Hi Friend,
Just getting ready to go visit the nursing home tomorrow with two bunnies. We are bringing Cinnamon and Grumbellina. Grumbellina is my Cuddlebunny who is seen in a few photos in the blog. Her personality, looks and sweetness don't match her name, Thank Goodness. Grumbellina can be nasty to other bunnies, except Cinnamon. She seems to "respect" him more than like him. They are both lops. They are both neutered, so any "loving" behavior won't be creating baby bunnies. He tries to do that when they are together sometimes. In the somewhat stressful situation, both bunnies will get along very well and are "supportive" of each other. The more regularly our bunnies did this in the past, the more at ease they became with it. Cinnamon and Grumbellina are our pros at this in the most recent past.
We will post pictures of Cinnamon from the visit tomorrow. Cinnamon is an interesting bunny, who is more comfortable in all situations than any bunny I've seen, except for being held a long time by us. We bring him along because he doesn't need to be held. He will get pet by people seeing him in the top loading carrier. He will probably let one of us hold him near other people to be petted also. Just not like the long periods of time Grumbellina would.
Depending on the situation, the bunnies may be able to get some run around time also, to show off their antics. They can be most entertaining, especially for the older people that tend to think of the bunnies as outdoor hutch animals! It is great to enlighten people of any age!
I used to have a resident, in one nursing home that I worked at, that was in the beginning to mid stages of Alzheimer's disease. He used to tell his visiting wife about the bunnies that would come and visit him in his room. She thought he was seeing or thinking something that wasn't really occuring, except for in his mind. Imagine her surprise when I knocked on his door and wheeled in a cart with two bunnies in carriers on top of coming to visit. She pulled me aside, told me of his rabbit "ramblings" and then said that she guessed that not everything he said was inaccurate. It was nice to give them a new experience to share and talk about instead of just relying on trying to remember good things from the past. I think it was so out of the ordinary for him to see something like the bunnies in an institutional setting and that it was a pleasurable experience that it helped him to remember it much easier.
Well, I am getting ready to hit the hay, so I will close for now. Thanks for stopping by and sharing these experiences with me.
Til next time,
Mary Ellen
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