Tracy lives in Indiana with her husband Greg and her bunny Radar, and four parrots:-). Tracey wrote into us recently and shared her story about how Small Pet Select helped her bunny Radar recover from health issues. We thought we'd share her story with you.
"My name is Tracey Stevens, and I live in Porter, Indiana, with my husband, Greg, our bunny Radar, and four parrots. Three years ago, my first bunny, Jack, passed away. After a few months of healing I decided the time had come to begin the search for a new family member. I began looking online at shelter rabbits and searching on the internet. I wanted a bunny that was a rescue.
I found a Holland Lop rabbit online that was about six months old that was living in a barn. He was bred to be a show bunny but they were trying to get rid of him since one of his ears stood straight up, his coloring was off, and supposedly his head wasn’t exactly the right shape. It was love at first sight – I thought his helicopter ears were adorable and brought him home that day. As far as I was concerned he was perfect. I could have cared less about his helicopter ears or his coloring. My husband and I named him Radar because of his ears. After a week of having him though his other ear went down (even though the show bunny person told me this would never happen).
Radar had never eaten hay in his life even though he was six months old. After having him only a short while, I noticed that he was drinking water excessively and found out that he had a urinary tract infection. In the months that followed, Radar had an ear infection, upper respiratory infection, two urinary tract infections and went into GI stasis twice. The second time we almost lost him. The vet thinks he was in poor health from his living conditions in the barn.
We kept trying to get him to eat more hay and it was nearly impossible. I tried several types of hay from the store (multiple brands of Timothy, Orchard and Oat and he barely at any of them.) The last time he had GI stasis so bad that he ended up in the hospital for two days. I decided I would do anything to get him healthy.
After searching the internet for better quality hay I came across Small Pet Select. Radar started eating Small Pet Select about eight months ago and has been healthy ever since (knock on wood). We had a really rough start for our first year and a half together.
Radar has an extremely sensitive system and your timothy hay is the only brand that I can get him to eat and it is keeping him healthy and out of the hospital.
Radar will be turning three in September and I’m hoping that he lives many healthy years. He hasn’t been sick in almost eight months which is a record for him. Nothing but the best for my guy, Ray Ray (his nickname).
I will continue to feed Radar your hay and pellets for the rest of his life. Thank you for producing such a high quality product. We will continue to order Small Pet Select for our little guy."
Tracey Stevens
Age 45
Owned by Radar, Holland Lop
Porter, IN
Tracy and Radar's story demonstrates just how important hay quality is for the health of domestic rabbits. Serious problems can arise when there is a lack of fiber in the diet of a rabbit.
This is not an uncommon story. Don't let GI stasis happen in your home!
