~ILoveMyBunny~
Alpha Buck
My fourth post in this area of the forum this year. I'm beyond even knowing how to process that.
On Friday we lost our beloved, crazy, beautiful Mishka to something that should never have happened. A tiny, slightly awkward fall from the second floor of her pen - 14" drop onto a soft foam floor covered with fleece blankets. She just landed her jump slightly awkwardly in her eagerness to get to her pellets. There is no way it should have done damage.
Somehow it turned out it had fractured a vertebrae in her spine.
She fought so hard and we tried to support her for 15 days, then out of nowhere she struggled to breath. Had a half an hour wait for the stupid taxi trying to get her to the vet, then she passed on the way in the taxi.
I have no idea what happened. Whether the bloat she'd had for a week or so was compressing her heart and lungs or whether something ruptured or if it was something entirely unrelated. She was fine 10 minutes before. I went to boil the kettle and came back to find her panting and lifting her head.
I can't work it out. I can't understand any of what's happened. She was a happy, healthy, bouncy girl. I've seen her fall twice that height over the years. None of this should be happening.
Mishka was truly one of a kind, I can guarantee there will never ever be another rabbit like her. She was truly unique.
We met her 8 1/2 years ago in a pet shop. As soon as we walked in, having only come in for a new litter tray, there she was. She took one look at us and started to binky and jump and do tricks and she was most definitely was putting on a display for our attention. No one else, just us. Every so often she'd stop, look at us to see if we were paying attention and then continue. Even the lady working in the shop (who we knew quite well, she was a lovely lady) said she had never seen anything like it, she said she is clearly putting on a display for you.
It was blatantly obvious she was trying to get our attention, and though we didn't like buying from pet shops we simply couldn't walk away from her. She'd chosen us, there was no doubt.
She was the most insane, lovable, crazy rabbit you could ever hope to meet. We are totally convinced she had ADHD. She had the attention span of a golden retriever puppy and the energy of a chipmunk. Her biggest problem was always that her body moved before her head could catch up. So many times we had to save her from herself, catching her mid jump when she hadn't throught through the distance or the landing. She got a bit better with time but she was genuinely insane.
Very often she would come up for a piece of fruit or carrot, wag her tail like a dog and excitedly and run off parading around, only to then panic as she'd lost the treat and couldn't find it anywhere.
Most of the time it turned out she'd never even taken it. It was still there in your hand. In her excitement she'd made an attempt to grab it and run off before she even had it. I hate myself so much for never getting a good video of this. You always think you'll have more time.
Even once she'd grabbed it she'd go off, charge around again and invariably drop it somewhere. Panic would ensue as she'd frantically look for it before eventually finding it and charging off with it again. This could go on and on for ages sometimes. She was so scatterbrained and hyper.
She'd make the happiest little grunts of excitement for her food. Hilariously if you tried to touch it while she was eating she'd growl, but that was it. Never lunging, never aggression, just "oi, that's mine, no touch". She'd sit there with her back end twitching excitedly before asking for more food.
She was truly one of a kind.
She was the neatest rabbit I'd ever met, not only did she stick to her litter tray but she'd stick to one particular corner of it. No accidents, very little mess of any kind. Just neat and tidy. Out of all the rabbits we've had she's easily been the easiest to maintain. Even her pen was often neatly kept.
She was a real jumper and liked to be up high. She nearly learned to open doors at one point when she was younger. She worked out the handle needed to be pulled down and used to jump up for it to try to open it by landing on it, nearly giving us a heart attack every time. You'd see her brain working as she stared up at it and calculated the jump. We had to block her away from doors for a while before he hurt herself.
The void she is going to leave is enormous and cannot ever be filled.
The biggest hurt is that it should never have happened. Yes, she was getting older but she was still active, healthy and should have had many years left. One tiny, silly mistake - my own, putting a second level in her pen to give her more room and more to do. She was loving it, I always found her going up and down on it. But had I not put it in she'd still be here. I hate myself for it.
My gorgeous, sweet, beautiful, bonkers little girl, I failed you and I am so sorry. I will never get over losing you. You were unique and beyond special and you should not have gone through what you went through. You should be here now eating banana and zooming around. I am so sorry.
We will always love you with all our hearts.
Goodnight sweet Mishka xxx
On Friday we lost our beloved, crazy, beautiful Mishka to something that should never have happened. A tiny, slightly awkward fall from the second floor of her pen - 14" drop onto a soft foam floor covered with fleece blankets. She just landed her jump slightly awkwardly in her eagerness to get to her pellets. There is no way it should have done damage.
Somehow it turned out it had fractured a vertebrae in her spine.
She fought so hard and we tried to support her for 15 days, then out of nowhere she struggled to breath. Had a half an hour wait for the stupid taxi trying to get her to the vet, then she passed on the way in the taxi.
I have no idea what happened. Whether the bloat she'd had for a week or so was compressing her heart and lungs or whether something ruptured or if it was something entirely unrelated. She was fine 10 minutes before. I went to boil the kettle and came back to find her panting and lifting her head.
I can't work it out. I can't understand any of what's happened. She was a happy, healthy, bouncy girl. I've seen her fall twice that height over the years. None of this should be happening.
Mishka was truly one of a kind, I can guarantee there will never ever be another rabbit like her. She was truly unique.
We met her 8 1/2 years ago in a pet shop. As soon as we walked in, having only come in for a new litter tray, there she was. She took one look at us and started to binky and jump and do tricks and she was most definitely was putting on a display for our attention. No one else, just us. Every so often she'd stop, look at us to see if we were paying attention and then continue. Even the lady working in the shop (who we knew quite well, she was a lovely lady) said she had never seen anything like it, she said she is clearly putting on a display for you.
It was blatantly obvious she was trying to get our attention, and though we didn't like buying from pet shops we simply couldn't walk away from her. She'd chosen us, there was no doubt.
She was the most insane, lovable, crazy rabbit you could ever hope to meet. We are totally convinced she had ADHD. She had the attention span of a golden retriever puppy and the energy of a chipmunk. Her biggest problem was always that her body moved before her head could catch up. So many times we had to save her from herself, catching her mid jump when she hadn't throught through the distance or the landing. She got a bit better with time but she was genuinely insane.
Very often she would come up for a piece of fruit or carrot, wag her tail like a dog and excitedly and run off parading around, only to then panic as she'd lost the treat and couldn't find it anywhere.
Most of the time it turned out she'd never even taken it. It was still there in your hand. In her excitement she'd made an attempt to grab it and run off before she even had it. I hate myself so much for never getting a good video of this. You always think you'll have more time.
Even once she'd grabbed it she'd go off, charge around again and invariably drop it somewhere. Panic would ensue as she'd frantically look for it before eventually finding it and charging off with it again. This could go on and on for ages sometimes. She was so scatterbrained and hyper.
She'd make the happiest little grunts of excitement for her food. Hilariously if you tried to touch it while she was eating she'd growl, but that was it. Never lunging, never aggression, just "oi, that's mine, no touch". She'd sit there with her back end twitching excitedly before asking for more food.
She was truly one of a kind.
She was the neatest rabbit I'd ever met, not only did she stick to her litter tray but she'd stick to one particular corner of it. No accidents, very little mess of any kind. Just neat and tidy. Out of all the rabbits we've had she's easily been the easiest to maintain. Even her pen was often neatly kept.
She was a real jumper and liked to be up high. She nearly learned to open doors at one point when she was younger. She worked out the handle needed to be pulled down and used to jump up for it to try to open it by landing on it, nearly giving us a heart attack every time. You'd see her brain working as she stared up at it and calculated the jump. We had to block her away from doors for a while before he hurt herself.
The void she is going to leave is enormous and cannot ever be filled.
The biggest hurt is that it should never have happened. Yes, she was getting older but she was still active, healthy and should have had many years left. One tiny, silly mistake - my own, putting a second level in her pen to give her more room and more to do. She was loving it, I always found her going up and down on it. But had I not put it in she'd still be here. I hate myself for it.
My gorgeous, sweet, beautiful, bonkers little girl, I failed you and I am so sorry. I will never get over losing you. You were unique and beyond special and you should not have gone through what you went through. You should be here now eating banana and zooming around. I am so sorry.
We will always love you with all our hearts.
Goodnight sweet Mishka xxx
I'm so sorry that you lost her.
with her tail wagging & treat antics. she had a good life & I'm glad she chose you to live it with, you must have given her perfect vibes
it was not your fault, you were doing the best you could for her as always.
