Kipcha
Well-Known Member
Alright, I'm sure some of you have been following the story of Thumper, Buttercup and Skittles, three rabbits we rescued back inFebruary. These three rabbits were, at one point, living free range in the back yard but when they started chewing down plants and wood, the Mom decided she wanted them confined to a hutch, so all three of them were housed in one hutch together.
Thumper (Who passed away recently after finally going to her new home last week) had had some severe injuries dealt to her through something in back yard (I personally suspect dog or perhaps even an owl attack, the owners used to talk about how cool it was that owls would perch on their fence to watch the rabbits...) and thus, had her rear end permanently damaged and caused her to have an odd, dragging hop.
However, she was an extremely happy bunny still full of energy and always social, so we let her be (The injuries were old and already healedso there was nothing that could be done)and got her to a wonderful new home with a family that loved her very much. Unfortuanatly, she was only there for around a month before she tragically passed away.
Now, before delving in further, both Skittles and Buttercup have been rehomed, Skittles to another member in the hopping club (Who are a wonderful home and just adore her) and Buttercup will be staying with us. We're already seeing an enormous difference in the little girl.
She no longer hunkers in the corner of her cage and acts fearful, but is actually getting social and coming to the side of the cage when you go by and she's down to a far healthier weight. She was rather overweight, I would assume from the dog food they were recieving on adaily basis, as well as the major excess of fruits and vegetables (Instead of a slice of banana, they would get a banana each, as an example).We discovered Buttercup has some dental problems (Her front teeth line up straight on) and we've invested a lot of time and some money into getting her back to tip top shape. She's looking better, acting better, getting more activeand and overall, just seems like a happier rabbit overall.
Skittles is getting more social and is rather happy being bonded with a rabbit the family has already. Her coat is looking healthy, she seems more active and again, seems like a far happier rabbit.
For those of you who don't know, the Mom gave the rabbits to us on impulse, deciding to give them up before her daughter came home from school one day and greeted her home with the news that her rabbits would be leaving shortly. Originally, they were going to be donated to a local petting zoo, but we snatched them before this could happen. I could only imagine what would happen to those poor buns there.
So now, we catch up to the present. One tragically passed and the other two living perfectly healthy lives. Well, now they have decided they want the rabbits back... Including digging up Thumper, who has probably been buried for a week now.
They claim that the new family "killed their rabbit" and are demanding to have all three back, Skittles and Buttercup as pets and Thumper "so they can bury her where she lived her entire life". Honestly, the entire thing just makes me sick.
Now, when Thumper died, her new family was devastated and took her to a vet to have an autopsy done in hopes of finding out if they had done anything wrong. The vet explained that it was due to the care she had been recieving previously and the injuries she had sustained before that, while healed, obviously take their toll. Really, there was nothing they could do other then love her while they had her and try to make her as comfortable as possible.
As you can imagine, it didn't go well when they recieved the e-mail from the previous family demanding her body back.
And, as you can imagine, it's not going well with her wanting to take back two rabbits have loving families for them already.
I'm not really quite sure what to say to these people because they insist now that only they can properly take care of them and the new family should feel ashamed 'for killing Thumper'. They insist that Thumper and the others were 'completely healthy' when they came to us and that all injuries sustained after they came to us. That accusation right there was enough to get me wound up... I mean, how dare they?
But no matter what we say, she says that Thumpers odd way of hopping was due to arthritis... At 4 years old. I told her that it was extremely unlikely, and that it was injuries to her rear end that were old and healed, the 3 vets we had look at her confirmed this. No matter how much we reason, it just doesn't stick. She's convinced that her way of care was the best way.
Obviously, we are not handing the rabbits back over, but I really need some advice on this. How would you handle the situation?
It's sad that these three little buns have been tangled in this so much...
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Thumper (Who passed away recently after finally going to her new home last week) had had some severe injuries dealt to her through something in back yard (I personally suspect dog or perhaps even an owl attack, the owners used to talk about how cool it was that owls would perch on their fence to watch the rabbits...) and thus, had her rear end permanently damaged and caused her to have an odd, dragging hop.
However, she was an extremely happy bunny still full of energy and always social, so we let her be (The injuries were old and already healedso there was nothing that could be done)and got her to a wonderful new home with a family that loved her very much. Unfortuanatly, she was only there for around a month before she tragically passed away.
Now, before delving in further, both Skittles and Buttercup have been rehomed, Skittles to another member in the hopping club (Who are a wonderful home and just adore her) and Buttercup will be staying with us. We're already seeing an enormous difference in the little girl.
She no longer hunkers in the corner of her cage and acts fearful, but is actually getting social and coming to the side of the cage when you go by and she's down to a far healthier weight. She was rather overweight, I would assume from the dog food they were recieving on adaily basis, as well as the major excess of fruits and vegetables (Instead of a slice of banana, they would get a banana each, as an example).We discovered Buttercup has some dental problems (Her front teeth line up straight on) and we've invested a lot of time and some money into getting her back to tip top shape. She's looking better, acting better, getting more activeand and overall, just seems like a happier rabbit overall.
Skittles is getting more social and is rather happy being bonded with a rabbit the family has already. Her coat is looking healthy, she seems more active and again, seems like a far happier rabbit.
For those of you who don't know, the Mom gave the rabbits to us on impulse, deciding to give them up before her daughter came home from school one day and greeted her home with the news that her rabbits would be leaving shortly. Originally, they were going to be donated to a local petting zoo, but we snatched them before this could happen. I could only imagine what would happen to those poor buns there.
So now, we catch up to the present. One tragically passed and the other two living perfectly healthy lives. Well, now they have decided they want the rabbits back... Including digging up Thumper, who has probably been buried for a week now.
They claim that the new family "killed their rabbit" and are demanding to have all three back, Skittles and Buttercup as pets and Thumper "so they can bury her where she lived her entire life". Honestly, the entire thing just makes me sick.
Now, when Thumper died, her new family was devastated and took her to a vet to have an autopsy done in hopes of finding out if they had done anything wrong. The vet explained that it was due to the care she had been recieving previously and the injuries she had sustained before that, while healed, obviously take their toll. Really, there was nothing they could do other then love her while they had her and try to make her as comfortable as possible.
As you can imagine, it didn't go well when they recieved the e-mail from the previous family demanding her body back.
And, as you can imagine, it's not going well with her wanting to take back two rabbits have loving families for them already.
I'm not really quite sure what to say to these people because they insist now that only they can properly take care of them and the new family should feel ashamed 'for killing Thumper'. They insist that Thumper and the others were 'completely healthy' when they came to us and that all injuries sustained after they came to us. That accusation right there was enough to get me wound up... I mean, how dare they?
But no matter what we say, she says that Thumpers odd way of hopping was due to arthritis... At 4 years old. I told her that it was extremely unlikely, and that it was injuries to her rear end that were old and healed, the 3 vets we had look at her confirmed this. No matter how much we reason, it just doesn't stick. She's convinced that her way of care was the best way.
Obviously, we are not handing the rabbits back over, but I really need some advice on this. How would you handle the situation?
It's sad that these three little buns have been tangled in this so much...
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