Blog Entry 11-Humans aren’t the only Ones with Special Needs

 There are many special need rabbits out there.  They can’t survive on their own and need human intervention to aid in their survival.  This has to do with the domestication of the rabbit, which the animal study theorists suggest makes the domesticated animal completely dependent on humans for their own survival especially with domesticated rabbits, if they are released into the wild, they have a high chance of dying because these special needs aren’t addressed.
Daisy saved a rabbit named Mammoth from GI stasis. She stayed up with him for twenty four hours and treated his malocclusion which was preventing him from eating which caused him to go into GI stasis in the first place. Luckily he came out of the condition and is alive today and happily living at his home in Simi Valley.  Malocclusion is a special needs issue in domestic rabbits.  It’s when a rabbit’s teeth are crooked, and can’t be filed down properly.  Rabbit teeth never stop growing, and when they can’t keep them filed, they turn into tusks and prevent them from eating. Oddy, a current female rabbit at the shelter has a malocclusion as well.
Other disabilities besides malocclusion occur in our shelter as well. Skipper came to the vet’s office with something wrong with his eye and I am not aware of the specific circumstances of why Skipper lost his eye, but this lead to the removal of it.  With rabbits that are blind, humans need to approach them slowly because they see differently from humans who stare straight ahead, compared to rabbits who have eyes that stare in two opposite directions.  Without vision they are scared and more vulnerable.  If you are reaching for a blind rabbit and they can see out of one of their other eyes, you need to make sure you show them your hand to the side of their face that is not blinded. And be very slow picking them up.