our animals

Pickles came to Kindred because Java was left on her own after we lost Java Bean and Misto. We know this isn’t a good quality of life for a barn bunny to be by themselves – especially at night.

We put the call out to Rabbitat Rescue and they brought us 4 very senior boys who were each single bunnies in foster homes, one of these boys was Pickles. The reasoning was that it would be easier to integrate senior bunnies with Java who was herself a senior. They were all introduced to Java right away but then Java spent a week visiting the boys through a fence line. It is especially difficult for Java as this is her space and rabbits are very territorial.

One thing is for sure—the social order of our rabbits is continually changing! We knew something was up when Pickles was not invited to eat with the other bunnies. We started to bring out two bowls of salad, one for the group and one for Pickles. We hoped that soon Pickles would be included again. They didn’t and it got to a point where he stayed inside when we opened the cottage door to let them out in the morning.

Time to intervene. Pickles is now actually living a similar life to a barn cat. He can come and go on the farm to his heart’s content. His friends now are the chickens, ducks and Olive Oyl the turkey.