Interview with Emily at Empowered Animals

Tell us a little bit about your pet(s) – what kind of animal, ages, names

I have one bunny – Tula. She’s about five years old, but she was a stray, so we don’t know exactly how old she is. Tula works with me, my sister, and her pig Hank – the four of us run our business, Empowered Animals, together. We do behavior consulting for a lot of different animals, including rabbits. We do a positive, stress-free approach for bunnies that includes a lot of enrichment, which is where we use a lot of your hay and recommend it to our clients. Tula is kind of front and center for us, she’s a very special bunny.

Can you tell us more about your work at Empowered Animals?

We try to help people understand their rabbits and their pets since behavior is communication from their animal. We started by creating an informational Facebook page and just being a reliable source for people that helps them navigate pet behavior. A lot of people get rabbits and guinea pigs as first pets, but they’re not easy pets; they require a lot of specialized care. Rabbits are really good at standing their ground when they get fed up or lose trust, and that can turn into aggressive behavior.

We teach people how to understand their bunnies and teach their bunnies to say “I don’t like that” in a non-painful way and create a feedback loop between pet and owner. We teach people to read the signals and respond to them before the bunny gets upset. This then makes the bunny’s stress and anxiety goes down, which causes aggression to go down and a bond is created. We help people create the bond they want with their rabbit. The surprising thing about rabbits is how quickly the rebound and how quickly they start to trust people.

We serve the global community for all species; even for local clients, we usually prefer to do Zoom so animals don’t clam up around us as we are unknown in their environments. This also works best for a lot of animals’ natural active behavior times of early mornings or evenings.

What’s your favorite memory so far with your pet? 

I’ve had a lot of different animals and I’ve never had one who seems to key into when I’m feeling upset. I call Tula my little guardian angel. I got her when I had lost my previous bunny and I was completely devastated. I was going to foster Tula when I first got her and that lasted six days. There have been several times where I am just upset and Tula comes and sits with me and near me and won’t let me get up, but will keep me with her. That’s my favorite thing about her; I’ve never had a pet that tries to boost me up in the ways I’ve tried to boost them.

How did you first hear about Grandpa’s Best? What product does your pet(s) like most from Grandpa’s Best? 

I had a client tell me about Grandpa’s Best. It didn’t look like a big bag when I first got it, but it’s a huge bag once it blows up so it’s fantastic. I got some to try for enrichment. What I really love is to use a Tupperware storage lid that is upside down in Tula’s area and I cover it with Orchard Hay and sprinkle it with herbs and put things in there so she has a little grass place to forage and do natural behaviors. I like the Orchard Grass because it’s soft so they can burrow in it without getting any hay scratches. I love to sprinkle the Grandpa’s Best hay in there, she loves burrowing in there for it. I also like to use it for crate training since she loves it so much, she’s more likely to eat it if she’s stressed.

What’s your favorite tip for fellow pet owners?

Ditch the food bowl. Rabbits and small pets are foragers and they spend four to six hours a day naturally eating. We feed them this very fortified diet that takes them ten minutes to consume, and then they have another five-and-half hours of their time that they need to find things to do with, which can sometimes lead to inappropriate behaviors. Sprinkling pellets in a bed of hay is a perfect food bowl for them; it mimics their natural foraging behavior, maximizes their time, and allows them to eat in a way that is natural to them. It’s a great way to meet their needs behaviorally. We do a no-bowl November on our Facebook page and every day we feature a new non-bowl idea. We try to do things that are super economical to crazy food puzzles. It’s mentally stimulating for them and allows them to forage naturally.

For more information about Empowered Animals Behavior and Training, please visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/empoweredanimalsbehaviorandtraining.