Come play in my world for awhile!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Sometimes, being a girl sucks!

The other day I noticed the Beaver (or Beav, our infamous pet - a rabbit/beaver hybrid) was acting strangely. She was aggressively tearing her boxes and chewing everything. This is pretty much what she does all the time, but the sheer ferocity with which she was attacking everything caught my attention. I chalked it up to the Beav needing more time to run free and went on with my business.

I didn't think more of it until I went out later and discovered she had tape adhered to her chin. Since we can't actually catch the Beav I wasn't sure how to help her. I was worried she'd get it in her mouth and choke somehow, and so I chased her around trying to get it off. I might have overreacted just a little.

Thankfully, the tape lost it's stickiness and fell off on it's own.




Her strange behavior escalated from that point forward and culminated yesterday with a bunny breakdown. She was in some sort of cardboard-shredding frenzy and proceeded to:

* Chew a good-sized hole in the box she uses to jump in and out of her cage.


* Get a long strip of cardboard wedged in her teeth.


* And finally, crawl into the hole she created in her box and get her big, fluffy, bunny-butt stuck






At this point I was more amused than concerned. Is it really such a stretch of the imagination that our slightly, ahem, eccentric family would have a pet that marched to it's own beat? I didn't think so.

However, a short time later she began ripping huge clumps of fur from her body, and that finally got my attention. It's disturbing to see a living creature literally tearing itself apart. I couldn't imagine what sort of pain was prompting this, but she was definitely agitated. I began scouring the internet for clues, but as I sped through the blogosphere I heard a strange rustling noise coming from the Beav's cage area. I dismissed it initially but it continued...

I went out to investigate:


The Beav in a bag! It was easy enough to shake her loose (the bag wasn't supposed to be in her cage. Apparently it was stuffed inside the box she'd chewed into).

My internet search quickly yielded results: false pregnancy. Symptoms include changes in temperament (especially being more aggressive or moody) and plucking fur from their bellies to line a nest with. They will also collect hay, grass and other appropriate materials to aid in nest building.

BINGO.

In the meantime, the normally mellow, potty-trained rabbit has turned into a hormonal beast who poops wherever she sees fit, sprays you with pee if you offend her, leaves a trail of hay all over the screened porch, and has pulled so. much. fur. from her body that there are now bunny-hair-tumbleweeds blowing willy-nilly all over the patio. I usually vacuum out there, but I'm not supposed to upset her... and she hates the vacuum... so the rabbit is now the supreme ruler of my home and dictates the loudness of my voice, whether I vacuum, how we access our backyard...

Basically I am at the mercy of a grouchy, hormonal female and tip-toeing around the house to avoid doing anything to garner her displeasure. I'm like a prisoner in my own home.

I have new respect for my husband.

Note: Getting the bunny spayed will solve this problem for her. We are looking into procedures and will DEFINITELY take measures to see that she isn't put through this again.

65 comments:

MsTypo said...

Is Beav related to Buniculla by any chance? :p

Your bunny is so adorable!! If you ever need someone to come over and snuggle her I'm your girl! :D

ScoMan said...

I was looking forward to getting a place where I can have pets and getting myself a rabbit. If they carry on like this maybe I won't.

Or maybe I'll get a boy rabbit. I'm sure the boy ones are so well behaved.

♥ Braja said...

"Basically I am at the mercy of a grouchy, hormonal female and tip-toeing around the house to avoid doing anything to garner her displeasure. I'm like a prisoner in my own home."

HOLY CRAP!! Vodka Mom has got to you too? Give her a martini...

♥ Braja said...

Ok you know i'm kiddin', right? She's not grouchy, hormonal, or displeased. She can't be: the martinis are workin'....

mommakin said...

OH, my first thought was POOR BUNNY! Preparing for a baby who isn't gonna come - but then I came back to my senses and remembered it was all about you. :-) And I felt sorry for you AND all the men in the world. The hormones fly pretty hard and heavy in our house with one moody teen, one new to periods and one entering menopause. Dagnabbit, Kathy, now I'm gonna have to make my husband something special for dinner tonight - you've aroused a sense of sympathy for him in me...

Anonymous said...

Oh, poor bunny.

I hope mother nature runs her course soon.

Good luck (and good luck to all the men out there- I'm having flash backs to a nesting period where I went a little crazy with a magic eraser right before my son was born).

Kathy B! said...

Note: Poor bunny is definitely the right reaction. It really does break my hear to see her like this.

On the flip side, some of her antics have been entertaining to say the least. And the fact that I have quite literally altered my daily life to avoid upsetting her? I never would've believed that...

Anonymous said...

The things we do for love and our kids, right? Poor little bunny...I hope it all goes ok!!

Unknown said...

Good Friday morning! The countdown to a fabulous 3 day weekend begins. Umm I'm a bit impatient...is it 5:00 yet?

Anonymous said...

Poor bunny and poor Kathy. We used to raise rabbits for food so we never got that far. We did have one we kept as a pet, but we handled him after he first got his fur and he was very, very sweet.

Anonymous said...

Poor bunny. HUGS. MOM

~Thought's By Dena~/ JDs Gift Shack said...

oh yikes nothing worse then a hormonal naked bunny chewing on things and getting its big bunny butt stuck in things!!!! hehe Hope you survive that craziness!!!!

Lindy said...

I'm so getting a rabbit if it gets me out of vacuuming.

TKW said...

Oh my God, I feel bad because I'm laughing so hard. Beware of the Beaver this weekend!

Thank goodness you were on top of things and caught her with that plastic bag--things could have gotten ugly!

Love the shot of her bunny butt.

Unknown said...

This was so entertaining! And I gotta say that you're pretty good with with a camera! Thanks for capturing the moments and sharing!
Now, let's hope the Beav doesn't need therapy when no baby rabbit arrives.

Kimberly said...

I want a bunny. Though, perhaps I will get one that is spayed, so that I don't get sprayed. Blech!

Though the Monkey has requested a guinea pig, one with large saucer eyes like on Bedtime Stories....

Gibby said...

"I have new respect for my husband."

I am still chuckling over this line. Not only does this poor man have to live with 5 ladies, but now, the bunny. Yikes.

Have a great weekend! You too, Anon Mom!

for a different kind of girl said...

I suppose the only saving grace to this experience is she can't weep, slam doors and yell about how much she hates you while stomping off into a different room!

Have a great weekend with your family!

Paging Doctor Mommy said...

Seriously, I don't mean to laugh because I know the poor things feels like crap, but I can't help but laugh at the vision of you being held prisoner in your own home by your pet rabbit.
Here's to hoping she gets her hormones in check soon! And I guess it does give you a whole new outlook on how our hubbies feel!

Shawn said...

Bwahahahaha!

Give the bunny some chocolate, a glass of wine and turn on Lifetime Movie Network.

That should buy you a little time at least. ;o)

Alicia @ boylerpf said...

Poor bunny all the way...such great antics but she really is having a bad hormonal glitch going on. We had a bunny...put her in one of our horse stalls. She started doing the same thing and eventually stopped. About a month later, our son was looking into the stall and made the comment..."when did you get all those other cute little bunnies"! Yikes...black and white minis were everywhere. No false pregnancy with her! I had not a clue!

Helene said...

Awwww, I love bunnies! We used to have three but they've all since passed away (probably from being heartbroken, once we had children and the focus was no longer on them). We had all ours "fixed" but that didn't stop one of the males from still spraying all over the place.

I've never heard of a rabbit with PMS!!!!

Riddle Girl said...

You have some great followers/commentors. The blog was funny to begin with and then I was wondering what others would comment about.
They were funny too!!!
Maybe we all need to see a rabbit in this state to understand OUR transformations better. (I can't be that bad...Oh wait, yes I can!)

zelzee said...

Only in your household!! A PMS rabbit.

Just curious........do you have fish??

Pam said...

And I thought my Pug was a handful! Good Luck!

rachel... said...

Wait... How do you know it's a FALSE pregnancy? I swear, I thought you were going to find baby bunnies in that Target bag!

We have a hampster who shoves whole baby carrots into his mouth sideways and then becomes immobile.

Kristina P. said...

When you started off with talking about your Beaver, I really thought this was going to go in an entirely different direction.

And I just realized that I didn't respond to your email yesterday! I am a bad bloggy friend. :(

Jen said...

Poor thing, fix her quick!

Susie said...

Gosh...I hope we aren't that bad when we PMS!!

CynthiaK said...

Wow, and I thought the pet action in our house was off the wall! Um, your house takes the cake. Actually, The Beav takes the cake. That is one whacked out little bunny girl! I hope she chills for you soon! Yikes!

Sturgmom said...

Poor girl. I would say something witty, but I'm in the middle of a raging case of PMS myself. The walls of my own home may be next...

Nana said...

My grandson has the same poo, pee problem. I wonder what to do with him.

Pop and Ice said...

Oh, God! Your poor, poor bunny! I hope she's unhormonal soon. I have to take our 3 year old cat to be declawed on Wednesday and I'm so dreading it. But he's had at least 5 toenail bed infections in the last two years that take 8 weeks to clear up and they have no idea why they happen.

Anonymous said...

Who would have thought? So how does this stage last? And do you have any other pets? Do you want more?

CT Nails said...

OMG that is hilarious ... spay the bunny! LOL

Meg said...

Poor, poor Bunny FooFoo. At least you can fix this! I had no idea bunnies did this sort of thing. Poor girl. Maybe you should get her some Taco Bell and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream? Works for me.

Zip n Tizzy said...

Interesting.
My first thought was that she was pregnant, but, since you need another bunny to do that...
Never imagined she would imagine herself pregnant!

Sultan said...

The bunny is cute though.

ck said...

...henceforth, this blog will now be referred to as, "The World According To Beav."

Sara @ Domestically Challenged said...

I am speechless and typeless. I have never known anything like this. Hmm.

peewee said...

I bet it's days like this that you really miss michelle :)

Ryan Ashley Scott said...

Well, at least she's a cute little grouch... Poor Beav, she's just confused. Then again, if my name were puppy, I'd probably be confused, too. ;)

I'm risking a bloggy smack-down from Kathy B here, but... ahem.. you have... daughters, right?

Missy said...

You just diagnosed me! LOL

Anonymous said...

I laughed so hard when I read this post. Our dog had a similar experience right after we spayed her. She would steal our sons stuffed animals, and follow him around like he was a puppy. After a few weeks she stopped. Good luck, and I hope her hormones decrease in the next week.

Ink said...

First, this made me think of the bunny on Monty Python who had "a mean streak a mile wide" and I totally thought it was going to have a jokey punchline, but it is so sad because it's true! Bunny hair tumbleweeds? Poor bunny! Poor you! Awwww.

AiringMyLaundry said...

Okay, this just gives me another reason on why I never want to get a bunny. They're cute but I don't know if I can deal with this.

I hope the bunny starts to cheer up!

forever folding laundry said...

I was thinking "Awww, how cute!", until I read the part about spraying pee. AACK!

Hormones suck.

~Keri

Kate said...

It is true, it is not always a bliss being girls. Hormones, I could do without.

Tricia said...

Love the blog! I got your link from Suburb Sanity, drop by mypurechaos sometime. Just wanted to say HI!

Cheffie-Mom said...

Do they make Bunny Midol? LOL! I hope she's feeling better! Have a wonderful weekend!

Crazee Juls said...

Bless her little bunny heart! I can so relate. Some days I wanna just tear stuff up, and pull my hair out too!

Stesha said...

You just made the decision for our family. We ARE NOT getting a rabbit.

Hugs and Mocha,
Stesha

Michel said...

shit!52 comments later and I'm just now finding this!! (A) that bunny is DOOT DOOT! (b) i do not want my own bunny.

Thank you for sharing and caring!

Patricia said...

okay here's the thing, I don't want to be sympathetic to my husband. He gets to do man things.. we have to LIVE the hormonal roller coaster.

I think I may be suffering from false pregnancy too... ;)

poor bunny. you're an awfully sweet mom though.. pee & poop everywhere.. my stomach's not strong enough.

Debbie said...

I hope you won't mind me telling you that your pet scares me - just a little!

D said...

That's one drama queen you have there.

LadyFi said...

Oh my! That's hilarious! Sounds like any woman with PMS...

Having said that, I think spaying her would save her and you a lot of pain and loss of fur...

Anonymous said...

We had bunnies when '75 was little, it turned out to be a tragic mistake. 2 things about bunnies.

1. If you startle them they can kick wrong and snap their own necks, not good.

2. Give them lots of wood to chew, big logs of wood. Their teeth can grow so long they peirce the opposing gums and prevent the bunny from eating and it starves to death.

Take her to the vet and have her teeth checked twice a year min.

Ginger said...

Lord! That is weird! I've never heard of "false pregnancy" in rabbits! I've heard about it in humans.. but we're the lesser species, right?

Anyway, good luck to you. Glad you figured out the mystery. Sorry it is stressful!

theUngourmet said...

Poor Girl! I have had several rabbits in my life but I never can seem to keep them for long.

When I was little my parents got two rabbits to make bunnies. Then they decided it wasn't working and that both bunnies must be girls so they borrowed a friends boy bunny. My rabbit kept running away from this new rabbit. As it turned out she was already pregnant from the original rabbit. Crazy! Anyway, she did the hair pulling thing too.

Glad to hear your rabbit will be okay! She is really cute!

Anonymous said...

aww poor bunny!! So she just lives in your porch? That is the funniest thing that she just runs around, haha. I have always wanted a bunny :)

Anonymous said...

Awww. :(
That poor bunny. Although some of the stuff is hilarious. I totally feel for her, those hormones are a B!

Dawn Parsons Smith said...

That is just wacky! You poor thing! Poor bunny! I can totally relate...I've been doing all those same crazy behaviors (except for the pooping anywhere part) for a week thanks to my friend, Menopause....

(LOVE your last line! Hilarious!)

i am the diva said...

oh god, can you imagine if HUMANS had false pregnancies?? oh, the hormones, the rage,... the tiredness, the bloaty achy feeling, the leg cramps...

glad i'm not a bunny.

Heidi said...

My grandson has the same poo, pee problem. I wonder what to do with him.