Dandelion is a ginger and white butterfly marked dwarf lop buck who was found in a field along with some other starving rabbits. It was a bit of a puzzle as he was in far better condition than the others and was clean and is really sweet natured and friendly as if he had been well loved, whereas the others were filthy and listless and very close to dying as they were so very very thin; indeed there was a dead one among them when a passer by spotted them and brought them to us. They didn’t get like that in a field full of grass. Someone must have realised they had forgotten to feed them and dumped them to get rid of the problem. I suspect Dandelion came from somewhere else, perhaps from the person who found them. Anyway he is happy here and lived with Moonriver for several years. I estimate that he was about two to three when he arrived. He is quite quiet and although quite friendly Moonriver didn’t allow people to pay him any attention as she was rather possessive. He then lived with Tia who was much more outgoing so he was allowed more attention. Since she passed away in July 2020 he has been on his own unfortunately. We did try him with Mayfly but she did not approve of him at all. As soon as there is somebun suitable we will have another go at pairing him up.
He has a very sensitive digestive system and can only have a restricted diet or else he bloats. I have thought we had lost him numerous times over the years because it got so bad I didn’t expect him to live through the night, but so far the magic combination of cisapride, metacam and fibreplex with a bit of liquid paraffin as a chaser has brought him back from the brink.
We had him bonded to Magic while he was unwell but one day when he was feeling better he picked a fight and they did each other a lot of damage so I am not willing to risk trying him with another buck. His restricted diet also makes it difficult to rebond him. Any fresh food except lettuce sets him off on an episode of bloat. It breaks all the usual.rules but lettuce is the only thing he can tolerate. Even spinach sets him off. So any rabbit we put with him has to be able to tolerate it. It didn’t suit Jess at all well and gave her the runs towards the end:( So when I did have does to bond I put them with the other single bucks instead of with Dandelion. But he has lots of neighbours and a lovely big area with diggings for him tonwork on and he seems happy enough.