Progress report on Rory, and asking for advice please!

Morning morning, well here he is...drum roll....a cleaner looking Rory the Ewok...Ta dah!


So, the grooming is has had its issues, first being that he was more filthy than I thought possible, and some of the matts were hidden in his groin and very hard places to reach, we are about 90% there I think. The tactic we have had to use with Rory is letting him bury his head into Yasi, then lifting up his back half and getting to the matts underneath, he really hates being turned onto his back no matter how I try to do it in a way he will feel secure, and I dont want to zone him out, he is good at being handled on the whole and I am trying to build up his confidence. His nails are long, but the quick is very long, he doesnt really have enough dead nail to cut, so I am fileing them one by one! He smells good now, I am now off gralic bread for the forseable future!
I have bought a grooming spray meant for Rabbits supposedly, it is made from almond oil, is this ok to use on his long locks?

I am getting to know Rory by the day, and a week later I am pleased with his progress, his freindliness and that he eats and drinks well, his food change over is now complete, and after his initial indifference to hay he is now getting the hang of eating more and more, probably at about half what Felix would eat (Willow is the big hay fan in our house, if that girly ends up with teeth problems I will eat my hat). So this is all good, the things i have noticed that arent so good are as follows:

He doesnt periscope, at all, ever. He doesnt reach up to the pretty low hay rack I got him, he will only eat things on the floor. He looks like he has a dip in his back at times, though his spine feels fine, and when he sits in a ball it looks as it should.

When I let him run around the house he rambles along at a slow speed - no bunny 500, no blurr of fluff, he binky's but they acheive no height at all.

He is actually 2 days younger than Willow and Felix, yet he is half the weight - I have read that Lionheads are a pound or so lighter fully grown than dutch rabbits, Im not too worried about that as he has only been with us a week and I have him on alfafa along with the pro-biotic in his water and when I weigh him tonight I am hoping for a big gain over the last week. The thing that concerns me is his muscle tone, when I stroke the girls and handle them I can feel the power in their muscular little bodies, Rory feels so fragile and he is nowhere near as agile or as capable of mischeif as Willow and Felix - not at all!

Is there anything else I can do to help him to gain body strength other than the space he has gained, and the encouragement to play and be active?

It just goes to show doesnt it the damage, or lack of development that can be done by housing a rabbit in cramped dirty conditions and not making a good diet available to them Willow and Felix have worried me plenty over the last 4 months, they stopped having their mothers milk at 3 weeks, and yet they are sooooo much healthier that Rory who had it untill he was at least 8 weeks, if not longer it seems.

I am loving having a very docile bunny who is easy to handle and loves to be cuddled, but I want to see him be manic too, I want him to fly through the air with glee, stand up on his back legs and survey his kingdom, then whip around the lounge at 100 miles an hr, jump on the sofa and fly off again, yet he is like a little old man

The vet told me I could have his myxo jab done next week if i thought he was well enough, what do you reckon? I dont think he is ill, more failing to thrive (thats social worker talk, see how im key working my rabbits? ha ha).

On the plus side we are in a routine with the three, Im pretty happy we have a good balance now, and Rory is getting one up on willow by staring at her through the back door while she is in her run - I can almost hear him sniggering and thinking nah nah na nah nah!

Hmm I'm not sure about the myxo, have you spoken to your vet about how he doesn't periscope? It is a bit odd, the first thing Luna did when we brought her home was periscope everywhere
Maybe they could do x-rays to have a look at his spine if you are worried? It could be something genetic I suppose :/.
If you think he still seems a bit weak perhaps you should wait a couple more weeks before getting his jab done, to reassure yourself as well. I suppose it is still early days with him!

No, havent spoken to the vet about it yet, had him checked out 2 days after we took him home and I hadnt really noticed at that point, plus everything was new and strange for him - the girls have always done it from day 1, so they were three weeks when we took them.

Im still struggling to find a really good rabbit savvy vet - we are registered with 3 surgerys now! We saw the practise owner last week and really didnt like him, my very polite 9 yr old daughter gasped in fear when the vet roughly handled Rory - not sure if we are just very gentle and fussy so we think everyone else is being rough!

When he has his Myxo I will mention it, I think (I dont know, but it makes sense) that he isnt used to being able to stand up so he has never used the muscles that will allow him to do so? I dont know.....

I am cross really, the more i watch him and see the things he cant do, the less I am able to have kind thoughts towards the breeder. She sent me an email yesterday asking 'how is my boy?' - your boy????? I think you will find that when £30 went from my hand to yours love he became 'my boy' - and thank god he did is this is what you have done to him through neglect and lack of understanding - grrrrr. Does she really have a soft spot for hi, or is she worried that he wont survive and that it will come back on her? Jury is out really

Marshall didn't periscope when i got him .... not for a long time. I also didn't see him bunny 500 for at least a month after i got him, he maybe still adjusting. Of course it could be due to poor diet that he is underweight and not strong enough to do either of those things so may be worth bringing it up with the vets.

Thanks for the update

There could be many reasons he's not periscoping - if he was kept in cramped conditions where he couldn't periscope, then he has learnt not to, but will probably do so. He may well have an injured spine, if he's been dropped, or again, if his accommodation didn't allow him room to - my bertie only spent a four months or so (we think) in unsuitable accommodation, and got arthritis in his spine at 2 yrs old.

Try, with his favourite food, feeding him from your hand, then lifting gradually, see how far he goes (if at all), and keep at it every day. After a few days, don't give him the food (when you lift it) unless he makes even the smallest effort to periscope, and if he does rewward him. Take the 'reward distance' a little higher (couple of cm's) after a few days, and see if that works?

Deffo worth mentioning to the vet too. Bless him, you really have done a very amazing and benevolent thing for him, and I'm sure he'll reward you plenty when he feels the time is right

Ah thanks jay that sounds like a great idea, i shall give it a go!

He is rewarding us already, it started off with continuous licking of our hands, literally untill my arm ached holding it out- but when i went to stroke his head he would back off. Now when i offer him my hand he does a few token licks then puts his head down for me to rub/scratch and he purrs and sinks lower and lower untill he is flat out on the floor lol

Bless him. I can't get online at the mo and am on from my phone. Jays advice is fab. I'm hoping he's not quite sure of himself yet and that's why there are no periscopes or binkys. I have no idea how you hold your temper with that lady, you are a better lady than me. I'd be tempted to say - no he's not alright And this is why !!

Thank goodness you have him, you have done a wonderful thing, and I'm so pleased you are a member here. X x x