the back of my computer (in a cage) and left a lot of damage. I had to replace 3 cables, taped many more, and buy a new network router. It was a close call too. When I got back to find him inside, he nearly got through my main power cord. It even had those black tubing protection usually recommended by rabbit people. So even "protected" wires aren't completely safe.

How to make a rabbit puppet shadow

Rabbit Hand Shadow Puppet - video powered by Metacafe

Jack the one-day foster rabbit

Jack is a foster rabbit that is staying with me tonight. Tomorrow, her (yes, Jack is a she) new family will be picking her up already. She haven't ventured out of her cage yet. She does seem to be a sweet rabbit though. As I've been able to pet her in her cage and she would just melt down. Her coat is soft and comfortable too. I bet she's great for snuggling!

If you may have noticed, the cage she came with has wire flooring. This is really bad for their feet (just imagine standing on those wire all day yourself) and I should put down a towel or something for her. But I don't have any extra at the moment and I'm keeping the gate door open, so I'll let that slip for tonight.

What's in it for rabbit breeders?

Seeing the many rabbits up for sale on the local buy/sell directory got me thinking about the rabbit breeders. I am curious as to what motivates rabbit breeders out there to keep breeding rabbits. It's not like they're making much money with rabbits selling for $20 or so in pet stores. I'd imagine there are probably so much work involved in breeding rabbits. And if they really love the rabbits, as many would tell you, how can they be selling them to strangers? From my experience in fostering Coconut, it was difficult to let her go even knowing she's going to a rescue approved family with their insane background check. So for the breeders to be selling so many babies to people like they do, I highly doubt any of them really love their rabbit at all. It's like telling people you love your kids even though you're selling them to a sweat-shop. Just wondering.

The medical use of pineapple for rabbits

I did a lot of research about hairball in rabbits after Poppy passed away last year. One of such work is this article which I sent to a local rabbit rescue. After sitting in my harddrive for over a year, I saw it again today and thought I might share this with the rest of the world in hope that somebody will find this useful. So here it is attached below.

The medical use of pineapple for rabbits

There are many myths circulating around the internet regarding the health benefit of pineapple for rabbits, especially for hairballs. So I did some research of my own using medical journals and trustworthy sources.

It seems that bromelain, the actual enzyme in question, is most abundant in the stem of the pineapple, the center part that we throw away. Fresh pineapple are best as the enzyme can be denatured once frozen or processed.

Although there are no definitive evidence that bromelain intake helps with hairball or GI stasis in rabbits, there are other positive results. They are summarized below.

From the study of [1], it seems that bromelain is good for diarrhoea. The effect is that it will reduce intestinal fluid secretion, which is the real cause of death from diarrhoea as patients literally excrete out all their nutrients and water.

From [2] and [3], these could be the direction to extrapolate that bromelain helps with hairball. They suggest that bromelain has mucolytic and digestive properties. So it’ll dilate the mucus coating of the GI tract as well as helping to breakdown proteins. The Ontario Rabbit Education web site [4] implies that the mucus is the source of the obstruction as it’s like adding gel with hair. However, if the hairball is big enough to obstruct motility on its own, then reducing the mucus coating would have the adverse effect of removing a protective layer of the GI tract and could pose other health issues as the it grinds with the hair. The risk is location dependent as thickness of the GI tract decreases further along. So the use of bromelain during GI blockage is risky and not advised.

Lastly, [5] concludes that bromelain acts as an agent to complement tumour therapy because of its metastasis efficacy. And they also suggest that it accelerate wound healing.

These attributes of bromelain apply to human and other pets as well. In summary, eat some pineapple if your rabbit have diarrhoea, receiving tumour therapy, or wounded. And be careful of feeding your rabbit pineapple during GI blockage.

References:

[1] T.L. Mynott, et al., Bromelain prevents secretion caused by Vibrio cholerae and Escherichia coli enterotoxins in rabbit ileum in vitro, Gastroenterology, 1997.

[2] A. Bernkop-Schnürch, et al., The Use of Auxiliary Agents to Improve the Mucosal Uptake of Peptides, Medicinal Chemistry Reviews-Online, 1994.

[3] G. S. Kelly, Bromelain: A Literature Review and Discussion of its Therapeutic Applications, Alernative Medicine Review, 1996.

[4] http://www.ontariorabbits.org/health/healthinfo8.htm

[5] H.R. Maurer, Bromelain: biochemistry, pharmacology and medical use, Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 2001.

[6] K. Suzuku, et al., Experimental study of the effects of bromelain on the sputum consistency in rabbits, Nippon Yakurigaku Zasshi, 1983

stretched out Sterling

Sterling checking out what's for dinner.

Coconut has been adopted!

Coconut has finally been adopted last week after being fostered by me for 11 months! She has gone on with a nice lady that will give her free run of her house. From what I've heard, Coconut has settled down nicely and is already warming up well to her new family. The lady said Coconut is "near perfect". Coconut has come a long way since I fostered her. She was found as a stray and I suspected she didn't have a good life before. She used to be easily startled and scared of everything. Over the time she's been with me, it's very obvious that she has gradually learned to trust, and actually love, human and feel comfortable in her home. The above picture is the last photo I took of her. She sits beside/below me every morning and evening while I'm at my desk. She would dance around me or lick my feet sometimes. She is grooming herself in the picture. Although I will miss her company, I am very happy that Coconut has found a good home.

Coconut excitedly eating a pear