# Mrs. Brown's Road To Rehabilitation!



## Hoolia (Apr 25, 2018)

Recap: my boyfriend and I adopted a neglected flemish giant doe after she failed to produce a successful litter for her breeder.

It's been about a week and a half since we moved Mrs. Brown (aka Mamba) into our room from the porch.
The first thing I noticed is that she came out of her shell almost instantly! My boyfriend had made the move while I was at work and when I came home and opened the door, she ran over to greet me and receive attention. Not even her son Gobi, the socialite of our bunnies, did that after he hit puberty. She doesn't keep herself to one little section of the room, too timid to venture into the open middle of the room like she was on the porch, she gets into everything like a freshly weaned baby! She wants to knock over the trash can, climb into my suitcase and open drawers, wedge herself under the blankets hanging over the edge of the bed, pluck stuff off the edge of the nightstands, be directly underfoot when you're getting dressed, and be part of whatever everyone else is doing.
She gets up and binkies every time she hears us waking up and waits at the foot of the bed for us to give her a morning cuddle.
Another thing I noticed about this bunny, that I personally found unusual, is that she will roll over if you push her huge hindquarters over just a little bit. One morning when I stopped petting her, she licked my foot and then rolled completely over both my feet. It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen a rabbit do (in person anyway.) She is playful and sociable and lives for cuddles and attention. If she thinks there's even a possibility of getting a cuddle from anyone, she will binky - not run, _binky _over to any human being. Still veeeery shy about other rabbits. Her son Gobi lives across the hall with his two tiny companions, mini lop Chestnut, and holland lop Jackson and he is fiercely protective of them. He is also a whopping five pounds bigger than Mrs. Brown, so her concern is justified. 
When we met Mrs. Brown a year ago and she was pregnant with Gobi, I was alarmed by how much of her eyes her third eyelid seemed to cover. It didn't seem to be bothering her too much, and it never really went away. It never looked inflamed or sickly, so I stopped worrying about it after a few months. Since she moved in with us, I just started noticing that big ugly membrane receding more and more and revealing her beautiful copper eyes. The fact that it's starting to get better makes me wonder what the problem was in the first place. Maybe protection from dust and bugs that were abundant in her old hutch?
She does still have some health concerns on the surface like her flaky skin between her shoulders and clearly wonky teeth, but she has a vet appointment coming up and her teeth are going to be corrected when she gets spayed!
So far, Mrs. Brown has been thriving here with us much faster than I expecting. My holland lop was raised in similar conditions and he turned out very differently. Although neither of them ever picked up bad habits like digging or chewing wires (hallelujah!) Mrs. Brown seems to have embraced house life and her human company! She reminds me of her son when we first brought him home; binkies and naps, wants to sleep where you're sleeping. When Gobi was a baby, he slept on one of our pillows with his feet in our faces or in the windowsill at the head of the bed. If we come down to her level (because she won't jump on the bed) with a pillow and a blanket, she'll roll into our chests and lick our chins until she falls asleep. Like mother like son <3


----------



## Hoolia (May 6, 2018)

So Mrs. B has found her way up onto the bed all by herself and was very proud of herself, so we rewarded her with some salad!





Every day she just gets friendlier and looks healthier! Her eyes are almost completely cleared up now and she only covers them with her third eyelid when she's startled or when we rub her cheeks, but it's no longer an angry red color. Her dewlap gets in the way when she's trying to groom her ears and face, so shes's more than happy to let me help by holding her ear down for her to lick, and when she's done she always grooms me a little too!
She's finally been brought to the vet to be checked out and we're just waiting to hear back about her mites test. Next thursday she's scheduled to be spayed! 
I contacted her breeder recently to find out any information he could give me on her; pedigree, litter size, mother's skills, if she comes from a line of particularly large rabbits; anything that could explain why she is the way she is or why Gobi outgrew her and his father in under a year. All I got was a birth date, which I guess isn't too disappointing, I don't know how much breeders typically keep about their rabbits, especially ones they sell. So I'll still try to get her papers from her previous owner if I can.


----------



## Popsicles (May 6, 2018)

Sounds like like you hit the jackpot with Her! She’s adorable and sounds like a joy, so pleased for you!


----------



## Nancy McClelland (May 6, 2018)

We had a Checkered Giant that would roll on her side and love belly and neck rubs. She was our biggest (20 lbs) and most social rabbit. She would stay on your lap for hours if you were rubbing her. If you laid on the floor, she'd climb up on my back and lay right down too!


----------



## Cookiemonster (May 7, 2018)

BEAUTIFUL!!!


----------



## myheart (May 16, 2018)

OMG!!! What a little sweetheart!
Give her a big cuddle from me.


----------



## Out of this world bunnies (May 16, 2018)

She sounds soooo amazing  you got lucky with a rabbit like that!


----------



## Hoolia (Jun 5, 2018)

Don't worry, guys. She gets lots of snuggles every day. We closed the top of her box tunnel and put her food on a platform beside it, so now she has a kind of step system onto the bed. When we come home at night and lay down, she hops right up with us to cuddle for a good hour before she grooms us goodnight and goes to her own bed.
Here she is snuggling with my boyfriend one night before we closed the boxes.




She's been spayed for coming up on a month now. Her dewlap doesn't get so in the way when she needs to groom herself (or eat..) The only real behavioral change we've seen is her disinterest in leaving the room. Before, if we left the door open she had to cross the hall to harass her son through the baby gate. Now IF she leaves, she sniffs him for a second and comes back.
I'm most concerned about bonding the two giants as Gobi can be very protective of his smaller mates and Mrs. Brown generally dislikes other bunnies and can be quite confrontational. My prediction is that she'll bond closest to my little old man, Jackson because everyone so far has bonded to him the quickest and the easiest. Two out of three of his mates have been pushy and domineering so far, and he bonded perfectly with them in a matter of hours because of his non-threatening, gentle, and nurturing nature. Once other bunnies settle down, he's happy to cuddle and groom them, and then there's usually nothing to worry about between them after that. Jackson and Mrs. Brown both have similar interests: snuggle, be groomed, and laze around all day. Gobi and Chestnut are the ones who want to play and explore, and get into mischief any way they can.


----------

