Meh, tired I only had my one day off then another week until I get another one. Blech. Just gotta remember it helps put money in the bank.

How's he doing now, have you tried tempting him with treats? Just to get something in his belly? He may be just feeling pretty sore and violated.

Oh here's Vesnali, gotta remember how this goes, it's so odd I think it's been quite a while since I've been around for this particular holiday.

He's eating now sort of. He only seems half interested in food. I had him doing his little 'purr' thing last night when I was cuddled up and stroking him but today he's not interested in me. We left him out of his cage last night so he didn't feel stressed from being picked up and I can see he's eaten some of the veg we left out for him but I don't know about the water. He's not touched his pellets or treats yet.

Hmm have you called the vet that did the procedure to ask?

Are you keeping him warm? That's really important post-surgery, their body temperatures drop. He needs a 'snuggle safe' or another safe heating pad or a warmed sock of rice or beans to lie against.

On the other hand, watch for inflammation around the incision or for him to be feeling hot, that could mean infection.

It's pretty common for the rabbits to eat before the pain meds wear off and then stop eating when they do.

Is he just 'out of it' or does he appear to be in pain?

The usual advice is to call the vet when they haven't eaten for 24 hours.

Even half a raisin helps, as does a bit of pumpkin. The vet might switch pain meds and give him sub q fluids.

His appetite has picked up now thankfully, he curls up by the radiator behind the sofa all the time so he can have access to heat when he wants it and hide when he's scared.

He got scared by a cat when he was by the open door so he was hiding behind the sofa. He's come out now so he's okay :)

There is no infection that we can see so everything is good :D

Fantastic. That's good to hear. I'm trying to send all the flowers I get to you, unfortunately I'm back on a 10 hour stretch so I don't know how much it'll help.

No problems. I'll try and help you when I can! :)

Well thank you sweets. I've found that this is another holiday where I have to start from the beginning again.

Oh yay you moved your "flower" option to the top of your profile. :p

Yeah someone said they couldn't find it. I hadn't realised it was at the bottom so I moved it to make it easier.

Any ideas on how to stop Thumper from digging at the carpet? He keeps doing it behind the sofa. Also last few days he has started peeing on the carpet in around the same place, any ideas on how to stop that too?

Digging is built into your rabbit's genetic code. Rabbits dig to build tunnels, to create a comfortable spot to rest, and to manipulate their environment and the things in it. In the natural environment your rabbit would be digging at soil, the problem is, you've covered the soil over with carpet.

It's important to understand that your rabbit isn't being 'naughty' so saying "no", spraying water, clapping your hands or any other method of expressing displeasure will not stop it, because training your rabbit to ignore her instinct to dig (which you’re unlikely to manage anyway) won’t make it go away.

the key thing to remember is digging is a normal behaviour, it's just the environment, your living room, isn't suited to it. Instead of trying to stop your rabbit digging, you need to alter the environment so your rabbit can dig without destroying your house.

To do this, it's best to approach the issue from two angles:

Protect areas you don't want digging to occur Provide areas that are okay for your rabbit to dig in

There are many ways you can protect against damage from digging; you'll need to decide for yourself what would work with your living space, but here are some ideas:

Protect the corners of carpet with a heavy tile, lump of wood, paving slab or brick - pick something that matches your decor. Something quite flat will work best so your rabbit stands on top. Taller objects will just create a new corner a few inches out from the old one. Another option is perspex, which you can fix to the carpet with double-sided tape. Sometimes just moving a heavy object and rearranging the furniture to block the area will break the habit when combined with providing alternative digging opportunities. If you have expensive flooring, you can protect it with a cheaper cover such as a rug. A sheet of plywood covered in lino/vinyl flooring makes an excellent easy clean floor for a pen. Grass mats are a good flooring option for a small area - but they may need replacing regularly as bunnies love to chew them. If your rabbit is digging the back of the sofa, fit a chew proof tunnel along behind it, this allows your rabbit to enjoy the space, but prevents them trying to expand into the sofa, floor or walls. If your rabbit is outside and digging your lawn rather than carpet, cut the grass short and put down a layer of mesh so it sits snug to the ground - pin it in place with wire pegs. The grass will grow through, hiding the mesh, but your rabbit won't be able to dig. Alternatively lift the top inch of turf, put down the mesh and relay the turf.

It's important that at the same time you remove the opportunity to dig in the place you don't want, that you provide new opportunities in areas that are suitable. If you don't your rabbit will find her own in a different spot and you'll be back to square one.

One of the main purposes behind digging is to create a tunnel, so providing tunnel like spaces can help reduce your rabbits urge to dig. Cardboard boxes are excellent for this, you can link several together to create a whole tunnel system and your rabbit can chew her own entrances and exits in the cardboard to satisfy her urge to manipulate her environment.

Although cardboard is cheap and easy, tunnels can be made from lots of different things - plastic pipes, fabric (although watch for chewing), paper or a sheet draped over a stick or string, even a row of footstools.

Rabbit's like their living spaces to have multiple entrances/exits as in the wild this would help them retreat from predators. This is another reason behind digging: your rabbit feels the need to create a new exit, so providing these spots to hide and run through can make a big difference.

Digging Box

Providing a box specifically for digging is a create way to support your rabbits natural behaviour. Any biggish box will do - fill in with soil, shredded paper, hay, straw or even snow (clear up before it melts). A small entrance or even a tunnel leading in will help contain any mess. Hiding pieces of food will help encourage your rabbit to try it out and digging for treats is a great activity in its own right.

Alternative Activities

It's important that your rabbit has the opportunity to dig, but the amount of digging can also be reduced by providing more non-digging based activities. If your rabbit uses up her spare time on foraging for food, interacting with a companion or playing with toys then she has less time left over for digging. Making sure your rabbit has a variety of things to do will create a more balanced activity schedule with less emphasis on hours of trying to tunnel through your carpet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Try rubbing the area with a bar of Ivory soap. It doesn't work for all rabbits, but when it does work, it works very well. I don't know why, but some rabbits really hate the smell of Ivory soap.

I also hear vinegar works well to get rid of the urine smell that the rabbit could smell. With my buns, if I left a box there for a little while, it would break the habit and then I could remove the box. You might need to leave the box there for a little while and hopefully it will break the habit and he will forget about it once you remove the box. Just make sure the smell is gone or he may start again.

There is a small possibility he may have a uti.

Thanks for all this info. He does have a cardboard box filled with hay that he eats out of but doesn't dig in it, also a really big tunnel but no way for him to dig out of it. Maybe we should get some more boxes and create a tunnel like you've suggested but not put too many holes in so he can create his own.

I feel bad for shouting at him now when he does it. He bit me yesterday when I was trying to pick up loose carpet to prevent him from eating it. My hand was in front of his face though, so I think he was just protecting himself. My God it hurt though, right on my knuckle, through the skin :(

Well it's not just my suggestions I'm basing from info I've found as well.

Hopefully you disinfected it and wrapped it up. :)

Little turd. Hopefully he doesn't start doing that.

He hasn't done it again thankfully.

How are things with you? I feel all we do is talk about me and my problems with Thumper these days haha.

It's all good I don't mind at all.

Nothing has changed really. Wake up, work, eat, sleep, repeat.

Going to a little expo thing tomorrow for a bit with a coworker, shouldn't really spend the money but it doesn't cost much and it's something different to do.

For whatever reason for the time I am on here though I'm hardly getting many flowers which sucks.

I have been trying to send you half my flowers to make up for the fact that you haven't been able to get on much. I should be able to start sending you all of them soon. Have you had a visit from Ester yet?

Oh sweetie, that's not fair. I can't equally return the favor.

Yes but I can't see any of the pages to participate. They just are blank.

The way I see it is we both get coins so it's all good :D

Have you filled a ticket?

No those take forever. No one cares in the forums either.

http://subeta.net/forums.php/read/832241

I reported something the other day and had a reply within hours. Maybe it's at least worth a try. I dunno what to suggest otherwise. Have you tried clearing your cache?

No I don't think that's it.

It's all good I'm not to pulsed about it, it's only like 25-30 coins.

Fair enough. At least the event has been extended, a lot of people must of complained about the short length. I know I wasn't too happy. I have so many things left to buy from previous years never mind this year.