Cavy Banquet

The Cavy Banquet was held at The Mountain Road Restaurant. My group from the Shady Pig Swap did an excellent job with the table decorations, games, door prizes and goodie bags. I have to admit I did not join the Shady Pig Swap group in time to assist everyone with putting on an excellent banquet, so kudos to ALL of YOU!

The dinner was served buffet style with great food for all. There was roast beef, turkey, spanakopita (vegetarian) as well as green beans, carrots, salad, potatoes, rice and great rolls.

At first I sat with a group of people from Texas (2 ladies and a guy), a dual judge from Alaska and a gentleman that raised Californian rabbits I think from Wisconsin, but I could be wrong. I also had the pleasure of sitting with a lady (sorry I do not remember your name) but she was super interesting. She raised Skunks and other exotic animals including cavy’s. She was a 4-H leader in NJ than moved out of state.

Later in the evening, I had the pleasure of talking to a few Canadian Cavy exhibitors, who I have met previously at a show in upstate New York.

Cavy Banquet Cakes

Someone said the Cavy Cakes were made at Shady Maple, either way they were beautiful! Talk about TALENT!

R.I.P. 10/21/13 Vadar

Most of you who know me probably did not know that I was the proud owner of a White English Lop. Vader was given to me by my good friend Mary in Maryland. Vader has brought me great pleasure these past few months. He was a great representative of his breed.

I was so excited to show him at convention this year. While at convention on 10/19 Vader went off food, he did not drink any of his water overnight nor eat any of his hay and treats (carrots, apples, and sweet potatoes). Vader was the first rabbit of ours that we checked on early Saturday morning at 6:15 am. 

I noticed something was not quite right with him, when I tried to pet him he lunged at me and tried to bite me. I told my daughter to bring him over to the angora grooming area so I could check him out. Vader’s stomach was as hard as a rock. By the time I went to track down the Lop Breed Chairman to have my rabbit scratched from the show, he was already on the show table. There was 25+ Solid Intermediate Bucks being shown. I asked one of the runners if I could have my rabbit pulled to take him up to the vet, and I was told NO!

Once my rabbit was put back in his coop, I immediately took him to the attending veterinarian in sick bay. The vet told me my rabbit had a bowl obstruction and immediately gave him baby gas drops, cat hair ball medicine and I.V. Fluids as well as pain medicine. Dr. Wendy kept me posted throughout the day on how Vader’s prognosis was. I also tried Critical Care, Oxygen Paste, pineapple juice, and a formula my friend gave me (that she has had good success with).

Needless to say by October 21, 2013 Vader had not gotten any better. In fact, he was getting worse! He could not lift his head, he was barely breathing, he was grinding his teeth, he was in BAD SHAPE! Dr. Wendy called me during Youth Best In Show and said I should make a decision. I told her I was on my way and two of my “sisters in the Bunny World” went with me to see Vader. Both Bri and Kim who I cannot THANK enough went with me to see my boy. They both reassured me that I was making the right decision to have him euthanized. I asked DR. Wendy, if we could wait until Jessica was done with Best In Show (since her Harlequin was in it). 

Once Jessica said her good byes, I held Vader as he took his last breaths in my arms. Vader you will be missed but I know it was the right thing to do!

Leaving Home for Convention 10/18/13

We left early in the morning on Thursday to arrive in Harrisburg, PA by lunch time. We stopped at the local Good Will Bargain Barn and got some awesome buys!

 Once we unload the horse trailer we waited out side the show site until the cages were in order.

Prep Work for Convention Part 1

Prep Work for Convention  Part 1

Well today is the last day to get all of our packing done for the 90^th ARBA Convention in Harrisburg, PA! The past week Jessica and I have been scrubbing down the rabbitry & caviary from top to bottom. We got all the cobwebs down, cleaned all the critter cages, rearranged moms with litters to bigger cages, etc. 

Then we started to figure out what rabbit or cavy will fit in what cage for the ride up to Harrisburg on Friday morning. We labeled all of our travel cages with bright green duck tap with “Fuzzibutt’s Rabbitry” written in black permanent marker. Once we have the rabbits and piggy’s all settled in our carriers will be off to a corner of the expo site among everyone else’s, hence, why we labeled our cages. 

During the process of arranging travel pens we found a new use for the shower curtain rings! We use them for just about everything under the sun, kind of like zip ties and duct tape not to mention baler twine. 

We have all of our hay racks ready to go. At shows we use suet feeders and stuff them with hay for the rabbits and cavy’s. The only one who will not be getting a special hay feeder is Watson the English Angora he will continue to receive the toilet paper roll stuffed with hay.

I have washed all of the rabbit and cavy toys for everyone. 

Convention Class Counts

Fuzzibutt’s Rabbitry (Melissa & Jessica), will be competing with some of the best rabbits and cavy’s in the country! Here is a copy of the class counts for our chosen breeds:

Melissa

English Angora 102 total entered; Watson is a SR Buck with 14 other entries in his class

English Lop 287 total entered; Vader is a INT Buck with 13 other entries in his class

Coronet 37 total entered; Riddles is a TSW INT Sow with 3 other entries in her class

Peruvian 37 total entered; Paddington is a Solid INT Boar with 2 other entries in his class

Silkie 28 total entered; Rida is a JR Agouti Boar and is the only entry, now the key is to not be Disqualified, lol!

Jessica

Silkie 6 total entered; Hampton is a INT Broken Boar with 2other entries in his class

Flemish Giants 85 total entered; Player is a Black SR Buck with 4 other entries in his class

Harlequin 17 total entered; Shakira is a JR Japanese Doe with 4 other entries in his class

Now it’s a waiting game to see if the numbers are accurate or not. A lot depends on animals scratched from the show (sold, health, etc.).

Coop Card's for Convention

Coop Card's for Convention ...All I have left to do is print them out and laminate them. I hope they turn out nice.