02 March 2008 by Lindsay

After we’d known our little bunny, Fern, for a few months it became apparent she wasn’t going to be a quiet little house bunny. No, Fern wanted to live outside and she made sure we knew it. We had hoped that as a house bunny Fern would be happy with our company, but outside in the garden we were worried she would be lonely. So, along came our second dwarf bunny Fawn.

We were at a large pet superstore that we don’t normally visit. Unfortunately they are the only place in our local area that sold something I needed for my rats. Fawn was this little black bundle in the middle of a good-sized bunny area, the problem was all the other bunnies were bigger than him and he looked terrified. Derek, being the big softie he is about bunnies, couldn’t resist.

When we picked the little bunny up, we found he had scabs and little bald spots on his back, where the other bigger bunnies were obviously biting him. Even though we both know it is wrong to support these places and buy animals from them, there was no way I was going to get Derek to put the bunny back, and so Fawn joined our family.

Fawn is living in Fern’s old giant indoor bunny cage in the bedroom that was supposed to be hers, before she decided to be an outside bunny. He also has lots of bunny toys and tunnels to keep him entertained and of course we hope to spend lots of time playing with him.

25 March 2008 by Lindsay

Fawn took a little time to settle into his new home. He was very shy and hesitant at first and we struggled to even get him to come out of his cage an play, when he did he preferred to hang around under our bed. I’m pleased to say that he is starting to build his confidence now though, and is turning into a very sweet and affectionate little rabbit.

Everyday Fawn’s confidence is growing and he becomes more adventurous with his surroundings and us. At the moment he seems very interested in the stairs. We are hoping he will learn to use them by himself and then he can have the run of the whole house. Who knows what kind of mischief he’ll get up to then.

Our little guy is a bit of a carrot monster too; boy does he love his carrots. I know we shouldn’t feed him too many, but as his confidence grows and he get more active it’s hard not to want to treat him. We give him other vegetables as well, but I think carrots are his favourite.

We have read that Fawn’s personality being completely opposite to Fern’s is going to be a good thing when we introduce them. Apparently bossy bunnies prefer gentle and subservient companions, to boss around. So fingers crossed. We’re still a bit away from being able to introduce the rabbits, but it doesn’t hurt to be hopeful. Our first two pairs of bunnies were siblings, so we have never had to introduce rabbits before.

15 April 2008 by Lindsay

Unfortunately while Fawn was having his vaccinations, our vet gave him a check-over and noticed his teeth weren’t wearing down evenly. This means that Fawn is going to have to have an anaesthetic and have his teeth filed down for him. We are very nervous worried about this, as he is so young to be having problems with his teeth. Our vet told us it is becoming a common problem in rabbits, because the breeders don’t take good care of the young bunnies. To increase their profits they feed the growing bunnies poor quality rabbit food, so the baby bunnies don’t have all the nutrients they need to grow healthily, so their teeth don’t develop evenly. To add to this one of our previous bunnies, Jupiter, had problems with his teeth, much later in life than Fawn, and he failed to recover from one of his anaesthetics, which makes what is happening to Fawn really frightening.

We are trying to stay positive though, and even though Fawn doesn’t appreciate it we now have him on a completely hay diet. He still gets vegetables as a treat, but he no longer gets any bunny food, which he is not too impressed about. The hay we give him is very expensive, but he still manages to be picky with it. He is a very naughty bunny.

Derek has also started chopping hay up and putting it into a bowl, in an attempt to get Fawn to eat more hay. He actually really likes this and gets very excited when Derek is preparing him a new bowl. Though the cheeky little bunny does make quite a mess by chucking the bits bits he doesn’t want to eat on the floor and leaving them.

21 July 2008 by Lindsay

Fawn has grown into a happy and confident little bunny, we had him neutered a few weeks ago and he has been vaccinated, so all that was left was to introduce him to our other bunny, Fern. Well, it seemed that simple when we planned it.

Unfortunately Fern and Fawn are not very impressed with each other. There is no real fighting between the pair, but Fawn stomps his feet when Fern goes near him and then runs away, which ends with Fern chasing him and Fawn somehow managing to climb up on my shoulder. It is not fun.

After many failed introductions, which only result in Fawn getting stressed and Fern getting grumpy, we resigned ourselves to the fact we now have two single bunnies. Fortunately Fawn is very happy being a house bunny, in a way that Fern never was. In fact whenever we have tried to introduce him to the outside world he lets us know, in no uncertain terms, that he doesn’t like it!

27 July 2008 by Lindsay

Custard & Fawn

I guess our cats are now at the age where they’re not very interested in chasing smaller animals, and our bunnies can sense it too.

Custard likes to sleep in a spare bedroom and Fawn lives, and has the run of the, upstairs so it was inevitable the two were going to meet. At first Fawn was a bit nervous of Custard and he would run and hide in his own room, and Custard would just ignore him and go to bed.

Overtime Fawn has got braver. It started off with him not running all the way into his room and just hanging around in the doorway. Then he started standing his ground on the landing, but when Custard went to sniff him he’d run off.

New best friends Custard and Fawn

I’m not sure when it happened, but now the two of them spend a lot of time sitting together on the landing. We will often find them at the top of the stairs just sitting side by side as though it is the most normal thing in the world.

I know cats and rabbits have got on before, but these two being friends did surprise us. Our previous bunnies, Mars & Jupiter, never liked either of our cats and Fawn is such a nervous little bunny as well.

It is nice that Fawn has found a friend and that we no longer have to worry about him being afraid of the cats. Well I say cats, he hasn’t met our other cat Treacle yet.

15 January 2009 by Lindsay

I’ve been getting a bit concerned that Fawn was bored and lonely. Our cat Custard, who fawn spent a lot of time with, passed away last month and I think Fawn has been missing him. Both Derek and I work from home, so we get to spend a lot of time with Fawn, but we had noticed that he wasn’t spending as much time with us in the office as he used to. Instead we would often find him under our bed asleep or huddled in a corner of his room. He hadn’t been playing with his bunny toys as much either and it was worrying me.

Seeing as my rats love playing with old boxes and large paper bags, and knowing how nosy bunnies are, I wondered if Fawn would too. So, I gathered up a cereal box, a paper carrier bag I got from a jeans store and some other bits and pieces and dumped them on the floor of our office. Then we waited for Fawn to notice.

At first Fawn looked at us like we were mad, but being a bunny he couldn’t resist messing with all the rubbish. Seeing as the rubbish was such a success we moved some of his bunny toys from his room. It really has worked a treat. Fawn has started running around, charging from room to room, doing happy bunny hops and of course throwing things around.

Our cheeky little bunny has also started helping himself to rubbish out of the office bin!

28 August 2009 by Lindsay

Fawn exploring the garden

Fern and Fawn may carry on like they hate each other, well its actually Fern who terrorises Fawn, but the end result is the same, they don’t get on.

Not to be deterred, Derek and I are persevering and trying to get the two used to each other.  Summer is here and we are taking full advantage of it.  The biggest problem we have with our two bunnies is Fern likes to be outside during the day, and gets very cross if we bring her in before bedtime – and then when we do bring her in at night only wants to go to bed.  So actually getting the two bunnies together has been a problem.

Fern and Fawn

With the warm weather we have been able to take Fawn outside.  We bought him a metal bunny run, that is made up of metal sections that clip together to make an pentagon.  This keeps him safe from Fern, but they can sniff each other.  Fern does try to bite Fawn though the bars, but she can’t really get to him.  When Fern has had enough she goes back in her run, of her own accord, and we’ll shut her in and let Fawn out to play.  This works out really well.  Unfortunately we got over confident and let the two bunnies out at the same time and Fern went nuts, as usual, leaving Fawn upset.

The summer is nearly over now and we are no closer to getting the bunnies together.  I don’t think it will be fair on Fawn to drag him outside in the cold weather, as he is very much a soft, cuddly, house bunny, boy.

I guess all we can do is wait until next year and try again.  Who knows maybe Fern will have mellowed a bit more by then, we can only hope.

10 January 2010 by Lindsay

Treacle and Fawn

After the death of his brother, Custard, our other cat, Treacle had started coming upstairs more and of course Fawn was waiting for him.  Fawn really loved spending time with Custard and had missed him terribly when he died, so it’s been great for Fawn to find a new feline friend.

Treacle wasn’t too sure when Fawn first came bounding up to him to say hello, but Fawn is not one to be deterred and he takes every opportunity to spend time with Treacle.  We are aware that Fawn’s love of our cats means he may be a little lonely, but unless he and Fern sort our their differences and make friends then there is not much we can do about it, but we will keep on trying to get them together.

For now though Fawn has Treacle and they get on very well.  Fawn is especially fascinated by Treacle’s tail.  Custard had quite a stiff stubby tail, but Treacle has a proper cat tail that swishes about.  Fawn thinks this is the greatest thing.  He will sit behind Treacle and gently sniff his tail, which of course makes Treacle move it ever so slightly.  This only makes Fawn more curious and he’ll sniff it again.  The two go on like this until it all gets too much for Fawn and he goes running off wobbling his ears and bouncing.

They are a very sweet pair, and can’t help but bring a smile to our faces.

11 August 2010 by Lindsay

Fawn and Treacle have become such good friends, they are like an old married couple!  It is all a bit daft really, we have two bunnies that won’t get along, but both want to be friends with our cat, Treacle.

Poor Treacle is quite old now, and Fawn gets very excited when Treacle is around, but Treacle just wants to sleep.

Well, this picture just about sums up life in our house, and how much Fawn loves being with Treacle.

Fawn & Treacle enjoying a rest together