Harley

I had the amazing opportunity to be a bunny owner for a couple of months. My dear friend and art teacher, Kris, moved to Arizona and since bunnies don't do well in extreme heat, she needed to find her sweet bunny, Harley, a new home. I volunteered to foster Harley until we could find him the perfect home.

I would send Kris updates on how Harley was doing, she was happy to hear he was doing well and having a great time at my house. She sent me this adorable picture of Harley and his litter mates, she had had him since he was just a tiny, little baby.

Harley is a magical bunny who acts more like a cat, he is litter box trained, so I could let him freely hop around the house. He absolutely LOVES to snuggle and would often hop over to me for pets and kisses. 

Harley didn't like it when my attention wasn't on him, I was a sunday school teacher while I was fostering him so I would need to prepare lessons every couple of weeks.

Here is a photo essay of how that went ...

I loved to buy him little toys at the pet store, it was hard not to go crazy and totally spoil him. But I would pick out one toy for him every time I needed to pick up more hay or bunny litter. 

I had lots of friends and family want to come over to meet and play with Harley. Even my brother in law, who doesn't like bunnies, fell in love with Harley, he truly is a unicorn of a bunny.

Harley really loved my niece, Vienne. He followed her around like a shadow the entire time she was visiting.

We had a fun time testing out which fruits and vegetables Harley liked, he didn't love raspberries, he would take a couple of bites and then hop away.

 I did tons and tons of research on how to properly care for bunnies, and learned a lot about what foods they can and can't eat. I attended a workshop put on by the Utah Humane Society on the proper care for pet bunnies and was constantly reading up on everything I could find online. I learned a lot about this adorable little fluffs and discovered they are actually fairly high maintenance pets, which isn't a bad thing, its just good to know.

I have two pet cats, and it was fascinating to watch their "relationship" with Harley over the months he lived with us. Sweet, social Harley instantly wanted to be friends with both cats and would eagerly hop over to them whenever they were in the room. The feeling was definitely not mutual on the cats' end. They are terrified of Harley, and wouldn't come downstairs if he was out and about for about the first month he was with us.

Once they realized this bunny wasn't going away anytime soon, they gradually began to be in the same room as Harley, but didn't want to be near him at all. Then slowly they got more and more comfortable with being closer, but still had zero interest in being friends. In the end they learned to tolerate his presence, but would put him in his place if he ever got too close. 

I thought everything Harley did was the cutest thing ever, like how he would stick his hind legs out when he laid down...

.... Or when he would flop over on his side to take a nap ....

... or his obsession with this decorative elephant, he was constantly hanging out by it....

Eventually, we found Harley the perfect home with a bunny mama that already had a pet bunny and was looking for a companion to keep her bunny company, Harley was the perfect choice! His new home is in California, so I don't get to visit him, but I have gotten a couple of updates saying he is loving his new home and is making fast friends with his new bunny sibling! 

Love you Harley!