Rabbit & Cavy News

What a crazy week this has been!  First of all, we had the arrival of our new computer, thanks to my friend Robert up in Alaska.  I’ve spent a couple days now setting it up and tweaking things so it is the way I like it - and boy, is this thing fast!  I didn’t realize my other computer was such a dinosaur until this arrived!  Well I now have no excuse to begin working on the websites again, that is, when I can squeeze out some time……

Saturday there is an all-lop triple show in Rockford, Illinois that we were planning to go to, and of course, there is the Lakeland Rabbit Breeder’s Association show at Elkhorn, WI on Sunday. 

We are leaning towards just going to Elkhorn at this moment - my life seems to be busier than I can manage lately and right now I don’t want to be gone for both weekend days.  Kelly also was invited to play lasertag Friday night, of all things, and there is also a high school dance Saturday night that all three kids want to go to.  Who am I to argue?  Actually I am looking forward to working on the computer for at least some of the time the kids are gone.

When we narrowed it down to one rabbit show this weekend, we at first were going to go to Rockford just because it is a triple show, but Saturday is just not looking good for any of the troups to be semi-awake after the Friday late night lazer tag.  Oh well.

I can say that the Miller’s, who are purchasing Emily from Kelly on Sunday, are getting a top notch show doe - she is just awesome - and we even venture to say she could win a best in show the way she is put together.  I am sure the Miller’s will be happy with her.  Kelly is happy she is going to a good home, but also a little regretful of selling her I guess - after all, she’d make a good showing at this year’s ARBA convention!  We hope the Miller’s will show her and gather some good points with this lovely doe! 

Recently, I quit smoking, hopefully for the final time.  This past month has been absolutely brutal for me - I’ve lost every iota of ambition that I ever had and it has been difficult to concentrate on just about everything - hence the lack of updating or working on our other website The Rabbit & Cavy Directory as I had planned.  I’ll get around to it soon since now I have the computer at my disposal.

The cold snap continues here - I think it came with my computer from Alaska….LOL

Happy weekend to you all.

cathy

Kelly and I were thinking of attending the rabbit show in Princeton, Illinois today, but the weather made us decide not to go.

It’s below zero right now and just downright brutal outside.  The show building is supposedly heated - but it can be hard on rabbits who are used to the cold, to be brought into a warmed building, then thrust back outside afterwards. 

Plus, there is always the concern of car trouble from this bitter cold weather, and who wants to be stranded somewhere in this?

Oh well, a triple lop show next weekend and Elkhorn - we are trying to decide which one to go to, as it looks like only one will fit into our busy schedule.

Stay warm!   Cathy

Usually by this time of the year, I have a full-blown case of cabin-fever - but I think it will bypass me.  It seems we have endless chores to do in the rabbitry lately; the cleaning is ever challenging, especially in this cold weather, and of course we have nails to trim, molting coats to groom and nestboxes to wash.

Show season is just around the corner now and we should be excited, but at this point, I am just trying to figure out how to arrange all my weekends to accomodate everything there is to do - in addition to the weekend rabbit shows, Jody has taken up playing airsoft - which is almost a type of roleplaying game, similar to civil war reenactement, but using modern day military uniforms and replica military and assault rifles that shoot non-lethal plastic bbs.  These ‘games’ are held throughout our state on weekend days so we have these to add into our schedule, not to mention the already-planned soccer games and soon-to-start high school track meets.  My head is spinning.

I really want to do two things most of all:  1)work on my websites using my new computer (yes, I have a guardian angel who saw to it that I needed a new computer…..one I could never afford on my own), and 2)breed and show my Polish rabbits.  But who am I to think I can expect to eek out some time for just my own pleasure??  foolish idea…..

Rabbits are all doing great, we have a couple of nice looking young Hollands that should be ready to show come April or so, and Kelly has two litters of French Lops almost ready to be weaned - her next new show string hopefully!

Kelly has sold out of all the rabbits she intended to sell, well actually, the last two she sold - she should of really kept them as we are going to the ARBA Convention this fall in Michigan, but she was convinced she’ll end up with some good stock from these litters she has now.  Hope she is right!

Bitter cold expected this weekend - button up everyone!

During our recent minor revision of our website, LaReau Lops & Cavies, we also included a new link section listing all our printable rabbit resources:  Basic Rabbit Care & Breeding booklet, Printable Rabbit Show Checklist to assist you in getting ready for a rabbit show, and just yesterday we added a basic Rabbit Show Entry Form to this link group. 

Our one page Rabbit Show Entry Form is fairly basic and contains info used at most rabbit shows I’ve been to in the Midwest region.  Since it is not an ARBA-approved form, you may want to check your show catalog to see if they require ARBA-approved show forms before you print and use this to enter a show.  You can find the form here:

http://www.lopsandcavies.com/pdf/Rabbit_Show_Entry_Form.pdf

Have a great Friday!

Over the past few days I’ve spent a little time updating some of the pages in our website, LaReau Lops & Cavies.

No major changes, and certainly no new pictures as of yet, but I did put an updated file into our pdf folder:  Checklist for Rabbit Shows.  This is a printable list anyone can use when they go to a rabbit show and has a checklist of all the common supplies you’ll need to bring.

Hope you enjoy it - good luck at your next rabbit show!

Cathy

Today I finally installed our new Rabbit Care booklet on our website.  You can find it here:

http://www.lopsandcavies.com/pdf/Rabbit_Care_Breeding_Book.pdf

This is the same booklet we hand out to new pet rabbit owners and new breeders who buy our stock, and it covers basic rabbit care for both pet owners and breeders.

We cover basic cages requirements and best places to keep your rabbit, along with tips for keeping bunny comfortable in a variety of weather conditions.

We also cover feeding, with info on rabbit pellets, hay and supplements, plus we discuss the importance of water.

We touch on rabbit behavior and habits and how to keep your rabbit happy with toys, excercise and play.

Several pages cover rabbit health and illness, and how to check your rabbit for health problems.

For new rabbit breeders, we have information on basic rabbit breeding and kindling plus tips for making pedigrees, culling rabbits and tattooing.

Lastly we offer descriptions of rabbit club types, how to join and how to show your rabbit at both 4-H fairs and ARBA rabbit shows.

We hope this booklet is helpful to you - our other book was downloaded a lot, despite it not being well-optimized (and very slow-loading) so we hope this recent improvement will make this booklet easier to download for those rabbit owners who want to use it!

Have a happy Turkey Day! 

Cathy

Finally, I’ve taken the time to run acrobat distiller and optimize the currently super large file of the Rabbit Care Booklet located on our website.

Initially I made this booklet to hand out to all new rabbit breeders and rabbit owners that buy from us.  Our booklet contains a lot of basic rabbit care information, health and illness info, feeding and grooming tips, plus how-to’s for beginning rabbit breeders. 

Soon after I made this booklet, I decided to put it on our website so others could use it too. 

In my haste to get it installed in my website, I neglected to optimize it for use on the web, making this booklet a very slow downloading file for users, and I am sure, frustrating….

The new file will load much much faster for you, plus I’ve added some info and modified a bit too. 

I’ll be putting this new file into my website either late tonight or tomorrow morning, providing I don’t have some other crazy task come ahead of it.

The old large file was downloaded an aweful lot, so I am hoping the new optimized Rabbit Care handout will be even more useful!

Visit our website tomorrow to see our new file! 

We decided not to go to De Witt, Iowa today for the River Bend Rabbit Club show.  I guess we just couldn’t get our act together yesterday and get everything ready.  We would have had to leave around 3:30 or 4:00 am today to get there early enough to get a spot inside the building and due to some unforseen circumstances yesterday - we just couldn’t finish all our chores in time.

Driving without enough sleep seems to be getting harder and harder for me.  When I was younger it seemed I could ‘party till the birds were singing’ and still function all the next day at work if I needed to.  Now….if I don’t get at least 5-6 hours of sleep, I become toast by 3 pm the next afternoon!

Coming home from this year’s WI State Convention proved to be one of those defining moments - having gone without much sleep that Friday night, then again Saturday night (we camped out of the van and my air mattress conveniently deflated at 3 am….) Sunday afternoon’s long drive home was almost treacherous.  I came very close to falling asleep while driving - what is scary is that it just creeps up on you without you being really aware of it - and all the sudden you ’snap’ awake and realize you can’t clearly remember driving for the past few seconds. 

So……I took this last warning seriously and now I am more inclined to skip a far-away rabbit show unless I can manage to get at least enough sleep so I can drive safely.  Yesterday was packed with so many errands and chores, I knew I couldn’t get everything done in time enough to get to sleep early, plus Kelly was invited to a large gaming party and wasn’t due to be home until 1 am Saturday night - so I knew Sunday would be a challenge for her too.

Oh well, I guess we’ll wait till February for the Elkhorn show - all our carriers and show equipment were already packed away for winter anyways.

Nice break for the bunnies too.

Good luck to you if you are going to this show - wish we were there too!

Cathy   LaReau Lops & Cavies

Kelly and I are thinking of driving down to De Witt, Iowa for a rabbit show on Sunday - I think it was this same show last year at this time, that we couldn’t go to because of the weather, and it looks like we’ll be getting more of the same this year too.  My van is like a bobsled in the snow so I prefer not to risk life and limb just to travel for a rabbit show: I guess we’ll have to wait and see what the weather is like.

I can barely remember how to get to De Witt from here - I think it was a fairly straight-forward drive though.  The last time I went, the show was held in a pretty small building at the fairgrounds, so I am hoping to arrive early enough to get a spot inside!

Kelly is probably doing pretty well in the French Lop youth standings right now, although only one show has been reported to the Lop Rabbit Club of America as of yet.  She’s got some nice French Lops out of these last litters.

Hope to see you in De Witt on Sunday!  Let us know if you are going-

Cathy

LaReau Lops & Cavies