Wednesday, July 19, 2006

What are you looking at?



Do not do this to your bunny unless you have a dire medical need.


Our girl Jane Doe has glaucoma in her right eye (the one you can see in the picture). After a visit to the vetrinary eye specialist (with misc pokings and proddings), her eye became very irritated, and she started scratching at it. We needed to control her ability to get to the eye.

So the challenge was: how do you get a bunny to stop scratching an eye? People with dogs have it easy -- just put on a cone, or doggles.

Bunnies however have all sorts of engineering "problems".

1. Bunnies have no discernable neck. A cone would just fall off.

2. Bunnies panic easily. They can get really freaked out. They are very sensitive in the face, and they really don't like to feel trapped.

3. Bunnies will eat anything. Including hard plastic, like a dog cone. Including things that will kill them.

This was our solution. A Quaker Oats can. (well temporary solution - She got it off within 2 hours, but she seemed to leave the eye alone) We used the lower third of the can, and cut radial slits in the bottom to allow her had to pass through it. We also cut notches for her ears and muzzle. Not only are Quaker Oats good for your heart. (allegedly!) Their containers are completely edible (except the lid) by bunnies.



She was pretty okay with it until her mate started trying to "help her". First he started tugging on it trying to get it off her. Then he thought, "if your head is in there, maybe mine should be too". I didn't get pictures of that, because she started freaking out. After seperating her from her mate, she finally settled down. Begrudingly. And as you can see from the picture, we still had the directions to cook the oats.

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