February 2012 Newsletter Issue 14 www.fatfluffs.com Registered charity no 1124870 News from Fat Fluffs HQ It has been a slow Winter as usual and rehoming has lessened but now as we are moving towards Spring happily things are starting to pick up again and there have been eight bonds recently at HQ resulting in some great homes for our buns. We lost a few of the Fat Fluffs towards the end of last year and Jasper, Miffy and Lucy are sadly missed but were a joy to have with us for the time they were here. Despite everything else going on the day-to-day upkeep of the buns in our care remains our priority and Jo has been working hard all winter to ensure they are kept happy, fed, exercised and loved. There are days when she has the difficult task of looking after the barn on her own and we are always on the lookout for people who might be able to give their time maybe twice a month to pop in and help out with various aspects of their day to day care. If you have a few hours spare once a week or fortnight and think you might like to spend it drinking tea and giving some bunnies a bit of love please drop Vickie an e-mail (volunteer@fatfluffs.com) we'd love to hear from you. We have got a busy year ahead of us and we are very much looking forward to the challenges and rewards it will bring. Thank you to everyone who has given their time and resources to help us get this far and we look forward to seeing you over the course of 2012. Chloe Fluff Fat Fluffs is a rabbit rescue and sanctuary based in Solihull in the West Midlands. We take in all sorts of rabbits and, as far as possible, we find them loving forever homes. For those with more challenging personalities, or continuing health problems, we provide sanctuary for them here and they stay as part of our family.
Events Update The Christmas and winter period is always quieter on the events front but the diary is already beginning to fill up for 2012 and it s sure to be another busy year! Dates for your diary February Sunday 12 th Love Your Bunny #4 @ Fat Fluffs HQ, Solihull 12pm-4pm March Saturday 10 th Charity Bag Pack @ Morrisons Supermarket, Solihull B91 3BQ 10am-4pm Saturday 24 th North Worcester Family Rabbit Show @ Kidderminster Town Hall DY10 2BL 10am-12pm May Monday 7 th Fat Fluffs Bunny Bonanza @ Hatton Country World, Hatton CV35 8XA 10am-4.30pm More dates to be confirmed On December 3 rd we welcomed lots of friends, old and new, to FF HQ for our 4 th Fat Fluffs Festive Fundraiser (FFFF). As always it was cold, but we were lucky that it remained dry and everyone was able to enjoy the garden and meet the buns in the barn. The BBQ was delicious, the trading tent busy and lots of prizes were won on the tombola. Long-term foster bunnies Laurel & Beckham were pleased to meet lots of admirers in the conservatory and visitors young and old were able to chat about bunnies to their hearts content! A fantastic sum of just over 640 was taken on the day which has made a real difference to caring for the sanctuary and rescue bunnies over the cold winter months. If you know or hear of any events we could attend we d love to hear from you. Please contact abi@fatfluffs.com www.fatfluffs.com Please remember to check out our website and blog for regular news and updates. We also have an online shop Recycle your Mobiles & Cartridges As well as helping the environment, Fat Fluffs can benefit from recycling your mobiles and printer cartridges. Contact vickie@fatfluffs.com for more details We DESPERATELY need lots of pairs of hands to support our charity bag pack at Morrisons supermarket in Solihull on Saturday, March 10 th between 10am and 4pm. We have carried out two previous bag packs, each netting in excess of 750 so it really is a fantastic fundraising opportunity for us and an invaluable chance to market the Fat Fluffs name. So if you re up for lending-a-hand PLEASE volunteer no experience necessary and it really is rather fascinating to see what people buy in their weekly shop! Go to www.tinyurl.com/fatfluffsbagpack2012 and let us know what times you can do and please do rope in other people, including the kids! Any questions then just drop me an e-mail: abi@fatfluffs.com Thanks, Abi Fluff Please support Fat Fluffs on ebay ebay sellers can support us by donating a percentage of the item sale to support FF. We now have official charity status through Mission Fish www.twitter.com/fatfluffs Welcome To Our New Fosterers Fat Fluffs would like to say a big thank you to our newest fosterers Heather McCulloch, Sam Rees-Boughton and Shabana Cengiz!! If you too are interested in fostering bunnies while they wait for their forever homes please contact foster@fatfluffs.com. If you ve adopted and wouldn t mind sharing your story, we d love to hear from you. Please send your story and, if possible, a photo to abi@fatfluffs.com. It would be great to hear how your buns are doing. More stories can be found at fatfluffs.com/articles.
Kiki Fat Fluffs, like many other rescue centres are generally full to bursting, and have a high demand for space due to the large number of un-wanted rabbits. We were contacted by the Blue Cross Animal Rescue last year as they wanted help with two pairs of rabbits that they felt could not be re-homed and would be better suited to joining our sanctuary group the `Fat Fluffs. Kiki was among them and once bonded into the group life with the Fat Fluffs was somewhat disruptive with the new buns causing trouble (which isn t too unusual for new additions), but they didn t appear to be the un-rehomable rabbits they came in labelled as. Being fit, well and friendly they were soon put up for adoption to be rehomed with their own partners. Kiki proved to be a little menace to the other buns when in with the Fat Fluffs and he didn t seem to enjoy living in the barn, much preferring the freedom of the garden. He was bonded with a variety of buns to see if he could find his own friend and but never seemed to settle down so we made the unusual decision to rehome him as a solo rabbit to live in a home on his own which is not something we recommended for the rabbits as they are very social animals. Kiki is a lovely lad who can be very shy initially but gains in confidence given time and is a friendly and sweet rabbit. He would suit an indoor home with someone who works from home or is retired, who spends a lot of time at home and can give him the company he would normally get from a bunny friend. He loves to have plenty of space to race around in and will try an escape any run or enclosure you put him in, much preferring to make a bid for freedom!! If you feel that you have the time and space to offer Kiki a home we would love to hear from you. Jo Fluff Milly-Boo Adopted by Katharine, March 2011 We adopted Milly Boo as company for our bunny Poppy after we sadly lost her friend Peanut. The initial bonding was nerve wracking but after reassuring phone calls from Chloe things soon settled down and they are now inseparable, chasing each other round and snuggling up together for a snooze. Milly has definitely come out of her shell and loves getting into mischief. She and Poppy take it in turns to be lookout for each other! She spends a lot of time relaxing, sprawled out in her run and in her new lookout spot in a plant pot. She loves racing around and binkying and her favourite game is to run from the top of the garden at full speed and leap through the patio doors running around the table then running straight back out and doing it all again, it's very entertaining to watch. Unwanted Gifts Always Gratefully Received! Please think about donating any of your unwanted gifts or other items to the Fat Fluffs tombola as this is a very successful fundraiser for us. If you have anything you can donate please e-mail Vickie@fatfluffs.com. Thank you! Can you spare a little time? We have lots of events planned. If you could spare us an hour or two to rattle a tin or help support the team, please email abi@fatfluffs.com and we ll be sure to put you to good use! Raise funds as you search Use easysearch every time you search the web and Fat Fluffs will get 50% of the fees paid by sponsors. fatfluffsrr.easysearch.org.uk Our Fat Fluffs sanctuary is home to numerous bunnies who cannot be rehomed for medical or social reasons. Arnold, Charlie Too, Dawn, Stripe and Nosey will live in the barn for the remainder of their natural lives. Dental bunnies Laurel and Beckham live in long-term foster care. All seven of these bunnies are looking for generous people to sponsor then through our Sponsor-a-bun scheme. To sponsor a long-term bunny we ask for a 24 donation for the year this can be a oneoff payment or you can set-up a standing order for 2/month. You will receive a welcome pack including a 2012 FF calendar, details of your chosen sponsor bun, a coaster, a keyring and a FF badge plus your bunny will send you a surprise on your birthday and at Christmas. Throughout the year your chosen bunny will then e-mail you new photographs and updates of what they have been up to Sponsoring a bunny makes an unusual gift for someone who has everything and they re always very welcome to come along to FF and meet their bun! For more details click on Sponsor a Bun on the website menu or go to: www.fatfluffs.com/donate/sponsor It's lovely to see them both so happy, we'd like to thank Fat Fluffs for all their help and for giving Milly and all the other Fluffs a second chance!
Conjunctivitis is probably the eye issue vets see most in rabbits and presents as an eye which is red, sore and has a sticky discharge. It can have many different causes, including bacterial infections and foreign bodies (which is a posh way of saying there is something stuck in the eye, often a piece of hay) but actually the most frequent is dental disease, of which gungey eyes can be the first sign. When a rabbit s teeth overgrow, they develop swollen, impacted roots and this can cause the tear ducts; which run from the corner of the eye to the inside of the nose (right over the teeth in a rabbit), to block. This blockage means the tears cannot drain, so they build up in the eye and are a prime site for bacteria to Eye Problems in Rabbits By Cat Henstridge BVSc MRCVS colonise. Your vet may treat eyes like this with antibiotics in the first instance but if it recurs, they will almost Sponsor a bun - Arnold certainly advise checking their teeth. Another treatment they could suggest is a Tear Duct Flush, which can be performed under local anesthetic. Rabbits can also suffer from cataracts, which becomes apparent when the lens of the eye becomes solid and white, and although there are many causes, one of the most common is E. Cuniculi, a parasitic infection which can easily be prevented with worming products from your vet. We all know how important our eyes are but to a rabbit, who as a prey animal likes to keep a watch out all the time, they are vital. So, if you ever notice any problems with them, you should always have them checked out by a vet as quickly as you can. Arnold came to Fat Fluffs with very overgrown front teeth and the vet advised we remove them, which we agreed was the best choice for him. Unfortunately the vets found they couldn't actually remove the teeth so when he was neutered a week later they did x-rays and found that his front tooth roots are actually fused, making extraction impossible. As a result Arnold has had to keep his front teeth and has them burred down every 2 and a half to 3 weeks depending on how they grow back. He is a happy little boy, full of energy and life and has joined the sanctuary bunnies where he will live out his life and receive the on-going dental treatment he needs. To sponsor a long-term bunny we ask for a 24 donation for the year this can be a one-off payment or you can set-up a standing order for 2/month. You will receive a welcome pack including a 2012 FF calendar, details of your chosen sponsor bun, a coaster, a keyring and a FF badge. Plus your bunny will send you a surprise on your birthday and at Christmas. Throughout the year your chosen bunny will e-mail you new photographs and updates of what they have been up to! Sponsoring a bunny makes an unusual gift for someone who has everything and they re always very welcome to come along to FF to meet their bun! For more details click on Sponsor a Bun on the website menu or go to www.fatfluffs.com/donate/sponsor
Fat Fluffs Trading Hi Everyone, we just wanted to highlight our 3 bestselling items to make sure everyone knows they are available to purchase. Fat Fluffs Hoodie 20 Calendars 7.50 Fat Fluffs Scarf 4 Also brand new to our shop we now also have the lovely Fat Fluff CD Clocks @ 10 each. At the Love Your Bunny event on the 12 th February we will have new samples of our Love Your Bunny logo 2012 which will be available to order at the event and will be on the web very soon too! To buy any of these items, or browse all of our other available products please visit our shop by navigating to the following address: http://www.fatfluffs.com/shop/ Sarah Fluff Thank you for helping our rabbits Some of the rabbits that come to us are either too unwell to be rehomed or have some emotional scars that just wont heal, so they stay here to be looked after and live happy lives. They are all neutered, as long as they are well enough, vaccinated routinely and given the vet care they need. If you would like to help support us in looking after these bunnies then please consider sponsoring a bunny for a year. It only costs 24. Name Address Email Signature I enclose a cheque for. as a donation. I would like to fundraise for Fat Fluffs. Please contact me. Postcode It is easy to do, just hit the donate button at the top right of the home page at www.fatfluffs.com. Alternatively, please complete this form and send it I wish to gift aid this donation and any further donations to Fat Fluffs. to us together with your donation. It could also make If you do not wish to receive any future Fat Fluffs information please tick here. a great gift for someone who loves bunnies or for someone who already has everything! Please make your cheque payable to Fat Fluffs Rabbit Rescue and send it to : Fat Fluffs Rabbit Rescue. 9 Moat Lane, Solihull, West Midlands. B91 2LN Date