February 2010

GRANDMA BUNNY’S CORNER

I begin this letter with a mother bunny, Ms Frosty, and
her four babies waiting for me in the basement. Their story
is one of the reasons Bunny TNT came into being.
Educationis that reason. Perhaps if people were better
educated in the care of bunnies and where to take
unwanted bunnies, this story might not have happened.

It was September 27 and a resident of Derby found 12
bunnies dumped along the roadside. This resident was
a caring individual and took the bunnies to the animal
shelter. Five of the bunnies weren’t in good condition.
The other seven were taken to the Humane Society for
adoption.

Ms Frosty, a beautiful 9 ½ lb. Rex, gave birth to 8 babies
one month after being dumped along the road side.
Two died shortly after birth. Jennifer Terstriep agreed to
foster the bunny family until the babies were old enough
for adoption. Jennifer found homes for two of the babies.
Now, Ms Frosty and her remaining four babies are with me.

This story could have been tragic, if the Derby resident
hadn’t taken the bunnies to the Animal Shelter.
How much better it would have been, if the owner had
taken the bunnies to the Humane Society. Then Ms Frosty wouldn’t have become pregnant by an unknown bunny.
The story will have a happy ending for those who are
adopted. Those of us who are bunny owners need to
continue to educate others as to the proper care of
bunnies and where to take unwanted bunnies.

 

TRAINING

Who is training whom? I see with the foster bunnies that
it goes both ways. Ms Frosty has trained me to chase her around and love on her before putting her in her cage at
night. However, I have her babies trained to go into a cage
to get their dinner when I want them to get in their cages. Watch your bunny's body language. My little Frosty bunny
also likes to be chased. Cinnamon likes to be picked up and loved on before going into his cage. Don’t forget praise and treats when training.

NURTURING

How do we nurture? Let me count the ways. Number one is
food which is heavy on the hay. Number two is love, which means giving your bunny attention with petting, games and toys. Number three is keeping your bunny safe and healthy. This means having a safe area for your bunny to live and
having regular visits to the vet to assure that your bunny is healthy and stays that way.

THERAPY

Please remember the dates when we visit Riverside and Catholic Care Center. Please plan an going to one of these events. It isn’t difficult. The bunnies already know how to
make themselves available for petting. We need only to be there to assure our bunnies are safe. We are also there to
see how much it means to the care home residents to have
a bunny to pet.

Friday, March 5th at 2 pm at the Catholic Care Center
Sunday, March 21st at 2 pm at Riverside Care Facility

HUMANE SOCIETY VISIT

Our last meeting was held November 22 at the Humane
Society. We were given a tour of their new facility by the president, Kim Janzen. We had a lovely meeting room
and plan to meet there once a year. If you haven’t seen
the new facility, plan on joining us next year or go on out
and have a look. It is a beautiful place with wonderful play areas for the dogs and cats.

 

OUR NEXT BUNNY TNT MEETING

The date has been set for our next meeting. We will be going
to Derby and will meet at Petco. We met there last year and they were very nice to us. We will meet from 2 to 4 on Sunday, February 21. I will have some “Make Mine Chocolate” pins for sale for $5. Some of you already have a pin and need to start
wearing it. This is our opportunity to share with others the importance of not giving bunnies as Easter gifts to small children. Come to the meeting to share and to see MS Frosty and her babies.

At our next meeting, Kay Leiker will share with us her favorite bunny-friendly Web sites. You are welcome to share your favorite Web sites too. It should be fun learning of these
places to go on line to learn about bunnies and the experince
of others with bunnies.

Plan on bidding on a bunny yard statue at the next meeting.

 

Looking to the rest of the year:

I want us to be able to plan ahead, so the next meeting has been scheduled for May 16th at the Schuldt horse farm. Maybe it won’t be so hot in May. August has us back at Exploration Place and the Humane Society again in November.
These dates have not been set as of yet.

 

THERAPY DATES

Friday, March 5, we have been invited to bring bunnies to
the Catholic Care Center at 2 pm. Then on Sunday, March 21, we are invited to bring bunnies to Riverside Care facility.
This is also at 2 pm. If you can join us for either of these events, please let me know.

 

NEW MEMBERS

Janine Heincker
1504 N. Stout
Wichita, KS 67235
ph: 316-351-7841
cell: 316-207-1469
e-mail theheinckers@yahoo.com

Janine and her family adopted Trooper, a gray and white mini lop.

 

BUNNY STORIES

Please send me interesting bunny stories to share. Please, too, let me know how you and your bunny are doing. I am especially interested in hearing about bunnies adopted from Bunny TNT.