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I am gutted!

Snowy

Wise Old Thumper
I started to foster about 3 months ago for a local rescue, the first 2 bunnies I had in I couldn't let go because they'd had a really bad time and are now bonded and so happy together so we decided to keep them, then I took another 8 in and I have been looking after them and now 2 of the bunnies that I have nursed through their castrations and looked after and cared for have gone to new homes with lovely people, they went this morning and I am devasted at letting them go.

I can't stop crying and feel so miserable :cry: :cry: , i understand that I can't keep them all and although I didn't hink it would be easy giving them up, I really didn't think it would be this hard.............. does it get any better?

I feel really stupid because I should be happy for them but I am going to miss them so much.

How do other people cope with fostering?

:oops: :oops: Sorry to be so daft but nobody else understands why I am so upset :oops: :oops:
 
Aww, I think it's perfectly reasonable that you would be upset. You're a caring person and have cared for them for some time. Will you be able to stay in touch with their new homes, so you can have an update on how they're doing?
I really think it's amazing that you are helping these bunnies out in this way.
 
hi theo

when i started rescueing i thought i would be excatly the same :shock: considering i already had 24 of my own at the time and alway took in anything near that needed a loving home thought i would be in real trouble.. but i had to get into that mind set that they WASNT mine and i was just getting them back to health, neutering and finding them good homes and this is where i find home visits MOST helpful because if you see what they will be going to/and its great you wont feel bad at all actually elated for them. i must admit i turn down more offer than i acept BUT it helps me sleep at night.....

hope it gets easier for you soon

Eve x
 
My main fosterer, Angie, found it really hard to let go of the first bun,Alfie now living with Angie65...and she also bonded with Sam who went recently...but she says she just concentrates on the fact that there are so many other buns that need her help..It's not just people who foster.... I find it hard handing buns over some times..as there are always those buns you find a special bond with.
 
Thanks guys........... I just feel like someone has wrenched my stomache out!!, sounds very dramatic but they really needed me and it was such a pleasure to watch them become friendly and confident and get back to good health.

:cry: I suppose the crying will stop and it will get better, it's nice to know that I am not on my own, but I have this horrible feelong that I have abandoned them when they had just learned to trust me.

I can keep in touch with where they have gone and I will do, I need to know that they are safe and happy.

Thanks for all your comments
 
awwww I kind of know how you feel :cry: I know I didn't have him very long, but when I had to give up Nomad it was heartbreaking. I cried for 3 days :shock: I really don't know how foster carers do it!. Alison had the little guy a lot longer than me and I told her I didn't know how she let him go either. Alison told me that by letter him go it makes room for another bunny in need of help :D I guess you have to look at it that way, no matter how heartbreaking it is to let them go, you are leaving the door open to help more unwanted bunsters.
 
There is always a hole left in your heart when a bun goes onto its new home, but as Eve says, seeing where they are going and how loved they are going to be, really helps me to feel happy that I've been able to help. Both fosters I've let go have gone to brilliant homes but I still feel very sad and as if something is 'missing' for a good couple of weeks after they go - and I still think of them fondly now.

I just focus on the fact that whilst I can give a bun in need a very good 'half way house', I can't give the space I would wish for them in the long term without upsetting my own resident buns - plus if my hutch has a permanent bun in, I am unable to help other buns in need.
 
That's a good way of looking at it, trouble is it just hurts like heck :cry:

I think that I should focus on the ones I've got left and the ones that will undoubtedly come in next.....probably needing my help just as much

I suppose I'll get used to it, but it came as a bit of a shock :shock: just how much it hurts and will do for time to come I suppose

Thanks anywayxx
 
Oh, I know how you feel :(

I've been fostering cats for a while now and when I had my first one I desperately wanted to keep him, but made the decision not too as if I had I would not have been able to help any more cats.

I'm still always sad to see them go, and have a good cry.

I also felt the same when Belle went to live with Louise, I was crying all the way home but I know she was going to a wonderful home where she would have much more than I could give her....also I am now fostering 4 rabbits from rescue and have picked up a rabbit and guinea pig from freeads so now I can help them too :)
 
You have to get tough to do this rescue work. Its hard to start with but with time maybe you we find it easier. It right to look on it as one done whos next theres so many waiting. I had someone who wanted to help out and foster once. She ended up with 10 and had a fantastic set up for them. But she didnt bank on it taking so long to rehome them. She ended up buying all of them and keeping them all as her pets. :lol: [ paying a donation on all that is. Needless to say that was the end of her involvment in fostering :lol: . Some can do it some karnt. val
 
You have to get tough to do this rescue work. Its hard to start with but with time maybe you we find it easier. It right to look on it as one done whos next theres so many waiting. I had someone who wanted to help out and foster once. She ended up with 10 and had a fantastic set up for them. But she didnt bank on it taking so long to rehome them. She ended up buying all of them and keeping them all as her pets. :lol: [ paying a donation on all that is. Needless to say that was the end of her involvment in fostering :lol: . Some can do it some carnt. val
 
My boys used to get really upset when a foster rabbit went out to a new home, it became easier when they realised that if I didnt rehome any of the rabbit we had here as fosters, we would never be able to help any more. They also have met lots of bunny and piggy mad people, many who come along armed with lots of photos of their garden set ups plus sometimes a rabbit whom they want me to find them a suitable partner that they now accept that being involved with a rescue does involve having to let them ALL go off to a new home.

In just over 8 years we have only kept 1 rabbit and 2 piggies.

The ones I find hard to let go are the ones I have had here for ages and have had to fight to get them through health or behaviour problems, some of these whom I sometimes think will never find that forever home. It is these ones that I am more likely to find harder to let them go.
 
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=28440 stories like this make it all worthwhile and make me have no problem with rehoming a foster bun. Lorna from Greenfields rescue brought me 8 rabbits towards the end of last year. Adele was the last rabbit of te group to find her forever home. Whilst it is sad in some ways she has gone ... I can always fill her hutch many times over with a far more needy rabbit who is desperate to get out of the situation where they are currently living.

I am now perhaps more hardened to this now ... and don't look at it as if I have lost a rabbit rather that I can now help another one.
 
I think you're all very brave and selfless. It's wonderful that there are people like you out there who will foster bunnies and care for them while they need you, then let them go on to new homes. I know I would want to keep every animal I took home! Which is impractical and would eventually, lead to me committing to far more animals than I could cope with. Big ((hugs)) to you - I'm sure it will get easier.
 
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