The Enid Blyton Society

Cody sounds like he would have enjoyed Corfu in the 1930s! He would have fitted perfectly in Gerald Durrell's family.

Yes, he sure would have!

We lost another plastic bottle and mug to the Scamp jaws. Don't even know where he finds them.

Have just been flicking through this thread and thought I'd add my two pence worth:-)

I am owned by grizabella and jennyanydots commonly referred to as griz and Jenjen or 'get down from there's griz is 8 and Jenjen is 7.

Before having my daughter i was a foster mother for cats protection and usually fostered disabled or elderly cats although I did have mum and kittens on a few occasions

I also own 15 fish, 6 neon tetras, 6 harelequin rasboras, 2 guppies which came 'free' as tiny fry along with the rasboras and a very naughty Siamese fighting fish/betta called Dugee who now lives on his own after he changed personalities overnight and started trying to eat the other fishes tails. The fish were bought for my daughter as she is enthralled with them in the local pets at hone but chooses to ignore our ones!!

Hayleymoomin wrote: I am owned by grizabella and jennyanydots commonly referred to as griz and Jenjen or 'get down from there's griz is 8 and Jenjen is 7.

I'm guessing someone's a fan of T.S. Eliot... or Andrew Lloyd Webber? Great to hear about your fostering work for cats in need as well, Hayleymoomin. I love cats too.

Both although grizabella is a bit like trevor nunns version of grizabella (fat and a bit downtrodden) jennyanydots is actually black and white unlike ts eliotts tiger striped and leopard spotted jennyanydots:-)

Unfortunately our Cody killed his first rabbit last night.
We didn't witness it, but when André disposed of it later on, he said that it had wounds in his neck. So it must have been our dog, the rabbit didn't die of old age right in front of our deck.
R. I. P., poor little rabbit.

It made me think of Timmy who never caught a rabbit in his life and now I wonder if EB only made that up for her young readers or if most dogs never catch a rabbit?

I think she made it up, at least partly, like the bit in Kirrin Island Again where he does catch one but George makes him let it go again (that wouldn't work for starters, you wouldn't make the dog let go as it would be too hyped up to listen to you). Whilst a dog might not catch a rabbit it was chasing, if it did manage it unfortunately the poor rabbit would be virtually guaranteed instant death. If a rabbit is frightened it's heart can just stop so the shock alone of being caught could kill it. If it doesn't, the dog will the second it grabs it as rabbits have an extremely fragile neck and backbone...one instinctive shake but at least it's over too quick for any suffering. But yes, in truth Kirrin Island would be more like the end of Watership Down if Timmy got got hold of those bunnies .

IceMaiden wrote:I think she made it up, at least partly, like the bit in Kirrin Island Again where he does catch one but George makes him let it go again (that woldn't work for starters, you wouldn't make the dog let go as it would be too hyped up to listen to you).

Thanks, IceMaiden, although "Kirrin Island Again" is one of my FF favorites, I forgot that Timmy indeed caught a rabbit in that book.
Time to re-read it!

I've seen a Rabbit die of shock when confronted by a Stoat, IceMaiden. I was waiting for the Badgers to emerge at a Sett I was studying, when I saw it just keel over in front of my hide...as if it had fainted! A strange thing to witness, for sure.

Poor little thing!

Indeed, Chrissie! I know these things happen in nature, but you can't help but feel sorry for the Rabbit.

We've never had a dog that could catch rabbits, but one of our cats used to...

It occurs to me that Five on Kirrin Island Again was originally intended by Enid to be the last book in the series. Maybe that had something to do with why Enid allowed Timmy to catch a rabbit at last, since this was meant to be the last book he would appear in, only to have his life-long dream shattered by George's intervention? Probably reading far too much into it there, but it's a thought.

Courtenay wrote:... since this was meant to be the last book he would appear in, only to have his life-long dream shattered by George's intervention? Probably reading far too much into it there, but it's a thought.

And a good thought, Courtenay!
Yes, that would make sense.

number 6 wrote:I've seen a Rabbit die of shock when confronted by a Stoat, IceMaiden. I was waiting for the Badgers to emerge at a Sett I was studying, when I saw it just keel over in front of my hide...as if it had fainted! A strange thing to witness, for sure.

They can shock so easily it's quite bizzare. My brother's rabbit died of shock while at the vet having his teeth clipped. Another one my friend had dropped dead after being frightened by a clap of thunder during a storm one night. The heart just stops with them with no warning whatsover, which is at least a painless way to go but very unnerving. Shock from fright can kill many small animals but rabbits seem to be more susceptible than most to it.

Courtenay wrote:We've never had a dog that could catch rabbits, but one of our cats used to...

It occurs to me that Five on Kirrin Island Again was originally intended by Enid to be the last book in the series. Maybe that had something to do with why Enid allowed Timmy to catch a rabbit at last, since this was meant to be the last book he would appear in, only to have his life-long dream shattered by George's intervention? Probably reading far too much into it there, but it's a thought.

That's a good thought Courtenay and makes a lot of sense! Final episodes normally allow characters to get what they want after being denied it the rest of the series after all .