Bunny Puffs Exotic Refuge

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United States
Springfield, TN
Bunny Puffs Exotic Refuge

Start each day with a grateful heart. ✌️ Hiya!! We are a small grassroots animal rescue/rehab/sanctuary. We are home based and not open to the public. Thank you.

We do not take in cats, dogs, full size equine, cattle, pigs, wildlife or most predatory species. Our focus is bunnies, rodents, avian, reptiles, arachnids, amphibians, aquatics, small farmed animals like ducks, geese, turkeys, sheep, goats, chickens. We do ferrets when foster homes are available for them. Rescue - We rescue! All animals situations are weighed to determine their need for rescue an

d our ability to provide for them. We are not a rehoming service, though we do adopt out, if your animal is not in danger/elderly/disabled/special needs/sick or at risk of being dumped please rehome them yourself. Rehab - What this means is that we take the hard medical cases too!! We do not euthanize animals for space, disabilities or due to the cost of rehabilitating them. We go above and beyond to help them recover from abuse. we only euthanize is the animal has no quality of life and no future quality of life - permanent suffering. If their condition can be humanely managed we make accommodations for them. We are not a veterinary clinic and cannot provide services for you, but we are always happy to offer advice so your animal can hopefully survive long enough for the vet to open up and see them. Sanctuary - Many animals here enjoy the benefits of permanent sanctuary for various reasons. Often this is because they are elderly, disabled, medically needy, aggressive/defensive due to trauma they endured or would thrive better in a group of their own species than as a companion. Some are placed here specifically by their former owners with the request they stay forever, often this is because the owner is elderly and had the animal for many, many years and does not want to see them shuffled around. We love to share knowledge and give advice. ❤️ Please feel free to message us. Keep in mind that we are just volunteers and may be slow to reply at times and our sleep schedule and lives revolve around the animals. We are not paid, we are not government funded, there is no "hr department", this is a small operation, nothing super fancy. We have a huge network of other small rescues and together we are very strong and have a lot of resources. Please consider supporting our efforts!!

11/05/2024

Be sure to provide a large enough bowl for your little birds to bathe in. This is very important for their skin and feathers. Wilma is showing you how it's done.

11/04/2024

Art by: Melinda Hood

What I am wishing for is...

11/03/2024

Zombie has had a rough few years. He has a very big personality, is high volume and never stays in one foster home for long. He was adoptable for several years at another rescue with no luck finding a forever home, after running out of fosters willing to house him and no luck finding any other rescues or sanctuary willing to take him on, he transferred into Puffs for sanctuary so he could just be a bird, with other birds. We were not looking to add another cockie to the flock, but with no other options for him and extensive experience with problematic birds, we decided we're better than nothing and have the knowledge, time and resources to give him a good life, great food, adventures and veterinary care. His mental health is delicate, he has a history of plucking and self mutilating, depression, aggression... even causing permanent nerve damage in someone's hand. A couple years ago, he had surgery to repair one of his self inflicted wounds. He had a full veterinary work up both when entering rescue, and when transferring into sanctuary. He was on anti-depressants but has since been able to go off of them. He does very well with our directors and some very confident friends, and loves being around the other birds, listening to music, dancing, watching cartoons and playing with his toys and chewing wood. He likes things to be explained to him and he's about as intelligent as an elementary school kid. Unfortunately, he needed to go back into foster care while a couple of our directors market and sell their home, a long process that finally concludes this week. We had to split up the flock, keeping bondmates together but splitting up friends. They're a bit like a pirate crew family, rambunctious, crazy and support one another. He went through several foster homes, and eventually we decided it was time to reunite the flock and just live with some very compassionate friends in the interim. While in foster, he created a new wound on his keel and ripped a lot of feathers out and somehow broke all of his tail feathers, so he's back to wearing protective clothing. We commissioned Feather Wear Shop to make him this beautiful custom vest, he's already done some damage to it but it's not to his body so we are thankful. They also make his snuggies, which are so well made and comfortable for him.

Thank you for supporting our important work, and giving animals like Zombie a decent place to land.

11/01/2024

Happy Halloween!

Art by: Richard Scarry

10/28/2024

Our newest resident, Ghost... we already have another Ghost, so I guess you can say the ferret business division is getting very haunted... o0o0o0o0oookey sp0o0oky.

10/28/2024

"Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
The tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened

Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here"
-Switchfoot

(Pictured: Seraphina)

10/26/2024

Happy Spooky season from your friends at Bunny Puffs! 👻

Our favorite bunny vet will always be Dr. Given at Hillsboro Animal Hospital. It's located in the Green Hills area of Nashville, TN. Dr. Given is kind, compassionate, highly intelligent, an amazing surgeon, and has helped us to care for so many critters (of many varying species) over the years. This summer, his family came over and picked out a puff to add to their family, a little black baby bun bun whom has since been lovingly named Pumpkin.

Three weeks ago, one of our other spooky black bunnies, Salem, developed a facial abscess that was deep and tunneling, on his cheek right by his eye. Dr. Given examined him and the same day performed surgery to open up, debride and marsupuilize the wound. He prescribed Salem medication for pain/inflammation, and antibiotics. I flushed and cleaned the wound every night until it was ready to close, and now all that remains is a tiny scab. I suppose you could say his Halloween costume this year is the Phantom of the Opera. The fur will grow back.

Rabbit pus is tricky. It ranges from the consistency of thick goo to sort of a very hard gummy paste... their heterophil cells contain a very low amount of the enzyme myeloperoxidase which helps pus become more of a liquid in other species... so if an abscess is left untreated it will usually just keep growing larger and tunneling around the body, very dangerous and painful.

If you have a bunny, put hands and eyes on them regularly, daily if possible, to catch issues early and get them into an exotic vet. A lot of health issues are very fixable, especially if caught early. When bunnies are in pain or distress, they may stop eating and go into GI stasis, which can become fatal within a day. They graze most of the day and night, nap a lot, especially during the day, usually drink a lot of water, and they p**p about 300 times a day, which makes for a lot of vacuuming. I love to stay up really late at night to do bunny care, pet them, lay on the floor with them, forget about the silly human world for a while and just be thankful for them. They're going to have whole pumpkin this weekend, which will be a very special indulgence. I hope everyone reading this has a super fun end of October, gets to drink a lot of apple cider, pick a pumpkin to share with their family or pet, enjoy the coziest sweaters, a crackling campfire, or curl up with their favorite spooky movies and eat a lot of candy... and remember, Halloween is every day. 🎃🖤🐰💀🦇

10/22/2024

A year ago today, Badger joined the sanctuary crew! He is so loved and spoiled by his rescue mom and dad.

10/13/2024

"I bees hiding in da coastal hay box" -Mozart

09/22/2024

Lulu (alumni) watching videos with her companion human.

If you're looking to add a rescue bunny to your home to chill with, we finally have options available again. ⭐️ Our bunnies must go into indoor homes as a spoiled family member only - either free range, in a bunny room, or in an xpen or large condo with time out of it.

09/21/2024

"Mishka's mythical blep" 💜

09/19/2024

September is when the TN Dept of Health and Agriculture drops rabies packets from low flying planes across the state to control the rabies population. If you see a bait bag in your yard, simply pick it up and toss it in the woods near your house. If your pet eats it, it is not harmful.

09/17/2024

The other day I came across a post about a green iguana that had been found stray in a precarious situation a few hours away. In the comments were a bunch of people wanting to take him in, some even stating they had an empty terrarium. I wanted to take a minute and mention that terrariums are not appropriate housing for green iguanas, even as a baby. A lot of iguanas are purchased impulsively and do not live very long because their owners, though well intentioned, fail to educate themselves on the husbandry these cuties need to thrive. These lizards are arboreal, they need tons of space. A good starter enclosure for a baby is a large grow tent, mini greenhouse or a pre-fab catio. Adults do best having their own room, or a massive custom indoor enclosure and time out of it. Here are some other things they need:

-plenty of humidity (not a problem in the south, but can be an issue for people in other areas)
-a linear uva/uvb fixture (bulbs are replaced every 6-12 months, I highly suggest using Arcadia from ReptileBasics)
-a basking lamp
- temperature & uv gun to check levels
-heat mats and cozy sleeping spots
-things to climb
-room to explore
-fresh water everyday (I use stainless steel electric water fountains for now)
-vitamins and supplements
-ideally an outdoor aviary to chill in when the weather's nice
-fresh produce daily, which can get expensive in the winter or if you do not have a garden. There is a misconception about diet - animal/insect protein is bad for their kidneys and overall health. They are strict herbivores, like rabbits.

For more info on iguana care, I will link a good book below.

Photo is of our spicy girl, Carnage, relaxing on a willow branch that we grew with love and intention for our animals.

Address

Springfield, TN

Telephone

+16154735886

Website

http://www.bunnypuffs.org/

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Videos

Our sanctuary ferrets got a wheel tonight, they are ready for some fitness!

Crisco's foster momma has outsmarted him, he's trying to throw his food on the floor but can't get past the invisible barrier. 😂

Isis (congo african grey, resident)'s foster auntie, Amy, caught this on video. It's very amusing.

Ghost (sanctuary resident) is an adorable little ferret with adrenal disease. This is one of top 3 diseases that affect companion ferrets as they age, it typically manifests after two years of age. Unfortunately the majority of ferrets in the US come from Marshall Farms, so the genetics and issues are all the same. That company is a massive commercial mill, breeding ferrets to sell to pet stores and to labs for animal testing. Signs of adrenal disease in ferrets are even hair loss (starting from tail and then moving down body rapidly), increased thirst, difficulty pooping, swollen belly, new aggression towards their bondmates or humans, (in females) swollen vulva or mammaries / vaginal discharge. Ghost recieved a hormonal implant five weeks ago to manage his condition, from one of our incredible veterinarians, Dr. Chad Given at Hillsboro Animal Hospital in Green Hills. This video shows how rapidly his fur is growing back in now. These implants really extend and improve the quality of life of ferrets with this condition, we highly recommend looking into it if yours is afflicted. Please consider supporting our work!!

The roads were decent enough today for me to feel comfortable with going to the store to fetch some things, it's going to freeze again and turn into a giant sheet of ice - yep. Whatever, I don't care - I have toilet paper and Dr. Pepper now. I decided to be in a video instead of behind the camera, kind of a brave step for an introverted extrovert. I want to make video blogs and stuff - eventually. These ducks and geese make me happy. Look at them, perfect as they are, with kazoo's on their face. Happy about fresh straw. Happy about a second bowl of pellets being added even though they have a whole troth of them on the other side. Happy about their heat lamps. Happy just to be ducks. Simple, perfect.

I spent about 6 hrs outside tonight tending the birds. (Two aviaries + barn) with one break after four hours to have some ramen noodles and tend the inside crew. It's 9°f with 72% humidity, the wind makes it feel worse. The air hurts your skin. The birds are safe, comfortable and active, their feet and legs are warm to the touch. They are eating 100lbs of pellets per day - birds consume a lot of calories staying warm. The spicket in the barn is frozen shut... last winter they were housed much closer to the house so I was able to pull from the frost proof hydrant easily. It's a longer walk now, but luckily I can pull water directly from the hot water heater in the barn for them. It is still a longer walk to the aviaries and I spilled a lot of water on my overalls. Sammy and Emily (the sheep) are doing well, their bucket is heated, they have lots of straw, hay, their bucket of minerals, pellets twice a day. I bought some power strips and extension cords today and added several more heat lamps and did some more tarping. With the power strips added, if I need to I can add aquarium heaters to bowls, which I will likely need to do tomorrow but I need to figure out which bin I packed them in because some bins aren't cataloged yet. Lots of work. I'm sore, tired and cold. It's going to be a long week. If I build a barn later on, it will absolutely be a solid structure with heat and air conditioning, close to the house. I would never choose to house the animals in my care so far away. Something else I was thinking of last night, around 3 or 4 am, Kevin heard a rabbit disturbance and I went and checked it out - two buns had gotten into a disagreement and one was basically having the rabbit equivalent of a panic attack and the other had a bite on his ear. Kevin comforted the first while I cleaned up and comforted the second. That's the difference, between sanctuary caretakers that live with the animals as opposed to operating something in another building or only having peopl

I made my first tiktok the other day!

Please enjoy watching fifteen minutes of ferret antics! We playfully call this our "Bunny Puffs Business District" carefully curated sanctuary & rehab by Beth & Grey for wee noodlez who were down on their luck and in need of *the best life ever* 🦦