Bringing Rusty

One of the first things that crossed our minds when we got orders, was ofcourse, could we bring Rusty with us? After a lot of immediate research, I found out that yes, it's possible - according to bring him into Japan. What wasn't as clear was HOW to bring him, with what airline and how.

 
Now, after getting the wrong information about bringing him on the military flight in cabin, they only allow cats and dogs, I had to start looking for other options. As it seems to be different answers and different prices every time I called the PetSafe Program at United. Some times they even told me that they didn't even bring rabbits in cargo, some times they told me yes, and from these information centers, you can never get a confirmation or even speak to the same person twice. And let me tell you, EVERYONE from the military, the airlines and random people that you speak to about this, they all say the same- leave him behind. It's JUST a rabbit, why bother....

Frustrating? Much!!

So, after many busy days by the computer and over the phone, I finally seem to have found an answer yesterday on how I can go about it without having to travel separately, Chris with the kids on the AMC flight and me with Rusty in cargo on a commercial flight. Thank god for the internet and for different groups on Facebook that I've joined for people living on Okinawa and where you can ask lots of questions and you can read up on a lot of answers to other people's questions and you might get some information that you wouldn't have found on your own.

Yesterday, I found a way to get Rusty on a commercial flight in cargo with United PetSafe program to Narita, Tokyo, but we have to bring him to San Diego. When he arrives in Tokyo, I had no plan and I couldn't find an airline that would take him cargo and to call Japan directly with the time difference of 16 hours from us here in AZ, isn't the easiest. Anyway, I got in touch with a woman that works with a Pet Service company and after emailing back and forth the whole afternoon, we have a plan. When he comes to Narita, she will pick him up, take him through custom and to the quarantine. 

 Source here

Normally he would have to stay 3 days in quarantine in Tokyo, in a kennel that I would have to book, and then I was worried about who would care for him  there? But, as we are military traveling on orders, and we will live ON base, (this is the big deal here with the quarantine) he doesn't have to stay there. She can then take him and check him onto a plane from Narita, Tokyo - Naha, Okinawa where we will pick him up!!

I'm so relieved that you have no idea about this plan!! Now, we know that he will be OK, and I can travel together with the rest of the family on the AMC flight from Seattle. We can all go to Tracey with the car, put it into storage, get on our way to Seattle and then leave from there. I was so worried about not traveling together with the kids, and that is with this option, it will be OK. I still have to book tickets for him, as soon as we have ours booked from the military. Then, we have to see if we bring him to San Diego on our way up to Tracey, or if we have to ask our friends to bring him there for us. I'm so happy that this will work out, even if I won't be able to breathe out until we have tickets booked and even more so when we pick him up in Okinawa!!

 Rusty's travel kennel.

 He liked it and laid down for a nap at the first time checking the carrier out!

Furry Love

This is such a sweet couple! Cassie & Rusty. It's a sweet love, and again, we are so happy that Cassie didn't turn out to be allergic against rabbits and not against Rusty. She is though, very allergic to the timothy hay that he eats, but not against him, which was such a relief when we found out. Considering that she reacted so badly to the test against cat, we were a bit nervous, but no, not at all against dog or rabbit. I was so happy, and that's of course nothing to how Cassie felt!

A Vistit To The Vet

Monday morning, I took our bunny Rusty to the vet. Lately, he's been refusing to eat his pellets. We thought when this started, now about three weeks ago, that it was because it happened to be a change in pellets, and that he was just picky. The company that we buy the rabbit food from, sell apparently two different kind of rabbit food, and when Chris was there a while back to get new one, he happened to get the wrong kind, without his knowledge. They are filled and stored in brown paper bags, so you can't see inside. I guess we were always lucky to get the thin long pellets before, and this time it was a much thicker kind, that he didn't like.
After not wanting his snacks, fresh grapes etc, we got concerned, and after reading up a lot about his symptoms, with less and different stool, he most likely had a fur ball. He is shedding A LOT right now due to the weather changes, and even if we are brushing him twice a day, he must get a lot in him while cleaning himself. Rabbits, unlike cats and dogs, can't vomit their fur up again, and that way get it out of their system, so it's much more serious when rabbits gets them. Hard cases, they have to open them up and take out via surgery. Last weekend I called the vet and got lots of good tips, and he confirmed a lot of what I had been doing, and giving him already. Pineapple and the pineapple juice to give him, that contains an enzyme that brakes down the hair. Lots of timothy hay for the fiber to get the stomach going and rubbing his tummy and observing that there is some poop at all, and no total blockage, which quickly can become deadly for bunnies. So, with this in mind, I knew that I was doing the right thing, but I still wanted him checked out and booked an appointment for Monday morning.

The Vet wasn't overly concerned as Rusty was still eating his hay and drinking a lot of water, still playing and jumping around outside and being normally active. Me, I could have rushed with him to the emergency vet's office, but after reassurance from the vet, we could wait until Monday and save us some money. Sounds crazy, but every pet owner knows the feeling, your little one is not feeling well, it's like a baby, you feel so protective and only want what's best and you worry. And then worry some more..

Verdict - most likely a fur ball, but other than that, he thought that Rusty was a beautiful, healthy bunny and that he was so kind and easy to handle, all because of the owners he meant. Good job Cassie, and the rest of the family! I got a laxative for animals to give him every morning, and then continue to push the greens, pineapple and a lot of timothy hay. It wasn't such a concern at this point, as there was no big lump in his stomach and nothing to be felt when he felt his stomach.

Well, we now have Friday, and he is still not eating his pellets. He's been eating his hay as before, and also a lot of greens, so he is doing alright, but just not wanting the pellets. The stool is still not totally normal and not as much as normal, so I guess it's not all gone, and I'll continue to give him laxative and keeping an extra eye on him. We brush him a lot, to prevent more hair to get into his system, we feed him all the stuff that he should get to get the stomach going, he's getting a lot of running around time and he's getting plenty of love...I hope that he soon get's back to his pellets, as then we'll know he's doing alright. Now, the vet said, he knows instinctively that he needs to eat his hay, with plenty of fiber, and that's why he is refusing the pellets. So when he starts eating them again, he should be getting better..

Rusty our Rusty - get well soon!!

My Little Ones

Yesterday, when I was cleaning up in the kitchen, Rusty held me company while Cassie was cleaning his cage. Very soon, Benjamin and Isabella came to say hello to him, and they are so gentle and he is so sweet and hardly move so they can pet him.

I got a video of Ben singing and petting Rusty, and it's so sweet how gentle he is and how interesting Rusty's breathing is!!

Big boys..

Rusty Boy

Our sweet little Rusty! I can't wait for it to get a bit cooler outside so that he can finally spend time on the patio. In Spring, he loved hopping around there for hours, but since late Spring/early Summer, it's been too hot for him to spend any time outside at all.

Such a shame, but the temperatures are not cooling off yet for another couple of months. So until then, he has to get his energy off inside the house. He is only outside the cage under supervison, as it's not totally "bunny proof" in the house with lots of cables and other things that a little bunny shouldn't bite on. Plus, even if he's a good bunny that uses his litter box, he CAN have an accident, and with carpets in most of the house, it would be a disaster! He likes to hang around in the kitchen, where it's plastic carpet, when we are cooking or taking care of the dishes. He also knows that he then gets a little snack from me..

Rusty 7 Months

July 2nd, our Rusty turned 7 months. He is now fully grown, and he is such a sweet bunny. We couldn't have picked a more perfect one for us. He is gentle with the little ones, gives kisses and loves affection, he is pretty much litter box trained, so he if he has access to his litter box, he normally doesn't have any accidents when he is out and hopping around in the house. We can't have him out all the time and never without supervision, as there are way too many hazards for little bunnies in the house. Small toys to bite/swallow, cables everywhere..

But he is out and about every day hopping around to get his exercise and to move around. He has grown so big, and where he had lots of room in the cage when he was a baby, he now takes up almost one whole side stretching out. 

We are so happy to have him, he has really brought a lot of joy to this family, and the happiest is of course Cassie, who also now during the summer has Rusty in her room. Before, he used to have his cage out in the diningroom/living room area, where we always were and he always would be close. Plus all day in Cassie's room when she would be in school wouldn't be a good space for him.

Now with summer vacation he has moved into her room, and gets spoiled with lots of free hopping time and lots of love and affection. Often I find him laying next to her in the evening, when she is reading her book, closely snuggled up. Another reason why we have moved him into her room, is because it's cooler in the smaller bedrooms, than out in the big living/dining room area. It's easier to control the AC in the smaller rooms, and he has also a little fan pointed toward a corner of his cage, where he can hop to if he needs to cool off, and away from if he is good without the extra fan. 

He is a little snuggle bunny, that's for sure, and he's truly become a part of the family. We love this little guy, and couldn't even think to be without him.

Snuggle...<3

It doesn't feel long ago since he was just a baby and we just picked him up back in November 2012...

 Awww...look how CUTE he was..

Swedish National Day

June 6th. Sweden's National Day. A day on which I miss Sweden a little bit extra, a day where I think about traditions and feel a bit more Swedish than other days.

A lot has been said about this day and the lack of traditions and what I think about this day, still stands true to what I wrote last year here.  It surprises me though, that after weeks of reading about all the troubles and plain craziness that has been going on in Sweden over the past Month or so, that not more people stand up and celebrate and make a point about this day. I have read so many comments about the "new" Swedes that are taking over and some have been more or less plain racist comments as it's always a matter of personality. The government in Sweden hasn't helped either, and of course people "from both sides" are frustrated at times, but still, they all live in the same country now.

But anyway, after like I said so many comments about keeping Sweden Swedish etc, I have hardly seen any posts about any celebrations or proud posted comments about Sweden over Facebook. There are ten times more comments and updates every five minutes about what song is good or bad from the Eurovision Song Contest or Let's Dance, than what I've seen in comments today over Facebook over the National Day.

I personally think it's sad, but it's up to people themselves to celebrate/not celebrate the way they want of course. As it's a fairly new holiday in the sense of having a day off, there might not be enough traditions and places to go to celebrate.

Even if we don't have strong traditions in our family either from this day, I hope that my children will have a few memories of this day growing up. Decorating the table with Swedish colors, putting the flag in the middle, eating some Swedish food. But most of all, I think that they will remember the tradition I started with them to take annual pictures of them dressed up all in blue and yellow, the Swedish colors. I think it's nice and the kids have fun with it, and the pictures normally come out really cute. It's also nice to go back and compare the pictures from previous years to see how much the kids have grown and changed. I will continue this throughout the years, as this I also do every 4th of July with the kids dressed in red, white and blue..

A sneak peak - more pictures will follow tomorrow.

After lunch and our photo session, Cassandra spent the afternoon at a friend's house in her pool. The little ones and myself spent the afternoon in the baby pool, but it was hot. Today's temperature climbed up to 108F/42C and tomorrow it will be even hotter. It's supposed to be the hottest day so far this year with high's of 111-113F/45C. We won't be spending much time outside, that's for sure...

Now in the evening, our bunny Rusty gave us a scare. We had him outside for about 10 minutes in his leash, hopping around, and then back inside, but when inside, he started to develop very much saliva and got himself really wet around his mouth and due to the licking and rubbing, also his front legs were soaked. This has never happened before and did scare me a bit. I was scared that he'd overheated and this was some sign of stress. I called the vet and luckily they had a 24hour service and I got to speak to a very nice vet right away, who has rabbits herself, and she thought more of that he got bit by some ants or another bug, as he was licking so much. Heat exhaustion normally just causes them to lay still, not wanting to move or not responding very much. We cooled him off with a fan near the cage, gave him water/forced water in a dropper, and from recommendation from the vet, I did wash his paws and face with water just to make sure to get anything off that would disturb him. He did much better after awhile, started to eat and drank out of his water bottle by himself after awhile. Have been keeping an eye on him for the rest of the evening here next to me, but now he seems to be doing just fine. Thank god, as rabbits are known to not recover well from sickness and exhaustion.

Now everyone else is sleeping, and as Rusty is looking good, I'll be going to bed too.

Loving Our Outdoor Space!

I really love our outdoor space, our big patio. It's enclosed and screened in, so it's like an extra room. It still needs some pampering and some more outdoor rugs, flower pots and TLC, but we already now enjoy it very much! It's pretty much covered from the sun all day, and as any shade is a HUGE plus here in the desert blazing sun, and the temperatures are much lower there than outside, it makes it perfect for the kids to still play outside, giving them more options when it's warm and too hot to be in the sun. Shade was a big factor why we wanted to move in the first place, as the old house didn't have any shade at all in the backyard. We had to put up lots of sun umbrellas to even be able to play with the water table, pool or even try to sit outside and eat. That didn't happen very often, as it was just too hot. Here, we have already now eaten many meals outside, and it's lovely!

First "dinner" outside. What else is there to do than take out when we didn't have a fridge or unpacked cooking utensils the first night in the house..

Isabella enjoying her dinner. Every time at meal time when I ask the kids to set the table, she comes running asking - Eating outside mommy??

My big helper with the kids over the weekend was happy but tired, 

and even our picky eater Ben enjoyed his nuggets outside.

Sunday a week ago, we had some help from our friend D. He had a smaller trailer to bring boxes and other things from the old house and we were carrying clothes from all the closets etc, pretty much everything that wasn't moved in the big trailer on moving day. He brought his kids, and our kids enjoyed the company and playtime. The older girls did a great job watching the little ones between the carloads and the times I had to run back to the old house. Here the whole table full of lunch eating kids. And as you can see, the kids still love the fast food hamburger place, even if I myself have had enough of the same for a long time..It will take some time before I eat fast food again!

Not having a fridge doesn't give you many options, if you want to eat something without making it a trip into town and expensive restaurants or take outs. Here close by we have Pizza Hut and McDonalds..and yes, we had both over the "fridge less" days. We have been so busy, and we needed something that went fast. We didn't get our fridge delivered until this Thursday, and we tried to get by with having a few things in a very small fridge in the garage. But that one mainly held milk, juice, drinks and such. Not much space for food!

Anyway, here are some more pictures of our patio. The ones below are from the first time when Cassie took out Rusty to hop around in the evening. He loved it! He now plays around there a lot, but we can't leave him without supervision, as he could brake the screens if he scratched them, and we wouldn't want him to get out and we really wouldn't want the screens to brake, as it would be very expensive putting new screens on the whole patio. So now, he only gets to be outside of his cage, when one of us can be outside with him, keeping an eye. It will be more time in the future, when we have more time for playing and just hanging out, now we have been busy with getting organized, but even if we are busy, our bunny still needs his exercise.

 Rusty getting ready to explore the space!

Isabella wanting to "help" Rusty feel comfortable with his new surroundings.  

Cassie & Rusty!

Bunny hugs

Checking out the upper patio...

...while Ben was driving around on the lower patio.

Easter Witch & Easter Bunny

The cutest pair this Easter!

 My oldest Easter Witch and her Easter Bunny.

Rusty Is 4 Months Today

 

Our sweet Rusty, today he's 4 months old. He's getting really big, he should be fully grown by about 6 months, but I don't think he'll get much bigger than this. He's still very sweet and cuddly, and likes it to just hang around and sleep on your lap/in your arms. As he's sleeping so much of the day anyway in his cage, I try to make it as exciting as it can be for him during the day and during playtime outside of the cage.

He has a few empty cardboard boxes to chew on and play with. He jumps into the big one, which filled with crinkled up phone book pages and we put a few treats in there that he can dig around for. He also likes the coke box, going into one opening and out another. There are some toys and wood sticks and other things for him to do and play with. I have "bunny proofed" the dining room, and I put up baby gates to the other rooms when he's out and about. There are so many cables and other things that would be difficult for him to resist and difficult for us to take all away because of him, and therefore we have narrowed it down to one big room. The room has carpet but also tiles in the hallway, which he likes to lay around on, I guess he likes the cold floor.

The other day, I pulled out the kid's play tunnel for him to run around in. He liked it a lot, not that he could care to much about the pretty colors - bunnies are colorblind- but still, he liked to run back and forth, and I wish that I could find a really small tunnel that he has to crawl through.

 Tired after a lot of playtime!

Last night, we actually let him try raw apple for the first time. Some books say that rabbits shouldn't have any raw vegetables and fruit until they are about 6 months, fully grown. Others say that they can be much younger, and you just have to ease them into it. I don't want to take any risks, and thought we'd wait a little bit longer, but when Isabella didn't want to eat her cut up apple, I thought that why not check if Rusty would like to finish some slices off. He was super excited and it was so funny how he kept licking and biting small pieces off the apple that Cassie held on to. It was tempting to give him much more, but as this was the first time, his little tummy wouldn't have been happy.

Chris and Cassie went to the warehouse where they get some rabbit food much cheaper than in the stores, and while there, they found a small dog collar that goes around and through the front legs. We tried it out on Rusty, he doesn't walk like a puppy in the leash, but he'll get used to it. Even if he'll never follow like a dog, the kids have fun with it, and Cassie will train him on it, making it safe and easy to take him outside to hop around.

While we were playing with Rusty, Benjamin took advantage of daddy being on the floor, and asked him to play horse for awhile.He looks so happy and satisfied on the pictures below..