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Hello my name is Gilbert and I live in Walthamstow, London E17. I'm a french dwarf lop eared rabbit and i'm now seven years old. Everyone who meets me asks how old I am and then they always follow it up with "how long do rabbits live?" Well let me tell you, i'm still as mad and bad as I was when I was a nipper and intend to live until i'm well into my teens. My vet, who is a very nice man, says rabbits used to live to about four or five years old when they lived in tiny hutches with no company, cruddy food and no exercise - in the bad old days. Now, through societies and a better understanding of rabbits - with many people keeping us as household pets, he is seeing us ranging to ten, twelve and even knew an eighteen year old rabbit. Anyway, I have to stay around to look after George - she adores me, gets on my nerves a bit when she kisses me on the face, I tend to just put my bum in her face, that gets rid of her. George has been reading Rabbiting On the magazine for rabbit lovers produced by The Rabbit Welfare Association and a few rabbit books, so she now knows that when I want attention i'll tell her - usually I sit on her lap and look at her, if that doesn't work i'll dig on her which usually provokes a laugh and a nice stroke and some bizzare cooing. She knows when i'm happy because I grind my teeth and close my eyelids slightly (not fully as I don't want to miss anything). If she stops or gets distracted a quick sharp nip on her thigh usually does the trick and then I get her full attention again usually accompanied by a shriek and a swear word. Well enough about me. What do you think about me? Have you seen my photos? Been around a bit haven't I. I used to live in Brookmans Park in Hertfordshire with Duchess, my late girlfriend - she came from the RSPCA and had previously been neglected, so she didn't have very high self esteem and didn't wash herself. She'd groom me but I wouldn't groom her - too smelly. George used to bath her - it's funny cos I always thought of her as a big girl but when she was wet she was quite petite. She hated being bathed or touched by anyone (apart from me of course). Unfortunately, she had to be put down when she got fly-strike, it had been a very very hot few weeks and at some point while we were pottering around the garden, flies laid their eggs in her nether regions, possibly because she had been shaved (the smell problem again). She was lovely though. Before I lived in Brookmans Park, with my grand parents, I lived with George in her flat, but I annoyed her too much when I used to pee everywhere and eat the wallpaper and wires so I went to the country for a while. I used to roam around the garden and all the neighbours' gardens but i'd always come back before it got dark. One day though, one of the neighbours, two doors up, grabbed me and put me in a hutch in his garage! He often used to bring me into his house and I stayed there for about two weeks until Barry, a builder, saw me and recognised me and told my grandparents where I had been. George came around straight away and picked me up, the man said he wanted to keep me and at this point I decided to jump out of George's hands and ran as fast as I could to my grandparents back door. Not long after, Duchess came to live with me and we used to play in the garden and in our run (see the pictures of my old run it was fab) but we never went out of the garden again.
George has got her own garden now so i'm back with her in Walthamstow. Every day I go into the garden where I potter about, lie in the sun, eat from my tubs of grass (she didn't want a lawn) and trim her herbs for her. My favourite is fennel, but I also like mint, parsley, basil, lemon balm, oh and a bit of bamboo every now and then. The fennel is the best though - I wait until it's about one foot tall and George is really happy with it, then I stretch up and nip it right off - yummy.
Most of the time I leave the herbs alone as I have plenty of greens, broccoli, carrots, and SWEETCORN - boy do I love that. I do like a bit of wallpaper though, the other day I followed Barry, the builder (yes him again) around whilst he stripped patches of wallpaper and I ate them - he tried to stop me but he couldn't cos i'm quick, cunning and very agile.
I've had quite a few visitors recently and have built up quite a fan base in the local area. Mostly I like to shock people when they walk through the garden by just appearing from my hiding place and looking all cute. As I said before i'm a lop eared rabbit but when i'm on alert and need to listen and concentrate, I put one of my ears up - this usually provokes laughter and admiration. In the evenings I tend to chill out in the lounge under the sofa but it usually depends where George is sitting as I like to follow her around. She thinks of me as her living teddy bear which is fine, I suppose.
I've got my own bed in the hall, which I sleep in sometimes during the day and i've got a cat litter tray. Yes, i'm litter trained don't you know (it was something I learnt when I stayed at the neighbour's house, so he wasn't all bad.) - I don't pee anywhere in the house apart from George's bed (that's just a compulsive must). I did used to creep into George's bedroom and sleep on the bed but since I pee'd on it she's shut the bedroom door. Most mornings I run up to George with my ears flapping up and down (she likes this, it makes her laugh) and I give her feet a good lick (she never does mine though). I also like to run in and out of her feet and try and trip her up although she usually picks me up and gives me a big kiss (on the face! urgh.) I'm thinking about getting a new girlfriend, although me and George can't agree. She thinks she'll pee on and eat the furniture and I think i'll show her the ropes. Anyway see what happens on that front. I'm getting a web cam soon, so George can keep her eye on me all the time when she does this thing called work - I don't understand it myself. Just been to the animal hospital again to see the nice vet man. I had a myxomatosis injection as i'm back in the garden so often - even though I live in town I get visits from pigeons and squirrels. It didn't hurt! Well not as much as having my nails cut - I made such a fuss because I don't like the clipping noise. The vet also squeezed insecticide solution onto the back of my neck to repel those horrible egg laying flies - it also repels fleas, ticks, lice and mites - good stuff. Once all that was done I hopped back in my carry box and comfort ate some of my hay. George has to squeeze the repellent on me every two weeks throughout the summer - it cost 16 quid for 12 weeks worth, quite a bit, but cheaper than the 550 quid that the treatment was for poor Duchess before she was put to sleep (different, not nice, vet man). I've got to go back to the vets in three weeks to have a vhd injection as these can't be done at the same time. Apparently though this is the best time of year to have both these injections (June). Today, feeling lazy and refused to go in the garden. I've been watching a bit too much tv lately too. George is taking me (after my vhd injection) to visit Kevin's bunny, who apparently looks exactly like me but is grey - obviously a handsome chappie then. Kevin and his wife love bunnies too, so George is hoping that, if we get on, we can stay at each others houses during holidays. Just depends what programmes they like to watch on the tv. It's now August and i've had a nice holiday. I didn't stay with Kevin's bunny - apparently Kevin's bunny has a few 'issues' and likes routine and keeping himself to himself and may even have attacked me??! Oooh, I have been busy lately - hence no updates for a while. It's June again (which makes me eight and a half years old now) and it's that time of year when I look slightly punky as I have to wear my fly repellent and it makes my fur stick up (it's a good one and thoroughly recommended: Xenex Ultra Spot On by Genitrix. It repels flies which cause fly strike and kills fleas, ticks, mites and lice. Available to buy online from petvetcare.co.uk). I've just got back from another holiday - this time I stayed at a local boarding place near Epping Forest. I saw lots of other animals; rabbits, guinnea pigs, birds and reptiles. George felt much better about me going here because at Christmas I stayed with a Pet Shop owner in Potters Bar and although asked, they didn't feed me my usual diet of fresh vegetables, hay and a small amount of Excel Rabbit food - instead they gave me just cheap dried food. This resulted in me having to go to the vets for a weeks worth of intensive care to stimulate my gut - a quick change in diet is really not a good idea, especially in, dare I say it elder rabbits. Before I went to stay at The Small Animals Boarding the very nice lady allowed George to go round (by appointment only) and view the place. She was pleased with the set up and care given to the guests and so booked me in. Anyway, I'm back home again now and currently enjoying the fine weather in the garden by day and big brother by night. Its now March 06 which makes me 9! The vet said i'm very fit and healthy for my age (I could have told her that). My only ailments are slightly red and sore heels. Apparently it's quite common in older house rabbits especially if the carpet is quite rough - so I now have my own padded throw in my favourite place (under the table in front of the television). I'm looking forward to summer again so I can spend more time in the garden. I helped with the cleaning up the garden last week by cutting back some new shoots with my teeth and having a little dig but its generally a bit windy and chilly for me at the moment. I haven't been eating as much veg recently as now I am older it gives me the runs. I have a handful of greens and a couple of handfuls of Excel suparabbit. But I definately put my good health down to eating mostly veg and grass in my younger days. |