# The lily pad



## bengal77 (Jan 28, 2010)

Date: Thursday January 28th, 2010

It has been almost two weeks now since Lily joined our family. Lily is a sable point small lop mix who I rescued from a local rabbit rescue. She loves to eat parsley, mint, and hay. She absolutely loves apple, banana, and dried cranberries and will sit in my lap for a treat. She has settled in nicely to her now home and new cage. I spent hours researching different cages and finally decided to build a C&C cage. It took me about 6 hours from start to finish. Her cage is a simple 2 x 3 x 2 design using the 14 inch NIC cubes, cardboard, and vinyl kitchen shelf liners. She has a ledge and a step up instead of a ramp and she loves to sprawl out underneath the ledge and take short naps. I want to give a big thank you to the person who wrote detailed instructions on building a litter box cover using the white grid fluorescent lighting panel and crazy glue. I love that she can sit in her litter box and munch on hay while keeping her feet clean as she goes potty.

Iâm so surprised that Lily is completely fine with the dogs and cats. The dogs are elderly and leave her alone for the most part but one of our cats, Gigi, likes to sit outside of the playpen and watch Lily playing with her toys. Itâs so cute when the cat goes up to the pen because Lily will come over to her and theyâll sniff noses for a few seconds before Gigi gets bored and wanders off to go do other cat things. And Lily is such a curious little thing. The way that I have her cage set up is that her C&C cage is against the wall and an 11 panel animal play pen is hooked to each side so that it encircles half of it. That way I can simply open up her cage and Lily can come and go as she pleases. To make cage cleaning and daily maintenance easier I have two plastic storage tubs inside of the playpen and against the wall. The bottom one contains the Yesterdayâs News Litter that I use in her litter pans, and the top one contains her food, toys, treats, and bags of hay. 

Well, today Lily discovered that she can jump onto the lid of the bottom container. So far she hasnât figured out how to escape the play pen, but Iâll have to keep a careful eye on her during play time. My mother and I had bought some cord protectors from the hardware store and today we decided to start our bunny-proofing. Since Lilyâs cage is in the living room we have to be extra careful that every cord is wrapped and taped in case she manages to escape one day. I donât have any plans of letting her be a free-roam bunny because of many factors, but I like to be prepared. You donât plan on having accidents, but it doesnât hurt to prepare for the worst. We got most of the cords wrapped but weâll have to buy more later today. Which is fine, we needed to make a trip anyways.

I believe that Lily is quite happy in her new home. Today she decided to binky around in her play pen. She did this for several minutes and it was just about the cutest thing that I have ever seen. Since her cage is on tile we spread out a blanket but she still couldnât get much traction without sliding around. She looked more like she was having an epileptic fit while jumping but she seemed to be enjoying herself. I certainly know that we had a lot of fun watching her dance around amongst her toys.

On another note, Lilyâs spay surgery is scheduled for Monday. I donât know why Iâm worried since Iâve been through this before with our dogs (the cats came spayed/neutered). I guess itâs because sheâs so small, only 4 pounds. Iâve been reading up on post op after care and there is a lot of conflicting advice. E-collars seem to be a heavily debated topic. Some of what Iâve come across has been helpful, though. For example, Iâm going to ask for internal dissolving sutures and external surgical glue. Since Lily is so new to our household and she doesnât like being picked up or held and I donât think that Iâll be able to check her stitching every day like you are supposed to. She isnât much of a chewer, though, so I probably shouldnât be too worried. I also watched some videos on how to administer medication and hide pills in treats. I feel like I am fairly well prepared. Iâm glad that Lilyâs foster mother will be available to come over if I need help. She only lives 20 miles away so itâs a quick drive if I need help.

Anyways, here are the photos that I took of her on her first night home. Her cage has since then changed a bit and had a few additions and substitutions. I will take more recent pics and upload them as soon as I can find my camera charger or buy a new one.


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## katt (Jan 28, 2010)

lily is adorable!

i worry to whenever my buns go to the vet. i remember when toulouse and pantoulfe (RIP) went in for their neutures i had a whole bag of stuff to go with them. each of their foods, fav veggies, a bottle of water from our house (so they didn't have to get city water), ect.

i am sure all the staff there thought i was completely crazy. lol.

i really wouldn't worry about a collar unless you really see her going at her incision. honestly winnie was find and completely back to normal 24 hours after her spay. i would remove the level for a few days in her cage, she might try to jump up it and open her incision up. and whatever the vet tells you don't fast lilly 24 hours before. take food and water 1 to 2 hours before the surgery.

anyway, good luck with the spay and more pics please!


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## aurora369 (Jan 28, 2010)

Cute girl! And very nice cage.

One trick for checking a spay incision is to get her to stand up by tempting her with a treat. This works very well if you can get her front paws up on the NIC panels or the play pen. 

The best way to have a spay incision closed is by internal dissolvable stitches and skin glue on the outside. Also make sure she gets a good pain medication (Tramadol or Buphrex) for at least 5 days. 

-Dawn


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## hartleybun (Jan 29, 2010)

love the last pic - very cute bunny and a pretty quilt to look at(i sew).

good luck with the spay - roxy didnt have a collar and was hopping around the hutch the following morning. i was the one doing the worrying...


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## Fancy77 (Jan 29, 2010)

Love the blog so far...and the pics r spectacular


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## Wabbitdad12 (Jan 29, 2010)

Lily is beautiful! Great blog too.

Dave


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## Amy27 (Jan 29, 2010)

Lily is adorable!


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## bengal77 (Jan 30, 2010)

Date: Friday, January 29th, 2010

Every day I spend with Lily is a little brighter. She's such a little sweetheart and I'm so glad that she is a part of our family. This morning after I fed her breakfast and opened her cage door into the play area I decided to lie down on the blanket that I have set up in her playpen. She curled up in her cardboard hidey hut for a few minutes, and then she bolted out of the cage and sniffed me from head to toe. She even started grinding her teeth together and purring as she explored me. I pretended to sleep but couldn't stop grinning the whole time. After a few repeats she finally settled down to eating hay. she is such a good hay eater, but she's also picky! I'm so glad that I found another hay she likes. When she was at the rescue she would only eat the Ox Bow Botanical Blend Hay, but now I've transitioned her to enjoy Western Timothy and Oat (both Ox Bow) in addition to her botanical blend. She's still a picky little thing, picking through the hay to find the yummiest bits and dumping the rest on the floor and in her litter pan. Silly bunny. 

This after noon was not as fun. After running a few errands I came back home and finished rabbit proofing the wires in the entertainment center. And since I had made a trip to the hardware store to gather a few more supplies I decided to go ahead and take apart her cage and remove the levels. Her spay surgery is on Monday and I thought that it would be a good idea to give her a few days to get used to the "new" cage without stressing her out anymore than necessary on Monday evening. And of course it was a more time-consuming process than I thought it would be. It took me 5 hours, spread out over a few days, to build the whole cage the first time. Taking out 4 grids (the ledge and step up) and putting in the new floor took a little over 2 hours. I am exhausted!!!! But the finished product is worth it.

Lily's cage is now ready for her post-op (I'll replace the fuzzy blanket with clean newspaper) and I fixed the roof so that the grids she could reach from her ledge aren't doubled up or un-safe. Here are a few photos of the new cage (complete with new flooring consisting of a cardboard bottom and vinyl kitchen cabinet liners), and Lily, of course.
















The flash gave her red-eye but they're actually a nice warm brown.

During the several hours that I was re-building the cage I moved Lily to a separate play area. After it was all done and Lily was back in her cage my cat Gigi decided to be brave and investigate. I caught her drinking from Lily's temporary water bowl and had to snap a picture.


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## Wabbitdad12 (Jan 30, 2010)

Thats a good idea about getting her used to the new cage style. 

I know what you mean when I've gone to do some cage set or modification it always takes longer then you think.


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## Fancy77 (Jan 31, 2010)

Nice pics!!!!


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## bengal77 (Feb 2, 2010)

Date: Monday, February 1st, 2009

â¨Lily had her spay surgery today. The procedure went well but I was a nervous wreck the whole time. I dropped her off in the morning and she was spayed at 11:30. They called me around 1 to let me know that she was waking up and I picked her up at 4pm. She is obviously in pain but has already started to recover. While the operation went perfectly the vet did find a growth in her uterus. Since Lily was adopted I donât know her exact age but we believe that she is about a year old. They couldnât determine if the growth had penetrated the uterine wall but we are having it sent off for testing and they should be able to tell us in about a week. I really hope that she doesnât develop cancer but Iâll do everything I can to make sure that she gets the medical care she needs if it turns out that it did penetrate and it begins to spread.
â¨She is such a little trooper! I brought her home and she was really hesitant to come out of the carrier. I managed to coax her out with some craisins which she daintly ate (she normally gobbles the food down lickety-split) from my hand. She hopped out and into her cage and took up residence in the litter box (sanitized ahead of time, of course). Throughout the day I got her to eat a few little bites or fruit and vegetables and herbs. She wonât eat any pellets though, so I force fed her 1/2 an ounce of critical care mixed with warm water. She didnât care for that too much but I know that she needs the fiber to get her GI track back up and running.

The vet prescribed her Metacam (.4 CCs a day) which I think might not be strong enough. I donât expect her to be running around and playing but sheâs spent the majority of her time back from the vet hunched into a corner. At least she will eat her veggies now and has something in her system. If she hasnât eaten any pellets by the morning I will have to give her more critical care. But for now I donât think Iâll push it further since she is eating her favorite veggies on her own. she still hasnât drunk any water so Iâll continue to give her lots of fresh veggies and fruits so that she stays hydrated. I will also probably pick up some Pedialyte if she doesnât begin to drink by the morning.

Do you guys have any advice for what veggies are best in terms of lots of fiber? I donât want to give her anything new, but here are the fruits, veggies, and herbs that she is used to and likes.

Fruit:
Apple
Banana
Apricot
Cranberry
Blueberry
Blackberry
Strawberry

Vegetables/Lettuces:
Spinach
Romain
Red Leaf Romain
Leafy Lettuce
Carrot

Herbs:
Mint
Parsley
Basil


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## Fancy77 (Feb 2, 2010)

I am so happy everything went well...YEAH!!!


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## bengal77 (Feb 5, 2010)

Date: Friday, February 5th, 2010

Today is the fourth day after Lily's spay surgery. She is doing so much better and seems to be fully recovered. I know it will be a few more days but she is 100% back to her old eating schedule and habits and isn't a bunny loaf anymore. I've resumed bonding time and have given her back a few toys. Her vet check up is on Wednesday so after she get's the OK from the vet I'll put the levels back into her cage.


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## Fancy77 (Feb 5, 2010)

great to hear!!!!!


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## bengal77 (Feb 9, 2010)

Date: Monday February 8th, 2010.

Lily is now fully recovered from her spay surgery. The incision is knitting together nicely, she's off of the pain meds, and it's been a full week since her surgery. Her check up appointment is Wednesday afternoon and I'm sure the vet will have good things to say.

Of course now that she's healed she's also super bored, the little stinker. I had cut up a large cardboard box just like you would make a coroplast tray (had trouble finding it locally) and by the end of day 5 of her post-op she had completely shredded one corner. Thankfully it doesn't look like she tried to ingest it. But she sure had a lot of fun ripping it to pieces! Since I needed to take her cage apart again to pull out the cardboard tray and give her back her levels and step I decided to try again to find a sign shop that would sell me a sheet of coroplast. It was a bit pricier than most people quote ($25) but they cut out all three pieces for me and all I had to do was score, bend, and tape. Voila! 

I love how nice it looks. Hopefully this will last longer than the cardboard (1 week). I've had a talk with Lily and I've challenged her to do her worst. If the coroplast can't take it, I'm getting plexi glass next time! LOL

OK, photo time.

























(This is my new favorite picture. If you look closely you can see her little poodle legs from where they shaved the fur for her IV drip.)





(the old post-op cage complete with shredded newspaper and cardboard  )


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## funnybunnymummy (Feb 9, 2010)

Lily is absolutely adorable!It's probably a good thing you live clear on the opposite side of the contintent, because otherwiseI'd have to come steal her from you! 

Rue


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## Pipp (Feb 9, 2010)

Wow, bunny heaven. Lucky bunny! 

And she is adorable. :inlove:

All fruit and veggies have fiber, just go easy on the fruit sugars and don't go overboard on spinach

My bunnies' favorite toy is always a cardboard box. I put one in their pen or build a separate 'fort' with an entrance and exit and let them 'renovate'. 

It may be messier, but they have so much fun with it and its a great busy bunny bordom reliever.


sas :bunnydance:


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## Fancy77 (Feb 9, 2010)

The pics r great, I do love the Poodle look lol


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## bengal77 (Feb 9, 2010)

Thanks for the tips Pipp. Lily does have some toilet paper tubes and a cardboard hidey hut in her cage. I've been thinking about building her a cardboard castle. I'm just not sure how to connect everything. Is tape okay? When I made the cardboard tray for her post-op cage I used black gorrila brand duct tape and she left it alone and only chewed the cardboard. I wasn't sure if that would be ok for a chew toy, though. I was thinking about buying one of the cardboard castles where the pieces just fit together. has anyone ever bought one of these? Here's a link.
http://www.bunnyluv.com/buncritcas.html


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## bengal77 (Mar 26, 2010)

Well, I finally decided to order the cardboard castle from Bunny Luv. Lily just absolutely loves it! In fact, when I try to take it away she kind of tosses me a dirty look and scampers off into her cage to pout.

Here are some photos.


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## funnybunnymummy (Mar 26, 2010)

Adorable!

The kidsbuilt Gus a cardboard castle, but all he does is chew on it. 

Rue


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## Fancy77 (Mar 26, 2010)

Adorable


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## hln917 (Mar 26, 2010)

*bengal77 wrote: *


>


I love this picture!


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## Happi Bun (Mar 26, 2010)

Lily is such a lucky bun! Great blog. :thumbup


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## Wabbitdad12 (Mar 29, 2010)

Lily may just start a fashion trend with the poodle look!


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## slavetoabunny (Mar 29, 2010)

Lily is absolutely beautiful! What a lucky girl to have found such a wonderful, loving home. I'm curious what rescue you adopted her from? I wasn't aware that there was anyone else in your area besides us (we have a number of buns fostered in your area). We are always looking to collaborate with other Florida rescues.


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## bengal77 (Aug 5, 2010)

@slavetoabunny I adopted Lily from Carrots and Cottontails. They post their rabbits online under the group Suntree Viera. The rescue is run by a very lovely woman who pretty much runs the rabbit rescue out of her house. She has a few volunteers but as far as I know the rabbits all stay with her.


Boy has it been a long time since I posted! Lily is doing well. I've recently had some health problems that prohibited me from spending a whole of time together with her, but she and I are starting to bond together again. I picked her up for the first time in a long while and it seems like we're back to square one as far as handling goes. But I'm confident that I'll earn back her trust.

Lily's cage has also been revamped. The NIC cage was nice and much better than the majority of any store bought cages, but it was a total pain in the butt to clean. And while I was sick my mother was having to take care of her and it's difficult for her to climb in and out so we decided to take apart the NIC cage and add more X-pen panels. Lily seems to enjoy her new surroundings and doesn't seem to miss her old cage.


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## Wabbitdad12 (Aug 5, 2010)

That is a very nice set up for her.

I am glad your feeling better.


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## Nancy McClelland (Aug 5, 2010)

wow, she looks so much like our Lilli Pad. Our Lilli might be a little bigger, 8 pounds. But the same coloring. She's part lop but her ears go strait out so she looks like an airplane.


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## bengal77 (Aug 6, 2010)

I've gone through my computer files and found more photos of Lily. She's really quite adorable and I love taking pics of her. Yesterday was her 6 month check up after her spay surgery. Thanks to everyone in the house wanting to feed her treats Lily has gained a little too much weight. Almost 5 ounces! Which doesn't seem like a lot but on a human that would be about 15-20 pounds. So I'm cutting back her pellets and from now on people will simply have to give her herbs as treats. Luckily Lily is nuts about mint and basil so I don't think she'll mind it too much.


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## Wabbitdad12 (Aug 6, 2010)

*bengal77 wrote: *


> Yesterday was her 6 month check up after her spay surgery. Thanks to everyone in the house wanting to feed her treats Lily has gained a little too much weight. Almost 5 ounces!


Glad she is doing well, tell to spend a little more time on the treadmill.


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## cheryl (Aug 7, 2010)

Lily is such a pretty girl..


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## battyp (Feb 15, 2012)

I'm looking for a vet to neuter my netherland dwarf bunnies do you have a good one you can recommend?


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## battyp (Feb 15, 2012)

I'm looking for a vet to neuter my netherland dwarf bunnies do you have a good one you can recommend?


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## JjGoesBounce (Feb 15, 2012)

@ battyp the best place to post this question would be in your are section at the bottome of the forum. No one's gone on this blog for 2 years so...
Hope this helps!
Jj


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