Trip to the Vet

Poor little princess Pants had a trip to the vet last weekend. This was her second trip ever (the first one was to get spade), and I’m not sure she cared for it. She also *hates* being in her carrier, so that wasn’t helping anything.

For the past couple weeks, Pants has been drinking a lot more water than usual. This can be a sign of bad things, which I learned years ago when my guinea pig did the same thing. So hubs and I took her in to the vet just to be sure she’s OK because SHE CAN NEVER DIE. I cannot even handle the thought of her not being around.

Besides all the water drinking, she’s been otherwise OK. She’s eating normally, playing, and generally happy. So the vet thought it could be bladder stones. Enter x-rays.

*As cute on the inside as she is on the outside*

Her bladder looked fine. The vet said there is a 1% chance there could be stones there that she’s not seeing. Also, her kidneys didn’t show any inflammation. Also good. The x-ray did show a poop ready to make a grand exit.

The x-rays were clean, so the next logical problem is either a UTI or kidney disease. Because the UTI is easier to treat, she’s on antibiotics for the next two weeks. If she doesn’t improve, we’ll take her back for blood work and a urinalysis but she already seems to be back to normal so I’m hoping the UTI was her issue.

I give her medicine with a syringe twice a day. Watching a bunny eat from a syringe is just adorable. Also, she’s so good at taking it (unlike Hammy, R.I.P Hammy). I think she gets excited for her medicine too, probably because it tastes like tutti frutti and she’s a fatty.

*Tipping the scales, or in this case, the basket*

Sunday Bunday

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a Sunday Bunday. Usually I plaster Pants all over Instagram but don’t seem to give her much blog love, so blog love she shall have.

Last week, Trix cereal was doing this contest to find the real Trix rabbit. The winner gets their rabbit on boxes of Trix sold in their hometown. It’s time Pants starts earning her keep around here, so it was photo shoot time. The idea was to either get a picture of her doing something cute next to the box, or cut the Trix rabbit out of the box and have her stick her head through it and look adorable. In both options, she should sit still long enough for me to take pictures. She didn’t cooperate for any of them because she’s the worst.

This one was close. We would have used this one (and photoshopped out the parsley) if it wasn’t blurry.

This one was close too but had the wrong lighting and she looks super bitchy.

Eventually, we had to pick her up and try to get a picture that way. She didn’t appreciate that either. This is the one we submitted.

I hope the criteria to win is a rabbit that looks depressed and defeated because I think we nailed it.

Everything you ever wanted to know about rabbit poop but were afraid to ask

Someone freaked us out a little bit on Monday.

In the morning, she didn’t eat much of her food. Hubs always gives her a treat and a pet before he leaves the house and she didn’t want anything to do with the treat. Girl will rip an arm off for a treat. I had class Monday night so I didn’t get home until pretty late and she still wasn’t feeling well. I asked hubs if had cleaned her litter box when he got home and when he said no, I realized she hadn’t pooped all day.

GI stasis is bad news for a rabbit and can kill them fast so hubs looked up remedies online. Giving rabbits a little bit of fresh pineapple juice was one of those remedies, so I went to the store to get some. Not a big deal usually, but I just worked all day, then went to class for two hours, and then walked 30 minutes to my car uphill in the rain. I’m not exaggerating. Ok, maybe the uphill part. When I got home, I instantly jumped into my PJs only to have to get dressed again. (The worst, amirite?) Now if you could – guess the one fruit she doesn’t like?

Freakin’ pineapple.

So we did the thing she hates the most: held her and rubbed her tummy. Eventually, she pooped a little bit (thank goodness) but it was small and not as dry as it should be. We were going to take her to the vet the next morning if she didn’t unleash a literal shit storm. But when we woke up on Tuesday, she pooped a little and was more interested in eating than before so we put it off. Hubs checked on her at lunch time just to be safe and that little jerk was fine. She even got in a little weight lifting that night.

See the rubber mat under the treadmill in the picture above? I ended up getting rid of it last night because Pants thinks it’s delicious.

That is not from one sitting. That is from a year of nibbles. And they are around the whole perimeter. I tried to cover up the edges with rugs and towels to keep her away, but she’s a tricky one.

Now she’s feeling back to her usual bunny self. Her new thing is to lay some part of her body on this hat mat (that is for eating). I buy her a bed, she humps it. I buy her a hay treat, she lays on it.

I can’t win.

Sunday Bunday

It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these posts. Rest assured the princess is still doing well and is as sassy as ever. So I thought I would share a few shots of her being adorable. Or being a pain in the ass. Or being adorable while being a pain in the ass.

Pants gets to run around the house and play every morning. And by playing, I mean running from her cage to another room to lay down some more.

Pants helping me with the Christmas decorations.

Pants’s delicately balanced piece of poo on a stuffed animal.

That girl. She’s cute and talented.

And lastly, Pants staying still long enough so I could get an actual shot of that sweet face.

I love that the color on her mouth looks like an upside-down heart. ❤

Sunday Bunday

I had a pretty fabulous birthday weekend that I’ll share with you later, but until then it’s time for a little cuteness.

I think I mentioned before how much Pants hates to be picked up. I mean, just hates it. She lays really still, her ear slicks back, and her eyes get wide. Unfortunately for her, we love it. We get to shower her with kisses and snuggles and she can’t do a damn thing about it.

Ahhh, forced love.

Maybe she can work on being less adorable and we’ll stop picking her up but I doubt that will happen when she keeps giving us sweet pictures like this.

That FACE. I want to eat it.

So that was today’s bunny snuggle. And just when you thought you couldn’t get enough sweetness, I figured out how to make gifs.

Taping her is my new obsession.

Sunday Bunday

Every day, hubs and I are in and out of the fridge to make meals and grab snacks, and every day Pants ignores us and goes about doing her bunny business. However, when we get an apple out, our little Fruit Whisperer just knows and starts begging. At first we thought she knew certain sounds, like the fruit crisper drawer opening or the rustle of a plastic bag. We even tried tricking her a few times by making the same noises when we get an apple, but bringing out a different food. It never works. We’ll check her cage and she’s not paying attention. But once we get out that apple, she assumes the position.

Now our favorite thing to do is get an apple and then check out the cute and pathetic that is a begging bunny. Usually she doesn’t stay in one position long enough for us to get a picture, but yesterday she would.not.move and I got begging position #3.

I really want to dress her in a striped jumpsuit.

Buy a *Chocolate* Bunny for Easter

Reblogged from Eat: Watch: Run:

Each year, thousands of people buy ‘Easter’ bunnies for their kids without knowing how to properly care for a rabbit or the commitment involved. Unfortunately, some pet stores encourage this mindset and as a result, most of these bunnies wind up abandoned, neglected, or dead. A few are lucky enough make it to the SPCA.

As a bunny mommy, I wanted to do this post to get the word out about the commitment it takes to own a rabbit. It’s not easy. This little girl takes a lot of work.

Bunnies live 9-12 years, so it’s a long term commitment.

Bunnies need lots of supervised play time. It’s recommended they  have 2 hours a day.

It’s a good idea to get bunnies spayed or neutered. They have a lot of reproductive issues when they get older. Getting Pants fixed cost us upward of $200. (And smaller animals don’t always do well under anesthesia.)

Bunnies need fresh veggies every day. I’m always going to the store during lunch breaks to get her lettuce, parsley, broccoli, Timothy hay, litter, toys, and treats.

Bunnies can be litter trained. It took us less than a week to train her when she was 8 weeks old, but you have to be patient and do your research beforehand.

Bunnies chew. On EVERYTHING. (See the baseboards in the background?)

They also like to dig on carpet, or even better, all the litter out of their litter box. Right after you’ve cleaned it.  (Oh, she needs her litter box cleaned out at least twice a day, too.)

Bunnies also shed like you wouldn’t believe – and go through “molting” season where they shed clumps of fur. We have tumbleweed of fur rolling around the house on a daily basis. It’s like a terrible, terrible Western.

Bunnies hate to be held (or at least ours does). Which makes it interesting when you have to cut their nails.

You can’t go out of town without finding someone to watch the bunny. They are not like cats. It’s always a huge production to dismantle Pant’s cage, gather all her things, and get her unwilling ass into her carrier.

Although Pants is a lot of work, we love her and she is so worth it. We never get tired of playing with her and making her do bunny photo shoots and she always makes us smile, but it’s a lot of work that we didn’t expect at first.

Of course, we’d do it again in a heartbeat. She’s part of the family.

(That was right after she was fixed so she was still drugged. There’s no way she’s sit still like that now.)

Rabbits are definitely not animals to buy on a whim. Do your research first if you’re ever interested in one – or ask me! Or, check out this site for more information.

Back to Real Life

I made it back to Orlando safely. And now I get to hang out with these two cuties again.

That might be my favorite picture ever. Hubs loves his bunny snuggles. So sweet. ❤

I have today off because of all the hours we put in on travel. I’ve been killing time by catching up on MasterChef, not showering, taking gratuitious pictures of Pants, and rearranging the magnets on the fridge. And by rearranging, I mean just putting a new one up there.

Whenever I visit a new place, I have to buy a magnet that has the name of the place I visited. I like the reminder of where I’ve been and I think as the years go by, I’ll like looking back and remembering all the trips I’ve taken. I get pretty upset if I forget to buy one too. I forgot to buy one in Savannah and Jacksonville last year, which still bums me out that I don’t have a reminder of my first and second marathons. I also couldn’t find one in Austin, so I had to beg my co-worker, Lee, to pick one up for me. I realize I am ridiculous. But it’s my thing.

Anyway, Killeen was pretty sparse in the magnet department. What? No one wants a reminder of Killeen out there? Unthinkable! I found exactly one at the airport, so I had to buy it. It’s not pretty.

That deer looks pissed to be in Killeen.

I just found out today that in three weeks, I might be going on another two week work trip (to Maryland this time). I’m not thrilled about it since I was trying to get vacation time approved next month. Plus, the last thing you want to hear right when you get home is when you’re leaving again. I guess I’ll see if the trip actually gets approved. It’s just in the planning stages now but it’s kinda killing my mood.

Not killing my mood? That I get to go to Crossfit tonight after 2 weeks of doing workouts on my own. And, I’m officially back on my running plan! I’m following one from Smart Coach, which is free from Runner’s World. The easy run paces are a little on the slow side for me, so I may have to tweak those as I get into it.

My ultimate goal is a sub 2-hour half marathon. I have a 10 miler coming up at the end of September and I’ll have a little more time after that to train for my half marathon in November. I’ll be running the half alone, which I think will really help my motivation during the race because I won’t be thinking of who is running ahead of me. At least, that’s how it worked for my last marathon. So my fingers are crossed for this one.

In an unrelated note, I decided to take back to school pictures of Pants today. Almost everyone I know is posting first day of school pictures of their kids on Facebook and I’m feeling a little left out. So, please enjoy Pant’s first day of school pics.

She’s packed and ready to go.

Hateful Bunny

As you probably know, I have a sweet little one-eared bunny named Pants.

Every day, she does things that make me swoon like, standing up on her hind legs. Or eating. Or pooping. Or eating her own poop. It’s all adorable. You can’t walk by her and NOT smile.

Hubs and I have been telling people for years that she growls at us when we feed her. We ask other bunny owners if their bunny growls and the answer is always no. Then when friends come over and we try to get her to growl, it never works.

Well, hubs finally caught it on video last night. So please enjoy our hateful, yet totally adorable bunny growling as I give her food.

(Here’s a link to the video if the embedding doesn’t work.)

The Story of Pants

Two and a half years ago, I never wanted another pet. I previously had 2 guinea pigs (a dad and a daughter) and lost both of them when they were about 4 years old.

Rick went fast and unexpectedly. Six months later, Flossie died but she was a whole different story. The way she died was super traumatizing (no, I didn’t kill her) and I cried like a baby for a week (yes, over a guinea pig). It was just so sad that I didn’t want to go through that again.

One month later, hubs wanted to go to Subway for lunch and I didn’t. He bribed me with promises of petting guinea pigs at the pet store next door. I’m a sucker for pet stores, so I was in. Only there were no guinea pigs to pet. Instead, there were a bunch of baby bunnies. One in particular was sitting in the corner by herself looking especially pathetic.

That’s when we noticed she had one ear, which made her cute times a billion. (The people at the pet store said they think she was born that way since she didn’t have any wound indications.) Then of course to top off the cuteness, she was the only bunny that would let us pet her without running away. (FML)

That’s when I caved like a fat kid at an all-you-can-eat buffet. I wanted a Subway salad. I got a bunny.

She was so young when we bought her (8 weeks) that the pet store wasn’t sure if she was a boy or a girl, so we couldn’t name her. Hubs and I agreed if she was a boy, we would name her George.

But my offering of “Cupcake” or “Sprinkles” for a girl name was vetoed by the hubs because he is lame.

We really wanted to name her so we looked up bunny reproductive parts online and tried to compare them to hers to figure out her sex, but after awhile that just got creepy.

We suspected she was a girl, but decided to wait to name her until we knew for sure. In the meantime, we had to call her something so a friend suggested Bunnypants because it’s gender neutral. We thought it was funny, so Bunnypants it was. Then we got lazy and dropped the “Bunny.”

Once she was fixed and it was confirmed she was a girl, it was nearly impossible to call her anything else because we were so used to calling her Pants. We were kinda bummed that we couldn’t name her George and felt like she should have a girl name of some sort, so we put them together and gave her two names – Georgia Bunnypants.

And that is the story of how we came to own a one-eared bunny named Pants.

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If you can’t get enough of Pants, here’s some more posts about her:

• Buy a *Chocolate* Bunny for Easter
• Just Another Manic Bunday
• Bunny Trickery 101
• Move Over Jaden Smith  (< —- Hubs told me this post was stupid.  He’s just jealous of my crazy design talent.)