Your comments are all wonderful, thank you so much!
I will try to answer some of the questions that you've been asking... but first.. I want to show you all what Buster is doing right now:
Yes, she's taking a nap as usual!
Okay, back to the questions:
Q.: Have you bunnyproofed?
A.: We've tried to as much as we could, all electrical cables have been removed and I always have to make sure I don't leave anything around for her to eat, I've often found she chews on jacket sleeves that are left at the back of the kitchen chairs.
Once I had a pile of clothes for ironing that I had left on a kitchen chair, let's just say that Buster helped reducing the number of items that had to be ironed as she chewed on shirts and t-shirts and whatever she could reach!
Thankfully she doesn't nibble curtains, furniture or carpets..
Occasionally, she climbs on vases and eats the earth and leaves, but I think that's okay for her to do as it's all roughage.
To show you what I mean...
Q.: Did the eye specialist ever tell you what causes his (or her) retinas to deteriorate like that?
A.: To be honest, just for Buster eye sight alone, we brought her to 4 different Vets so far (the last being the eye specialist) to try and get a definitive answer. Nobody seems to know much about it and we've heard different opinions.
The first vet 'flicked her fingers' in front of Buster, she reacted and the vet concluded she had sight (eh, really)
The second vet examined her eyes with a small light and did not pronounce herself either way.
The third vet examined her eyes with a light also and agreed that Buster pupils are permanently dilated and do not react to light, hence the retina not developed theory.
Finally the 'eye specialist' said that Buster has very little sight on both eyes, but just enough to see lights and shadow, no more.
Having said all this, Buster has been at home with us for 4 months now and ever since she was a little ball of fluff we noticed that something wasn't right as she kept on running into things, she did not see a wall or a door in front of her.
Hares are supposed to have great eyesight, so we knew there was something wrong with her eyes. We initially thought it was cataracts but we've since been told the damage is all at the back of the eyes, that she was born this way and she was most likely abandoned by the mother.
Q.: Will you guys get to keep her? Or perhaps this would be too much to take on permanently? (or possibly they won't allow you to)?
A.: Yes, this is a decision we faced few months back. The plan was to release Buster once she was weaned (hares are usually weaned at 6 weeks of age) but we've been told that being blind, release was not an option.
So the three options we were suggested were to either keep her (we already had the Irish Hare Org. approval), or to give her to the Irish Hare Org. which is based in Northern Ireland, or to put her down.
The Irish Hare Org. had offered their help and support should we decide to keep her, and so we did! Buster's been with us ever since!
Q.: Are you sure that's a hare? That leg length to body ratio looks more like a deer or moose.
A.: LOL, yup, I know, she's some legs on her!
Q.: Is Buster still drinking her morning bottle of milk?
A.: Yes, unfortunately she is. And the reason why I say unfortunately is because she relies on her morning bottle as her only mean of fluid intake. Buster never learned to drink on her own. We have tried all ways we could think of: we got one of those upside-down bottles with the metal tip, we used a drinking bottle and tied it upside down (just in case she didn't like the metal tip and preferred the soft teeth), we used sauces and cups of water; nothing ever worked and she never drank on her own.
So for weeks and weeks we gave her a milk bottle in the morning and in the evenings we fed her some water (either in a small syringe on the side of her mouth or on a bottle).
Only last week, after collecting her from the Vet Clinic, Buster was incredibly thirsty, so she took a full bottle of milk, followed by a full bottle of water, and then she approached (for the first time!) the cup of water and she tried 'eating' and 'biting' the water. For about 20 seconds she knew water was what she wanted but she didn't know how to lick it. Eventually she figured out how to lick it and she's been at it for a full 10 minutes!
We've since stopped giving her a water bottle in the evenings, as we wanted her to get thirsty and drink on her own. Unfortunately she hasn't been seen drinking since!
So for the moment, we're still keeping up the milk.
Her bottle of milk in the morning consists of:
- 1 and a half scoop of Welpi (puppy's formula)
- 1 capsule of Acidophilus (to keep her guts healthy)
- 12ml of fresh cream (hares milk is naturally very fat)
- 30ml of cooled boiled water
Buster stretching her back legs!
Q.: Did you build the rabbit run and if so, will you photograph it in a future blog entry?
A.: Unfortunately we haven't got around to build her a run. However, we did get a hutch. Rabbits hutches were not suitable for Buster as they are on two levels with a 'stair' connecting the two, and we thought it would be too dangerous for Buster as she might 'walk' from the top floor right into the hole where the stair is, from the wrong side, in which case she'd fall. So instead we got her a large wooden kennel with a door (vs a flap). The idea was to use the kennel as a hutch where Buster would find shelter in rainy and cold days. The reason why we haven't built the run is that we're starting to doubt whether it's a good idea for Buster.
There are a number of cats in the neighbourhood and our next door neighbour has two dogs. When the dogs play and bark Buster gets very agitated but the real issue here are the cats. We fear that the cats will be all around (and sitting on top of) the run and Buster will die of a heart attack, stress or gut dysfunction (caused by stress). This is the reason why she's at home most of the times and in the evenings she's let out in the garden always guarded.
I hope I have answered most of your questions, if I've left out something, please let me know.
BTW, all advice is welcome re. Buster, if you have any suggestions on how to wean her off the bottle, or getting her to drink on her own or regarding the run outside and what's the safest option for her.
