Well let's see here, oh yes. After they got together and instantly bonded they were inseparable. They groomed each other and were very happy together.
He was neutered in February 2009. After his neuter, I had to keep him and Sweetie separated for two months so that his hormones would calm down.
Prince first got ear mites when he was almost a year old. I took him to the vet and he was treated with ivermectin. The ear mites cleared up after two doses.
After a while of not getting sick, Prince had another issue, molar spurs. How I knew he had molar spurs was when he wasn't eating or drinking. So to the vet in Kirkland to get his teeth filed down. The vet there had to sedate him because he was too hyper and would hold still under local anestetic(sp). After he had his molars trimmed he had no other issues, because I kept giving him hay to eat. After the surgery, I had to give him pain meds. He felt so much better. He ate and drank.
I can't remember when he was dehydrated. Whether or not it was during his molar spurs or separate from that.
Next, when I moved into Erlands Point Apartments, he didn't get sick too much. But one day, I had Sweetie with me in my bedroom and I heard an odd noise so Sweetie and I checked it out and come to find out Prince was sitting in pain, so I felt his leg because he had it lifted up like it was hurting. I couldn't feel anything broken so I emailed my vet and he suggested that I take Prince to All Creatures. They took xrays of his back right leg, and come to find out: Prince broke his leg above the knee. He jumped from off the top of the cage which is a little over 2 feet. He probably tried to jump onto the playpen and missed and fell to the floor and that is what broke his leg. Anyway, I was in tears because I had two options: 1) put him down; I wasn't going to let him live in pain, or with his leg like it was; 2) get approved for Care Credit, which I heard of. I decided to try to see if I could get Care Credit. I was approved. My mom helped me pay the rest of the vet bill because I didn't have enough to cover it. So Prince had the surgery on his leg and had to be in a small carrier for a total of 10 weeks. On average it takes rabbit bones 6 to 8 weeks to heal. His bones took a little longer to heal.
Then he had these "tics" like a person has when they have tourette syndrome. Both my vet and I could not figure out what was wrong. I was thinking that Prince could have calcium deficiency, because it took 10 weeks for his leg to heal. My vet tested Prince for EC (E. cuniculi) which he came up negative for it. The vet also did a small animal panel, which everything turned up normal. So no one knew why Prince was having these "tics". They were seizure-like symptoms, but we couldn't figure out why he was having them because everything was normal.
Well when I fed Prince some alfalfa hay that I bought when I had the money, his "tics" would stop for a while. So I thought calcium deficiency. I still think that was the problem but I will never know now.
Prince didn't have another issue until August 31, 2011. The night before I noticed that Prince was a little off, but I didn't think anything of it because he always bounced back from being a little off. The morning of August 31, 2011, at about 9:30am, I found Prince in the corner of the cage face down in the corner. I freaked. I took him out of the cage and set him on the floor by the cage, he was very limp, lifeless. I rushed to my cell phone to call the vet and they said to bring him in. So I remembered that it was Wednesday so I called my mom's best friend and she took me and Prince to the vet. My vet took him as soon as we got there and put him on oxygen, gave him some corn syrup because his blood glucose was low. He took his temperature and it was 6 degrees below normal. As soon as the vet got the IV, catheter(sp), in Prince, Prince's heart stopped. As I was getting Prince ready to get to the vet, I told Sweetie that Prince may not be coming home. She was at the opposite side of the cage than Prince when I found him.
Prince was a purebred Netherland Dwarf rabbit that I loved very much and he was very well taken care of. Everytime he was sick, he was at the vet getting something so that he would feel better. He did share his life with his bondmate, Sweetie. They instantly bonded with each other. Sweetie was the first one I got, then I got Prince.
They only had one fight during their friendship. When Prince came home after his surgery on his leg and had to be away from Sweetie for 10 weeks while he healed, Sweetie didn't recognize him after he healed from having his leg fixed. I had to tell her over and over that it was Prince and not a different rabbit. She calmed down and accepted Prince back.
Prince will always be in Sweetie's and my heart. No Prince was not my heart bunny. But I miss him every single day.
When he passed away I noticed that my vet was also upset, I guess he liked Prince as much as I did. When my vet told me I thought that it was my fault somehow. My vet reassured me that Prince's death was not my fault.
Prince was the first purebred rabbit that I ever had and I am missing him every single day. I know that Sweetie is missing him as well.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading this blog. I will put memories that I have of Prince in this blog.
