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by Dr. Carol H. Akers, D.V.M. Lyndhurst Animal Clinic & Mandel Veterinary Hospital
Snuffles is a very common upper respiratory disease of pet rabbits, caused by Pasteurella multocida bacteria. The bacteria can infect many different areas of a rabbit's body and cause many diseases, but as a pet rabbit owner, you are most likely to see the upper respiratory problems. Rabbits with snuffles suffer from inflammation of their nasal cavities and sinuses.
Snuffles is highly contagious because these bacteria can survive for days in moist secretions and water. Many adult rabbits carry the organisms in their respiratory tracts all their lives, often without showing any symptoms of the disease. Most commonly rabbits become infected from direct contact with another infected rabbit or from contaminated surfaces, such as food and water dishes and bedding.
Symptoms
The most common symptoms of snuffles are a runny nose and sneezing. Sometimes the fur on the front paws will be wet and matted from the rabbit's attempts to clean his nose. The nasal discharge can be clear and watery, or it may be thick and crusty. Some rabbits' noses run continuously, while others have only intermittent symptoms. If the bacteria travel from the nose up the tear ducts to the eyes, the rabbit may have runny, irritated eyes (conjunctivitis.) Some rabbits may act lethargic and they may lose their appetites.
In more severe cases, the infection can spread from the nose and sinuses down the trachea into the lungs, causing pneumonia. A rabbit with pneumonia might be depressed, unwilling to eat, have a fever, and have difficulty breathing. (The normal respiratory rate for a rabbit is thirty to sixty breaths a minute.)
Diagnosis
There are two tests your veterinarian can do to diagnose snuffles. One is a blood test that measures the rabbit's antibodies to the bacteria. The second is a culture taken from deep in the nasal cavities; this procedure is best done with the rabbit lightly sedated. Don't be alarmed if your veterinarian suggests anesthesia: an easy, safe way to briefly anesthetize a rabbit is to have him breathe Isoflurane gas through a mask for a short time, and then do the procedure. This will minimize the stress and discomfort for your pet.
Treatment
What can you do if your rabbit has snuffles? It is difficult (some researchers believe it is impossible) to eradicate the organism completely from the infected rabbit. Antibiotics, such as Baytril or trimethoprim sulfa, given for at least two to four weeks and sometimes longer, often clear up the symptoms of snuffles and make the rabbit feel better. Relapses can occur, however. Because some common antibiotics, such as amoxicillin, can be fatal for rabbits, proper treatment is essential.
Supportive care is an extremely important part of your treatment plan. You may have to force feed your rabbit if he won't eat, since two or three days without food in his stomach can cause a life-threatening fatty liver problem (hepatic lipidosis.) You can make a gruel from soaking rabbit pellets in water, or use strained vegetable baby food, or applesauce. Your veterinarian can also order Oxbow Hay's Critical Care Formula for you. Use an oral dosing syringe to slowly and gently feed these mixtures to your rabbit.
Your rabbit may also need extra fluids to prevent dehydration: his water consumption should be 50-100 ml per kilogram of body weight per day. Try syringe feeding him V-8 juice or water, or your veterinarian may need to give your rabbit fluids under the skin, something most rabbits tolerate well.
If your rabbit's nostrils are caked with dried mucus, try putting him in a room with a vaporizer, or cleaning his nostrils with saline nose drops. This will help make him more comfortable.
Prevention
Unfortunately, no vaccine is available yet to prevent Pasteurella multocida infection. Not all rabbits exposed to the organism get sick. Snuffles seems to occur when the rabbit's resistance is low from stress. Lengthy travelling, extreme fluctuations in temperature, poor sanitation, inadequate ventilation, and malnutrition are all stressful for rabbits.
You can reduce stress by providing a healthy environment for your pet. The ideal ambient temperature for rabbits is between 40 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Good ventilation and conscientious cleaning of cages are also important, because rabbits who breathe in high levels of ammonia from their urine are much more susceptible to catching snuffles. Feeding a diet of good quality timothy hay and fresh greens will also help keep your rabbit healthier.
There are some things you can do to avoid problems with snuffles. Carefully examine rabbits for any signs of runny noses, sneezing, or runny eyes before you bring one home. If you have other rabbits at home, quarantine your new pet for about a month before introducing him to the others. If you have a sick rabbit, isolate him, and wash your hands carefully after handling him. A good sanitizing solution for dishes and cages is one ounce of household bleach in one quart of water. Although no test is 100% accurate, you can also have your veterinarian test any new rabbits for Pasteurella multocida.
Good sanitation, adequate ventilation, a stress-free environment, and a healthy diet can go a long way toward protecting these personable, lively, and affectionate pets from snuffles.
References
1. Barbara J. Deeb, D.V.M., "Respiratory Disease and the Pasteurella Complex" in Ferrets, Rabbits, and Rodents: Clinical Medicine and Surgery (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders & Co. 1997), 189-201.
2. Elizabeth V. Hillyer, D.V.M., "Pet Rabbits" in The Veterinary Clinics of North America (Small Animal Practice): Exotic Pet Medicine II 24(1):25-64 (January 1994).
3. Lieve Okerman, Disease of Domestic Rabbits (trans. Richard Sundahl) (Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1988).
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by Kristi Cole
Harrison was a stray lop-eared rabbit found in a Streetsboro, OH neighborhood in the summer of 1999. He arrived at my house with a variety of ailments that are sadly common to domestic rabbits who are abandoned outdoors to try and fend for themselves. His ears were torn and had chunks taken out of them, but they had already healed over so he was stuck with that tattered look. His treatable problems included hookworm, tapeworm, fleas, mites, malnutrition, and an eye infection. We knew all of those things would respond to treatment, so with the help of our veterinarian we began the task of making Harrison healthy.
He got ivermectin shots for the mites and his fleas were treated with a kitten flea powder and thorough combing with a flea comb. His tear duct was plugged with mucus and was flushed out and we began using eye drops. He also got two oral medications to treat the hookworm and the tapeworm. He was quarantined in my bathroom for many weeks and I cleaned his area and my carpet daily to get rid of all the creepy, crawly, jumpy, biting things that accompanied Harrison into our home.
He was calm and cooperative throughout all the various treatments he was subjected to. After many weeks of those treatments, Harrison was well enough to be neutered. We then thought he was well on his way to a normal life. Until…
One morning we woke up to find Harrison's left eye swollen shut and the surrounding tissue bulging out to the size of a grape. When we looked in, there was a lot of thick pus and some blood. We immediately took him to our vet and he was diagnosed with an abscess around his eye socket. They took a culture and put him on an antibiotic eye ointment as well as oral antibiotics. We applied hot compresses and cleaned out as much discharge as we could three times each day. We knew the prognosis for beating an abscess in the facial area was not good. We were discouraged since he had gotten over all his early afflictions only to be faced with this huge hurdle now.
We continued the antibiotics and wound flushing for many weeks and that kept things under control while we consulted with our vet and some other experts on what to do for Harrison's best long-term well-being. Thankfully, the x-rays showed that his teeth and tooth roots were not involved.
We discussed all the options with our vet -- from leaving Harrison on antibiotics permanently to taking out the eye and all the other involved areas of the abscess. The problem in our minds was that we didn't know what all was affected inside his head area. If it had spread all over, there was no sense in doing surgery on the eye. But if it was contained to the eye area and we could get it all, then we wanted to take that route.
We agreed that further diagnostics were needed to know for sure what was going on in there. A radiologist was consulted and thought that the best tool in this case would be a CT scan of Harrison's head. The veterinary teaching hospital at Ohio State University had the nearest machine, so in mid-November we made the 140-mile trek for the test.
At OSU, the ophthalmologist confirmed that Harrison was already blind in that eye. The CT scan showed an almond-sized mass outside the eye connected to another one underneath the eye, behind the eye-socket bone, that was a little bigger than the visible one. The hidden mass was pressing on the eye and pushing it upwards. The joined "lobes" of this mass looked pretty well encapsulated and didn't appear to have spread around inside the head. They consulted with a surgeon who thought that surgery would give Harrison a very good chance to be healthy again after the abscess was removed. They did not think he would have a good quality of life for very long if we didn't do the surgery. The infection was not going away by using the antibiotics alone and Harrison's immune system was being pushed to the limit.
It turned out that the eye could not be saved, since the only way to get out the entire abscess was to remove the eyeball as well. Harrison did very well with the surgery and was even eating a few hours after the procedure. What a trouper he was! He was on oral antibiotics for several weeks after the surgery. He didn't seem to miss the eye at all, since it wasn't functional before the surgery. He jumped up on the couch with no problem and was still very cuddly with me. We were so pleased to have that over with and once again have Harrison at a point in his life where he had a hopeful future. Until…
One night about a month later, we noticed that the area around Harrison's eye socket was swollen and mushy. He had thick discharge coming out of that nostril, too. It felt like the eye socket was filled with pus. After the surgery at OSU, the socket was kind of caved in as it should be, but this night it was bulging out. Off to my vet we went and Harrison needed surgery that night to relieve the pressure. An infection had recurred in the empty eye socket. My vet said we had to treat this very aggressively, so he kept Harrison for several days, pumping high does of antibiotics into him and cleaning out and flushing the eye socket daily. He then packed it with antibiotic paste and closed the area. For three weeks, he did weekly cleaning and flushing of the area. We also administered injectible Baytril twice daily to Harrison for six weeks.
At this time, Harrison's long term prognosis was guarded. It felt like we were at square one again. The vet said he may always be a "ticking time bomb". This is why vets are so pessimistic about abscesses. But since Harrison was eating well and was still active, we decided to keep fighting this as long as he was willing. We believed that Harrison would let us know when "enough was enough". In the meantime, Harrison had begun to groom our faces. He likes eyebrows best.
The last step in Harrison's treatment was to clean out the eye socket yet again, debride it and leave it open this time to heal from the inside out, while still on the injectible antibiotics. While this phase looked gruesome at first, it turned out to be very successful. As of this writing, Harrison has been infection free for three months. He has had several checkups with the veterinarians and they are all amazed at how well he is doing. We are grateful for their aggressive treatment that saved Harrison's life. He has many friends rooting for him there now. Though we must remember that abscesses are stubborn and may come back, even in other places sometimes, we are pleased that he has progressed so well. Harrison now is active and affectionate and has a wonderful quality of life as a sanctuary rabbit at the Cole household.
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by George Flentke
Reprinted with permission from Wisconsin House Rabbit News, V:2:Fall 1998
So your "friends" decide they no longer want the rabbit and have given "it" to you, because you know so much about bunnies and you will give her a good home. At the time you didn't know that "Bunnicula" was an appropriate name. The vicious beast seems to be trying to live on your blood. Fortunately all is not lost, because most rabbits can have their behavior modified in a non-aggressive, healthy manner. This is a common problem for the HRS fosterer and will be seen by the local bunny expert. In this article I hope to give you some of the tools to help you deal with this kind of problem. I can't guarantee these techniques will work for all rabbits, but they have been successful in helping us address some of my most incorrigible cases.
First and foremost is the general health of the rabbit. You need to make sure that a physical problem is not the prime cause making the bunny aggressive. Rabbits in pain will be aggressive to avoid any more pain. Checking the rabbit for mites, wounds, burrs, or other problems can be done by you and a rabbit-savvy vet. Many times mites or a hidden burr can be driving the rabbit frantic. The second most important thing is to spay/neuter the rabbit. Female rabbits in particular can be very territorial. Many non-spayed female bunnies are fierce defenders of their cages. Spaying will dramatically decrease this tendency. In many but not all cases, it will stop much of the aggressive behavior. In those where it does not decrease the biting and aggressive lunging, a little behavior modification is called for.
Behavior modification involves convincing the rabbit that aggressive behavior is either nonproductive or not necessary. Behavior modification does not mean brainwashing. The rabbit is actually making the decisions with a little help from you. Behavior modification is teaching them that they do not need to bite. You may have a grouchy rabbit, and our goal is a non-biting grouchy rabbit.
If you eliminated physical problems and neutered your bunny and still see aggression then your bunny may have a behavioral problem that you might need to modify. There are several general rules that will speed the taming of Bunnicula. You need to be flexible in how you approach the problem. Flexibility is needed because many aggressive rabbits are on the high end of the IQ range for rabbits. A smart rabbit is both a help and a problem. Remember, many bunnies developed their behavior as a method of coping with a problem, and it worked. Many of these bunnies were picked up incorrectly or were constantly being prodded by little children. They were smart enough to develop a coping strategy. It will take time and some effort on your part to convince them otherwise.
A second contributing factor is that these aggressive rabbits tend to be female, and their behavior may be an extension of their territorial nature. You should always remember that the majority of such rabbits are not innately vicious rabbits; most of them use this coping strategy because they have become frightened of people. Remember that when you are bitten good and hard; it always helps me keep my temper to realize that I must help this bunny get over the fear someone else has caused. For me, the most successful method is to take advantage of their high IQ and the curiosity that goes along with it.
In many cases, not reacting to the bite will break the behavior. If the behavior does not elicit the desired effect, then many bunnies give it up. This is the easy end of the aggressive scale. These rabbits usually pinch very hard, but do not draw blood. If you can avoid reacting to the pinch, just leave your hand there and try not to jerk it away. Talk calmly, don't raise your voice, and pretend that nothing important happened. This can break the mild biter in a few days to a few weeks. Remember though, a smart bunny may try it on the next new human, but generally they do not try it for long. As the pinching fails, they drop it from of their repertoire of behaviors.
Now what about "Bunnicula", the rabbit who bites with a vengeance? This kind of rabbit may not let you put your hand into her space without a growl, lunge, and bite. My current technique is to develop more than one area for the bunny. Once she is used to her cage, I then open up an attached but limited play area. This attached area means you do not have to pick them up until further along in the process. I use a dog playpen that I have attached to the cage. This gives them a 4 by 8 foot play area. I let them go into the play area to feed them and water them. I change the litter by having another litterbox all set to go. I pull one and put in the new one with me in front of the door while they are in the play area. I don't get bitten if they can't get to me. Otherwise, the cage is theirs; I try to interfere with that piece of personal space as little as possible. The playpen is the public area. This is where they get to run around and this is where you will start the process of breaking bad habits.
I have had several of these ultra-smart rabbits put themselves to bed at night. I make the motions to put them to bed and they jump into their cage by themselves. I won't say you will always get this lucky, but it is another example of the adaptability in these kinds of rabbits.
The next level is to get them used to people; this can take up to a month. Most of the time (all the time for really scared rabbits) this is essentially spending time in the play area, staying out of the cage and doing whatever you want. I suggest reading books (but not the newspaper!), using a cordless telephone, or even watching TV if you can. My favorite trick is to take advantage of their innate curiosity by turning my back to the cage and most of the play area. Pay no attention to the rabbit. For a lot of us this is hard to do, but I find this vital. This gives these ultra-smart rabbits a chance to meet a human who is not reaching for them with hands. Many of these bunnies are, deep down, scared or angry. I feel that it is important at this stage to (1) let the bunny come to you, and (2) do not ever reach for the bunny with your hands. Strangely enough, phone conversations seem to be really soothing to the bunny. My aggressive rabbit area is in my office at home. I think it helps to have me doing a lot of quiet non-rabbit things in the area around their playpen. It will not take them very long to raise their curiosity. I have a low level of violence from these kinds of get-togethers in the playpen. Being outside the cage seems to decrease the need to bite. This is where you start allowing the bunny to interact with you rather than around you on his terms. I start by putting my hand down in a rabbit path, a route he takes regularly, but is not using at that moment. Eventually they will find the hand already there and not moving. Do I get bitten? Occasionally yes, but I usually put my hand back and talk to the bunny. Again, the area outside the cage has a greater level of tolerance. A major factor is that this is not the usual behavior of humans getting bitten. The ears go up and the rabbit starts thinking. I get bitten very rarely after the first week of this, and the bites are never like the bites of going into the cage. I call this my first plateau.
However, petting a bunny like this requires dirty tricks. My favorite is to give them a treat and then start petting. The smart bunny is gravely annoyed at first, because he realizes he cannot eat the treat and bite the person at the same time. With time though, petting is something he figures out is okay. Some of my smarter bunnies hesitate at treats or grab and run. This is one of the ways I rate the IQ. One bunny would sit next to her food dish waiting for me to leave before she would eat. This standoff lasted for a week! It took her only two feedings to learn the game. We still got around it with a few carrots. This was before I worked out the playpen setup. If I had done treats with the playpen, I suspect it would have gone faster with this obstinate little lady. I would not have been in her space with my hands.
Once you can pet in the play area it's time for the next level, the cage itself. This is the real test and can take some serious time. Usually, I include the bunny in filling the food dish, but not in changing the litter pan. Again, for the smart bunny, you already showed that you are OK, but you are on his turf. A bunny with his mouth full has a hard time biting. Remember to continue the playpen routine while adding the feeding.
One of the things I have noticed is that I am not getting these bunnies to quit the aggressive behavior; instead, the bunnies are modifying it. Thus one bunny would still lunge at me, but would duck her head at the last moment for a petting session. Another hates hands, but if we approach face to face, she will accept my hand for petting after the presenting of the face. (Author's note: This is a dangerous maneuver especially on an unknown bunny and should not be used if there is any worry at all of being bitten in the face. The author also wears glasses as a precaution.) If I just reach out, she will grunt and box. This beats her "grab on and lock jaw behavior"; she has a little further to go. If I worked at it, I might be able to remove the lunge, but first things first.
To give you an example of the personalities you may be dealing with, I'll give you my favorite "vicious bunny" story. The bunny is a very smart small female rabbit who bounces all over the playpen when I come in. I went out of town for a week and when I came back, I went into the playpen to pet her. She let me pet her once or twice then she bit down hard, immediately let go, ran into her cage, and sat in her litterbox. When I went back 15 minutes later, she was bouncing all around the playpen, excited to see me. We had a long petting session. My interpretation is that she first punished and then forgave me, pretty magnanimous of her! Smart rabbits are a treat, but they do require effort when they have been abused and learned improper behaviors for dealing with us humans. If you take the extra time you will not be disappointed with the gem under the rough exterior.
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by Kristen Strobel and Evi Goldfield, House Rabbit Society Educators
On April 10, 2000, the first confirmed cases of Rabbit Viral Hemorrhagic Disease in the United States were reported by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) through its Animal and Plant Health Inspections Service (APHIS). The affected rabbits lived on a farm in Crawford County, Iowa. The farm was immediately quarantined. Of the twenty-seven rabbits in the rabbitry, twenty-five died, with the remaining two being purchased and euthanized by the state. Up until this confirmed case, the US had been considered free of VHD.
What Is VHD?
Rabbit Viral Hemorrhagic Disease (VHD) is a highly contagious disease caused by a calicivirus that affects only rabbits of the Oryctolagus cuniculus species. This includes wild and domesticated European rabbits, from which our own domesticated rabbits are descended. It has not been known to affect any North American native rabbits or hares, such as cottontails, snowshoe hares and jackrabbits. VHD is also known by several other acronyms: RHD (Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease), RCV (Rabbit Calicivirus), and RCD (Rabbit Calicivirus Disease). VHD was first seen in China in 1984, and has since spread to Mexico, Continental Europe, Israel, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Symptoms may include:
VHD, however, is often a very swift and sudden killer, giving little warning. Rabbits may die without showing any symptoms at all. Some bleeding from the nose, mouth and rectum is sometimes seen. Any sudden rabbit death is suspicious and should be reported to your veterinarian or the State Veterinarian as a possible case of VHD
How VHD is spread
As was mentioned, VHD is highly contagious. It can be spread by:
How to Protect Your Rabbits
What You Can Do
Educating yourself and others about VHD is one of the best ways to help protect your rabbits. Don't panic, but get involved on spreading the word to others in the rabbit community. Keep yourself informed as to where any new outbreaks occur. To keep informed of any new outbreaks, you can subscribe to the VHD in the US Coalition's e-mail notification system at www.kindplanet.org/vhd/vhdsubscribe.html.
Educating Yourself:
Take the time to read the information at the following recommended websites.
- The VHD in the US Coalition website is at www.kindplanet.org/vhd/vhd.html. This website also enables you to get involved in dealing with VHD in the US.
- The British House Rabbit Association website is at www.houserabbit.co.uk/index.htm. It has information of particular relevance to rabbit caretakers in the UK and Europe.
- The APHIS website is at www.aphis.usda.gov
- The VHDinfo website is at www.vhdinfo.com. It is a website set up by many groups involved in breeding, but does have relevant information for people with companion rabbits and so is recommended.
Educating Others:
Informing veterinarians, shelters, pet stores that sell rabbits, and fellow rabbit lovers about VHD is important to help protect all rabbits. Make copies of this article to show your local vets, and refer them to the above websites. The VHD in the US Coalition website has informational flyers that you can download and distribute as well. We need your help to spread the word!
Most Important: Protect all Rabbits from VHD
Unexplained and suspicious rabbit deaths, especially when they occur in clusters of several rabbits dying in a short period of time, should be reported to your local veterinarian. All veterinarians are being instructed to report any suspicious deaths to the State Veterinarian. This is very important to prevent the spread of this awful disease. If you suspect that you have a possible case of VHD, do not bury the body or take it out of the house, but call your vet to learn the proper handling procedures. To conceal an infected rabbit or knowledge of a VHD infection is to sentence may other rabbits to death as well.
What is the Government Doing?
Currently, the USDA and APHIS have no jurisdiction over rabbits. Individual State Veterinarians will be the ones to decide what protocol to follow in the event of an outbreak; however, it is likely they will invite APHIS to participate with them to handle an outbreak. You can contact your VHD in the US Coalition's state volunteers for information relevant to your state. A list of state volunteers can be found at www.kindplanet.org/vhd/vhdvol.html. This person should have contacted your State Veterinarian and learned what the protocol would be if a VHD outbreak were to occur in your state. House Rabbit Society Chapter Managers and leaders of other house rabbit and rabbit rescue groups should also contact their State Veterinarians. The state authorities should know that there are concerned companion rabbit caregivers and rabbit rescues in your state whose interests must be included in policy making. We need to make sure our rabbit companions are not forgotten.
State Veterinarians
| Ohio
Dr. R. David Glauer |
Indiana
Dr. Bret Marsh |
Kentucky
Dr. Don L. Notter |
| Michigan
Dr. Micheal Chaddocl |
Pennsylvania
Dr. Max A. Van Buskirk |
West Virginia
Dr. L. P. Thomas |
Remember, don't panic, but educate yourself and others. Together we can make a difference.
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by Annabelle, with some help from Eileen Matias
Back in February 1998 I came home with my pet human, Eileen. At first I was not sure about her adopting me. About a week later I had her whipped into shape, as a good human should be. I enjoyed living in the apartment. I had fresh greens and clean litter. I really enjoyed executing high-speed maneuvers on the carpet. We even started going to nursing homes to visit people who could not have animals live with them.
In October Eileen and I moved into our new condominium. I had more room to run around and a courtyard to look at from my window seat. Life was good. Then one day Eileen went to the Humane Society of Greater Akron to walk dogs. This is the place she adopted me from. She came home and said she found some friends to keep me company while she went to work. "They are guinea pigs and the HSGA has two who need homes." I knew what a guinea pig was because I had met one who went to my grandpa's house. So one day there they were. They didn't have as nice a shape as rabbits; they were kind of formless with funny ears. The next morning they made this horrible squealing sound. "What is going on with you two?" I asked. "We are hungry." Eileen came up with some carrots for the noisy guys. She named them Reilly "Butch" Cassidy and Sundance. I have to admit they have handsome coloring. Reilly is the friendliest. He'll come up to me and we'll touch noses. Sundance can be a snob, however he will come up and greet me.
All in all they have been good company. We listen to the radio. While Eileen works on the computer or her art, we play and run around. They still make loud noises when they are hungry or want to get out of the cage. I share my hay with them and sometimes they come with me to the nursing home.
If anyone is considering getting a guinea pig as a friend for their rabbit, please look into some rescue groups on the internet first.
Contact Eileen Matias (eileen@ohare.org) for further information about rabbits and guinea pigs.
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How About a Bonded Pair?
by Kristen Doherty
At first they seemed an unlikely pair. We were sure that Moxie, who came from the city shelter, would grow into her large ears, but she never grew past her current 5 pounds. Winky, the little "street-fighter" with a tiny little body but a huge personality, was confiscated from an abuse case and found with nine other rabbits stuffed into an inappropriately small cage. Inside the cage, the rabbits fought with each other, leaving Winky with a badly-damaged eye. Luckily a vet knew to remove the eye immediately, and he hasn't had a problem since. In fact, no one ever notices his permanent wink because of the black spotted marking around it.
Moxie and Winky were next-door pen neighbors in my foster home when a crisis at the local shelter forced me to consider advertising a 2-for-1 adoption to free up some space. What a great idea to bond these two -- they are the perfect match. Moxie's sweet and calm demeanor has mellowed little Winky's formerly high-strung personality. He has learned to trust and now settles for pets instead of running around in a panic when approached. Moxie would surely choose a human hand pet over a juicy apple slice. She is both affectionate and polite.
Together, they are truly a sight. They snuggle and lick each other all day and are frequently spotted in a pretzel or cross shape when napping. Loneliness is no longer an issue for them, for they are the best of friends. Moxie and Winky are both young, in excellent health, great hay eaters, and litterbox-savvy. They are as easy to care for as one bunny and would like to live in a large condo, an exercise pen, or have free roam of a bunny-proofed area of your home.
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