Becoming a Foster Parent

Recently David and I had the opportunity to become foster parents for an abandoned bunny that had been running around in our neighborhood. He is a beautiful silver and white agouti domestic short hair rabbit. Because we don't the sex of the bunny we named him Silver (he even has a silver streak behind his ears). I of course was concerned at first, with Reggie in the house, I didn't want there to be any territorial battles. I told reggie that we were taking care of a bunny for a short time before he goes to another temporary home before he is adopted. All Reggie said that as long as he stays in the kitchen, he will be fine. Blessedly, our kitchen is big enough for him to get in some exercise. The first two days we let him stay in his cage to get acclamated to his new surroundings. The third day. We opend the door to his cage and let him roam a bit. He was a little cautious at first. I blocked off the kitchen with a pice of foam board and put a chair in front of the entrance so he could only stay in the kitchen area. he sniffed outside the opening of the cage before he came bounding out. All Rabbits seem to do the same thing. They sniff first and then bound out of the cage quickly and almost look like they are doing a Cosmo Kramer impression (he was a quirky character in the sitcom, Seinfeld). I gave hm some unsweetend fruit treats as a peace offering and he eagerly took them from me. Both Moon and Fiona were in the room with me and observing him. When they saw I was giving Silver treats, they wanted in on it to and got in their treat sitting position. I got the treats from the fridge and started distributing treats to Moon and Fiona. Silver saw the whole thing and came up to the girls to see if he could have another treat.

Good sign that he isn't freaked out by cats. He seems to be very calm about everything. Fast movements don't seem to faze him. I did a couple of light dancing to see if he would be nervous of this big object moving around in a crazy pattern. He looked at me once and then went on to more exploring of the kitchen. Because our kitchen is pretty much bunny proofed to begin with I didn't see anything I would have to move around. All the cords are safely behind things-no way he can reach them. The kitchen has a linoleum flooring so if he does have an accident it will be easy to clean up. So I sat at the table and quietly observed him.

I realized that he could go under the bakers rack that is unprotected and if he wants to stay burrowed under there, we couldn't get him back in his cage. So I called him "Silver, come" and I made a couple of quick claps to get his attention. He came out. But being the determined bunny he is he tried to get behind there again this time I put my hand behind him and redirected him out. he didn't flinch that I had my hand on him, he was very calm.

He has a really good personality. gets along with cats, housebroken already. responds to his name. I haven't picked him up, but David has and he says he is easy to handle. So who ever adopts this rabbit is going to have a family member. I have felt for a long time that one of the roles David and I have is that of helping to find homes for other animal beings. I used to do this mediation that we ran a placement agency for families to come together. So I think this is a lesson from the Universe "let's see if you really want to walk your talk. What the start of a wonderful journey.