Who knew this was a thing?

That tan piece of cloth with the bunny hork on it is part of an ingenious solution to help alleviate Simon's newly recognized separation anxiety.  Yeah, we didn't know it was a thing either until one evening I was preparing some food for the next night's dinner and was out of Simon's line of sight.  Within 10 minutes of me "not being there" he started to thump rather loudly and insistently (much like he does whenever I would go to bed at night).  It was then that I noticed the pattern of timing and this only ever happening at night after the sun had gone down...

I asked my husband to do a quick Google search for rabbit separation anxiety (so I could still be out of his line of sight) and darned if there weren't similar stories from other people.
As an aside, you can see the foam furniture padding we placed under his cage to help damp the noise a bit (along with their kitten brush and the ridiculous amount of fur they produce during a heavy shed in the baggie--hey, it keeps it from going everywhere and gets tossed when it's full).

We found some tips and tricks to help lessen this all night random thumping that has been going on since November.  Here's the link to my original post:  http://bunnies-and-sunshine.blogspot.com/2012/11/no-simon-thats-bad-simon.html
Quite honestly, we were at the end of our rope at this point and I had no problem giving the little fuzzball the shirt off of my back if it would help solve the problem (I had only gotten a few hours of sleep per night for over a week, so the 2 hours of interrupted sleep the night prior due to the thumping had me wanting to cry I was so frustrated with him). 
It was clear that he wasn't afraid of anything or in pain, just that he wanted (or needed)  my attention.  We were both so tired of the thumping that our gallows humor kicked in and resulted in giving Simon the motto:  "When in doubt, thump it out!" 
What you see Simon playing with is a tee shirt that has my scent on it (I literally gave him the shirt off of my back that evening).  He never chews holes in it like the other cloth pieces in his cage, just nibbles it to shape it and gets bunny hork all over it before snuggling with it like a security blanket.

The combination of the shirt and ignoring the thumping (not giving him positive reinforcement for that behavior) has really helped decrease the night time thumping.
I'll be honest, the first night made us wonder if this was doing anything at all (I think it got worse because he realized we were ignoring him), but over the next few days, the frequency and duration of the thumping started to decrease and after about a week, we only noticed him thumping in the morning when someone's alarm went off/a light turned on so he knew one of us was awake (and he tried to demand early pellets from us).  This has gone on for a couple of months now, so I really think this combination of tactics is working for us.
We're still working on stopping him from making the morning noise, but it's happening less often now and we've managed a few nights strung together of no thumping at all, so that's a start.  The only time we find his behavior getting a bit worse is when we have visitors or there's some change to the normal routine, but it reverts back to normal within a few days.
Uninterrupted sleep is awesome!

Bunny vs Food.

Simon is attempting to shove the entire hay cube into his mouth at once (apparently, they really are that tasty).  River is relegated to the cheering section and is sadly looking on with a face that says, "But I want some too!"
The bunny won in this epic battle by changing tactics and eating the hay cube like a normal bunny would instead of attempting to snarf it up in one go.
Epilogue:  Since we've discovered that Simon isn't good at sharing, we gave River her own hay cube and all was right with the world again.   

Happy 4th of July!

Now that's a finale!

We just wanted to wish everyone a very safe and Happy 4th of July!  Have a great weekend and we'll be back on Monday.

Soon.

Simon's inquiring mind wants to know exactly what River is plotting.  I have to admit that I'm a tad bit curious as well.

Mind if I join you?

Simon:  I fit like a glove!
River:  I can't breathe.
This is what happens when two bunnies try to fit in the 4 inch gap between the table leg and the chair.  Neither looked very comfortable but they stayed like that for a good 10 minutes.

More tummy troubles...

I noticed River had eaten less than usual and had started pressing her belly into the ground late on Saturday evening.  She had just started a heavy shed and I suspect that she ingested a bit too much hair while grooming (even after being brushed once a day) and was suffering from early GI stasis because her belly was still soft and doughy feeling.
I had let them both out for yard time to see if she would move about and to see if Simon could lift her spirits a bit.  She immediately made a bee-line for the couch and hopped up on her own, which surprised me. 

Simon kept going over to nuzzle and groom her, but River wouldn't leave her spot on the couch.  I think the cushions felt good on her tummy.  I eventually had to herd Simon away because he wouldn't stop racing back and forth on the couch trying to get River to join him in a game of tag.

Look closely at these pictures.  This is what a bunny with colicky abdominal pain looks like.  Her eyes are a bit squinted, her muzzle is pinched-looking (not the typical rounded shape it should be), and her body is tense and you can see she is pressing her belly into the cushion.  If you ever see your rabbit look like this, you need to act quickly.
Here's what I did:

• Aspirin to relieve pain (NOT the chewable baby aspirin because it has artificial sweetener that can be bad for rabbits).  This is a weight-dependent dosage.  She weighs 3 pounds and I gave her 1/8 of a 325 mg tablet in 2 ml of mint tea.  Here's a link to the drug calculator for rabbits that I used:  http://www.morfz.com/rx/drugcalc.html.  I would err on the side of under-dosing and always check with your veterinarian first about the drug and dosage.
• Simethicone to relieve pressure and bloating from gas.  I gave her 0.4cc of our store brand version of Myalanta Maximum Strength.  I gave her a second dose about 3 hours later (I waited to see if the first dose had any effect and I didn't want to overcrowd her stomach with medicine--because she's so small--if I wanted her to eat and drink).  Here are some good resources for using simethicone for gas and GI stasis:  http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/se-pennsylvania/GIStasis.htm and http://rabbitsinthehouse.org/newsletter/HRS-HelpMeMakeIt.pdf
• Kept tabs on her body temperature.  A rabbit's ears are their way of dissipating heat, so if they feel cooler than normal, it's a sign of shock and you need to get their body temperature back up.  It's also a good idea to have an appropriate thermometer and know how to use it to check their temperature.  I used a warm water bottle and placed it next to her for a half an hour to get her temperature back to normal.  Don't leave them unsupervised if you're using any warming device to avoid the risk of heat stroke if they get too warm!
• Gentle belly rubs to help break up the gas bubbles in her tummy and help stimulate her GI tract to keep moving.

It was a very long day.  I'm sure a good bit of the aspirin and the first dose of simethicone ended up dribbled down her chin.  I would give her belly rubs a few times an hour for as long as she would stay still.  Poor little one was exhausted and listless for a good bit of the day.  She would constantly change position in her cage and hang out in the litter box (unusual behavior for her) and kept pressing her belly into the floor and grinding her teeth in pain until the aspirin kicked in.

She finally started to feel better after the second dose of simethicone (she got the full dose with none escaping her mouth).  She stopped pressing her belly to the ground and was able to get some sleep.  We were lucky that she started eating hay and drinking on her own again by 5am, which was the cut-off point for me to start force-feeding her.  She started using the litter box again about 5 hours after that.

From now on, both get brushed twice a day during a shed and get their pellet ration reduced slightly to encourage more Timothy hay consumption.  It is ridiculous how quickly they'll go into a shed when the temperature changes!  So, take this post as a helpful PSA on the importance of brushing your bunny's fur frequently during a heavy shed.  Once a day is not enough sometimes.

River is (thankfully) on the mend and binkying up a storm!  I decided to set out some cold, unsweetened mint tea to encourage her to drink more.  Here she is with Simon having a spot of tea.

Simon was being a bit of a piglet about drinking the mint tea and this was his clever way of distracting River from drinking it.  He discovered that if he started grooming her, she would bring her head up and consequently not drink any more tea while he kept at it.  I eventually had to herd him away so River could drink uninterrupted after they got into a shoving match over the tea.  It's good to see that she's back to her old self again!

I am bunny, hear me roar!

I came across this baby pic of River and just had to post it.  Bunny yawns really do make them look possessed, don't they?