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BURROWINGS NOVEMBER 2011 PAGE 16

CHRISTMAS CARDS FOR SALE ALL PROCEEDS GO TO BUNNY BURROWS

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What an amazing 3 months the past 3 have been. So many changes in my life, sadly THE LEG is still causing all sorts of problems, the positive side is, it is starting to heal after a visit to a very special vascular surgeon in Leeds called Professor Gough. Only 3 weeks ago he did some laser work on the veins and the healing process started almost imme-diately. Sadly he won’t forget me in a hurry as having very little pain threshold, I screamed the place

down. All behind me now and the only way is up. I am still un-able to drive but chomping at the bit to get behind the wheel. Another major change is this time last year I had no computer skills, I couldn’t even switch the machine on. I started doing the most important part, shopping. Next step email and I have now mastered that. Now Bunny Burrows is selling some of the wonderful goodies you have all donated on EBay. I am so excited about this I can’t explain how not being able to go out and sell in the past 5 months has frustrated me and this way I hope to make money without leaving home.

These Christmas cards have been designed especially for bunny Burrows. There are 8 cards in each pack; 2 of each design.

The cards are blank inside allowing you to write your own special Christmas message. They cost £1.50 per pack available from Bunny Burrows.

Give Gwen a ring for postal details. Telephone 01748 824788

So, look us up on EBay and you will see what is for sale. We have had so many strays this year it is a great concern. This week a lovely grey boy found wandering in Northallerton, last week 7 black and white Dutch babies in a cardboard box were left in Morrison’s car park in Harrogate. It is so sad when they are so loving. By the time you receive this newsletter we will have had our coffee morning in Northallerton town hall. We are hoping for fine weather and a good crowd looking for a bargain. Fingers crossed, then I may get the house back, as at the moment I am climbing over bags of very nice clothing, boxes of toys, Christmas decorations and tombola prizes, all ready for the event. Please make a note in your 2012 diary for next years events and I look forward to see-ing you there. A talk at Harrogate Library on April 3rd …

Coffee morning at Northallerton town hall on June 9th and August 4th and October 20th … Hot X Bunny Day on April 1st … I would like to take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to all who have contin-ued to support BB this year and a special thank you to those who have looked after me and helped me to look after all the fur-ries. It has been a difficult 6 months with the grotty leg but with the help the furries have been well cared for. All there is left to do is wish one and all a Joyful Christmas and a Peaceful 2012.


NEWS FROM THE BURROW FROM GWEN

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this months newsletter. If you would like to submit an article for our February 2012 newsletter would you please e-mail them to me by January 23rd 2012. Please note, any articles received after this date will go into the next newsletter.

Could you please send photos as JPEGS and your wording in a text document.

I’m looking forward to being pleasantly surprised by all your e-mails. Send them to: [email protected]

FAMOUS QUOTES FROM GWEN BUTLER

It’s quite amazing how as you get older you cant often remember what you had for your breakfast but can remember the things your parents said to you. One of them was, hear all, see all, say nowt. Eat all, drink all, pay nowt, and if you want owt doing do it for yorsen. (Yourself). One day last week a friend dropped off a few bundles of newspapers for use in the hutches and 5 typed sheets of paper dropped on the floor, it was lots of quotes typed on a3 paper. They both amused and interested me, I wont bore you with them all but will share a few with you and if you wish, I may share a few more at a later date. Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. M Ghandi. Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. Napoleon. Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get. Ingrid Bergman. In the business world, the rear view mirror is always clearer than the windscreen. Warren Buffet. If I owe you a pound, I have a problem; if I owe you a million pounds, the problem is yours! John Maynard Keynes. You never get a second chance to make a first

impression. Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The tenth person always lies. We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give. Sir Winston Churchill. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That’s why they call it the pre-sent! Alice Morse Earle. A positive attitude may not solve all your prob-lems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright. I find this one quite amusing. Politicians are like monkeys. The higher they climb up the tree, the more revolting are the parts they expose. I spent 90% of my money on women and drink. The rest I wasted. George Best. There are so many more but I would like to share one or two of my late dads. Whenever I was struggling to do anything and indeed mak-ing a complete hash of it my father used to say: You frame like a dog with telegraph poles. He also said if ifs and ands were pots and pans there’d be no need for tinkers. I hope these have made you smile or think ‘cos remember, there’s nowt so queer as folk. I will just close with something my dear late husband John used to say about bullies. They are like kippers, two faced and no guts.


NOTE FROM THE EDITOR AND PRINTER BETTER KNOWN AS KAZ

YOUR RABBIT’S DIGESTIVE SYSTEM FROM KAZ

Compared to us, the rabbit has a rather strange digestive system. It is highly effi-cient so that the rabbit can extract the maxi-mum nutrients from forage available in the wild. Their digestive system is devel-oped to eat large quantities of grass with a high fibre content. The fibre is fermented by bacteria in the large bowel to pro-duce caecotrophs, which are eaten to provide vitamins and other nutri-ents. The system works like this … After the rabbit has chewed food it goes down the oesophagus into the stomach. This is an acid environment and it stays there for about 3-6 hours, undergoing little change. The contents are sterilised and then gradu-ally moved to the small intestine in short bursts, by strong stomach contractions. As the contents enter they are diluted by the flow of bile, the first intestinal secretions and then the pancreatic juice. While in the small intestine up to 90% of the protein,

starches and sugar are absorbed from the food. The undigested fibrous material is sorted. The fibre goes to the colon forming hard waste and the food left is then ready

for digestion in the caecum, which is bigger than the stomach. The hard waste that bypasses the caecum is moved through the colon in a circular motion and forms perfectly round hard balls. There are two scent glands either side of the anus and this scent is deposited on the waste pellets as they pass. This is how a rabbit marks its territory. The caecum is

quite a complicated organ that redigests the food. It is filled with enzymes and bacteria that break down the food. The caecum contracts about every 3 – 8 hours and forces the material back into the colon, where it is coated with mucus and then passed through the anus. The result re-sembles a clump of small brown grapes and the rabbit eats them straight away. This process normally happens at night and the


TALES FROM THE DALES CONTINUED

running, straight towards me! The only place for the cattle to get away from the men was straight ahead, and I was in their way. Oh dear, well I may have hobbled slowly over with my camera but I returned walking stick in hand and would have achieved an Olympic gold medal had some-body only timed me . The highland cattle looked so lovely. Their long red curling coats shone and they looked like they had just arrived from some wonderful Scottish mountain. They did seem out of place here somehow, not just

because they were on the caravan park, but because I felt they didn’t quite belong here in Weardale. The cattle are prized for their meat I'm afraid and can bring in an awful lot of money as the sought after Aberdeen An-gus steaks. I always think one of the most endearing sights in the whole world is the Aberdeen Angus grazing on the hazy mountainsides of Glen Coe in Scotland; it always brings a tear to my eye; wonderful animal, wonderful Scotland. My goodness, they do say be careful what you wish for. I wished for a bit of excite-ment and I certainly got some of that. After checking my friend’s garden I found no damage apart from a couple of cloven foot-prints and my camera had a few photos on it for me to show. I guess the man with his camera is still run-ning, as I haven’t seen him since

Tales from the Dales.


If you have any unwanted gifts, we would be pleased if you would donate them to Bunny Burrows to be used as prizes on our Tombola Stall.

Please send them or bring them to

68 Whitefields Drive Richmond

North Yorkshire DL10 7DL

Or give Gwen a call on 01748 824788

YOUR RABBIT’S DIGESTIVE SYSTEM CONTINUED

rabbit redigests the caecotrophs to receive even more nutrients to keep it healthy. If a rabbit’s diet consists of large quantities of ‘dry mix’ (cereal based pellets) rather

than grass or hay, which is high in fibre, an excessive number of caecotrophs will be produced. They can stick to the rabbit’s bottom, known as ‘sticky bottom’.


RECIPE FOR NOVEMBER FROM JOHN TALBOT

On a recent trip to the county town of Dor-chester, we sampled a local speciality, Dor-set Apple Cake, inspired by this enjoyable ex-perience, this edition of Bur-rowing’s recipe is …

ORCHARD APPLE CAKE Perfect for those of you who are lucky enough to have your own apple tree. The crop is very good this year. INGREDIENTS: 7oz Self raising flower ¼ Teaspoon of ground nutmeg ¼ Teaspoon of mixed spices 3oz of Butter 4oz Caster sugar 2 Eggs 12oz Cooking apples

2oz Sultanas 10oz Chopped walnuts (optional) Heat the oven to gas mk4 -180º c and have ready a greased 6 inch square cake tin. Sift the flower and spices together. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Peel and core the apples. Cut into bite size pieces and stir into the mixture. Stir in the spices and flour, sultanas and walnuts if used. Spoon the mixture into prepared cake tin and bake for 45 - 50 minutes or until a golden brown colour. In Dorset it is traditionally served with clot-ted cream, or if you are like me, pour hot custard over it.

TALES FROM THE DALES FROM A CARAVAN IN WEARDALE

Well another grey, overcast sky threatening rain as usual. Oh the joys of an English Summer eh? Just thinking of a way to fill my day here on the caravan park, lots of hobbies of course but just hoped for something a little differ-ent. A bit of excitement would go down a treat as things have been unusually quiet on the park this season. So much so that I couldn’t even think of anything to write for the last issue of your newsletter. Well, having got rid of all the boring stuff like washing up and having a vac round, I stood at the window and gazed over to my friend’s caravan. Kaz and Jill have their caravan op-posite me and had gone home the week before. I always keep my eye on their caravan and garden whilst they are away and sometimes just look over, as their company and chat-ter is missed when they go home .Of course it’s really the beautiful fluffy muffin and gorgeous Oskar that I miss the most. I've got nobody to eat my mint, coriander and chives when the fluffies have gone home even little Arthur and co are missed. I was looking over and suddenly a pair of horns appeared and then a head. I was very startled to see a large specimen of

highland cattle trot out of Kaz and Jill’s gar-den. Oh my goodness, I exclaimed and hurried to see what was happening. I grabbed my camera and hobbled over. I hope you have not been eating my friend’s marigolds and fuchsias I enquired. What you doing here lass, I asked the beautiful beast. Got lost or something? A man ap-peared next to me camera in hand, good photo shoot eh, he said looking at mine hanging from my wrist. I wonder where this cow has come from I said, she’s beautiful but her horns are very large and a bit scary. I looked up and the man was backing away looking worried.

What’s up I asked? It’s a bull not a cow, he said, and there’s another 4 heading this way. He fled up the road leaving me with camera at the ready and my walking stick in my hand. The rest of the herd were just making their way up the embankment, tug-ging and munching on the shrubs and plants as

they came. Its ok I shouted, they seem fine, pretty quiet and not aggressive. Suddenly the grounds men on the park ar-rived at the bottom of the bank, shouting and clapping, trying to drive the animals away from the park. Well, they scared the cattle and they began


ENJOY

next few weeks we took a special interest in Jeff and decided to adopt him. On his adoption form they stated his age as being 100 years and 3 months old. Ha Ha! He has settled in very well in the rabbit shed and most evenings we bring him indoors and he loves to lie on our laps being smoothed and then he likes to run around the room. At first, we let him loose in the garden but he didn’t know when to rest until he fell over. We now let him out in a large run on the grass. He is a lovely trusting, friendly boy and we shall do all we can for whatever time he has left.


NEW BUN ON THE ISLAND CONTINUED

WINSTON FROM JO KEENAN

I want to tell you about a promise and bring hope and comfort to those who are grieving as sometimes the pain is unbearable and the ‘what ifs’ drive you mad… Last night Chris and I were in bed with Jack and Coco hav-ing cuddles. Angel was downstairs probably on the rug when we heard the unmistakeable sound of footsteps running across the landing, stop, and then continued to the spare room. But these were not just any footsteps, no these were the sound of a heard of elephants running, only one of our bunnies sounded like this, Winston! Chris and I looked at each other and smiled for we had both heard it clear as day, no way was I imagining this and then came the tears of hope, sadness and joy. Winston is ok! You see, back in May Winston started limp-ing and had x-rays. We were told the news no one wants to hear, his hip had gone and because of his neglect in his early days his feet were damaged and that had caused pressure on his knees so he could not have his damaged leg amputated. (It would have

been cruel to leave him with one damaged/arthritic leg). We did all we could even taking him for acupuncture, which helped, but the words I

remember the most from him were ‘I’m holding on for my holiday.’ (He was to go to Windermere and teach.) He never made it. As we arrived at the emergency vets and told the vet what was wrong she popped Winnie on the floor, although he had found the energy to

stand he could not walk, his hind end trailed and we knew this wasn’t looking good. The vet said it was time and we said our goodbyes trying to stay brave like this little man had always been. I hugged him tight and then he made one giant leap across to his daddy where he got a big hug and kiss. We popped him back on the floor hoping we were wrong and asked for a sign he wanted to stay here on earth. He huddled himself up not moving. The vet came back in and through floods of tears we told him that we loved him and that it was time to get those furry feet and hip


JEFF IN HIS NEW HOME

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Any good quality image can be transformed into a backing paper, small gift bags and boxes, bookmarks and card

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FROM THIS TO THIS

A PYRAMID BOX

WINSTON CONTINED

fixed. He looked at us and tears ran from his eyes (anyone who says animals don't understand, are stupid) simply a sign he understood and was grateful. 19.55hrs on the 19th June he passed, on his way his face lit up his eyes sparkled and his ears perked up, a smile spread across his face he was free from pain! Whatever he saw he knew his new adven-ture was just starting. We arrived home with him and Angel came and said her goodbyes and went leaping about in the garden. She knew also that his suffering was over. She had held his paw for so long through the pain, she was like a different bunny. Now here we are 2 months later hearing him, something that shouldn’t be possible! Or so we are told. A promise kept by all of us. He had got his new furry feet like we always promised he would one day and had returned to show us them and that life does go on! Earlier in the evening, I was downstairs and Angel was content eating her supper, when she suddenly stopped and did her usual look of ‘what you up to?’ her ears pricked up and she was smiling. She looked at the sofa where a blur of Winston ran past. Next Winston was check-ing out the new selection of greens, which were for supper. Was I imagining this because I wanted it so badly? I felt so until that night!

I believe a lot in angels and sometimes the signs can be difficult to see. The lead up to Winston’s departure was a shock as we thought he was actually feeling better, he ran, jumped around and even came up-stairs like he used to for cuddles. Everyday we found white feathers appearing around him from his guardian angel. When he passed it was the smile we re-member that spread across his face; what he saw must have been magical and he wasn’t scared! So thank you to everyone who helped raise funds for BB by reading Winston’s story and he is still helping us now showing us that death is not the end. So please don’t be scared ‘he’s free and hurts no more.’ I hope you can take comfort from this as we do that our little man is still with us! ‘Not Just A Rabbit’ but still a very hoppy bunny rabbit.


ANGEL with WINSTON


NEW BUN ON THE ISLAND FROM JOHN TALBOT

In July this year, a bunny was taken into the RSPCA Animal Centre at Godshill on the Isle of Wight. He had apparently been ‘found’ on a remote area of downland by a woman walking her dog. He was in an ap-palling state of neglect, with weak back legs and so thin that his bones showed through his skin. His ears were completely en-crusted to the tips and he had an ear infec-tion. Following the vet’s examination, euthanasia was advised. The Godshill Animal Centre is an independ-ent RSPCA branch, which raises its own funds and only uses euthanasia as a last resort. Although as an RSPCA member, I find it sad that many centres have little room for rabbits and will often euthanize them. Despite their faults, the animal world would be in a poorer state without them. It is difficult to know if this little rabbit was found, as the person claimed, but what is certain is that he would not have survived

long in open ground in such a poor condi-tion. Now safely in the hands of the centre staff, his ears were cleaned of the encrustation and medication given to destroy the ear mites. Although this was a very painful pro-cedure for him, he responded to the treat-ment and they named him Jeff. He is thought to be an old bunny. Every Monday we clean out and feed the bunnies at the centre, so following Jeff’s period of isolation, we soon got to meet him. His back legs were very weak, particu-larly his left one. When hopping along he often fell onto his side. It is thought he was confined to a very small hutch for a long time, resulting in the wasting of his leg mus-cles. Rabbits of course have very powerful back legs, but Jeffs were very under devel-oped. He received 3 or 4 sessions of treat-ment with an animal chiropractor. The treatment was gentle and did not involve him being wrenched about. This kind lady carried out this treatment F.O.C. Interest-ingly, anyone wishing to carry out chiroprac-tic treatment on humans is free to do so, even without formal training. If wishing to carry out this treatment on animals, you must have the full training qualifications. When Jeff became eligible for re-homing, he would need careful handling and there-fore unsuitable for a first time owner. In the

JEFF AT THE RSPCA

WHY NEUTER ? FROM GWEN BUTLER

Over the past 20 years or so the main rea-son for rabbits needing rehoming is "The children are bored with them and we as parents don’t have time to look after them". Close second reason is, "The rabbits are biting the children and us." At that stage in the conversation I ask how old is the rabbit and has it been neutered. The answer more often than not is between 5 and 12 months. So I then go through the same story of the benefits of neutering and that rabbits are not as they believe, vicious or as some say, psycho buns. Rabbits are pray animals so are not vicious, they are however, mute and use their teeth and feet to communicate. How else can they let you know if they are unhappy, in pain or uncomfortable? They don’t bark meow or squeak, they are not like guinea pigs who make 11 or more different sounds. Also they are very hormonal creatures hence the saying "Breed like rabbits." When you pick an un-neutered rabbit up the hormones kick in and all they want to do is mate, so they struggle to get out of your arms, kicking, scratching and biting. Often in conversation I am told, when the hand goes in to the hutch the rabbit leaps at them. That’s often because a female thinks you are going to interfere with the nest or their litter, all be it that’s only in her mind. A male however goes to bite your hand and hold on for grim death, that’s because he

thinks your hand is another rabbit and when he mates with another he and indeed a hor-monal female dig their teeth in the back of the neck to hold on and also to stimulate. This is nature and to them, natural. The answer to the problem is to neuter, get rid of the hormones and more often than not within a few weeks the rabbit will calm down. It has always been the policy at Bunny Burrows to neuter all male and fe-male rabbits over the age of 5 to 6 months before rehoming to make sure they have a happy life and be well loved. It also makes them cleaner as they will not leave droppings and urine around to mark territory and are not very keen to use a litter tray for that reason. An un-neutered male can quite easily just twitch his tail and spray urine a good 6 ft and boy does it smell. But he is just saying "Here I am.” Neutering is also a prevention against can-cer of the uterus in females, it is thought 80% of female rabbits die of this dreadful disease. Over the years we have had many females spayed and have had the cancer removed to give them a quality of life. Little Maggie, who lives with Lacy, is one of the survivors and she has a great life now but was just caught in time. When I first started having rabbits as pets in my adult life I was very naive and I suppose quite green about the whole thing but that


KNOW YOUR TORTOISE PART 2 CONTINUED

often sit in the water for long periods of time, soaking themselves. Because of this, the water should be deep enough that the tortoise can easily drink (which it does by lowering its head), but shallow enough that it doesn’t drown. Finally, like food dishes, saucers should be regularly cleaned and the water should be changed daily. However, if a sunken sau-cer is not a possible option, you should give them an opportunity to drink regularly, ide-

ally in a sink, bath or washing-up bowl and they should be supervised while doing this.


The white part of your fingernail is called the Lunula. The name for fungal remains found in coal is sclerotinite. It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James’ version of the Bible was written. In Psalm 46, the 46th word from the first word is SHAKE and the 46th word from the last word is SPEAR. The pupil of an octopus’ eye is rectangular. The shortest French word containing all the vowels is OISEAU, meaning BIRD. The name JEEP came from the abbreviation used in the army for the ‘General Purpose’

vehicle, G.P. Wearing headphones for just one hour will in-crease the bacteria in your ear by 700 times. Every 5 seconds a computer is infected with a virus. In York, it is perfectly legal to shoot a Scotsman with a bow and arrow (except on Sundays). Only one person in 2 billion will live to be 116 years or older. It is impossible to hum if your nose is plugged. Chickens can’t burp. Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, was afraid of the dark.

DID YOU KNOW ? FROM KAZ

was more than 25 years ago. We had an un-neutered male, he was as I say, "Bonking Mad," he was in my arms, kicked out and I felt this awful crack, he broke his back and we had to have him put to sleep. I said from that day, all male rabbits here would have to be castrated; that was before the days of Bunny Burrows. At that time not a lot of vets performed the operation but now it is well practised and the anaesthetic is so much better with built in pain killer and they have much better ways of stitching the wound. Also the after care now and the use of medication for the gut and pain is much better thought out. Whilst this is not a cheap procedure, it is I assure you, money well spent. If you have a pair of rabbits it is better if both are done because as they are hormonal the one un-neutered will be a torment to the neutered

one. If the female is not neutered she will keep nipping the male, he won’t want to be bothered and she will start pulling fur out of herself and him and nest build, having a phantom pregnancy. If after reading this you decide to have your rabbit neutered, choose a good vet that be-lieves in the benefits. Also make sure when you get them home to keep them warm as the anaesthetic lowers the body tempera-ture. They are better in the house for 24 hours so you can make sure they are eat-ing. If for any reason you are concerned, always check with the vet. Another thing to remember, do not put a newly castrated male in with an un-neutered female as the sperm is still live for 3 weeks and he can make her pregnant in that time.


WHY NEUTER ? CONTINUED


BUNNY BURROWS

68 WHITEFIELDS DRIVE RICHMOND

NORTH YORKSHIRE DL10 7DL

TELEPHONE 01748 824788

WEBSITE www.bunnyburrows.btck.co.uk E-MAIL [email protected]

CONTACT DETAILS FOR BUNNY BURROWS REGISTERED CHARITY 1090006

KNOW YOUR TORTOISE PART 2 FROM SOPHIE WEBB

FOOD As tortoises eat both vegetables and meat, they are zoologically classed as ‘omnivorous’. About 80% of a tortoise’s diet should be fruit and vegetables and the re-maining 20% should consist of fibre or worms, insects and grubs, which tortoises in captivity will find for themselves. Tortoises in the wild will wander for miles to find food and as a result it is important to vary their diet as much as possible. Most tortoises prefer to search for their own food as it is natural to them but they eat many things and if they have access to your gar-den will devour any young seedlings and will even attack some fully grown plants, especially succulent ones. However, if you are a keen gardener, there are ways to pro-tect plants without caging your tortoises. One of these is feeding them in the morning and possibly again in the early afternoon and this may keep them satisfied through-

out the day. Favourite foods vary from tortoise to tor-toise but these will become apparent quite quickly. Most of them like to eat lettuce and other popular foods are: Lupin leaves, water cress, curly kale, dan-delions (especially the leaves) tomatoes, pea-pods, buttercups, marigold flowers, strawberries, apples, plums, melons, car-rots, pears and cabbage. It is always best to wash and dry any bought foods which may have been sprayed with pesticides and when feeding then it is always best to place the food in the shade on warm days as fruits which turn over-ripe can cause gastric upsets. In addition, food which isn’t eaten that day should always be removed and disposed of. DRINK All animals need water including the tor-toise. However, because of its shape, they can’t drink out of dishes with high edges, such as dog dishes. Saucers sunk into the ground are ideal but care should be taken to make sure they are the right size. They should be big enough for it to move around in but shallow enough that they can get in and out easily. Depending on the size of the tortoise, the recommended water levels can also vary; but the average is 1 - 1½ inches deep. They are great lovers of bathing and will

WHY NEUTER ? FROM GWEN BUTLER

Over the past 20 years or so the main rea-son for rabbits needing rehoming is "The children are bored with them and we as parents don’t have time to look after them". Close second reason is, "The rabbits are biting the children and us." At that stage in the conversation I ask how old is the rabbit and has it been neutered. The answer more often than not is between 5 and 12 months. So I then go through the same story of the benefits of neutering and that rabbits are not as they believe, vicious or as some say, psycho buns. Rabbits are pray animals so are not vicious, they are however, mute and use their teeth and feet to communicate. How else can they let you know if they are unhappy, in pain or uncomfortable? They don’t bark meow or squeak, they are not like guinea pigs who make 11 or more different sounds. Also they are very hormonal creatures hence the saying "Breed like rabbits." When you pick an un-neutered rabbit up the hormones kick in and all they want to do is mate, so they struggle to get out of your arms, kicking, scratching and biting. Often in conversation I am told, when the hand goes in to the hutch the rabbit leaps at them. That’s often because a female thinks you are going to interfere with the nest or their litter, all be it that’s only in her mind. A male however goes to bite your hand and hold on for grim death, that’s because he

thinks your hand is another rabbit and when he mates with another he and indeed a hor-monal female dig their teeth in the back of the neck to hold on and also to stimulate. This is nature and to them, natural. The answer to the problem is to neuter, get rid of the hormones and more often than not within a few weeks the rabbit will calm down. It has always been the policy at Bunny Burrows to neuter all male and fe-male rabbits over the age of 5 to 6 months before rehoming to make sure they have a happy life and be well loved. It also makes them cleaner as they will not leave droppings and urine around to mark territory and are not very keen to use a litter tray for that reason. An un-neutered male can quite easily just twitch his tail and spray urine a good 6 ft and boy does it smell. But he is just saying "Here I am.” Neutering is also a prevention against can-cer of the uterus in females, it is thought 80% of female rabbits die of this dreadful disease. Over the years we have had many females spayed and have had the cancer removed to give them a quality of life. Little Maggie, who lives with Lacy, is one of the survivors and she has a great life now but was just caught in time. When I first started having rabbits as pets in my adult life I was very naive and I suppose quite green about the whole thing but that


KNOW YOUR TORTOISE PART 2 CONTINUED

often sit in the water for long periods of time, soaking themselves. Because of this, the water should be deep enough that the tortoise can easily drink (which it does by lowering its head), but shallow enough that it doesn’t drown. Finally, like food dishes, saucers should be regularly cleaned and the water should be changed daily. However, if a sunken sau-cer is not a possible option, you should give them an opportunity to drink regularly, ide-

ally in a sink, bath or washing-up bowl and they should be supervised while doing this.


The white part of your fingernail is called the Lunula. The name for fungal remains found in coal is sclerotinite. It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James’ version of the Bible was written. In Psalm 46, the 46th word from the first word is SHAKE and the 46th word from the last word is SPEAR. The pupil of an octopus’ eye is rectangular. The shortest French word containing all the vowels is OISEAU, meaning BIRD. The name JEEP came from the abbreviation used in the army for the ‘General Purpose’

vehicle, G.P. Wearing headphones for just one hour will in-crease the bacteria in your ear by 700 times. Every 5 seconds a computer is infected with a virus. In York, it is perfectly legal to shoot a Scotsman with a bow and arrow (except on Sundays). Only one person in 2 billion will live to be 116 years or older. It is impossible to hum if your nose is plugged. Chickens can’t burp. Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, was afraid of the dark.

DID YOU KNOW ? FROM KAZ

WINSTON CONTINED

fixed. He looked at us and tears ran from his eyes (anyone who says animals don't understand, are stupid) simply a sign he understood and was grateful. 19.55hrs on the 19th June he passed, on his way his face lit up his eyes sparkled and his ears perked up, a smile spread across his face he was free from pain! Whatever he saw he knew his new adven-ture was just starting. We arrived home with him and Angel came and said her goodbyes and went leaping about in the garden. She knew also that his suffering was over. She had held his paw for so long through the pain, she was like a different bunny. Now here we are 2 months later hearing him, something that shouldn’t be possible! Or so we are told. A promise kept by all of us. He had got his new furry feet like we always promised he would one day and had returned to show us them and that life does go on! Earlier in the evening, I was downstairs and Angel was content eating her supper, when she suddenly stopped and did her usual look of ‘what you up to?’ her ears pricked up and she was smiling. She looked at the sofa where a blur of Winston ran past. Next Winston was check-ing out the new selection of greens, which were for supper. Was I imagining this because I wanted it so badly? I felt so until that night!

I believe a lot in angels and sometimes the signs can be difficult to see. The lead up to Winston’s departure was a shock as we thought he was actually feeling better, he ran, jumped around and even came up-stairs like he used to for cuddles. Everyday we found white feathers appearing around him from his guardian angel. When he passed it was the smile we re-member that spread across his face; what he saw must have been magical and he wasn’t scared! So thank you to everyone who helped raise funds for BB by reading Winston’s story and he is still helping us now showing us that death is not the end. So please don’t be scared ‘he’s free and hurts no more.’ I hope you can take comfort from this as we do that our little man is still with us! ‘Not Just A Rabbit’ but still a very hoppy bunny rabbit.


ANGEL with WINSTON


NEW BUN ON THE ISLAND FROM JOHN TALBOT

In July this year, a bunny was taken into the RSPCA Animal Centre at Godshill on the Isle of Wight. He had apparently been ‘found’ on a remote area of downland by a woman walking her dog. He was in an ap-palling state of neglect, with weak back legs and so thin that his bones showed through his skin. His ears were completely en-crusted to the tips and he had an ear infec-tion. Following the vet’s examination, euthanasia was advised. The Godshill Animal Centre is an independ-ent RSPCA branch, which raises its own funds and only uses euthanasia as a last resort. Although as an RSPCA member, I find it sad that many centres have little room for rabbits and will often euthanize them. Despite their faults, the animal world would be in a poorer state without them. It is difficult to know if this little rabbit was found, as the person claimed, but what is certain is that he would not have survived

long in open ground in such a poor condi-tion. Now safely in the hands of the centre staff, his ears were cleaned of the encrustation and medication given to destroy the ear mites. Although this was a very painful pro-cedure for him, he responded to the treat-ment and they named him Jeff. He is thought to be an old bunny. Every Monday we clean out and feed the bunnies at the centre, so following Jeff’s period of isolation, we soon got to meet him. His back legs were very weak, particu-larly his left one. When hopping along he often fell onto his side. It is thought he was confined to a very small hutch for a long time, resulting in the wasting of his leg mus-cles. Rabbits of course have very powerful back legs, but Jeffs were very under devel-oped. He received 3 or 4 sessions of treat-ment with an animal chiropractor. The treatment was gentle and did not involve him being wrenched about. This kind lady carried out this treatment F.O.C. Interest-ingly, anyone wishing to carry out chiroprac-tic treatment on humans is free to do so, even without formal training. If wishing to carry out this treatment on animals, you must have the full training qualifications. When Jeff became eligible for re-homing, he would need careful handling and there-fore unsuitable for a first time owner. In the

JEFF AT THE RSPCA

next few weeks we took a special interest in Jeff and decided to adopt him. On his adoption form they stated his age as being 100 years and 3 months old. Ha Ha! He has settled in very well in the rabbit shed and most evenings we bring him indoors and he loves to lie on our laps being smoothed and then he likes to run around the room. At first, we let him loose in the garden but he didn’t know when to rest until he fell over. We now let him out in a large run on the grass. He is a lovely trusting, friendly boy and we shall do all we can for whatever time he has left.


NEW BUN ON THE ISLAND CONTINUED

WINSTON FROM JO KEENAN

I want to tell you about a promise and bring hope and comfort to those who are grieving as sometimes the pain is unbearable and the ‘what ifs’ drive you mad… Last night Chris and I were in bed with Jack and Coco hav-ing cuddles. Angel was downstairs probably on the rug when we heard the unmistakeable sound of footsteps running across the landing, stop, and then continued to the spare room. But these were not just any footsteps, no these were the sound of a heard of elephants running, only one of our bunnies sounded like this, Winston! Chris and I looked at each other and smiled for we had both heard it clear as day, no way was I imagining this and then came the tears of hope, sadness and joy. Winston is ok! You see, back in May Winston started limp-ing and had x-rays. We were told the news no one wants to hear, his hip had gone and because of his neglect in his early days his feet were damaged and that had caused pressure on his knees so he could not have his damaged leg amputated. (It would have

been cruel to leave him with one damaged/arthritic leg). We did all we could even taking him for acupuncture, which helped, but the words I

remember the most from him were ‘I’m holding on for my holiday.’ (He was to go to Windermere and teach.) He never made it. As we arrived at the emergency vets and told the vet what was wrong she popped Winnie on the floor, although he had found the energy to

stand he could not walk, his hind end trailed and we knew this wasn’t looking good. The vet said it was time and we said our goodbyes trying to stay brave like this little man had always been. I hugged him tight and then he made one giant leap across to his daddy where he got a big hug and kiss. We popped him back on the floor hoping we were wrong and asked for a sign he wanted to stay here on earth. He huddled himself up not moving. The vet came back in and through floods of tears we told him that we loved him and that it was time to get those furry feet and hip


JEFF IN HIS NEW HOME

CARD MAKERS AND SCRAP-BOOKERS TURN YOUR FAVOURITE PHOTOS INTO BACKING PAPER and MORE ...

Any good quality image can be transformed into a backing paper, small gift bags and boxes, bookmarks and card

inserts with an area to type your own text.

E-Mail Kaz for more information. [email protected]

FROM THIS TO THIS

A PYRAMID BOX

YOUR RABBIT’S DIGESTIVE SYSTEM CONTINUED

rabbit redigests the caecotrophs to receive even more nutrients to keep it healthy. If a rabbit’s diet consists of large quantities of ‘dry mix’ (cereal based pellets) rather

than grass or hay, which is high in fibre, an excessive number of caecotrophs will be produced. They can stick to the rabbit’s bottom, known as ‘sticky bottom’.


RECIPE FOR NOVEMBER FROM JOHN TALBOT

On a recent trip to the county town of Dor-chester, we sampled a local speciality, Dor-set Apple Cake, inspired by this enjoyable ex-perience, this edition of Bur-rowing’s recipe is …

ORCHARD APPLE CAKE Perfect for those of you who are lucky enough to have your own apple tree. The crop is very good this year. INGREDIENTS: 7oz Self raising flower ¼ Teaspoon of ground nutmeg ¼ Teaspoon of mixed spices 3oz of Butter 4oz Caster sugar 2 Eggs 12oz Cooking apples

2oz Sultanas 10oz Chopped walnuts (optional) Heat the oven to gas mk4 -180º c and have ready a greased 6 inch square cake tin. Sift the flower and spices together. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Peel and core the apples. Cut into bite size pieces and stir into the mixture. Stir in the spices and flour, sultanas and walnuts if used. Spoon the mixture into prepared cake tin and bake for 45 - 50 minutes or until a golden brown colour. In Dorset it is traditionally served with clot-ted cream, or if you are like me, pour hot custard over it.

TALES FROM THE DALES FROM A CARAVAN IN WEARDALE

Well another grey, overcast sky threatening rain as usual. Oh the joys of an English Summer eh? Just thinking of a way to fill my day here on the caravan park, lots of hobbies of course but just hoped for something a little differ-ent. A bit of excitement would go down a treat as things have been unusually quiet on the park this season. So much so that I couldn’t even think of anything to write for the last issue of your newsletter. Well, having got rid of all the boring stuff like washing up and having a vac round, I stood at the window and gazed over to my friend’s caravan. Kaz and Jill have their caravan op-posite me and had gone home the week before. I always keep my eye on their caravan and garden whilst they are away and sometimes just look over, as their company and chat-ter is missed when they go home .Of course it’s really the beautiful fluffy muffin and gorgeous Oskar that I miss the most. I've got nobody to eat my mint, coriander and chives when the fluffies have gone home even little Arthur and co are missed. I was looking over and suddenly a pair of horns appeared and then a head. I was very startled to see a large specimen of

highland cattle trot out of Kaz and Jill’s gar-den. Oh my goodness, I exclaimed and hurried to see what was happening. I grabbed my camera and hobbled over. I hope you have not been eating my friend’s marigolds and fuchsias I enquired. What you doing here lass, I asked the beautiful beast. Got lost or something? A man ap-peared next to me camera in hand, good photo shoot eh, he said looking at mine hanging from my wrist. I wonder where this cow has come from I said, she’s beautiful but her horns are very large and a bit scary. I looked up and the man was backing away looking worried.

What’s up I asked? It’s a bull not a cow, he said, and there’s another 4 heading this way. He fled up the road leaving me with camera at the ready and my walking stick in my hand. The rest of the herd were just making their way up the embankment, tug-ging and munching on the shrubs and plants as

they came. Its ok I shouted, they seem fine, pretty quiet and not aggressive. Suddenly the grounds men on the park ar-rived at the bottom of the bank, shouting and clapping, trying to drive the animals away from the park. Well, they scared the cattle and they began


ENJOY

YOUR RABBIT’S DIGESTIVE SYSTEM FROM KAZ

Compared to us, the rabbit has a rather strange digestive system. It is highly effi-cient so that the rabbit can extract the maxi-mum nutrients from forage available in the wild. Their digestive system is devel-oped to eat large quantities of grass with a high fibre content. The fibre is fermented by bacteria in the large bowel to pro-duce caecotrophs, which are eaten to provide vitamins and other nutri-ents. The system works like this … After the rabbit has chewed food it goes down the oesophagus into the stomach. This is an acid environment and it stays there for about 3-6 hours, undergoing little change. The contents are sterilised and then gradu-ally moved to the small intestine in short bursts, by strong stomach contractions. As the contents enter they are diluted by the flow of bile, the first intestinal secretions and then the pancreatic juice. While in the small intestine up to 90% of the protein,

starches and sugar are absorbed from the food. The undigested fibrous material is sorted. The fibre goes to the colon forming hard waste and the food left is then ready

for digestion in the caecum, which is bigger than the stomach. The hard waste that bypasses the caecum is moved through the colon in a circular motion and forms perfectly round hard balls. There are two scent glands either side of the anus and this scent is deposited on the waste pellets as they pass. This is how a rabbit marks its territory. The caecum is

quite a complicated organ that redigests the food. It is filled with enzymes and bacteria that break down the food. The caecum contracts about every 3 – 8 hours and forces the material back into the colon, where it is coated with mucus and then passed through the anus. The result re-sembles a clump of small brown grapes and the rabbit eats them straight away. This process normally happens at night and the


TALES FROM THE DALES CONTINUED

running, straight towards me! The only place for the cattle to get away from the men was straight ahead, and I was in their way. Oh dear, well I may have hobbled slowly over with my camera but I returned walking stick in hand and would have achieved an Olympic gold medal had some-body only timed me . The highland cattle looked so lovely. Their long red curling coats shone and they looked like they had just arrived from some wonderful Scottish mountain. They did seem out of place here somehow, not just

because they were on the caravan park, but because I felt they didn’t quite belong here in Weardale. The cattle are prized for their meat I'm afraid and can bring in an awful lot of money as the sought after Aberdeen An-gus steaks. I always think one of the most endearing sights in the whole world is the Aberdeen Angus grazing on the hazy mountainsides of Glen Coe in Scotland; it always brings a tear to my eye; wonderful animal, wonderful Scotland. My goodness, they do say be careful what you wish for. I wished for a bit of excite-ment and I certainly got some of that. After checking my friend’s garden I found no damage apart from a couple of cloven foot-prints and my camera had a few photos on it for me to show. I guess the man with his camera is still run-ning, as I haven’t seen him since

Tales from the Dales.


If you have any unwanted gifts, we would be pleased if you would donate them to Bunny Burrows to be used as prizes on our Tombola Stall.

Please send them or bring them to

68 Whitefields Drive Richmond

North Yorkshire DL10 7DL

Or give Gwen a call on 01748 824788

So, look us up on EBay and you will see what is for sale. We have had so many strays this year it is a great concern. This week a lovely grey boy found wandering in Northallerton, last week 7 black and white Dutch babies in a cardboard box were left in Morrison’s car park in Harrogate. It is so sad when they are so loving. By the time you receive this newsletter we will have had our coffee morning in Northallerton town hall. We are hoping for fine weather and a good crowd looking for a bargain. Fingers crossed, then I may get the house back, as at the moment I am climbing over bags of very nice clothing, boxes of toys, Christmas decorations and tombola prizes, all ready for the event. Please make a note in your 2012 diary for next years events and I look forward to see-ing you there. A talk at Harrogate Library on April 3rd …

Coffee morning at Northallerton town hall on June 9th and August 4th and October 20th … Hot X Bunny Day on April 1st … I would like to take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to all who have contin-ued to support BB this year and a special thank you to those who have looked after me and helped me to look after all the fur-ries. It has been a difficult 6 months with the grotty leg but with the help the furries have been well cared for. All there is left to do is wish one and all a Joyful Christmas and a Peaceful 2012.


NEWS FROM THE BURROW FROM GWEN

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this months newsletter. If you would like to submit an article for our February 2012 newsletter would you please e-mail them to me by January 23rd 2012. Please note, any articles received after this date will go into the next newsletter.

Could you please send photos as JPEGS and your wording in a text document.

I’m looking forward to being pleasantly surprised by all your e-mails. Send them to: [email protected]

FAMOUS QUOTES FROM GWEN BUTLER

It’s quite amazing how as you get older you cant often remember what you had for your breakfast but can remember the things your parents said to you. One of them was, hear all, see all, say nowt. Eat all, drink all, pay nowt, and if you want owt doing do it for yorsen. (Yourself). One day last week a friend dropped off a few bundles of newspapers for use in the hutches and 5 typed sheets of paper dropped on the floor, it was lots of quotes typed on a3 paper. They both amused and interested me, I wont bore you with them all but will share a few with you and if you wish, I may share a few more at a later date. Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. M Ghandi. Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. Napoleon. Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get. Ingrid Bergman. In the business world, the rear view mirror is always clearer than the windscreen. Warren Buffet. If I owe you a pound, I have a problem; if I owe you a million pounds, the problem is yours! John Maynard Keynes. You never get a second chance to make a first

impression. Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The tenth person always lies. We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give. Sir Winston Churchill. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That’s why they call it the pre-sent! Alice Morse Earle. A positive attitude may not solve all your prob-lems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright. I find this one quite amusing. Politicians are like monkeys. The higher they climb up the tree, the more revolting are the parts they expose. I spent 90% of my money on women and drink. The rest I wasted. George Best. There are so many more but I would like to share one or two of my late dads. Whenever I was struggling to do anything and indeed mak-ing a complete hash of it my father used to say: You frame like a dog with telegraph poles. He also said if ifs and ands were pots and pans there’d be no need for tinkers. I hope these have made you smile or think ‘cos remember, there’s nowt so queer as folk. I will just close with something my dear late husband John used to say about bullies. They are like kippers, two faced and no guts.


NOTE FROM THE EDITOR AND PRINTER BETTER KNOWN AS KAZ


CHRISTMAS CARDS FOR SALE ALL PROCEEDS GO TO BUNNY BURROWS

THE NOVEMBER 2011 NEWSLETTER FROM BUNNY BURROWS

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What an amazing 3 months the past 3 have been. So many changes in my life, sadly THE LEG is still causing all sorts of problems, the positive side is, it is starting to heal after a visit to a very special vascular surgeon in Leeds called Professor Gough. Only 3 weeks ago he did some laser work on the veins and the healing process started almost imme-diately. Sadly he won’t forget me in a hurry as having very little pain threshold, I screamed the place

down. All behind me now and the only way is up. I am still un-able to drive but chomping at the bit to get behind the wheel. Another major change is this time last year I had no computer skills, I couldn’t even switch the machine on. I started doing the most important part, shopping. Next step email and I have now mastered that. Now Bunny Burrows is selling some of the wonderful goodies you have all donated on EBay. I am so excited about this I can’t explain how not being able to go out and sell in the past 5 months has frustrated me and this way I hope to make money without leaving home.

These Christmas cards have been designed especially for bunny Burrows. There are 8 cards in each pack; 2 of each design.

The cards are blank inside allowing you to write your own special Christmas message. They cost £1.50 per pack available from Bunny Burrows.

Give Gwen a ring for postal details. Telephone 01748 824788

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