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September 19. 2023
Gretta (HCB's Cadeau) is now settling in nicely with her new family. She went home on Sunday and is delighting her family with her little self. We look forward to sharing many updates about her going forward.
We do have a very sad update to share. Penelope and Finn's baby did not make it. I had written about it on the Baby Holland Lops page and have moved that post here, so you can read about it.
UPDATE... 9/18/23...Penelope's baby has had an adventure and we're not certain if it will make it. Somehow it got out of the nest box and wriggled its way out of the cage space and onto the floor. It continued to move its way across the floor and hid itself somewhere. It had been in its nest on Saturday morning when I checked it, but was missing that evening. We looked everywhere. After searching fruitlessly for over an hour, we came to the very sad conclusion that one of our dogs probably found it when they followed us out to the bunny room and did something with it.
The following morning, we spent some more time looking, but to no avail. After arriving back home from church in the early afternoon, I went to the bunny room to put some laundry away and immediately saw Penelope's baby cuddled up on the floor. Miraculously, it was still alive. Penelope was overjoyed with her baby's safe return, and she lovingly groomed and snuggled with it. We noticed it was too weak to nurse and ran to the store for some milk replacer. It drank a few drops and made it through the night. It wasn't particularly interested in the milk replacer this morning, but we will keep trying. If it gets enough strength back to nurse properly from Penelope, all well and good, but the more time that passes, the greater the possibility of Penelope's milk drying up. We'll keep trying with the milk replacer throughout the day and evening, just to give it the best chance possible.
The baby passed away during the night. We believe it either aspirated on the drops of milk replacer or it was too young to digest it properly. This is not the outcome we had hoped for, but we know that these things are a very sad aspect of a life devoted to loving and caring for animals.
Gretta (HCB's Cadeau) is now settling in nicely with her new family. She went home on Sunday and is delighting her family with her little self. We look forward to sharing many updates about her going forward.
We do have a very sad update to share. Penelope and Finn's baby did not make it. I had written about it on the Baby Holland Lops page and have moved that post here, so you can read about it.
UPDATE... 9/18/23...Penelope's baby has had an adventure and we're not certain if it will make it. Somehow it got out of the nest box and wriggled its way out of the cage space and onto the floor. It continued to move its way across the floor and hid itself somewhere. It had been in its nest on Saturday morning when I checked it, but was missing that evening. We looked everywhere. After searching fruitlessly for over an hour, we came to the very sad conclusion that one of our dogs probably found it when they followed us out to the bunny room and did something with it.
The following morning, we spent some more time looking, but to no avail. After arriving back home from church in the early afternoon, I went to the bunny room to put some laundry away and immediately saw Penelope's baby cuddled up on the floor. Miraculously, it was still alive. Penelope was overjoyed with her baby's safe return, and she lovingly groomed and snuggled with it. We noticed it was too weak to nurse and ran to the store for some milk replacer. It drank a few drops and made it through the night. It wasn't particularly interested in the milk replacer this morning, but we will keep trying. If it gets enough strength back to nurse properly from Penelope, all well and good, but the more time that passes, the greater the possibility of Penelope's milk drying up. We'll keep trying with the milk replacer throughout the day and evening, just to give it the best chance possible.
The baby passed away during the night. We believe it either aspirated on the drops of milk replacer or it was too young to digest it properly. This is not the outcome we had hoped for, but we know that these things are a very sad aspect of a life devoted to loving and caring for animals.
September 1, 2023
We've finally been home long enough to do some work with the Buns. First on the agenda was to take photos. Cadeau (now named Gretta by her new family) has new photos on her Available Bunnies listing. Newly spayed Moxie has been listed, as has newly neutered Hamish, although he is already on hold. Missy, Sweet Tea, Country Road, and John-Boy have all been added to the Meet the Hot Cross Buns page, so please check out our new additions! |
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August 31, 2023
It's been an up and down couple of weeks. We were preparing for participating in the Lorain County Fair, which was a lot of fun, excepting the crazy rainstorm that cause so much flooding and destruction in northeast Ohio. We lost electricity and had about five inches of water in the lower level of our house, but were so thankful to not have the extensive damage that so many friends and neighbors received. We have been busy helping out where we can, knowing that some day we may be the ones needing a helping hand.
Helping others has been taking up a large chunk of the time we would normally be spending on updating photos and making videos, so we sincerely apologize for the lack of cuteness on our site recently. We will try to make up for it by posting pictures of the new-to-us rabbits we are adding to Hot Cross Buns.
We lost a beloved friend yesterday. Little Boy Blue passed away. He hadn't been himself for a couple of months. He was still eating, drinking, and using his litter box well, so we weren't concerned about his overall health. He had turned seven years old in June, so was of an age when some Holland Lops pass away from old age, although he wasn't extremely elderly. He stopped enjoying his grooming sessions and didn't want to be held the way he used to. He still loved his head rubs and gentle pets, but he became frail and wasn't tolerating too much handling. He was the only retired buck we had kept as a pet because he was so very precious to us. He was never outgoing, but was so gentle and loving. I will miss him deeply because he was my special boy. Rest in peace, Bluey. <3
On a happier note, little Cadeau has been matched with a wonderful family. She will be remaining with us through the middle of September, but will soon join her new people, Gus, and doggie friends. We are so excited for them!
It's been an up and down couple of weeks. We were preparing for participating in the Lorain County Fair, which was a lot of fun, excepting the crazy rainstorm that cause so much flooding and destruction in northeast Ohio. We lost electricity and had about five inches of water in the lower level of our house, but were so thankful to not have the extensive damage that so many friends and neighbors received. We have been busy helping out where we can, knowing that some day we may be the ones needing a helping hand.
Helping others has been taking up a large chunk of the time we would normally be spending on updating photos and making videos, so we sincerely apologize for the lack of cuteness on our site recently. We will try to make up for it by posting pictures of the new-to-us rabbits we are adding to Hot Cross Buns.
We lost a beloved friend yesterday. Little Boy Blue passed away. He hadn't been himself for a couple of months. He was still eating, drinking, and using his litter box well, so we weren't concerned about his overall health. He had turned seven years old in June, so was of an age when some Holland Lops pass away from old age, although he wasn't extremely elderly. He stopped enjoying his grooming sessions and didn't want to be held the way he used to. He still loved his head rubs and gentle pets, but he became frail and wasn't tolerating too much handling. He was the only retired buck we had kept as a pet because he was so very precious to us. He was never outgoing, but was so gentle and loving. I will miss him deeply because he was my special boy. Rest in peace, Bluey. <3
On a happier note, little Cadeau has been matched with a wonderful family. She will be remaining with us through the middle of September, but will soon join her new people, Gus, and doggie friends. We are so excited for them!
August 17, 2023
Miss E has celebrated her birthday this week and, now that she has reached the ripe old age of 16, she has decided that she would like to be called by her name on our website. In that light, Evelyn shall be Evelyn henceforth, rather than Miss E. She added that having a new rabbit at HCB called Missy might make things a bit confusing, so there's further rationale behind her decision.
We just received permission to share some absolutely adorable videos on the Happy Results page. Nestor and Aries (HCB's Howard & Greta) recently went through their neuter and spay procedures. Nestor is back to his happy self, while Aries is still feeling a bit delicate.
Miss E has celebrated her birthday this week and, now that she has reached the ripe old age of 16, she has decided that she would like to be called by her name on our website. In that light, Evelyn shall be Evelyn henceforth, rather than Miss E. She added that having a new rabbit at HCB called Missy might make things a bit confusing, so there's further rationale behind her decision.
We just received permission to share some absolutely adorable videos on the Happy Results page. Nestor and Aries (HCB's Howard & Greta) recently went through their neuter and spay procedures. Nestor is back to his happy self, while Aries is still feeling a bit delicate.
August 16, 2023
Our apologies for the lack of updates over the past week. We have news, but can't yet share it fully.
We have been awaiting the outcome of Hamish's neuter and Moxie's spay, both of which occurred today. They did great and are now back at home, resting quietly. Hamish has been matched with our long-time client, Robyn, who is Bun-Mom to three of our other Buns, Rosie, Sweet Pea, and Basil (HCB's Victoria, Sweet Potato, and Dime, respectively). Hamish will be joining his new family next month, after he recuperates. His new fur family will be joining us for several days in September, while we bunny-sit. That will be an exciting visit! The plan is for Hamish to be gently bonded with Sweet Pea once he settles in to his new home.
The remainder of our news involves the addition of four new Holland Lops to our rabbitry as breeding rabbits. We haven't added any outside lines for several years, and realized it was time to do so. Once their quarantine ends, we will be taking photos and sharing them with our readers. Thankfully, we were able to find gorgeous buns at one location, so know that they were raised and cared for under similar conditions. They look wonderfully healthy and are super sweet and friendly, but we have to proceed with caution, for the health and safety of our Buns. They have been with us for a full week, continuing to look great and showing no signs of health issues. We're going to keep them in quarantine for another 2-3 weeks, just to be certain that all is well.
While all of them have pedigree names given by the rabbitry owner, Miss E and I gave them special names since they came to live at Hot Cross Buns.
Mississippi Mud Pie (Missy for short) is a gorgeous solid black doe we are very excited to welcome. She will have some adorable broken babies with Finn and Pumpkin Roll, when the time is right. We have missed having a solid black doe since our original Hot Cross Bun, Plum Bun, passed away last year.
John-Boy is a solid blue baby buck. He is unbelievably sweet. We're waiting for him to grow a bit before deciding which of our does will work well with his traits, but he has already stolen our hearts.
Country Road (Country) is a light chinchilla buck with amazing bone structure. He is so yummy and eats up all the attention he can get. We hope that he and Posey will make some very beautiful babies.
Sweet Tea (T for short) is a solid chunk of an opal buck. Since we retired our opal doe, Moxie, we knew we wanted to add another opal to our lines and T is such a handsome boy. He's a bit shyer than Country, but is learning to enjoy all the pets and cuddles we give him.
We're too excited to keep them completely under wraps and at want to share something about them for the time being. :D
Our apologies for the lack of updates over the past week. We have news, but can't yet share it fully.
We have been awaiting the outcome of Hamish's neuter and Moxie's spay, both of which occurred today. They did great and are now back at home, resting quietly. Hamish has been matched with our long-time client, Robyn, who is Bun-Mom to three of our other Buns, Rosie, Sweet Pea, and Basil (HCB's Victoria, Sweet Potato, and Dime, respectively). Hamish will be joining his new family next month, after he recuperates. His new fur family will be joining us for several days in September, while we bunny-sit. That will be an exciting visit! The plan is for Hamish to be gently bonded with Sweet Pea once he settles in to his new home.
The remainder of our news involves the addition of four new Holland Lops to our rabbitry as breeding rabbits. We haven't added any outside lines for several years, and realized it was time to do so. Once their quarantine ends, we will be taking photos and sharing them with our readers. Thankfully, we were able to find gorgeous buns at one location, so know that they were raised and cared for under similar conditions. They look wonderfully healthy and are super sweet and friendly, but we have to proceed with caution, for the health and safety of our Buns. They have been with us for a full week, continuing to look great and showing no signs of health issues. We're going to keep them in quarantine for another 2-3 weeks, just to be certain that all is well.
While all of them have pedigree names given by the rabbitry owner, Miss E and I gave them special names since they came to live at Hot Cross Buns.
Mississippi Mud Pie (Missy for short) is a gorgeous solid black doe we are very excited to welcome. She will have some adorable broken babies with Finn and Pumpkin Roll, when the time is right. We have missed having a solid black doe since our original Hot Cross Bun, Plum Bun, passed away last year.
John-Boy is a solid blue baby buck. He is unbelievably sweet. We're waiting for him to grow a bit before deciding which of our does will work well with his traits, but he has already stolen our hearts.
Country Road (Country) is a light chinchilla buck with amazing bone structure. He is so yummy and eats up all the attention he can get. We hope that he and Posey will make some very beautiful babies.
Sweet Tea (T for short) is a solid chunk of an opal buck. Since we retired our opal doe, Moxie, we knew we wanted to add another opal to our lines and T is such a handsome boy. He's a bit shyer than Country, but is learning to enjoy all the pets and cuddles we give him.
We're too excited to keep them completely under wraps and at want to share something about them for the time being. :D
August 8, 2023
Miss E and I made a decision to place Gibson as a pet bunny this evening. One of our favorite clients (Nick, who is Bun-Dad of Millie and Milo) contacted us yesterday to ask if we had any rabbits available who would be good for a family with young children. His brother Ryan (and his family) had attempted to rescue a rabbit that was being given away at the Medina County Fair. They bought all the necessary supplies to give the bunny a great life and the little bunny suddenly developed GI Stasis (they don't think it had ever been given hay before) and it passed away. The whole family were upset and wanted to turn a sad experience into a happy one. Miss E and I had been discussing Gibson's future as a breeding buck since he hadn't sired any kits after three months of efforts with several different does, and had decided to retire him if no new arrivals resulted after his next breeding attempt. We ramped up our timeline for retiring him (and did breed him again today, just for good measure!). He was introduced to his new Bun-Dad and Uncle Nick this evening. He was a big hit and is now on his way home to enjoy life as a beloved pet bunny. They have promised to schedule his neuter tomorrow and will follow up to let us know that everything has gone well. We're so excited for all of them! We want to give a huge thank you to Nick for being an amazing ambassador and sharing the joys of living with rabbits with his family and friends. We also want to thank Ryan and his family for demonstrating their loving hearts by wanting to help a rabbit that was in a dire situation. We know that Gibson is in wonderful hands with his new family and extended family. |
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December 14, 2021
Important Announcement
Although this information has not been reflected in updates on RHD (Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease) websites, RHDV2 has been confirmed in Ohio, according to a client's veterinarian. Because of this confirmation, the RHD vaccine is now available in Ohio. We strongly encourage all of our Ohio clients to consider having their Buns vaccinated, especially if they spend any time playing out-of-doors. RHDV2 is fatal in over 90% of cases, so vaccinating your bunny is your best defense in protecting his/her health.
The vaccine is given in two doses. The first dose, followed by a second dose three weeks later. Two weeks following the second dose, the bunny is protected and better able to survive exposure. A yearly booster shot will be needed thereafter. For further information about RHDV2, we recommend this site.
This is the information we were given by a client who went through the vaccination process with her bunnies, Crush and Odie.
"Good morning Amy!
I just got home with Crush and Odie. They were very brave at the vet’s office!
1. They got their RHDV vaccine in their right shoulder.
2. I was told that possible side effects include lethargy, short fever, and mild swelling in the area. However, they said less than 1% of bunnies experience any side effects.
3. They also had us stay in our car for 15 minutes after the shots were administered to make sure the bunnies did not have any negative side effects.
4. They told me there was an active case in Ohio in the recent past which is why the emergency use of this vaccine is now available in Ohio now.
5. They got their first dose today, and in 3 weeks, will get their booster. From there, they will need a yearly booster of the vaccine.
6. Two weeks post-booster shot is when the shot will be fully effective.
Luckily, the bunnies are doing well! They’ve been eating and got a treat for being so brave! I attached a couple pictures of the brave bunnies post-vaccine. I don’t think I left out answers to any of your questions, but if you have any more, please let me know!!"
We can't thank Madison, Crush, and Odie enough for bringing this information to our attention. We aren't certain why the RHD websites are so slow in updating their findings, but are very grateful to have reliable information shared with us through our clients and their knowledgeable veterinarians.
Important Announcement
Although this information has not been reflected in updates on RHD (Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease) websites, RHDV2 has been confirmed in Ohio, according to a client's veterinarian. Because of this confirmation, the RHD vaccine is now available in Ohio. We strongly encourage all of our Ohio clients to consider having their Buns vaccinated, especially if they spend any time playing out-of-doors. RHDV2 is fatal in over 90% of cases, so vaccinating your bunny is your best defense in protecting his/her health.
The vaccine is given in two doses. The first dose, followed by a second dose three weeks later. Two weeks following the second dose, the bunny is protected and better able to survive exposure. A yearly booster shot will be needed thereafter. For further information about RHDV2, we recommend this site.
This is the information we were given by a client who went through the vaccination process with her bunnies, Crush and Odie.
"Good morning Amy!
I just got home with Crush and Odie. They were very brave at the vet’s office!
1. They got their RHDV vaccine in their right shoulder.
2. I was told that possible side effects include lethargy, short fever, and mild swelling in the area. However, they said less than 1% of bunnies experience any side effects.
3. They also had us stay in our car for 15 minutes after the shots were administered to make sure the bunnies did not have any negative side effects.
4. They told me there was an active case in Ohio in the recent past which is why the emergency use of this vaccine is now available in Ohio now.
5. They got their first dose today, and in 3 weeks, will get their booster. From there, they will need a yearly booster of the vaccine.
6. Two weeks post-booster shot is when the shot will be fully effective.
Luckily, the bunnies are doing well! They’ve been eating and got a treat for being so brave! I attached a couple pictures of the brave bunnies post-vaccine. I don’t think I left out answers to any of your questions, but if you have any more, please let me know!!"
We can't thank Madison, Crush, and Odie enough for bringing this information to our attention. We aren't certain why the RHD websites are so slow in updating their findings, but are very grateful to have reliable information shared with us through our clients and their knowledgeable veterinarians.