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The Bunny Expert!
Susan adopted her first house rabbit 5 years ago and soon after got highly involved in rabbit rescue. She has volunteered at a local rabbit rescue group and a local animal shelter working with rabbits. She has since co-founded 3 Bunnies Rabbit Rescue Inc. Susan can surely answer all of your rabbit questions!
Q: Dear Susan,
My bunny sometimes makes strange noises sounding like it is snoring. Do rabbits snore?
Betsy and Ziggy
A: Dear Betsy,
As Ziggy will tell you, yes indeed rabbits do snore. My rabbit Tabitha in my photo often snores. Yet most of my other rabbits do not. I assume it is just like us humans. For various reasons some do and some don't. I guess my bunny Tabitha takes after my husband in the snoring department. Ha. Ha.
Susan and Tabitha
Ask The Cat Lady!
Sally Bahner is a member of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants and has a private feline consulting practice. She is the "Dear Sally" on Tracie Hotchner’s Cat Chat Radio (www.catchatradio.com), found on Sirius, the Martha Stewart Living channel. She is a longtime editor and writer on everything feline.
Q: Dear Sally,
Millie is Siamese and about 10 months old and Petey, our new kitten, is a tabby about 5 months old.
When we got Petey, we kept him separated from Millie at first but noticed that Millie was so aggressive that she would try and kill Petey if we didn't intervene. My husband's hands were badly scratched trying to separate them. Millie is the aggressive one, Petey just wants to play. We have been keeping Petey in a crate for an hour or so a day and letting Millie sniff the crate and try to attack the crate. Sometimes she doesn't seem too bad with Petey, but other times she can be very aggressive. We have had other Siamese and they always seemed a little more territorial.
Does there seem to be any hope with Millie ever tolerating Petey?
Betty
A: Dear Betty,
First thing is to make Millie comfortable and less threatened, so give her plenty of attention; she's feeling that her territory has been invaded, so make sure she has vertical space as well as horizontal space. It's tempting to give Petey lots of attention since he's the "cute kitten," but Millie was there first.
Break up negative interaction by tossing a toy, clapping your hands or walking between them – generally you want to distract them. Watch body language, especially Millie’s: ears back, twitchy tail, dilated pupils to try to head off conflict.
Spaying/neutering should also help if that hasn’t been done yet.
Here are some helpful links:
Feliway: http://www.feliway.com/gb
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=1061
(Also a Google search will give you more information)
Flower remedies are safe and gentle; a couple of drops can be put in the cats' water bowl or rubbed on their ears; a few drops can be mixed with spring water and used in an atomizer. Spray the bedding and the air where they hang out or spray some on your hands and wipe down the cats.
Spirit Essences: Make sure you read the home page and how the essences are used. I would suggest Peacemaker and/or Stress Stopper
http://www.spiritessence.com/?action=product&act=list&cat= species&val=cats&cat2=category&val2=behavior
Bach remedies are available in health food stores, used the same way as above.
http://www.bachcentre.com/centre/remedies.htm
For Millie I would suggest Holly, Mimulus or Beech.
While they may not become best buddies, with time they should grow to accept each other.
Sally
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