According to pet columnist Gina Spadafori, keeping rabbits as pets is more environmentally friendly than keeping cats and dogs. You can grow their food in a garden, and then you can throw the recycled paper litter and droppings into a compost pile to fertilize the garden. If you buy locally grown hay, you reduce the need for shipping food across the country, thereby cutting down on carbon emissions.

I also find that I hardly ever use my shredder anymore because Coco and Cosette tend to eat all my old receipts, etc. So that saves some electricity…

For more information:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/11/27/petscol.DTL

http://ourgreencommunity.org/livegreenly/?p=28

After treating four cases of myxomatosis, a Bristol, UK veterinary practice is urging rabbit owners to get their pets vaccinated against the illness. If unvaccinated, rabbits who contract the disease suffer immensely. Symptoms include runny eyes, which leads to conjunctivitis and blindness. Swelling and lumps also appear on the body. Most unvaccinated rabbits who contract the disease will perish.

Pet rabbits kept outdoors are more susceptible to the disease as they have a greater chance of coming in contact with wild rabbits/hares or insects such as fleas, mosquitos and mites carrying the disease.

For more info: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/7115026.stm

I quickly learned that putting the treats in the same cabinet as the paper towels used for litterbox cleaning was not a good idea. Now, every time Cosette hears the cabinet door opening, she bounds over with a crazed look in her eye. And since Cosette is excited, Coco will come running over so that he doesn’t miss out. (Even though he has no idea what’s going on.) So after I cleaned their litterboxes last night, I decided that I didn’t have the heart to withhold a treat from them since they were so excited. However, I thought that maybe I could at least make them work for it and learn some tricks.

So, I thought I’d teach them the command, “Up!” I didn’t think it would be that difficult since they enjoy jumping onto tables, boxes, beds, chairs, shelves, etc. And they usually come over if I tap my finger on the ground (only to leave immediately if they see I don’t have food.)

So, I said, “Up!” and tapped the top of the box. After about fifteen minutes of this and Cosette running around and inside the box frantically with Coco chasing her, I settled for the command, “Walk!” which entailed me holding the treat in front of them so they had to stand on their hind feet and walk. Not quite as impressive as I would have hoped…

Especially when compared to these clicker trained bunnies:

It makes me want to buy a clicker, but on the other hand, I kind of find Cosette’s sometimes surly attitude endearing.

We have added two new products to our CafePress store.

Just in time for the holiday season, we have created a Snow Bunny Christmas ornament ($6.99).

We have also added a Jr. spaghetti tank top featuring a roller bunny ($19.99). This shirt is available in white, pink, baby blue and yellow.

Welcome to the new My House Rabbit blog which covers new and interesting things relating to rabbits!