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Autumn- 30-06-2009 - 02-06-2019

Sky-O

Wise Old Thumper
Dear Beelie,

Oh boy, what a sad and crappy tribute to have to write.

I first saw you at the RSPCA, when you were just the teeniest ball of fluff. You must only have been about three and a half weeks old, and they had no idea how to look after you. They weren’t free feeding you and weren’t giving you a heat source. It was cold outside and you were freezing to death.

I spoke to them about you and it turned out that you had been found in a card board box with another baby bunny, who had sadly died- we guessed s/he was your sibling. What a traumatic start to life.

They called you Splodge at the centre, but that was totally not you. Having recently lost Summer, Autumn seemed like the right name- I renamed you and brought you home.

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You were the cutest funniest little ball of fluff. You had free feed and a heat pad. You’d lay, flat on your side on the heat source, like it was the best thing ever. You had a runny nose and were quite unwell from the whole experience and I was sure you were going to die. I couldn’t bring myself to call you by your name, so I just called you Baby…. Well, you were ‘Baby’ until you died.

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You did somehow survive, and I’m so grateful you did.

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You went from strength to strength and, as soon as you came out of quarantine, you discovered the joys of our living room. You bounded about like you’d never known space- and maybe you hadn’t. Maybe you had also never felt well enough to enjoy running around.

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You grew and were just such a friendly boy. Even when hormones hit, we would never have known- you were just luscious- cheeky, friendly, nosey… and no humping, no spraying, no anything; actually, the perfect teen.

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When you went to be neutered they screwed it up, and had you booked in as a cat. They disocvered small spurs on your teeth and this was great news for us! The RSPCA PTS all bunnies with dental issues and so, that meant you were unadoptable and, therefore, that meant I had to adopt you and you had to stay with me, what a hardship.

And stay you did.

I had to move you outside as you grew, because the tiny porch hutch was not even close to big enough. You didn’t last long out there though. On 31st December 2009 you ran up and over my back and jumped down and hurt your wrist. So then you moved into the living room.

You loved the living room and, when you were better, showed us what a mountain goat you were. I’ve never had a bunny who wanted to jump on the dining table, or who jumped from shelf to shelf to get as high as possible. You were a wonderful nightmare and stayed your luscious self.

And it’s a good thing you were. You had the most horrendous episode of ‘something’, where you started to breathe fast, wouldn’t move, wouldn’t eat and got cold. The vet didn’t know what to suggest and just said to bring you in in the morning if you were still struggling- it was about 10pm, so that was a long time. I had the necessary medications and so gave you pain relief, and then I just cuddled up tight with you. I wanted to make you warm, but I was also sure you were going to die, and I didn’t want you to die alone. So I just cuddled you. Suddenly, at about 1am, you sprung into life, like nothing had happened. From that moment on, life changed, although not instantly.

You went for a long time with no other problems and carried on as a ‘normal’ bunny (if there is such a thing). You were full of life, happy, interested, curious, you jumped like a kangaroo, you discovered you loved to drink mint tea and steal food off our plates.

You had to move back outside again, and we did that because we didn’t, at this point, realise how unwell you actually were. Thankfully, nothing terrible happened.

We had a good go at bonding you with six small black and white, uppy eared bunnies. You didn’t get on with them. As a big, brown loppy bunny, they didn’t make sense to you, so we moved out of that, pretty sharpish. You didn’t do any fighting- you just kept running away from them all.

Thankfully Swish Wish came along and we were able to bond the pair of you in September/October 2010. You were a super cute couple, although we were trying to feed her up, and you were a complete food-hoover.

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We got you stable as a pair and then Flame’s adoption fell through, so we just decided he would stay, and so we bonded all three of you. And you were just the most wonderful group of brown, loppy bunnies.

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You then all moved into my room, and that’s where you stayed. Thankfully.

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Then you started to get more of these episodes. We still didn’t know what they were. We’d go to the vets, they wouldn’t know. We’d medicate you, and be confused at how unwell you were and how baffling it was that you just changed, like a switch was flicked.

You were admitted to the vets one time, and in their desperation they gave you a dental. You ended up with the cone of shame and a drip. That gave me one of the funniest moments because I came to visit you and Flame was so perturbed by your cone, that he kept taking it in his teeth and ‘throwing it’, obviously not realising that your head was in it.

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They were syringe feeding you, and, when your gut started working again, you produced guinea pig poo, and I knew there was some major issue inside.

These kept happening, and in 2012 we eventually saw a specialist- Faye, at All Creatures. She looked at lots of things and diagnosed you with dysautonomia. We didn’t know what that meant, but we finally had a name for the problem. She adjusted your meds and told us that if we were lucky, you could get to six years old. At nearly three, this was a good prospect.

So home we went, and we carried on. You were still a jumper- you would jump on beds, particularly if there were people in them- you always wanted to be where the people were. You would jump the barriers, and I remember one night waking up to see this brown furry thing come flying over the fur foot barrier by my bed with all four feet pointed forwards. I still laugh about that odd image now. You were just so much fun.

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You’re Dead Bunny Flops were second to none. You freaked us out so many times, thinking you’d died. When you actually died, you did look the same.

You also showed yourself to be a complete peacemaker- so not only were you the perfect bunny for humans, you were the perfect bunny for your bunny friends- they were siblings and their relationship was clearly a sibling one.

You’d lie between them to keep them apart, sometimes, if they were chasing, you would put one on the landing, one in the cage, and sit in between them, so they couldn’t get to each other. You were so funny.

You’d lick me and climb on me and just be everything we knew you were.

Alongside all of this though, you continued with the episodes- good times, less good times, clusters of episodes, months without. We started to learn the pattern- it was worse when you moulted, you couldn’t have anything ultra fibrous, we tweaked your meds. You got so used to me injecting fluids that it was normal for you. You didn’t like it but we perfected our technique- we’d do it whilst I was cuddling you and then you’d run around on the spare bed. I’d be able to pick it when you were going to minimise the intensity of it. We got great at managing it.

And we just carried on.

You got to six…. And then went past six…

You stayed and were by my side as all my other friends died. You became the one I would turn to.

I had no ‘cuddle’ bunnies left, so we sussed out that I could cuddle you and bribe you with food, and that would work for both of us. So we did this.

You would race over to see me whenever I arrived, no matter what, unless you were poorly. As all my friends died, this kept me going- I had no friends, but I had you and you wanted to see me. You were always there, always keen, crazy binkies, begging. Just there.

Late last year you started eating carpet, and had a dental which helped massively. You carried on, and we had one episode, and then you started to lose weight, so we booked another dental. This time it didn’t go so well as you were carpet eating after the dental. Back to the vets we went and I raised concern about abscesses, and why, and they agreed, so we medicated you- no probs there.

Then you started to feel better and went into just the biggest moult I’d seen you have. And you then had an episode, and I couldn’t retrieve you from it. It wasn’t the longest one, nor was it the most painful one for you, but it blew your stomach up to four times its size. I wasn’t going to put you through further procedures for that. I had you PTS and cuddled you as you went, as I had planned all those years ago. You gave a tiny sneeze and went- so quick, so peacefully. And I was left broken. You were very nearly ten years old.
 
I always knew it would get you in the end, but it still felt too soon. I wasn’t expected as I thought that we were making you better. I didn’t expect that making you better would, in fact, kill you. But I had no other choice.

I’ve not had a bunny like you- a constant happy go lucky, never bitten, always friendly, wanting strokes, and running everywhere.

You were the original ‘Magic Dressing Gown’ bunny, and that led to something special for some other people- but they never knew it was you.

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Autumn, I have lost my friend. I have lost the friend who saw me through the loss of all my other friends. I now go home and no one cares, no one greets me, no one shows enthusiasm at my presence, and you always did. My heart feels utterly, utterly broken. I feel so lost. My room feels so very empty. I still have your friends in there, and they are my friends too, but it’s different. They don’t have the big personality you had- their personalities are different. They too are lost- they have had nine years of you being their prompt for food, but now they are just like ‘huh?’ or ‘food?’ and they don’t come quickly, and then they can’t find it. They were so reliant on you. Like I was- but in a different way. We discovered after you died that all the grooming you did was even more important than we realised, because now you’re gone, Flame’s eyes constantly run- it was you who kept them dry. We had no idea.

Boy, I deeply, deeply miss you, in a way I never considered I would. I feel you were both taken too soon, but also so privileged that you stuck around in my home, as my friend, for nearly ten years. Thank you. Thank you for being my friend, for bringing light and comedy into my room, into my home. Thank you for just always been everything anyone ever wanted in a rabbit- friendly, curious, naughty, cheeky, enthusiastic, adventurous, easy going, and so much more. Most bunnies would not have lived as long with the condition you had. The fact you did that is testament all to you.

I truly, truly hope that your life far surpassed the way it started and that you knew you were loved.

I miss you Beelie. Just know, you will always be loved, and we will always have a very large Autumn shaped hole in our life and our hearts.

I love you so very much.


XX

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Autumn
30-06-2009 – 02-06-2019
 
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Autumn was so lucky to have found you. Your tribute brought tears to my eyes too, and your photos painted a wonderful picture of his life with his best friend, you.
May memories of your precious boy give you comfort and a warm feeling.
 
Autumn was so lucky to have found you. Your tribute brought tears to my eyes too, and your photos painted a wonderful picture of his life with his best friend, you.
May memories of your precious boy give you comfort and a warm feeling.
 
I'm awash in tears, T. :cry: Thank you so much for sharing Autumn and his wonderful life that he had with you with us. I wish I could do something to ease your pain, but I know I can't. I share your grief at the loss of your dear friend. I know he will never leave your heart, and he'll live there forever with all your friends who have gone before him.
((((((((((Huge hugs)))))))))))

Sleep well, precious Autumn. xxxxx
 
What a moving tribute, thank you for sharing with us all. What a beautiful little bunny xxx

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk
 
Another crier over here. What a special bun and a special relationship. I am so sorry you've lost your friend.
 
I'm so sorry. Even when we know saying goodbye is the best way we can help a treasured bunny friend, it still hurts. Thinking of you. x
 
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