Be Excellent To Each Other

Tank all clean for the festivities. Needs new plants, the buggers keep eating them.

My gallery on my phone is basically full of nothing but snaps of the dog, but this one the missus took I like especially.

I took a couple of nice pictures of the cats the other day actually. Not good in any technical sense but something of their personalities seemed to be captured.

I AM NOT A NUMBER. I AM A FREE CAT!

Did you bring that Koppaberg to MeatUp? Someone left quite a lot of it, which was nice of them

Nah, I maybe left a few cans of Red Stripe at most; I'm only drinking it in that picture because Mrs B left it in the fridge and it was the only booze in the house.

I left quite a few cans of Strawberry & Lime behind, I think.

Thanks, GazChap!

ThazChap!

My lips to yours.

Did I mention the rabbits? No? Oh, OK. Apparently we are getting big giant rabbits.

Big rabbits are awesome. Friends of mine have two Flemish Giant rabbits (they're bigger than my cats!) and having them lolloping around the house always makes me smile.

Can confirm, giant rabbits are awesome.

Guinea pigs ftw

Guinea pigs are cute but they shit everywhere, whereas you can litter train rabbits (source: have a fuckton of guinea pigs)

Yeah these are continental giant rabbits and will live outside.

What are you housing them in? Giant rabbits need a lot of space.

Next door's garden.

Hmmmm.

Big hutch and the garden is fully enclosed is plan.

Rabbits are adept at digging tunnels. You'll need to remove all the existing fences and put in some more that start at least 2 metres underground.

Or, like Grim said:

Oh, right. I'm so dreadfully sorry and ashamed.

A hutch won't be tall enough to meet the needs of a giant rabbit unless you go specialised, and then you're looking at a similar price point to a basic shed, which you can more easily insulate over winter.

Re: the digging - not all rabbits are diggers. Females are often worse for it (as is in nature) but some can be distracted with sufficient toys, space etc. I found it easier to put wire mesh (chicken wire) under turf to prevent digging out rather than digging deeper perimeter fences.

Ta.

I was going to get something like this to sleep in and block the gate to the drive off and let them go for it.

I had an identical one a few years back, they're glorified chicken coops basically & are really small inside and difficult to clean. Because of a giant's size (Bamba is spot on when he says they're bigger than an average house cat) they'd probably struggle to get up and down the ramp safely.

For just sleeping, this would be a better size - https://homeandroost.co.uk/product/hutc ... ordsworth/ - but may need modifying to accomodate two giants in the sleeping area. A 6x4 shed would be a similar price point. Or another - better quality but slightly more: https://www.gardenwoodcraft.co.uk/produ ... wire-door/

I was going to point you to a company called Welfare Hutches but it looks like they had a warehouse fire and have gone bust

My mates just have theirs as house rabbits. They've got a hutch thing in the corner of the living room with the litter tray and which they also put the massive, massive like of veggies the bunnies go through. Aside from that they've got a selection of chewable things around the place that seems to keep the bunnies entertained and from taking chunks of the furniture. There's a small rug in the bit of the room the bunnies tend to lie which has seen some biting action but aside from that I've never noticed any permanent damage. There are concessions to be made (doors to other rooms need to be kept closed, you'll get the odd rabbit poo on the floor) but overall they don't seem to cause much disruption and having them lolloping around the place is fucking awesome.

I am very allergic to animals so they will have to stay outside.

Have you checked that your kids don't have your same reaction? Having pets they can't touch won't be much fun for anyone involved.

I loved our rabbit, she was ace. We used to bring her indoors in winter though.

Cat clearly loves toddler

We had to take Byron to the vets for the last time this weekend - his kidneys were going, and over the last few weeks he had lost so much weight and energy that it was obvious they were failing totally.

So long Byron, you big ginger idiot, with your habits of leaving mouse entrails and dead rats about the place, and for scaring the crap out of me in the night by going to sleep on my chest with your face 2 inches from mine, and for stealing the dog's food and for discovering a warm spot where the radiator pipes are and not moving from there for hours at a time.

Sorry to read about your loss, Squirt - he looks a handsome chap.

:’(

Sorry to hear this, he looks like a lovely chap too. Xx

Aw man. Sorry for your loss, Squirt.

Thanks all. He was a handsome old bruiser, but was a friendly and cuddly chap when he wanted to be ( or when he was hungry )

We have a new dog. He’s called Duke. He’s a five year old Belgian Shepherd. Think German Shepherd but blacker.

Duke!

We took Mac to Epping Forest on the weekend. Here he is looking hella buff.

Duke looks lovely. Is he friendly? I love the name Duke - did he arrive with his name already established? It reminds me of The Puppy’s New Adventure, which people told me I’d imagined until I found it on YouTube a few months ago.

Anyway, happy new home, Duck. Mac OS lovely too. Hello Mac

Could someone reboot Mimi please?

Hi Duke!

Looking fly, Mac!

Is he friendly? Not yet. He’s very gentle in nature and like a big cuddly bear. He’s getting friendlier but is still a little overwhelmed by new people and is quite shy. He came with the name. I’ve only called him Spi’ after my old fella about 50 times so far, and last night I was calling him Bruce!

Aw, that’s friendly. I just meant non-aggressive, really. I have mixed experience of family German Shepherds. Junior was some kind of giant of a dog, funny, friendly, big and full of fuzz, tongue lolloping everywhere. Rex, though, was sharp, keen, ridiculously intelligent. The police ended up taking him on for work, but he just scared me. I’m not really comfortable around dogs, but he looks like a nice chap.

Mac OS is devinintky an autocorrect, not me!

Yup, it devinintky is.