Honoring the Easter Bunny, and an animal's life

This is our Nibbles or "Nibbleface" as he's commonly known, perhaps it's a supercilious name, but he isn't, he's all character and a charismatic house pet to boot.

We've been house rabbit owners for over ten years now. My first rabbit I met in an alleyway near my old apartment in Westport Connecticut. She was a small Silver fox Marten owned by a family who set her free to defend for herself among traffic, dogs and other life threatening consequences.

People forget, rabbits are prey animals.

I rescued "Potter" and thus began my journey into adopting Lagomorphs. I had to learn a lot along the way. I treated Potter like a dog-my only pet care reference not realizing she was chewing on my computer cords at the time.

I fed her the colorful fruity-tooty commercial kibble and Alfalfa Hay purchased at local pet stores, not realizing that Alfalfa Hay should only be fed to baby bunnies who need the protein and that tooty-fruity crap is as bad for bunnies as fast food crap is bad for your kids. Older rabbits should only be fed Timothy Hay and give 'em as much as they want plus Timothy pellets and an occasional treat like dried papaya cubes.

My lagomorph education came in drips and drabs, because Potter was a girl, I learned she should be spade as female bunnies are prone to uterine cancer if they aren't. So we had to find a vet who operated on "Exotics".

Rabbits are still classified as exotics  in the vet world even though they are fast becoming a popular household pet in America.

So Potter and another bunny I adopted, Pinky got spade. Pinky was a model patient-Potter was not. Potter had to wear one of those soft collars to protect her from chewing open her stitches-which she did anyway. When you looked at her head on, she looked like she was wearing a tutu.

Potter only lived for six years, her death was sudden to us–in her sleep–we were stunned. She rests in our garden now.

Pinky, a large white New Zealand found in a Norwalk park lived a little longer but soon suffered from a severe head tilt ear infection.

My husband and I woke up in the middle of the night to find our Pinky rolling around the floor, we thought she was dying. We raced her to the only clinic open. They suggested putting her down. We opted to wait till our vet's office opened only to find he was away that weekend. So we rushed her down the street to another vet who gave us better news, told us it was head tilt and curable and gave us pills and a syringe to shoot down her throat.

We left and administered the pills only to find out the following Monday by our vet that we could've choked her to death with this method.

IF YOU ADOPT A RABBIT FIND A VET WHO KNOWS EXOTICS.

Pinky lived for another year and a half, she could hop around but her head was tilted. I believe she got the infection from when she was found in a park, her ears were covered with mites at the time. I took her to the vet for the obligatory new pet owner check up  only to find out  she was  in severe pain as the mites were chewing on her skin; but because rabbits are prey animals they don't like to express weakness i.e. that they're hurt.

Because we came late learning about proper diet she suffered from wet tail i.e. runny poops. I regret our ignorance. Pinky was a lovely, gentle spirit. She too rests in our garden, she passed on in my husband's arms.

It's not that rabbit's are hard to care for, it's more that they take care like a dog or cat. For those considering buying a bunny for the Easter Holiday please think again, will you dump this animal when your gift recipient is done with it? Will it languish in the cold garage to soak up fumes? or live outside until it's water bottle freezes and the animal dies of dehydration?

Please, live rabbits are not disposable toys. This Easter why not honor these sweet creatures by adopting from a rabbit rescue organization and treating it with the same respect as you would your dog or cat. OR if you have no intention of adopting one, how about contributing in any way you can to a rabbit rescue organization, a neat way to honor the Easter Bunny in my book.

And for those joke-sters who laugh about eating rabbit, I can't stop your practice-it's your choice. But just for those of you who do-rabbits have a particular habit:

Rabbits excrete a very smelly, runny poop called Cecals-it's mucus-y. Rabbit's generally don't smell-even their pee has an herbal scent. But the cecal's have an unpleasantly diarhea-ish fragrance. The good news is-the rabbit immediately eats the excretion for the mineral content. Smell and mess are  gone-but for those who eat rabbit meat-you're ingesting that runny, smelly, mucus-y stuff. Bon appétit.

And for those who wear rabbit fur-I can excuse primitive tribes who wear fur for survival means-but in our culture I find it hedonistic. Again, it's your choice and I can't do anything about that. BTW, fake fur is easier to care for and clean.

Oh! and did you know that rabbit poop over any other poop in the animal kingdom has more nitrogen in it thus make it premium stuff for gardens and especially roses? Hey those of you who breed rabbits for meat-why not convert your business into a humane organic-fertilizer product instead?

After  Pinky and  Potter  I experienced a form of the empty nest syndrome. Our home felt vacant to me. I kept bugging my husband who said wait until Christmas to adopt. The craving for a small being to inhabit our living space was incessant.

Finally we put feelers out-we wanted a White New Zealand because most people don't like to adopt pink-eyed rabbits. I made calls out to local rabbit rescues. I chatted with a gal willing to meet us on a Pennsylvania tpke on our way to my sister and brother-in-laws house with two New Zealands. I chatted with another gal in New Jersey who rescued abused rabbits in a slaughter house. This place has yet to be shut down.

But the arrangements and timing didn't work. Finally a local rescue organization Rabbit Allies of CT and
Hopalong Hollow pointed us here: Sweet Binks.

We now proudly co-exist with Nibbles and Puma two sixteen pound New Zealander's who are entertaining, exasperating, loving and all the things a pet should be.

They even accompany us on our Christmas trips to Pennslyvania-thanks to the generous spirit of my sister and brother-in-law.

Our nest is complete again, and the two large rabbits lolling about in the living room seem content to us.

For more info on rabbits please visit the House Rabbit Society:http://www.rabbit.org/

Herewith some entertaining rabbit videos one featuring comedian Amy Sedaris:

Amy Sedaris you-tube commercial

Funny Rabbit Video
And! a recent article on Hopalong Hollow in the New York Times:

Hopalong Hollow Article

Thank you for reading this post.

 

Suzanne and Mike and Nibs and Puma Urban

About the pics to left of post: Please click on image for adorable enlargement. 

Comments

[carolee]

Awwwww, Suzanne, they're just adorable, and thanks for the info on house rabbits. Wish I could adopt one myself, but I'm afraid our cats are die-hard carnivores, so it wouldn't work. I love looking at yours though, so do keep the photos coming. :)

~ Carolee

[Kim]

I love Rabbits Suzanne. My next door neighbor use to have one. I always use to love to go over to her house and hold it and pet it.