bigger than a tennis ball.

[kaigou]

More pictures here.

Mom's comment: "Your dog is a fruitcake."

Comments

[kellicat]

Reminds of the time a squirrel fell down our chimney. Our cat also used to bring in live mice on a regular basis. It's good to hear the bunny ended up okay.

[kaigou]

I've had cats bring in snakes and mice, usually still alive (with a few exceptions), but this one would've been a mouthful for any cat. Besides, cats bring 'em in either to eat them, or to show you so you'll wise up and start hunting on your own. Sachi had no interest in showing anyone, after all, she was acting like it was just another one of her stuffed animals she'd rescued from the yard (where Balto likes to take her toys and abandon them).

I mean, this is a dog who won't come to bed (with me) without bringing at least one stuffed animal with her. And if someone knocks on the door, Sachi immediately grabs one of the stuffed animals and runs around with it in her mouth. She'd probably carry more than one, if she could. (A few times I've caught her trying to get two or three into her mouth, but that was when something really scary was happening, like a big truck pulling into the driveway or tree-trimmers on the roof.)

[snarp]

I feel really bad for the bunny, but this whole image is hilarious.

Our cats get this sort of treatment from Dad's Saint Bernard all the time. She's careful to keep them all nice and clean.

[kaigou]

Yeah, the bunny was considerably less-than-enthused about the experience, but it did hop off after a few minutes, so it may've been damp but otherwise unharmed. Thank goodness.

[branchandroot]

Aww, poor spit-covered bunny! Who's probably moderately freaked out over this. Either that, or /really/ wishing s/he was big enough to give the huge, hairy, drooling thing a damn good kicking.

[kaigou]

Or just thinking, "when I get home, NO ONE IS GOING TO BELIEVE ME."

[tesserae]

The poor thing. My cats (a million years ago, when we lived near a large wood) used to bring home baby bunnies along with rats and snakes and parts of lizards. They never survived the experience for long - good thing your dog has a deep & abiding love for her toys!

[kaigou]

Turns out the reason bunnies don't survive cats is because cat saliva contains a bacteria that's lethal to bunnies. Even a slight puncture wound can infect the bunnie, and without antibiotics, the bunny won't make it past eight hours. (Assuming they don't die of the shock to their little hearts in the meantime. I had no idea bunnies were as delicate as sheep in that regard.)

[sharibet]

I am almost dead of the cute! Poor baby bunny!

What are you going to do with it? Do you have to bottle-feed, or is it old enough to eat regular rabbit food?

All of my rescues-from--the-wild have been birds--three small parrots of varying species and a Great Horned Owl--so I'm not sure what to do with a mammal...

[kaigou]

Apparently if the bunny had been too young, there wouldn't really be much hope for saving it. Rabbit mothers have a particular nutrient in their milk, and bunnies can't do without that. Fortunately this guy -- being slightly bigger than a tennis ball -- and having his eyes open -- is a juvenile, and able to survive without mom. That's why Wild Animal Rescue told me I could just take him outside and plonk him down somewhere (that hopefully the cats wouldn't find him, like there's a chance of that happening).

We have Great Horned Owls back in the woods, but heavens knows what I'd do if I ended up with a baby one in my yard. Probably back away slowly and call Wild Animal Rescue!

[windsorblue]

Poor little thing, all slobbered up! Sachi must be very gentle - Starbuck probably would have hurt the bunny, if not killed it. But then, Starbuck cannot have plushies either, because she'll gnaw on them until she makes a hole, and once there's a hole...plushie guts, all over the house.

[kaigou]

I think this is why Sachi wasn't letting Balto near -- because Balto is as rough on the toys as it sounds like Starbuck is. She's got a soft jaw, but he's got pitbull/boxer in him, and when his jaws clamp down, they're DOWN. I don't think Sachi even comprehends the notion of biting down -- hell, you give her a treat, and she won't take it. She'll only open her mouth a little so you can put the treat in her mouth, and half the time she'll then drop the treat because she's not holding on tight enough.

My Odetta had a soft-jaw, and used to fetch balloons, but I think Sachi's soft-jaw is on a scale even greater than that.

[windsorblue]

Aha - Starbuck's a boxer. There's a lot of instinct in them to catch and kill small fluffy things. I caught her trying to catch baby birds twice last summer and boy was she unhappy when I pulled her away.

[kaigou]

Yeah, but on the other hand, boxers and those jaws are mighty nice to have around when it's past dark and a male stranger knocks on the door. Believe me, something with a jawline and a bark like that commands a great deal more respect than the furry fruitcake hiding in the bedroom.

[windsorblue]

Oh yeah, definitely!

[ivoryandhorn]

Lucky bunny, huh? XD

[kaigou]

Very fortunate, yes! If a little... slobbered-on.

[petenshis]

It's lucky Sachi is so gentle! My sister-in-law's Golden loves his stuffed animals. But he loves to tear them apart. They probably would have found bunny entrails spread about the house which would just be traumatizing.

[kaigou]

I think the trauma of bunny entrails would've done me in. Somehow I'm turning into my mother, when it comes to being a complete sap for little critters. (And not just bunnies; I get worried about snakes, too, but then, I like snakes.)

Sachiko has been known to get worried if she accidentally clamps down too hard on one of her stuffed animals. She'll promptly drop the critter and spend several minutes nosing it gently, as if checking to make sure it's okay.

Meanwhile, Balto gets a grip on a toy, figures out where the squeaky-thing is, and then proceeds to run around the house while shaking the toy violently and squeaking it repeatedly: SQUEAKsqueakSQUEAKsqueakSQUEAKsqueakSQUEAKsqueakSQUEAKsqueakSQUEAKsqueakSQUEAKsqueak...

It bothers Sachi greatly when he does that.

[leorising]

Aww, that's too adorable, if rather traumatizing for everyone but Sachi. Bun-bun had an adventure, boy howdy! LOL

[kaigou]

I think Sachi might've been the most traumatized, because she had a new baby and then it was GONE. Balto was mostly traumatized (temporarily) because I was yelling, and that's always a reason for running around like a fool dog in between bouts of crying because, OH NOES. He doesn't have a neurotic bone in his body, though, so within a few minutes he was back to being a happy boy... while Sachi lay over by the sofa with her remaining babies and looked dejected. *eyeroll*

[leorising]

ZOMG ded of cute! Yes, neurotic, but OMG cute!

I should pass on this story: a friend gave us all giant plushie microbes for Christmas one year; I got malaria. I threw it on the floor experimentally and Abbey the Pookie immediately adopted it as her "baby". She carries it around in her mouth and tries to pull it's little pants off. Every once in a while she'll keen over it, like she's distressed it's not moving. It's quite amazing -- never seen her do anything like it before or since.

Animals. Quirky, but (and?) ya gotta love 'em.

[kaigou]

Sachi hasn't keened, but she does get a little upset when she accidentally squeezes any of her babies loud enough to make the squeakers squeak. She'll immediately drop the critter and nose it several times, like she's checking it over to make sure it's okay.

At least in that regard, I figured the bunny was probably unharmed, so long as it was Sachi who brought it inside -- and it wasn't a situation of her taking the bunny away from the cat (in which case, the bunny wouldn't have survived).

Still, I really wish I'd been looking towards the dog door when the bunny arrived, to know the precise details of how it joined us!

[morkeleb]

... oh the slobber everywhere. XD poor, poor bunny. He'll NEVER BE CLEAN AGAIN.

[kaigou]

I didn't even think until later than maybe I should've, y'know, washed the dog spit off the bunnie. Wild Animal Rescue's response was that it won't hurt the bunnie (unlike cat saliva would), and it might even make him temporarily smell "like a dog" enough that cats might leave him alone (as not smelling enough like a bunny). They weren't sure though, since it's not like there's a lot of data on slobbered bunnies out there. Heh.

[okaasan59]

Awww, that's really kind of sweet. Slobbery and possibly neurotic but sweet. ^_^

[kaigou]

Yeah, I told my mom that I think Sachi's more like a half-dozen raisins shy of a fruitcake. She means well, and she's clearly maternal about "her babies" but... man, what a flake!

[mongrelheart]

omg poor lil wet bun-bun! I almost thought it was a toad at first, except for that front bunny paw.

[kaigou]

At first I was thinking squirrel, but couldn't see a tail (and that didn't help the panic), until the critter twitched and I could see the ears. Rather hard to pick out details when the entire critter is looking like a drowned, well, rabbit. Poor Sachi, though. She just didn't get why I was yelling at her. As far as she was concerned, all was well in the world, because she'd added another baby to her collection.

[dragonhand]

Ah, the thorough dampness of doggie love and care. Sachiko, you're such a nut. And a softie.

[kaigou]

She's a total softie, as long as you're not a Scary Man. She's doing a little better, though, because now she'll at least approach Scary Man With Treats, even if still giving him the whale-eye.

CP only becomes Scary Man for a few minutes when he first arrives at the house from being out, and Sachi has to give him what-for about startling him... after that, he's apparently graduated from Scary Man to Man Who Gives Out Treats.

Although this means Sachi keeps an eye on the time, and if we've hit 11pm and no treats have been handed out, she will actually get up and go back to his study TO LET HIM KNOW that look, it's THAT TIME and isn't he FORGETTING SOMETHING? And then proceeds him back to the living room, where she waits expectantly for him to deliver.

Unless, of course, he remembers, hands them out -- and then doesn't go to bed right away. If he stays up and then returns to the living room, she acts like he hasn't handed out treats at all, every hopeful. He has yet to fall for that trick.

(I have, though, once or twice.)

[love]

*cannot help but DIE laughing* OY.

[kaigou]

I started laughing only after I figured out it was still alive and not badly injured. Only Sachi, I swear. She's a complete neurotic fruitcake... but she sure loves her babies.