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Heart bunnies

Sky-O

Wise Old Thumper
So tell me about your heart bunny/ies? Those are the bunnies that have a connection with you, that you feel the strongest about, that are possibly more important to you than others.


Mine was a guy called Flash. He came to me when I was very ill, and he was only with me for a few short months before his untimely death due to my error. The first time we met he went to sleep on my lap, and from there we were just so close, and so joined, all the time. He has done more for me than any person in this world. Never before would anyone be there when I felt bad, and he was. He became my very best friend, and I doubt anyone will ever surpass him because he was different from people. He used to be so funny, and he used to trust me completely. I remember one time he just lept at me as I walked into the room (he was on my bed) and I was not prepared for him, but did still manage to catch him. He also used to sit on my shoulder and chose that over any where else. He was a turd, yes, but I just found it endearing. One time I was trying to change his litter tray and he wanted to be in it and when I lifted him out of it he legged it upstairs and weed on my bed, then sat next to it all proud to show me what he had done and how disgusted with me he was for moving him out of his litter tray. He unwrapped all the Christmas presents that Christmas from behind so they looked normal at the front and when we took them out they were all unwrapped. I laughed so hard at that. He died nearly three years ago, and everyday I still miss him more than I could ever explain. He was my closest friend and that's why now I will never have just one close rabbit, and why I have ended up with so many. It hurt so much to lose him, and it made me awfully ill, and so now I have several close rabbits (starting with Sky, and mainly Sky), and having so many others means that I can't, and won't ever be left so completely alone like I was after Flash died.

So yes, tell me about your heart bunnies.
 
Jack - he litteraly saved my life.
I wish I could say I am getting better at coping without him but I am not.

This is my last photo of Jack taken the night before I had to et him go to Rainbow Bridge

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Jack is beautiful, and I have a feeling he meant similar to you as Flash did to me. It hurts to lose that one support doesn't it, that one friend, the one who is there when no one else is.

Jack was so lucky to have you. It's awful when they leave us.
 
snowball, i don't have any photos of her as it was a long time ago when i was 15 and lost my snowy, but i loved her to pieces she used to lick my face and play hide and seek aroung the arm chair, she didn't live that long cos she took daihorea and my dad bathed her and left her out, even to my protests and i came out the next moring and she was stiff. if only i could have done more for her but i didn't have any money so i couldn't say anything. :(
 
He was a turd, yes, but I just found it endearing.

I think that's a recurring theme with most heart animals of any species. :lol:

I can't tell you what a complete little barsteward my previous shar-pei Phoebe was, but I'll never love any animal or human like I loved that dog. It's been nearly 4 years since she died and I'll never get over losing her.

As for bunnies, it's a tie between my very first one Thumper who a turbo charged Netherland Dwarf and my current one Frank. He's very quickly found his way into my heart.
 
my first ever rabbit lucky. she was particularly special. she was an english cross whom we rescued having originally been dumped for having the wrong markings and left in a cardboard box then living under a shed for several years..yes under as in under in a burrow rather than in. she came to be with us. she soon adapted to hutch life(mind you it was 8x4 2 storey! Lol) and it took hours of sitting outside for her to gain our trust. once she had she never bit and was an angel rabbit she came to bed when you called and would hop onto your lap for food. she wouuld know if you were sad and come to be with you just gentle big girl.... she suddenly started losing wieght and went down hill dramatically we found a brillinat vet unfortunatly even he couldnt save her and eventually she was put down she had a paralyses larynx adn a rbain tumour with the complications(eventually) of pneumonia. poor baby but she lived to i think 5years and had a few happy years with us xx ialso had a heart hamster porij who had cancer..lost his teeth and had to be fed baby food. he also had neumerous scent gland infections and wass the runt of his litter originally... he was eventually put down age 4 the freindliest russian my boy was cuddly and used to sit with me for ages. rip to both lucky and porij x
 
Bob was my heart bun, I went to a rescue to choose a bunny and came back with the only one with no ears. He had to have surgery on his ears because he kept getting ear infections as there wasn't enough ear for it to filter through properly or something. He still battled with recurring ear infections even after surgery and even though we had to squeeze his ear to get rid of the infection he still sat there loving nose rubs from me and loves sitting on me for hours :love: About a week after he got the all clear about his ears he died of what I think was a respiratory problem, but I've never been sure. He was the most amazing bunny, despite everything he battled through and was such a special boy.

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My heart bun was my bridge bun Billy, i will never ever have a bun like him.Im sure he knew what i was saying, he never left my side even making the beds etc.The decision for me to have him PTS will always play on my mind, im dreading christmas without him:cry:

Im dreading getting the chrimbo things down, as his stocking is in there.He loved the xmas tree and decorations;) and the chocolates.Billy loved rustling through the presents under the tree, Ive got all my other pets and i love them dearly, but there will NEVER be another Billy.Id love to put a pic up of him but im useless:oops: but he was a stunner, a choccy dwarf lop.Debx
 
My heartbunny was Caspian my first Tri. I only had the pleasure of his company for a paltry 8 weeks but that rabbit changed my life, I have never felt a bond like it and I know I never will again.

This is his story, copied from another site:

Caspian came to me in September 2007 along with two other rabbits who had been bred from, neglected and then cast aside when they became an inconvenience to the owner. At the time I was running Happy Hoppers Rescue and we catered for around 30 rabbits at full capacity. I was told to expect the arrival of two Netherland Dwarfs and a 'mixed breed' bunny. When I opened the carrier to Caspian I saw he was anything but mixed breed. Caspian was a stunning Tri-Coloured Dutch, a rabbit I had sought after for a long time but never aquired as I had yet to find one in rescue (I have gone on to rescue two more since).

So from day one it was obvious this little chap was not going anywhere but we had problems to overcome. Caspian had pretty much every behavioural problem going. He was handshy, cage aggressive, food aggressive, a lunger, a biter and a nipper. Every morning just filling his food bowl became an immense challenge and I took to wearing garden gloves to protect my hands. Neutering was what he needed, that and understanding but there were more sinister issue's afloat which meant 'the snip' became an impossibility.

After a couple of days when Caspian wa still living in the 'rescue room' with the other bunnies I began to hear strange noises, loud gurgling sounds which seemed without an origin. Baffled and bewildered I would sit in silence for minutes trying to work out what I was hearing and if I was even hearing it at all. After my partner too announced he could indeed hear the strange rumbling we began to narrow it down, eventually it became obvious it was eminating from the small, angry rabbit in the corner.

We felt his tummy and he showed a little discomfort, demonstarted through a renewed effort to skin my hand. Feeling a small gas bubble located in his tummy we dosed him with simethicone and kept a close eye on him. He ate, drank and passed stools and seemed oblivious to the racket his stomach was making almost constantly. However this phase was not to last, on the day we went to Warwickshire to collect a group of seven neglected rabbits from a large rescue Caspian became critically ill with bloat and was rushed to the vets for emergency care. The most draining few hours of my life were spent getting him home, comfortable and drugged up before setting off on our 5 hour round trip to return with the new rabbits. I arrived home to find Caspain no better and spent the night nurseing him. The next day it was not just him that was ill.

It was something I had been through before and had found no reason then. The Dr who I saw informed me it was stress and unable to eat, keep down food or move from my bed I was signed off work. Caspian needed me too though so he was moved into the bedroom and set-up next to the bed. Our medicines sat side by side on the dressing table and I would wake to give us both our various drugs at the same time. Being ill had taken the spark out of Casp and with it all the aggression. How I longed to be nipped or lunged at during those few days.

It is often said that the bond you build with an animal you have nursed will always be stronger and deeper for you both than with any other pet. Well the bond you develop when you are living for each other is unreal. I never thought it was possible to feel like that about a rabbit. Caspian began sleeping on my chest under the duvet with me, or curled into my side. He would take all his medication in good grace and even drank from my glass when it was proferred. We supported each other and he came to trust me. From this point on he was never aggressive again. A few days after the initial vets trip Caspian delighted me with a bout of the squits all over the pillows. My OH was not so delighted.

Caspian went back to normal in terms of eating and drinking after that and I soon returned to work, what never returned was his aggressive personality. The nervous wreck that had arrived on my doorstep just a few short weeks ago became my living shadow, never far from my side or sat next to me on the sofa.

The nosies however never vanished and he had days where it was obvious he didn't feel 'right'. On those days he would sit in the kitchen by the radiator, alone, and could not be coaxed out. Slowly problems were ruled out, teeth, diet, coccidia, enteritis and the likelyhood that it was something very sinister became more real. Caspian either had a growth blocking his GI tract or Pyloric Stenosis. Neither had a good prognosis and it was my personal belief not to consider GI surgery a procedure I wanted him to endure.

On the 19th November Caspian relapsed into full bloat. We carried out the same intensive nurseing campaign we had used just a month earlier but this time to no avail. He had stopped responding to medication and his body was slowly shutting down. Desperately we kept on and at times he would try to eat or drink, he even produced stools, but we couldn't pull him out of it. I couldn't make him better anymore. On the night of the 24th November Caspian began to dribble and soil himself, his tummy had become so bloated his rib cage had begun to stretch under the pressure. I made the decision that if he was the same in the morning we would be making the final vets trip together. He slept in the bed with me that night, on my chest, his favourite spot.

Getting on the bus with him the following morning was the hardest thing I ever did, it took so much restraint not to ring the bell at every stop, jump off and take him home. We went straight into the consulting room at the surgery and spent a few minutes saying goodbye before the vet entered. I stayed with Caspian until the end, it was the least I could do for him and I owed it to him....he had been there for me too after all. I can safely say I have never got over that day, or that rabbit.

Caspian was my heart bunny, the bond I shared with him is one I doubt I could ever achieve again. I still miss my little shadow so much, even though now I have the joy of 6 other unique and beautiful bunnies to share my life with. There is always a little emptiness, a small hole that cannot be filled, meerly patched over as best as I can.

It's been nearly a year since I had to make the decision to have Caspian PTS and I still think about him everyday.

This was my last ever picture of him:

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ive only ever had alvin and pearl and i guess i wont know if they are heart bunnies till after theyve gone and i have other bunnies... im thinking both are right now tho :D
 
I opened this thread thinking it was to do with heart problems…by the time I’d finished reading the tears were streaming down my face and I had a good old fashioned cry. I feel for you all, what’s that saying, ‘grief is the price we pay for love’. I haven’t had a heart bunny as I’m new to this, but I’m still in recovery from the loss of my heart cat! Scruffy was a stray that invited himself to live with us for 10 wonderful years. From a skinny little ragamuffin, he turned into the most stunningly beautiful cat, huge handsome and fluffy (it was too late to change his name by then). Initially, he was terrified of closed doors, even cupboard doors had to be opened so he didn’t get stressed! It took a few years but he became so trusting and loved my dad to pieces. He had the most incredible personality he could speak to us by just looking at us in a certain way, and he would do the most hilarious things. At one point my Dad had to nurse him back from the brink while I was away at uni and they then became inseparable. I used to phone home regularly and the first question was always "how’s Scruffy, what’s he been up to". But on one occasion all I got was a strange muffled response before my mum took the phone as my dad had collapsed into pieces, immediately followed by me when I found out he’d been killed in a road accident. I felt so bad for my dad as my parents had been hosting a dinner party when a neighbour called and told dad what had happened. Dad said his heart sunk as he went and retrieved him. He was devastated and said he couldn’t go back in the house, he said he carried him round the back of our garage and sat on the floor cuddling him and sobbing. Anyway having had animals all his life he has vowed never to have another one, Scuffy broke his heart forever. So eight years on, its taken that long, I am now venturing into the world of bunnies. Having read your stories I guess the inevitable devastating trauma of loosing another fluffy friend will be waiting for me in the future, but there’s many happy years to be had first!!
 
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