Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The Twins Are 1 Week Old Today


I am so excited to announce that we have survived the first week. The twins are growing so big and strong. and we are definitely feeling the prayers being sent their way. I feel so blessed to be able to post pics we took this morning of them, sorry they aren't the best pictures, they wouldn't stop squirming until they fell asleep. and since their eyes aren't open yet it is hard to tell when they are asleep.

We can't even begin to tell whether they are male or female, but I am going to jump the gun and assume the bigger one is female and so as for right now, we are going to call 'her' Mira--short for Miracle.
She is laying in John's hand, I seriously can't believe how quickly they are growing. Only 7 days old and she is almost too big for John's hand.
Now, this one we are calling Lucky--he still has he umbilical cord attached, it just never has fallen off and we aren't about to pull at it. he is the smaller of the 2.
They are both getting so big and their fur has begun to come in. At first I was certain they were going to be black with white tummies but more and more I am starting to wonder.
and there you have it, they have survived the first week. Here is to praying they can survive for many more to come. their eyes should be opened in the next 3 days so I look forward to posting more pictures then.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

We Have an Official Business Website

It's official, we have a business website--we are still making changes to it so please bare with us. The biggest struggle right now is our camera--we need a new one. We are trying to find a photographer who might be able to help us out with taking pictures of our rabbits and products, but until we find someone who can do that we are stuck using the pictures I take with our semi broken camera.

we also have a facebook page if anybody is interested in checking it out.




Sunday, April 24, 2011

The Twins at 4 Days Old


We have definitely had an eventful week. I thought I would give ya'll an update on the twins.

one of them is actually a bit bigger than the other, but what he/she lacks in size he/she makes up with enthusiasm when it comes to feedings.
They look so angelic when they curl up and go to sleep. 4 days old, only 6 more till they eyes should be opened.
I have to say this is an expierience we have never had before. Up to this point the only babies we have had were birthed and mothered by Eve who is an excellent mother, which means we have very little interaction with the babies until they have opened eyes and fur all over so one can imagine we have never spent this much time with hairless closed eyed babies. It has definitely been an experience of a life time but definitely not something we hope to have to red0 any time soon.
Wendi's milk seemed to dry up rather fast so we took to feeding them with eye droppers, which wasn't exactly working. I have to admit that prayers are not always answered like one would hope, I had prayed that Wendi's milk wouldn't dry up and it did but don't fear, I didn't lose faith, I continued to pray and then on Saturday I went out to find that Skiddish had delivered her babies, sadly they had all died, but she had plenty of milk to share with Wendi's twins.
unfortunately at some point Skiddish ripped out a bunch of her hair, we think it was in attempt to make a nest for her babies, but since it all happened over night we have no idea exactly what happened. We do, though, know that it isn't because she is sickly or attacked. We didn't want anybody to worry, the hair is growing back in nicely.

The babies are growing healthy and strong. We definitely feel the many prayers, and even though Skiddish lost all her babies we still feel extremely blessed that she now has the milk to feed these little rabbits. We do hope you keep praying, because we still have a long way to go before they are completely out of the woods.



Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Wendi's Vet fiasco

Exactly 7 days ago I was so excited with anticipation of Wendi's babies being born. We purchased Wendi on the 1st of April 2011 and I am still amazed at how attached we have become to her being that we have only had her 20 days. A week ago I was excited for her babies, even then I didn't realize just how attached I had become but today it was put to the test. I guess I should explain:

We purchased Wendy during Cantons first Monday sales (which I still don't get why they call it first Mondays when it isn't even opened on Monday--we were there on a Thursday). I had gone hoping to find a Ruby Eyed White and was overjoyed when we not only found her but that she was already pregnant. The man I purchased her from ensured me that she was 15 days pregnant and that he had already felt the babies. I was so overcome with excitement that I forgot to ask him how old she was, obviously this wasn't my only mistake.

After we got home and got the new rabbits situated (we also purchased George and Faline during the same trip, we just purchased them from some one else) I rushed in and got the calendar and counted out till we could expect her to deliver and discovered that we expected Eve to deliver the same day. Having both rabbits deliver on the same day would actually be a big deal here, and we were super excited, counting down the days and making sure we would be around, it was as if we were waiting for a human baby to arrive.

One can imagine how terrified I became when on the Thursday before she was to deliver I walked out to feed her and found blood in her cage and red on her tail. Scared I searched her cage but couldn't find any babies at that point I ran inside and called a vet whose number I had found online. That vet was in the DFW area so she googled vets in our area and said the bunny would need to be seen, so after calling one vet, only to find he would be out till Tuesday I called another who said to just keep a close eye on her and that we shouldn't worry too much unless she stopped eating and acted depressed. After talking to the first vet I returned to the cage and found the semi formed dead fetus.

That began Wendi's stay in the bathroom. We have a good size 2 bedroom house but since the dogs come in and out there isn't many places that we can keep the dogs out of, except that bathroom, which is usually the cat's room but afraid Oreo (the cat) would cause Wendi undue stress his litter box was evicted from the bathroom out into the hall and the kitty door locked.

We kept a close eye on Wendi and she kept bleeding but still no
more babies. After watching her for a few days on Saturday we decided to take her back outside since that was the day she was due anyways. Saturday was a very busy day so when I got home late from Bunco I ran out with a flash light in excitement hoping to find babies, but neither mommas had delivered.

Sunday came and went and still no babies.
Monday, after giving it a lot of thought I finally admitted Eve was never pregnant, but was still concerned for Wendi--still no babies, and she was still bleeding--so I called a vet in Whitehouse and scheduled an appointment for Wednesday (the soonest morning appointment they had)

I had received a coupon for the Whitehouse vet and was kind of excited to meet and talk with him. We already have a regular vet for our dogs and cat but that vet didn't really do all that much with rabbits, so we thought it time to find a new one that could.

Wednesday morning (today) came, and I have to admit I was a bit nervous as I put Wendi in her cage and got her ready. the Vets office was quite a drive from our house and the appointment was at 1030 am so I had hoped it wouldn't take long--and luckily it didn't.

The vet confirmed that the bunny did have an unborn fetus in her that had to come out surgically. We asked a lot of questions about alternative methods and it simply came down to the point that it cost almost $500 for an emergency hysterectomy or $50 to put her down.
Now, had he said that Friday I probably would have just put her down because she hadn't been eating and it didn't appear she had been drinking and she was still bleeding, but between Friday and Wednesday it seemed she had begun to make improvements. Wednesday (today) morning her food dish was empty, her water bottle almost empty, and it appeared there was no new blood. Her spirits even seemed to be more cheerful so I figured she was on the mend as almost canceled the appointment but since I had the coupon and it wasn't going to cost me anything I decided I would go just to be on the safe side, so I went, but now I was faced with putting what appeared to be a healthy Rabbit to sleep or spending what we pay in rent to get her fixed.

one can imagine this wasn't an easy choice and one that I refused to make at a moments notice--so we put her back in the cage and came home. The vet was very nice and even mentioned that there was a vet in Tyler that had great prices (the vet we take our dogs to actually) and that we could give him a call and if he had questions he could call the vet in Whitehouse and he wouldn't mind helping him out. Well, the minute we got home we called his office. Today was his short day nor did he feel comfortable trying to put an IV in a rabbit (which would be required because she was in fact still pregnant even if the fetus was dead) but that if we hurried he could put her to sleep for us, rather than wanting her to suffer we rushed to the clinic so he could put her down before he had to leave.

Turns out, when I called the office, I forgot to mention that Wendi was not a little rabbit. Everyone was quite thrilled to see how big she was when we got her to the vet. We kept saying 'she is actually kind of small for being a Flemish Giant, she only weighs about 12 lbs, but they were still amazed at how big she was. So amazed that the one of the nurses popped in and said 'I am sure he can put an IV in a rabbit that size and then popped out at which point we heard her call to the doctor--you have to see this bunny, you can put an IV in it. It took our normal vet afew minutes to get in to see us (he was trying to leave and had a bunch of things hit at the last minute) but when he did he asked us a few questions, felt her abdomen and started to explain to us that he simply didn't have time to do the surgery today, I must note though that while he was doing this he was pulling out his cell phone, I didn't quite know what he was doing and it seemed kind of unprofessional to be making a call in the middle of rabbit exam but this is why you don't judge a story before you hear it to the end.

As we sat there in the room certain we would be leaving with a dead rabbit in a matter of minutes we hear the vet on his cell phone (which wasn't hard, he was only about 4 feet away from us) asking 'I have a rather good size rabbit here that needs to have surgery, do you have time to do it today?' then we heard 'blah blah blah' from the other person who he was talking to at which point he asked 'how much would you charge them.

Next thing we know we are on our way to Hawkins, dropping off Wendi and then rushing back to Tyler. On the way to Hawkins we called our Credit union and transfered every penny from every savings account we had into our checking (which trust me wasn't a lot) in hopes that we might have enough to cover the cost of the vet, luckily the rent check we wrote 5 days ago hadn't gone through so we had enough in the account to use the debit card.

Any donations would be appreciated and would go towards the additional costs of the surgery.


Now, after I have had to swollow my pride, I feel it important to note that at 3:54 PM we got a call, at first I was concerned cause I had just called them and they hadn't even started on the surgery so I doubted they were calling to say she was ready to go home--and I was right. They were in fact calling for a completely different reason. Upon removing the uterus they opened it up to discover one dead and decomposing fetus and 2 other babies, both of which were breathing so while one doctor was back still operating on momma they were calling to see just what we wanted done with the babies. When I told them that we wanted to keep them they informed me that momma might not produce milk and that we had to come immediately to pick up the babies because they were not equipped to care for them. After a couple of phone calls I hit the jackpot. A friend of mine was actually in her car on the way to my house--ok, not really my house, but the Walmart close to my house, and agreed to fore go Walmart and instead drive me to Hawkins.

We are now home. Momma is still pretty drugged so she is in the bathroom locked in a pet carrier. The vet warned not to put the babies with momma, luckily momma had already prepared for them and made a nest in the nest box we had provided for her. We weren't about to put the babies out in the next box, and were afraid that they would be easy prey sitting in the next box in the house, but I had just made a small cage which was the perfect size for them. I must note that while I was making said cage John asked me multiple times 'now what exactly do you plan on putting in that small cage' at the time I didn't know but I am glad I made it anyways. I took some of the fur and hay out of the nest box and have put it in the cage and stuck the towel the babies are wrapped in on top of it all. The small cage fits perfectly on the top shelf in our bathroom.

So, all in all we are feeling rather blessed, it isn't often that we go in to get a rabbit put to sleep and end up with 2 additional babies. Prayers were definitely answered today--unfortunately, because the babies were alive and well it cost us over $200 and now we are praying for another miracle. I do have faith that no matter what it will all work out one way or another, for now though I plan on focusing on the two little miracles that are tucked away in our bathroom. They are by far not out of the woods yet and still require a lot of care and prayers. We first pray that they can keep each other warm. 2nd we pray that momma will continue to produce enough milk to care for them. 3rd we pray that momma will eventually accept the babies (which could very well be the case once the anesthesia wears off). And 4th, we pray that all of them can continue to live healthy happy lives.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Just Getting Started


We have owned bunnies for almost 2 yrs and love them so much. We have finally figured out how to breed them in order to help bless others with the joy of rabbit ownership. Our rabbits are loved so much that we are trying to make sure they go to homes where they are loved.

As we struggle to get our new little family business going, we do hope you be patient and check back often. A lot of breeders have given breeding a bad name, but I want to begin by saying, that we refuse to be that type of breeder. Our bunnies may cost a little bit more than a random bargain/discount bunnies, but I assure you that the value for the extra love and care we put into them out weighs the cost.

Here is what sets us apart:

  • First- We ensure that our momma rabbits are not over bred and that the bunnies will not be weaned too early. Our current breeding plan for our momma's is every 2 months or more, which depends on how well she does with her babies each time. Depending on the breed and how many litters the momma has had, we may hold on to the bunnies for as long as eight weeks. We want to ensure that you are getting a healthy and weaned bunny that will live a long healthy life, without digestive issues. We also offer the mommas long breaks when the weather isn't suitable for them to be pregnant or care for their bunnies.
  • We take great care to make sure our babies are played with, loved on, and regularly interacted with as soon as their momma allows them to leave the nest on their own for exploration.
  • We pamper our bunnies by feeding them the best food and custom design cages that offer lots of space, are easily cleaned, and maintained. Their cages are always lined with delicious Coastal or Bermuda hay.
  • We begin litter box training the babies so that they can be familiar with the litter box before they go to their new home. We prefer the paper pellet litter, as well as the pine shavings due to both their cost and how effective they are.
As you can see we do our best to ensure healthy happy bunnies and all the EXTRAs we put into their well being is well worth the VALUE.

We do what we can to keep the costs down. We do build our own cages and shop around for the best supplies for the best price.

Now, we feel like your purchase of our bunnies is of the utmost value, due to how most breeders will breed their rabbits every 30 days, which can be very hard on both the mother and bunnies. Another concern is that bunnies get weaned far too early and the likely-hood of them surviving past four to six weeks is highly preventable, by keeping them with their mother a week or so longer.

We feel like you will get the most for your money with the added love, care, and extra time we put into these lovable creatures. You certainly will not get a second rate bunny from the FAM Farm, because we put the love we have into our bunnies. Click here to reserve your next bunny.