andromedagale
Member
Hi. I'm from West Virginia and I've been a bunny mom for a little over four years. I recently lost Romeo, a dutch mix, who was the sweetest pet I've ever had. He also learned quite a few cute little tricks in our time together. Riding on my back was one of them. And learning certain commands was never tough for him. He loved to cuddle and lick my nose or cheek to show affection. And he was so much fun. There are many things I will never forget about him.
Romeo had a rough go of life. From a tiny fellow, he had trouble with hairballs. Atleast once, every time he shed, he would stop eating because of the pain in his belly and I would turn in to a nurse. Keeping metacam, papaya enzyme, hairball remedy, canned pumpkin and pedialyte on hand became second nature. Just last year, bun developed a runny eye. Since it was time for his annual check-up, and I had a new bunny to be examined as well, I took him to the vet. They said that it had to be something behind the eye. Also, he was beginning to develop a malloclusion on his left side. The vet put him under for an X-ray and a tooth filing. Sure enough, he had an abcess behind his eye. This was caused by a tooth that had shattered for some reason. We believe he scratched his gums and maybe developed the infection there. Since the vet couldn't even find it until they put him under, I obviously hadn't known of it either. The infected tooth eventually shattered and became impacted with food. They cleaned out the impaction, but said that treatment would be difficult for the abcess behind his eye. They gave me an oral antibiotic to treat him with which sent him into a bought of diarrhea. I rushed to the store and bought pedialyte and stayed up all night with him giving him as much as I could as often as I could. I took him to the vet the next day and they gave him fluids and benebac. We opted for antibiotic injections. It was quite a while before I could put Romeo together with his new cage buddy, Rocky. They got along wonderfully once I did though. It took Romeo quite a while to recover. For months, I had to watch closely because he would tend to start back with the softstool almost every one to two weeks.
Finally, toward the end of the year I noticed that Romeo was not having his health problems nearly as often. I thought maybe this was in large part due to having a companion instead of being lonely all day. The time came for the boys annual check-up again. They checked out well except for Romeo needing a tooth filing again. On June 18, 2009, I took him to the vet before work for his tooth filing. I had an uneasy feeling, but I just thought it was like a mom leaving her little one for a doctors appointment. My plans were to pick him up after work and watch him through the weekend since I had the next day, Friday, off. My birthday was coming as well. At approximately 10:46 A.M. the doctor called my office.
She told me that she had put Romeo under for the tooth filing, they began to file but he started bleeding. They thought his gums were bleeding at first, but then he began to bleed alot. She started to bring him out of anesthesia, but he crashed on them. She tried to bring him back, but no matter what she did, his lungs would not expand. Romeo was gone. She did an X-ray on his body to see what had caused this after I left work to pick him up and it showed a huge mass in his belly, which turned out to be a tumor. It had picked just the right time, when he was already under and unaware of what was going on, to take him. I am somewhat thankful that my poor little bun was already asleep when this happened instead of being awake in his cage and suffering through the agony that this would have put him through. However, I feel so wretched that I couldn'thelp him. I loved him very much and I know I will never have another like him. I miss him so much it feels like part of my heart is gone. He is now buried under the sasafrass tree where all of our wild bunnies play. I hope God lets us have pets in heaven. Needless to say, I have had better birthdays than this one.
So, now to introduce my other little buddies. Rocky, who was Romeo's cage buddy, is an English spotted. He's always very wary and skittish, but we're slowly getting him out of his shell. When bun (Romeo) passed, I knew the little fella would be very lonely and possibly go into a depression as bunnies who have lost their cage buddies often do. I took a full sized fake stuffed animal bunny, rubbed it around the inside of the cage to pick up Romeo's scent and placed it in the cage. Rocky has been cleaning and cuddling with it since. I immediately began searching fora new family addition. As it happened, I ended up with two. I fell in love with Nikki, a Lop/Rex mix, right away. She had one ear that stood up and one lop ear. She had pretty little blue eyes and she was extremely easy to handle. She was also very loving. Then we went to another pet store to look at their rabbits. This is where we met Cole, a black bunny that I believe may be a silver. The pet store could not tell us what breed he was. His wiskers had all been chewed down to about 1/4 inch and he had obviously had bits of fur pulled out that were now growing back. His belly was also very large and felt very tight. He was drinking water like crazy. When I asked the attendant whether it was a boy or a girl, she yanked him up by the ears. Both my nieces and myself gasped loudly. I have taught them that you absolutely, under no circumstances pick a rabbit up by the ears as well as the reasons why. The attendant said, "Oh it's okay. It doesn't hurt them." Cole came home with me immediately and we stopped quickly on the way back to pick up Nikki, who would be his cage companion until Rocky was ready for them to move in with him. I took them both for an initial health check-up the very next day and it turns out Cole has an uncomfortable case of coccidia as well. All three bunnies will be treated for the next 10 days.
That is where it stands now. Rocky has gone around looking for Romeo a few times, but now he seems more interested in the little ones. I let their cage sit in the floor so that he can interact with them without having the opportunity to hurt them with nips and bites. I also move a small stuffed rabbit from one cage to the other to get all bunnies used to the others scent. I have put them all in the bathtub together once so far and they seemed to do well. Cole seems to be a bit of a bully though, which may have come from having to fight off nibblers and food stealers at the pet store. Hopefully this will diminish a little once he is old enough to be fixed. I look forward to seeing the personality traits of the new bunnies as well as the changes in Rocky. He is becoming more and more accepting of human hands since the cuddles of his cage buddy are no longer available. And he is becoming increasingly active and venturing out around the house on his own. I find myself holding the little fella and feeling sad that Romeo is not running around my feet in protest that he is not the one getting all the attention. But that is the risk we run having pets that do not have a life span as long as ours. I look forward to seeing the new bonds that will be made here.
By the way, if anyone knows for sure what breed of rabbit Cole might be, please let me know.
Romeo had a rough go of life. From a tiny fellow, he had trouble with hairballs. Atleast once, every time he shed, he would stop eating because of the pain in his belly and I would turn in to a nurse. Keeping metacam, papaya enzyme, hairball remedy, canned pumpkin and pedialyte on hand became second nature. Just last year, bun developed a runny eye. Since it was time for his annual check-up, and I had a new bunny to be examined as well, I took him to the vet. They said that it had to be something behind the eye. Also, he was beginning to develop a malloclusion on his left side. The vet put him under for an X-ray and a tooth filing. Sure enough, he had an abcess behind his eye. This was caused by a tooth that had shattered for some reason. We believe he scratched his gums and maybe developed the infection there. Since the vet couldn't even find it until they put him under, I obviously hadn't known of it either. The infected tooth eventually shattered and became impacted with food. They cleaned out the impaction, but said that treatment would be difficult for the abcess behind his eye. They gave me an oral antibiotic to treat him with which sent him into a bought of diarrhea. I rushed to the store and bought pedialyte and stayed up all night with him giving him as much as I could as often as I could. I took him to the vet the next day and they gave him fluids and benebac. We opted for antibiotic injections. It was quite a while before I could put Romeo together with his new cage buddy, Rocky. They got along wonderfully once I did though. It took Romeo quite a while to recover. For months, I had to watch closely because he would tend to start back with the softstool almost every one to two weeks.
Finally, toward the end of the year I noticed that Romeo was not having his health problems nearly as often. I thought maybe this was in large part due to having a companion instead of being lonely all day. The time came for the boys annual check-up again. They checked out well except for Romeo needing a tooth filing again. On June 18, 2009, I took him to the vet before work for his tooth filing. I had an uneasy feeling, but I just thought it was like a mom leaving her little one for a doctors appointment. My plans were to pick him up after work and watch him through the weekend since I had the next day, Friday, off. My birthday was coming as well. At approximately 10:46 A.M. the doctor called my office.
She told me that she had put Romeo under for the tooth filing, they began to file but he started bleeding. They thought his gums were bleeding at first, but then he began to bleed alot. She started to bring him out of anesthesia, but he crashed on them. She tried to bring him back, but no matter what she did, his lungs would not expand. Romeo was gone. She did an X-ray on his body to see what had caused this after I left work to pick him up and it showed a huge mass in his belly, which turned out to be a tumor. It had picked just the right time, when he was already under and unaware of what was going on, to take him. I am somewhat thankful that my poor little bun was already asleep when this happened instead of being awake in his cage and suffering through the agony that this would have put him through. However, I feel so wretched that I couldn'thelp him. I loved him very much and I know I will never have another like him. I miss him so much it feels like part of my heart is gone. He is now buried under the sasafrass tree where all of our wild bunnies play. I hope God lets us have pets in heaven. Needless to say, I have had better birthdays than this one.
So, now to introduce my other little buddies. Rocky, who was Romeo's cage buddy, is an English spotted. He's always very wary and skittish, but we're slowly getting him out of his shell. When bun (Romeo) passed, I knew the little fella would be very lonely and possibly go into a depression as bunnies who have lost their cage buddies often do. I took a full sized fake stuffed animal bunny, rubbed it around the inside of the cage to pick up Romeo's scent and placed it in the cage. Rocky has been cleaning and cuddling with it since. I immediately began searching fora new family addition. As it happened, I ended up with two. I fell in love with Nikki, a Lop/Rex mix, right away. She had one ear that stood up and one lop ear. She had pretty little blue eyes and she was extremely easy to handle. She was also very loving. Then we went to another pet store to look at their rabbits. This is where we met Cole, a black bunny that I believe may be a silver. The pet store could not tell us what breed he was. His wiskers had all been chewed down to about 1/4 inch and he had obviously had bits of fur pulled out that were now growing back. His belly was also very large and felt very tight. He was drinking water like crazy. When I asked the attendant whether it was a boy or a girl, she yanked him up by the ears. Both my nieces and myself gasped loudly. I have taught them that you absolutely, under no circumstances pick a rabbit up by the ears as well as the reasons why. The attendant said, "Oh it's okay. It doesn't hurt them." Cole came home with me immediately and we stopped quickly on the way back to pick up Nikki, who would be his cage companion until Rocky was ready for them to move in with him. I took them both for an initial health check-up the very next day and it turns out Cole has an uncomfortable case of coccidia as well. All three bunnies will be treated for the next 10 days.
That is where it stands now. Rocky has gone around looking for Romeo a few times, but now he seems more interested in the little ones. I let their cage sit in the floor so that he can interact with them without having the opportunity to hurt them with nips and bites. I also move a small stuffed rabbit from one cage to the other to get all bunnies used to the others scent. I have put them all in the bathtub together once so far and they seemed to do well. Cole seems to be a bit of a bully though, which may have come from having to fight off nibblers and food stealers at the pet store. Hopefully this will diminish a little once he is old enough to be fixed. I look forward to seeing the personality traits of the new bunnies as well as the changes in Rocky. He is becoming more and more accepting of human hands since the cuddles of his cage buddy are no longer available. And he is becoming increasingly active and venturing out around the house on his own. I find myself holding the little fella and feeling sad that Romeo is not running around my feet in protest that he is not the one getting all the attention. But that is the risk we run having pets that do not have a life span as long as ours. I look forward to seeing the new bonds that will be made here.
By the way, if anyone knows for sure what breed of rabbit Cole might be, please let me know.
ink iris:
