All posts tagged: rabbit

Tofu Tuesday: Blindness diary. Week 1

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Week 1 First week of blindness in both eyes, we all had to adapt. I admit, the first few times I saw him run into things, it was a funny sight but now it breaks my heart. However, blindness doesn’t stop Tofu from running at full speed. What a brave wee soul. A common collision is when he’s running at full speed down our hallway and we have a clothes horse set up. Even with perfect vision, a bunny would have trouble seeing the skinny legs of a clothes horse and the problem is that the clothes horse is not always up. It’s not in his memory so he forgets to put it in his mind’s eye. If we can find a new place to put the clothes horse, we could eliminate this problem. Tofu’s “raisins” can be found littered around outside his hutch. We keep his litter tray inside his hutch and most time he goes to the toilet in there. It’s hard to say if it’s blindness or if he is marking out …

Tofu Tuesday: Blindness diary – Intro

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“Love was kind, for a time Now just aches, and it makes me blind This mirrors haunts, by eyes too bright That I can’t see the others in my life” – MUMFORD & SONS, Lover’s Eyes In January this year, we noticed a cloudy white cataract appear in one of Tofu’s eyes and few months later, another cataract formed in his other eye. We took him to the vet were given eye drops. Eye drops neither cured it or harmed it, but helped the weepiness some. Now that Tofu is blind in not one, but both eyes, things are a little different in his world. The cause Cataracts (also known in bunnies as moon eyes) cause vision to become cloudy and can result in blindness. Since the size of Tofu’s cataracts fluctuate, his eyes are still searching for light which means he may see light, but the picture is severely impaired. Cataracts can appear with age and Tofu is 4 years old. While rabbits can live over 10 years, it’s hard to say how old the average …

Tofu Tuesday: How to give bunny a bath (and a recipe for a bunny burrito)

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Rabbits spend much of the day grooming themselves, but as they get older or rounder or sick, they may have trouble keeping their bottoms clean. When Tofu’s bum gets messy, he gets a bath. We usually bathe Tofu in the bathroom sink and it’s a two person job. But recently I bathed Tofu in the bath and found that it can easily be a one person job. Important: Get everything ready before you start. Never leave a rabbit unattended in water. Here are detailed instructions on how I bathe Tofu. Every bunny is different. Tofu doesn’t panic around water, he panics if he feels unsecure. Your rabbit might be different. The different smells, sights and water might be too much for him or her. Use this as a guide and use your best judgement. We have tried blowdrying Tofu, but he is very fluffy for a rabbit. It takes a really, really long time. If your rabbit is less fluffy, you could try blowdrying, but I find that the bunny burrito method works quite well …

Tofu Tuesday: Grass bunny

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A couple of weeks ago, this grass bunny made a journey from Australia to New Zealand, courtesy of Cass from the food blog Food My Friend. Cass is the proud owner of a lop called Flatpac. You can see Flatpac Fridays here in case you need a bunny booster if Tofu Tuesdays isn’t quite enough 🙂 Everyone at home loves the grass bunny. Including Tofu. Thanks Cass! Check out previous Tofu Tuesday posts here.

Monday Bunday: Jose Ortiz

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This illustration by Jose Ortiz for client Linguagraphics makes me smile. Black cats and white rabbits are both recognized for their magical properties. The black cat as a witch’s familiar and the white rabbit as the magicians sidekick. Jose’s slick portofolio has a clean, cool finish and bears the hand of a perfectionist. His work can be found on his website www.jofolio.com.

Tofu Tuesday: Japanese Art Festival Edition

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For the past 3 years, The Koala and I have been heavily involved with the Japanese Art Festival. Neither of us are Japanese, but we have a fondness of Japanese art, culture and food. It all began when a friend who was helping with the organisation for 2010’s festival asked if we wanted to submit some artwork. Since then, we’ve not only submitted work, but also branded, advertised, promoted and helped to organise different aspects of the event. The festival was well advertised this year with flyers and posters distributed all across Auckland, magazine advertising, radio advertising, and of course the mother of all advertising for free events: Facebook. It’s a fairly big task logistically and it all paid off seeing all the people that came to the festival to enjoy the art and various events over the 3 days. It’s been a great learning curve for us and it’s great to have a hand in something like this. The festival is now in its fourth year and is held at the Aotea Centre in the heart …

Tofu Tuesday: A Sneak Peek

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A sneak peek at at one of the pieces I will be exhibiting at the Japanese Art Festival at Aotea Centre this weekend. For those of you in Auckland, the Japanese Art Festival starts this Friday and runs through until Sunday. There are lots of things to see and do on top of all the wonderful art from both Japan and New Zealand. There is a Dr Sketchy anti-art school drawing session at 1pm on Saturday. I’m a big fan of Dr Sketchy and love their macabre flavour of life drawing class. Taiko drumming demonstration on Aotea Square at 1.30pm on Sunday is guaranteed to give you goosebumps. If you missed it last year, the acoustics at Aotea Square are incredible and the drumming is not to be missed. For more information, visit the Japanese Art Festival Facebook page here. Dr Sketchy Auckland runs once a month and you can view their website here. Check out previous Tofu Tuesday posts here.

Tofu Tuesday: Dougal

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Dougal the fluffy ginger cat lives next door, but spends a lot of time in our front yard (where Tofu the bunny does not hang out). Dougal is a cowardly lion. At first, he would never let us near him but has since gotten used to us and he now permits patting. Every now and then, Dougal will come into the back yard, but he is sure to give Tofu a very wide berth. I snapped this photo of Dougal on our deck and Tofu (oblivious) on the ground below. Check out previous Tofu Tuesday posts here.

Monday Bunday: Corker Bunny

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I’m sure many of you as children at adult dinner parties made fun creatures out of the cork and wire from a bottle of bubbles. Well, here is a step up from that. Introducing Corker Bunny! So sweet. An original addition to the wine bottle you bring to dinner. Bring your dinner party and your bottle corks to life with these cute, collectable animal parts. Each pack includes the body parts required for one Corker. Available in 6 designs: Monkey, Deer, Buffalo, Bear, Bunny & Crow.  Cork not included Available at Animica USA for just $7.99US with free shipping worldwide!

Tofu Tuesday: The Ninja Cat

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Since this post, Tofu seems to be happy and adapting to being blind on one side. He doesn’t jump up onto our bed as much as he used to and he’s easy to catch when we want to bring him inside. But he’s a happy bunny and enjoys everything he did before blindness. He still comes in on his own and finds his way easily around the house. We have noticed a cloudiness over his good eye now too. This seems to come and go and we aren’t sure if it’s going to deteriorate to blindness too. For now, Tofu can still seem to make out shapes and light enough to interact with others. Including Georgie. We suspect that Tofu can see Georgie, he’s just humouring him. See past episodes of Tofu and Georgie here and their initial post here.

Tofu Tuesday: The Island of Hooha

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We had an amazing weekend at Splore Festival over the weekend. This year’s theme was The Island of Hooha and it was great seeing everyone dress up for the occasion. Tofu didn’t come to Splore but he still posed for a few photos with us in our costumes. Here he is with the Safari Explorer.         Check out previous Tofu Tuesday posts here.

Monday Bunday: Bunny Cologne

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An advertisement by Grey in Indonesia for a pet cologne. I suppose the concept is to show that the house bunny has been everywhere in the room. I dunno about pet cologne, Tofu smells like a soft toy usually, but smells like a woolen jumper when he’s been in the rain. I wonder how many variations pet cologne comes in?

Tofu Tuesday: Nothing to see here

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A couple of weeks ago, we noticed a white spot over one of Tofu’s eyes. It looked like a cataract and dilated at different times of the day. When we visited the vet, she said the damage could be permanent and supplied some eye drops. Dilating means that he is getting some light in there and the pupil is reacting. That’s promising. Tofu doesn’t seem bothered by the lack of sight in one eye. He’s his usual happy self and if anything, it makes it easier to wrangle him up at night. I don’t think he misses his full sight, he’s just adapted to function without. Being blind in one side is bad for a wild rabbit, but for rabbit that runs the entire backyard as his own domain, it’s not a problem. So no image this week. In honour of Tofu’s blind side. Check out previous Tofu Tuesday posts here.