Today's Bunny Visit to the Nursing Home & some Lessons...w/photos

Hi there,
I am a little disappointed about the nursing home visit to be honest today. Although it wasn't bad, I felt it wasn't great. Nothing went wrong, it's just that it could have been better. In some ways this is a good lesson on arranging a great visit and a mediocre one. My husband arranged it and not me. I know more of what to ask for than what he does. It would have better to be doing visits than have a room full of people. Part of the issue was that the people there had some mild memory issues and attention span issues and would have done better in a small group or an individual basis. We spoke about the rabbits,but were asked the same questions repeatedly about them. We were filling a bigger gap of time with the same material compared to what you would get in an individual visit of shorter duration. I believe it would have been a better quality experience for the individuals if I were repeating the answers to the questions for a briefer period of time with no more than three people at a time. With the memory issues are very short attention spans, also. People fall asleep and it is difficult to keep people focused for long periods of time in these situations
.

I know this from having worked 16 years in the field and having much schooling in it. The people still enjoyed the rabbits, but I personally don't think as much as they could have. In more individual situations, I have had people sing to the rabbits and tell great stories. I have done this in situations where I worked and knew people and have also volunteered in situations where I didn't know a thing about the people being visited and have seen similar results.

Keeping the visit to a small group or individual also helps the rabbits feel less threatened. This is perhaps the same with all animals. Also, visiting individuals might reach out to people who aren't usually people persons or group-oriented. Also, you might find people can be sick or bed bound-not really able to leave the room and they miss out totally otherwise. Those are the people who benefit most. Generally, in the nursing homes, these are the people, who probably need the most interaction and attention, and are the people least likely to receive it.

If you want more ideas and thoughts about ways to help enhance a visit, check out my last post from yesterday.

I like using top loading carriers instead of side door ones. The rabbits won't feel cornered and afraid when there is a hand reaching in, especially out of the environment that they are used to.


I planned on bringing 2 bunnies, but we brought 3. The ones I planned on bringing were Cinnamon and Grumbellina (the one in my profile photo). Cinnamon will not be pictured because he was just rebellious on producing those Kodak moments. Someday I will produce a photo of him, but just not today. Also pictured is Woody, the eight year old dwarf bunny. Woody liked attention, but was not quite the show stealer as much as the lops. It seems, in general, there are no all-around favorites. It just seems to be what the flow of the day is.

It is good to ask the staff to guide you to people. They know the people and can also help if they know someone might be rough with an animal. There were no problems today and I've found that the rabbits usually know and react to ones they will be uncomfortable with due to rougher handling. That is one thing that has always amazed me!

It is funny that some people asked if they were cats, dogs or hamsters also. Perhaps because the older generation is not as familiar with lops as they would be the more traditional rabbit with ears that stand up. If it seems like a safe situation and the staff allow and if your rabbit is not really a wetter on the floor, it can be really entertaining for them to run around on the floor. It is good to not have the residents of the home in the area walking or wheeling about in their wheel chairs in the area because it may cause an accident. Rabbits are extremely quick.

Although I sound a bit disappointed in today's visit, I do believe the people liked it. The people didn't want us to leave and wanted us to return, which we probably will. We just need to set some guidelines that would help benefit us, the rabbits and those being visited to make it the fullest experience for all. I also think it is good to use "first times" somewhere as a baseline on which to start for growing in experience and learning-whether its the first time doing something or the first time in a different setting, etc. It was not a bad experience.

Thank you for joining me. I would love to have feedback from you about this posting or any others. I will look at it! I want this to be a nice place to visit and want your feedback.
Thanks for joining me,
Til next time.
Mary Ellen

Our Bunny Visit to the Nursing Home is tomorrow morning...& an Alzheimer's patient and bunny story.

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

Going to do Rabbit Visits in Nursing Home on Friday.

Hi there,

At first I groaned because my husband made an appointment for Friday morning to do Rabbit Visits at a nursing home/assisted living center here in our town. It is something that I actually like doing but wasn't happy about it being the first thing I had to do on my first day off from work of the weekend. But now I am looking forward to it.

We bring some of our calmer bunnies and tell about the bunnies, let people tell us stories and let people pet the bunnies. The bunnies can always seem to tell which people are comfortable or perhaps have dementia and might be not of good judgement. I used to bring the bunnies to nursing homes that I worked at and volunteered at others. If you ever are thinking of doing it with a rabbit of your own, there are good things to think about and read before doing it. It is very rewarding to you and for the people being visited, but it can be very stressful to the bunnies. A bunny can also react from being overstressed or tired.

You can google the internet for different resources, but I would also look up the Delta Society and a book called "Life worth living"- a book about a philosophy and organization called Eden Alternative. It should be very helpful in testing rabbits for temperament and acclimating them to that type of work. We bring more than one rabbit. They help each other destress and provide some moral support. Having more than one bunny along also gives other bunnies a break.

Make sure they have plenty of water, pellets and hay with them. I also use a top loading carrier because the rabbits are much more comfortable coming in and out of that. They are less fearful. If you are visiting a large facility, I would try to do one wing or section one time and go back to do other places other days. That way it is less rushed and not overly stressful on the buns or you. Make sure you give your bunnies lots of praise, some treats and attention-during and after.
They will probably not want to be bothered with anyone or anything after so give them time to sleep or whatever they want later. Give them quiet time and space. They earned it.

I will share the rewards to you and the people you are visiting in another post. It is worth it.
Here is an internet link showing my husband and I volunteering at a nursing home a few years ago with a couple of our bunnies. www.walnuthillcarecenter.com/volunteer%20opportunities.htm

I hope you enjoyed this!
Thanks for your visit!
Til next time!
Mary Ellen

Raked Leaves at work today

Hi my friend,
I raked leaves at a community garden with my clients today. It is rewarding to know that we are helping an urban neighborhood have a "green" place to go to find solace in the world of noise and concrete that surrounds people there.

It has been a pleasant place to go throughout the seasons so far-from planting, weeding & maintaining. It has been wonderful getting to know people in the neighborhood that live there. They share a vital interest in the garden, which has many native species and perennials planted there. My clients get all kinds of reward from participating in the many aspects of care of the garden as well as just spending time there or having a place to go for peace and quiet or special events.

They also have spent time getting to know people in the neighborhood which represent a wide variety of people from all backgrounds and ties to the area. The area is in New Haven, CT where Yale University is. The garden is associated with the neighborhood, Yalies, local people of diverse backgrounds and socioeconomic background. It is an interesting little microcosm of New Haven bringing back nature!

I will share photos from this place throughout the seasons another time here! Hope you are doing well and I thank you for visiting as usual!! Thanks for sharing your time with me!
Til next time,
Mary Ellen

Bunnies

Hi my friend,
I apologize for not posting lately. I have been preoccupied with a few things, but am now on track again. I wanted to share my silly Halloween outfit that I wore at work. It is not a masterpiece, but was, this year, intended to be for comfort. I had to run a Halloween party for my clients and helped them design many of theirs, which I can't show due to confidentiality. I was happy with many of them. I decided (on a dare from myself) to wear some tie dyed pants with a cotton tail attached. I put on rabbit ears and an oversized denim shirt. It was comfortable, fun and expressed my inner bunny of that particular day!!
What I have in my hands is a bag of carrots my co-worker put on my plate as a joke at lunch time.

On Halloween itself, I gave out some candy until my little nephew, 3 years old, came dressed as Spiderman. He was adorable and fun.

I wanted to post a few photos of some of my bunnies.
The black and white one is Grumbellina, a cuddlebunny extroidinaire. She loves to cuddle up with me in bed. I don't let her spend the night because I don't want her to get hurt. She has not messed on the bed once!


There is Goldilocks, an angora and Woody, an eight year old dwarf.


They are all sweet. I will have to tell you more about them and others soon. I thank you for spending time with me and would love to hear your thoughts.

Til next time,
Mary Ellen

I went to a lovely farm today...

Hi friends,
I went to a lovely farm today and saw a few animals, picked out a big pumpkin to potentially carve out for Halloween and ate some pumpkin-spice flavored ice cream. It was a fun experience on a beautiful fall day. The sun was on my back on a 60 degree day. No complaints here. When I get the pictures, I will post them on here! I love to share that stuff.

Finally we are getting our fall foliage at its seasonal height. It is so beautiful driving back and forth to work on that part of the highway. I love the colors as the sun hits the leaves and makes them all seem to glow different colors.

I am starting to feel better than last week shaking off the cold that I had. We had to put our bunny Butterscotch "too sleep" (I hate that expression) last Thursday night. We brought in from outside two of our older bunnies, that are dwarves. They are Domino and Woody. They are about eight years old and very sweet. They are now permanent house bunnies. A few years back they were part of a group of bunnies that we labeled "The Seven Dwarves" for obvious reasons. We didn't set out to bring in seven dwarf bunnies. One day we just counted them and laughed at the fact that there were seven. They are the only two from the group that get along still. There is one more still alive that does not seem to get along with the others. Although he is neutered and very sweet, LWB (aka Little White Bunny) just can't keep himself from humping other bunnies. It drives the others crazy, finally they get sick of him and they snap back.

It is pleasant and feels good to be writing some more pleasant stuff again.

Hope you all are well and I look forward to hearing from anyone with thoughts or comments, and the like.

Take care,
Til next time,
Mary Ellen

What a week....family joy, sickness & personal losss/hard decisions

Hi my friends,
This has been a busy, fun as well as sad week. It was fun to visit my husband's family/grandmother for her 108th birthday (see my last blog post). I had a couple of extra day's off. I have also caught a crummy cold from our trip to Massachussets to visit the family. I missed extra work for that and I am feeling worn down. I also lost a friend to a heart attack before our trip. Then we unfortunately made a decision to have our poor little Butterscotch bunny put to sleep late last night. http://twitpic.com/mlegr . I won't talk about him right now because I feel like I will get too upset. It hasn't really sunk in yet.

The good thing is that I have much worse weeks than this before. I can appreciate what I have and count my blessings. It is just annoying to feel so worn down. And I know that losing such a wonderful rabbit, Butterscotch, an English Lop, is going to hit hard as well. We made one trip and waited quite a while for news on him at the vet and left him to be hospitalized and then we received a phone call. It told us of his extremely poor condition, which the vet said "just won't have a happy ending". We went back. It was late. We made a very tough decision at least spent his last moments with him. We let him know he was loved and tried to give him as much comfort as possible. We all deserve that dignity. It was better than dying alone in a strange place. I won't go into what his suffering was today. I just can't.

To some rabbits are stew, a meal. I am open enough to accept that not everyone thinks the way I do. To me, they are loving companions with whom I can share my love back.
Thanks for coming by,
til next time
Mary Ellen