A HEARTFELT THANK-YOU!

B Y G R A N D P A G A N D Y

We hope you enjoy the inside look at what events we are

working on, the animal advocacy issues we are fighting

for, the educational classes we are running as well as

who we have for adoption and how you can help.

We welcome your feedback and hope you enjoy the

news and information we share.

From the bottom of my heart, as well as our volunteers

and the younger buns that come through the rescue,

Thank you. We wouldn't be able to do what we do

without your support, and so many lives would not have

been saved.

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CONTENTS

P N

CARROT CHRONICLESFROM THE DESK OF GRANDPA

GANDY

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ADOPTABLE BUN OF THEMONTH!

B A T M A N

Being the only man of the

litter, he is used to being

waited on hand and foot.

Having skills in nose rubs is

an absolute must for him to

be happy.

Always carefree, loves to run

around. Looking to continue

living a pampered life!

Fill out an application on our

website to add BATMAN to

your family!

We are a small non-profit, unfunded organization that is devoted to the rescue, rehabilitation and re-

homing of abuse, abandoned and unwanted domestic rabbits in Nova Scotia. We run solely on donations. 

Over the last 9 years, we have helped over 900 rabbits - 90-95% of which have come to us from outside.

SEE OUR CURRENTADOPTABLE

RABBITS

Our current adoptable rabbits are on ourwebsite and facebook page.

If you are interested in adopting, pleasefill out an application and one of our

adoption specialists will be in contact.

10000Carrots.com

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Monthly Nail TrimsMarch 1 & April 5(generally 1st Sunday of the month)

Noon - 2pm at the Elmsdale PetValu.

All proceeds go to the health and welfare of the rabbits

in our care.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Dartmouth Farmer's MarketApril 4, 2020

8am - 1pm at Alderney Landing

We will have some things to sell and will be reminding

people that rabbits (or any living creature) DO NOT

make good presents.

This Easter,

MAKE MINE CHOCOLATE!!

How you can helpSponsor a pen - this is a monthly gift to the rescue and will give you information on

which bun(s) is in the pen you choose, as well as who the pen was named after,

when that bun(s) goes to a home, and the bun(s) that replace them.

Support our events - we are a small, non-profit organization and receive NO

funding outside of the fundraising events we do. With Vet costs, medications,,

food, and hay, the expenses add up quickly.

Share our posts - The more people who know about us, and what we have going

on, the better!!

Donate to commemorate a special occasion such as a birthday or anniversary

Donate supplies

Volunteer - we are always looking for people who want to share their talents with

us!

Upcoming Events

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Age Is Not A Disease.Life expectancy for a house rabbit is 10 – 14 years. That seems like a long time, until your rabbitstarts showing signs of slowing down.  They are small changes, over a long period of time that youmight not recognize right away as signs of aging.  They seem like little things that aren’t quite incharacter, but can be explained away in your mind. This is Milo (Lop) & Vivian (chocolate rex). I adopted them through 10,000 Carrots Rabbit Rescue about 5 years ago.  It is really difficult to estimate the age of rabbits once they are no longer babies, and we were told that they were around 2 or 3 years old at that time by their previous owner.  They are a great pair and always have fun together.  They are free range in a bedroom at our house.  Theytake turns chasing each other and love to share their hay and greens.  They lay with each other,and groom each other a lot.  Milo will come up on the mattress on the floor to snuggle, and Vivianwill come up for treats.  They are social, loving, and so much fun to watch together! Thinking back, one of the first things I now recognize as a sign of aging was that Milowasn’t keeping himself as clean as he used to. I would notice that little bits of poop got caught inthe fur underneath, between his back legs.  He was always a very clean rabbit, and this was odd,but not to the point of being worried. Then I noticed he seemed to be slowing down. He wouldn’t jump up on the mattress on the floor like he always had.  He would start, but then justput his front feet back on the floor.  He used to run around a lot and wouldn’t ever let you catchhim.  Slowly, this began to change.  I even caught him napping more and more often.   He used tochase Viv around and try to be “amorous”, but slowly they started to snuggle more, and chase eachother less.  One day when I left for work, he was in front of the bed and was in the exact sameplace when I got home.  It looked like he hadn’t moved all day, and Viv wasn’t laying with him.  Thisconcerned me a bit as well, but thought that there was no way he wouldn’t have moved at all forthe entire day, he must have just ended up in the same general place by the end of the day.Over time, he seemed to be getting skinnier – more boney.   Tammy hadn’t seen him for aboutthree months, and noticed that he had lost a lot of weight.  It was a slow loss, so it took a while forme to really notice, but when Tammy mentioned it, it was a lightbulb moment for me.  All the littlethings that I explained away over the last six months clicked into place.  Maybe Milo was sick.I called Cobequid Animal Hospital and was able to get in to see Dr. McIntyre the same day.  Weweighed him, and she ordered x-rays and pain medication, as she believed that pain might be whyhe was losing muscle mass and weight.

Did You Know?

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The x-rays showed a lot of muscle wasting on his extremities and some areas of arthritisboth on his extremities and spine.        His dental x-rays showed that he is starting to get little rasps on a couple of his back teeth and the jaw bone was eroding. This is probably due to him not eating as much hay as he once did, because he was in pain.  We now estimate his age to be closer to 10 or 11 years old – so he’s not sick,he is a senior! When I started to do some reading on senior care, and recognizing signs that your bun isgetting older, there really wasn’t a lot of information out there for house rabbits. There is notan exact age when it happens. However, sometime between the ages of 5-8 a rabbit becomesa senior. The age at which the signs of aging start to manifest is partly based on the size ofthe rabbit, genetics, the quality of care he’s received throughout his life, and even if he has aloving mate. Some of the signs of aging are as follows:  • Slowing down, decrease in activity level, sleeping more• Changes in fur coat (coarser, sparser, more gray hair)• Changes in nails (thicker, turn outwards)• Changes in mobility• Changes in eyesight and/or hearing• Calluses on hocks• Increased sensitivity to hot and cold temperatures• Weight loss or weight gain• Muscle wasting/loss of muscle tone• Difficulty maintaining hygiene• Increased health issues (dental, bladder, or kidney are common ones) Looking back, I see so many of these issues coming up for Milo, probably over the last year orso. Thankfully, the pain medication he is now on for life is helping with a lot of these issues. He is back to jumping up on the mattress for his meds and treats as well as snuggles, he isback to chasing Vivian and, much to her irritation, being “amorous” again.  He runs aroundand comes over when I come in the room, he is eating more hay and keeping himself cleanagain.  We are monitoring his weight and he is slowly gaining a few ounces at a time.  He islike the Milo of a year or two ago, and this makes me really happy.