Bringing Easter mood to Cotton

Easter Sunday is around the corner - coming weekend on 20-Apr. Cold Storage supermart brought in their latest car accessories decor - Bunny ears and nose, after the sell-out success of last year Reindeer car decor during Christmas time.

I just have to have it to decor Cotton's playpen and it cost $9.90. So we did and now the decor is affixed to his playpen but Cotton seems nonchalant about it. At one time, he was just curious what's hanging there to check out if it's food/treat, I guess. After that, he totally not amused and life goes on for him. Hmmmmm....but his mummy (yours truly) like it very much hahahaha. 

New fresh vegetable treat this week

New fresh vegetables treats for Cotton this week!

New varieties bought to add to other existing tried and tested vegetables: Rosemary, Sage, alfalfa sprouts with radish, Belgium Endive and peeled carrots. I

Alfalfa Sprout with radish

Peeled carrots

I forgot to take pictures of other fresh vegetables but I think readers can always google what they are :p. 

What excites me about this week fresh vegetable treats is, I did not do any vegetable wraps for Cotton. 

Previously, I had to do vegetable wrap method because Cotton would not eat fresh vegetables but herbs. So I have to wrap the leafy vegetable with herbs (see my previous entry) to trick him eating them and it worked. I did the vegetable wrap for 3x and this week, it's time to test if Cotton now used to eating his leafy vegetables without the wrap and he did! 

And Cotton finishes the bowlful of vegetables with his signature bowl flipping act.

Cotton has a sweet tooth and naturally he aimed for his carrots first. Uncle Hubby and I were initially concerned if he would be able to finish the pack of peeled carrots before the expiry date and our worries again proven unfounded. As the fresh vegetables provided him the liquid he needed from eating the dry grass and pellets, his water intake from the water bottle proportionally becomes lesser. 

Cotton did not waste my hard-earned money indeed. He's such an intelligent and glutton furkid. Love him very much

 

Cotton going to his Grandparents' house

Uncle Hubby and I brought Cotton out yesterday to celebrate his granddad's birthday. I understand that bringing bunnies out can be a stressful situation for both the furkids and bun parents. I did my risk calculation and find this trip worth the small stress that Cotton was going through.

To let Cotton be receptive towards going into the carrier prior to set-off, I added some of his favourite treats and pellets in the carrier and lured him in. Then stroked him to calm him so that he would not jump out of the carrier. I kept stroking him while zipping the carrier so that he would not be shocked by any sudden action around him.

The journey will take 15mins of bus ride or 5mins cab ride. We took bus on the way to Grandparents' house because of the cab peak hour charges and took cab home later that night. So basically, Cotton needs to tolerate just 15mins of enclosure and after that, he would enjoy total freedom of 3hours after that. He also brought so much joys to his grandparents and he also gotten to eat carrots for the first time and fed by his granddad.

Before taking the bus to the grandparents' house, we had to buy the birthday cake. So while Uncle Hubby was buying the cake (pets are not allowed and is illegal to be brought at eatery areas), Cotton and I went to seek solace at the Guardian Pharmacy. I realized that Cotton was so memorized by the cosmetic neon light because he was starred-gazing quietly and stoically. Usually he would move in the carrier bag with some movement but not when he was in front of the cosmetic neon light counter. The carrier was placed on the floor.
 

Cotton was memorized with the Maybelline neon lights

During the bumpy bus ride, Cotton was instinctively lying low and flat at the carrier and I gave him massages and strokes to give him some assurance.

Massaging Cotton to reduce his stress level

When Cotton reached his grandparents' house, wah-lah.....! Cotton happily exploring the whole house except the kitchen.

Cotton exploring around his Gram's house

His grandparents had carrots and they cut a few slices for Cotton to eat. I told them I have never given Cotton carrots before but we could try. Turned out, he loved the carrots. Cotton is also very practical - once he finished all the carrots treats from his granddad's hands, he scoffed off.

Cotton ate the carrot his grandparents cut for him.

Cotton's granddad feeding him and Cotton fled once carrot was finished

Most of the time, Cotton rested under the sofa and his granddad said he looks handsome in that position.

 

Hiding under the sofa

Granddad also carried Cotton and he really behaved very well. He virtually did not put up any struggle at all. His granddad was so impressed with his gentle and tamed demure. When granddad was carrying Cotton, he felt Cotton was like a baby - the weight and size.  

Cotton was carried by his granddad

Grandparents wanted to share the cake with Cotton to reward him of his good behaviour but we said NO. hahahaha

Birthday cake for his granddad

More pictures posing for Cotton.

The men in the family

Cotton smooching his granddad to wish him a happy 83th birthday!

 

Cotton gave his granddad a birthday kiss

Later that night, Cotton was also tired and he slept near his daddy. I am so jealous......

 

Cotton slept near to his daddy that day

Cotton does bite at times.....argh!

Rearing Cotton is not a bed of roses. There were a few occasions where he does bit me but rest assured that Cotton is not an aggressive and unfriendly bun. He is 99% of the time tamed and obedient but there will be 1% of the time where he is pretty moody, uncooperative and fierce.

The latest biting incident was this morning when I was changing his litter box. He was sleeping (eyes closed in his chicken-lay-egg position) at the AC bedroom and I went to change his litter box. While removing his used litter box with the fresh box, suddenly he appeared. He sure has a great scent of smell! He was looking expectantly for his food and I gave it to him. He ate with his butt outside of his litter box and I moved him and I always do that with him without issue but not this morning. He did move into the litter box but he started to dig his fresh hays but I just cleaned and changed his litter box! So I began to pick up the hays with my left hand that were thrown our of the litter box to put them back and that's when he started to bite my left hand. That's really unexpected and unanticipated.

I was mad, he was mad. So I cradled him and spanked his backside (gently of course) and I could hear him puffing with his noise. I could not let him go off now because of Dog Whisperer's tips - cannot stop when the pet is at level 10....only stop when they are at level 5 or lower. So I carried him until no more puffing and he became submissive.
 

First time I saw blood from his bite this morning

 

Those teeth of his.....love-hate relationship at the same time

The last time he bitten me was about a month ago when I was laying him to rest at my legs. Before you tried to scold me as "asking for it", I must say that I had him rested at my legs without issue the previous 2 days and he even licked my legs. However, not for that day and after that 2 bites (because I tried twice), I do not let him rest at my legs anymore and whenever he is neared my legs, I will naturally and instinctively move away.  

 

2 deep bruise purple spots - he bit me twice at my right thigh when I tried to lay him at my legs

Indeed, Cotton is pretty scared of me after that and also rather wary of me. Disciplinary is a double edged sword at times, especially if it is under an Asian Disciplinary :p. Chinese has a saying: 不打不成材 (literary translated as No Spanking, No Gain). I believe Cotton knows I love him and over the time, he will get used to my style as well. We have a great improvement together - not forgetting that when I first saw him at SPCA, he was totally timid such that afraid of noise and human interaction. Plus Cotton does not bear grudges because he still takes treats from us. He has great personality 99% of the time and I must be wary of his 1% of the bad days.        

A new and GREEN hideout for Cotton

Uncle Hubby built a house hide-out for Cotton today! Yay!

It's green because it is really green in color and environmental friendly green as it is made from the A4 paper box. It is a really simple home project and took Uncle Hubby about 15mins to build. And ta-da - the green house is ready for Cotton to test and use.
 

The final product - the front door

The side of the green house

The green house is placed at his playpen

Cotton was invited into his new green house for him to inspect

Cotton inspecting the roof of the green house...

Cotton checking out the back of the green house....

Cotton has a verdict. He is thinking....

Still thinking.....

Cotton: "I really cannot believe my eyes that Daddy built me a green house!"

Cotton checking out the external structure of the green house

Did we have a winner? *Drum rolls*
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No. Booooooo hoooooo hooooo
I am currently experimenting with Cotton where to place the green house so that he will be comfortable to use it. Maybe it is still new to him and needs the time to get used to it. Cotton has his mind and preference of his own at times.



Cotton still prefers his wooden lodge resting spot

5th - 7th nights of night time free roaming for Cotton

Last night was Cotton's 7th night of free roaming without supervision around the house and we did a little experiment to prove our initial hypothesis that - he totally loves the AC (air-conditioned) and it can calm and makes him very obedient.

On his 5th night, we decided not to turn on the AC because earlier in the evening, it was raining heavily so the weather was cool - no point to turn on the AC. We also thought it was a good opportunity to observe Cotton's behaviour on AC-less day.

When we released Cotton from his playpen that night, he dashed to his favourite spot at our room - within our expectations. However, after a while, he went back to his playpen and so I had to "invite" and "escorted" him to our bedroom. I slept quite early that night at about 9pm or so while Uncle Hubby slept later at midnight and he told me in the following morning what he observed Cotton between 9pm and 12am.

Uncle Hubby said Cotton was initially lying on his favourite spot and after near an hour or less, Cotton became active and went to the other bedrooms. Then after a while, he came back to our room and wondered around before going to the other bedrooms again. He did this 'strange' behaviour for a while and before Uncle Hubby was turning in for the night and went to the kitchen for a sip of water, he saw Cotton in one of the other bedrooms sniffing stuffs around, seemingly searching for something.

At the middle of the night, Uncle Hubby was awoken by Cotton's activity who was in our bedroom. According to him, Cotton was digging around his favourite spot and at one point, hit/kick our bed devan quite hard. However, I was too deep asleep that I had no knowledge of the hitting bed devan incident. Uncle Hubby said I slept like a pig....hmph!

The next morning when I awoke, Cotton was at his playpen - quite unusual compared to his 1st - 4th night previously. He was at his playpen looking around behaviour before he hopped to his litter box for his breakfast and rested at his playpen.

On his 6th night, we turned on the AC for the night and Cotton did not enter immediately but continued resting at his playpen. This time, I did not personally invite him and waited instead. Indeed, after 5-10mins later, Cotton entered our bedroom and wondered around for a while before he rested at his favourite spot. That night, he roamed in-out of our bedroom quite often but we did not bother much and continue our sleeps. And in the next morning, guess where did I find Cotton? Yea, you got it - at his favourite spot in our bedroom. Haha

Pellets variety for Cotton

Ahhhhh! I finally found PLC Clementi selling Oxbow essential pellets for Adult Rabbit at smaller packing size, 2.25 Ibs! With the membership discounts, I paid $18,90 for the pack. Honestly, with that price, I rather stick to buy Oxbow Natural Sciences Adult Rabbit pellets at Beary.com.sg which charges $20, where PLC charges $24. Natural Sciences pellets contains more nutrients than the Essential range.

I mixed the 2 bags of pellets when I am changing his litter box. Apparently, Cotton loves both pellets and eat them first than Hays. Cotton is really well-fed now.