Confident Rabbit Owners

[lemonaxis]

Yes I can nurse a sick bun back to health.
I have the toys, the right hay, the right pellets ( the good stuff), fresh water at least twice a day, socialising with bunny, exercising bunny, vet checks around once a month.

I weigh bunny, check litter box because bunny poops will let you know a great deal about their health.

I consult RO on most of my decisions, consult my vet all the time and sometimes take my bunny for a walk or drive.

I love my bunny but darn it, I just have no confidence somedays.
Rabbits are so fragile, they die so easlily and yet some live for years.

I could never imagine living without a bun but am I really cracked up for the job?
How do I tell?

Do any of you ever feel like you on on edge making sure your bun is okay, that you find it hard to relax with bun when they can so easily get sick?

I want to bond with my Jazz but how for how long?
What am I doing wrong?

I read everything I can but there always seems more to know.

Am I just at a loss because I am grieving for BK?
Sometimes I wonder if I should be a bun Mum.

 

[maherwoman]

I know just what you mean. After Drew passed, I turned to Danny and asked him why on earth I allowed myself to have such a fragile animal, that I could lose at any time. Ultimately, it's so rewarding and wonderful, and that's what we've got to hold onto being animal owners...hang onto the beautiful side of life.

In fact, really, that's what we have to do about EVERYTHING in life...keep things positive...focus on the world's beauty and the beautiful things in our own lives. We have to remind ourselves that its worth it, because we sit here and have one of the thousands in our home that is happy, and has a life that they so rightly deserve.

I cry for the thousands of others that don't have homes...but then remind myself that I AM making a difference in eight bunnies' lives...and that they're happy and healthy because of what me and my family do for them...things I don't think they would have received otherwise.

Flower and Fiver wouldn't have lived another week in the lifestyles they were forced to live in. I remind myself that we saved their lives.

Focus on the positive...weed out the negative...it's so vital to keep our lives happy and to be able to survive through all this heartache.

My love and hugs to you...you're going through so much...

Rosie*

 

[polly]

I think everyone has days like that whether its a bun a child or anything else we have responsibility over. I have spent the last 2 weeks stressing out over what kind of boss i am.

When i came on this forum i had not long lost my heart bun Dido (my avatar) i came on here and there was a spate of head tilt buns and i kick myself every day for not finding this forum first. I could have saved him. I think thats why i have a major soft spot for Alicia's Ringo. Its one of the things i fear the most is another head tilt bun.

It has gone through my head so many times about saving him but you know I can only improve. i can read and i can experience and i know i have a lot of people on here that can help me. But you know at the end of the day i know i won't be able to save all of them no matter how much i learn but i can know that i have given them all the love i can and happy lives till they pass. And i know i willl have done all i possibly could!

You are a good bunny mum and you will keep learning and experiencing because you care! But part of caring is that loss hits you hard! :hug:

 

[tundrakatiebean]

:hug:I know exactly what you mean! I haven't really been telling anyone, but I am constantly worried about Wash because I'm not home as much as I should be for him. He's getting grumpy and very aggressive, he's started biting again. It breaks my heart and I know it's my fault, he doesn't trust me as much because I've been 'ditching' him to go to school. And If I wasn't here and he got sick no one else would notice :?it scares me to death.

But when I adopted him it was a promise to him and Karan (in my own head) that I would never give up on him. Even when he was so grumpy that he would try to bite me through the bars of his cage, Karan offered me another 'snuggle bunny' instead of Wash, but he deserves a loving home just as much or even more than, a bunny who can so easily trust people.



I think that you are a wonderful bunny mom Lisa, and I know that you do everything you can for your babies, but you end up with bunnies who need more help than others and instead of giving up on them you fight for them as hard as you can...

 

[ec]

I think all the fears are very normal - and, as polly said, we've all got days where they catch up to us.

Here's the thing, though: we want to be able to do everything - and fix everything - and we can't. None of us can control all the events that happen in our lives, but we can do what we're able... and inevitably, at times this won't be enough. There are so many variables that we can't predict, let alone get under control....

There's been a lot of loss in my life over the past 2 years, and I sometimes wonder if I'm crazy, letting myself love a bunny so much, because I know it's going to hurt when she goes. But - I think in the end, it's worth it. I never dreamed that I could have such a bond with an animal, and I don't want to back away from that now... She's brought so much joy to me, far more than I'd ever imagined, and her attitude and ability to shake off cares cheer me up on difficult days (and make me even happier on the good ones!)

Bringing a bun home is one of the most rewarding things I've ever done - and I stressed out about it for a long time before I finally went to the shelter to check out the adoptables, fearing that I'd be inadequate to the task of caring for one. It's great to be proven wrong about things like that!

 

[pamnock]

lemonaxis wrote:

I love my bunny but darn it, I just have no confidence somedays.
Rabbits are so fragile, they die so easlily and yet some live for years.

I could never imagine living without a bun but am I really cracked up for the job?
How do I tell?

Do any of you ever feel like you on on edge making sure your bun is okay, that you find it hard to relax with bun when they can so easily get sick?

I want to bond with my Jazz but how for how long?
What am I doing wrong?

I read everything I can but there always seems more to know.

Am I just at a loss because I am grieving for BK?
Sometimes I wonder if I should be a bun Mum.

I've been involved with rabbits for many years, and often feel the same way you do. It seems like the more we learn, the more we realize how little we really know. We try to do our best, but sometimes it seems like it just isn't enough.

You're the best kind of bunny mom because you care and because you educate yourself.



Pam

 

[Gabby]

truth is no one can know it all. there is always some new to learn no matter how big or small. Plus with a infinite amount of info about health and illness there isn't any way any one can remember everything. people keep note books or folders of information that theyneed a cheat sheet for or that isn't used as often so if it does happen you have it to look back to. like for example head tilt someone may go their entire lives and never have a head tilt bun, while others get it on their first bun.

The more you experience the more you learn, I just wish there were some things you didn't have to experience to learn so much about them. I do have to say since my head tilt bun, there seems to have been far more survivors out there. Even at work we've had more survivors. But once you experience something you also tend to pay even closer attention to it.

willingness to learn, and to do the right thing makes a good parent regardless of the species of child chin up, and try to not feel such doubt.

 

[Munchkin]

I've been incredibly lucky that although 2 of my buns have been very poorly with stasis - they both pulled through thanks to advice from this forum and a good vet.

The way I look at it is enjoy every moment, and individual quirk your bunny has, and remember everytime you see him or her binky, do the DBF, kiss you - that you have provided a safe, loving environment with the best care. You get back because you give.

The bunnies are fragile - this is true, but you do your best to ensure the time you have with them is precious and happy.

I wouldn't give the time up for anything - even if it means pain when they leave me for rainbow bridge. They are loved, and free with us - we are great bunny moms!!

:dude:

 

[Pipp]

pamnock wrote:

I've been involved with rabbits for many years, and often feel the same way you do. It seems like the more we learn, the more we realize how little we really know. We try to do our best, but sometimes it seems like it just isn't enough.

You're the best kind of bunny mom because you care and because you educate yourself.

Amen.

I loved Pipp so much, it was scary, and the first time she was sick it was so terrifying. I thought I'd throw myself off a bridge if I lost her.

The solution?

1) I learned everything I could.

2) I took in more rabbits.

I think I subconsciously needed to diffuse myobsession with her. I called the rescue and told them to send over the bunny least likely to find a home.Radarwasn't anything like Pipp, though, so I thought I was doomed, Pipp was a special rabbit and would still be the end-all.

But then Dill and Darry arrived on my doorstep. And Dill turned out to beevery bit the heart bunny Pipp is. (Darry? Not so much) And then Sherry, a'temp' foster I didn't even like, wormed her way into Dill's heart. And then mine! (The little sneak).

As much as I'd be devastated losing anybody, now, I'm not as terrified or obsessed with it. (I'm still spending 12 hours a day researching bunnies, mind you, but that's another obsession).



sas :bunnydance:

 

[BlueGiants]

Please don't doubt yourself... We all do what we can, based on what welearn. And we all feel the way you do when something goes wrong.

I'm torn up over my what if's... what if I'd had a better lock on the barn...? what if I'd have had a motion sensor alarm around the barn? What if I had made one more trip out to check on them... What if I had anticipated the stress levels, could I have done anything to save them? I'll blame myself forever...

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I looked at Bo's little feet today hoping to see improvement from the changes I have made for them. Instead I saw they were worse than the last time I looked. granted they might be better than from when the vet saw them because he wasn't facing me and fights me looking....

Anyhow..... my heart sank. His little feets have to be sore and I want to fix it - as much as I love him and take care of him I can't fix this and feel I've done something wrong or not enough. :tears2:

 

[TinysMom]

Everytime I lose a rabbit - I cry and say that is it...they're all going.

I doubt myself and I think I'm the worst person over.

I have finally come to the conclusion by now that the only thing I can ever be confident of ... is if I did my very best and if I loved that rabbit as much as I could.

I have to let the guilt go and learn from my mistakes or the things that weren't my mistakes but still caused losses.

It hurts though...

But the pain is worth it for the love my rabbits give me.

Peg

 

[JadeIcing]

I lost one and some how I feel I failed her. I have fought so hard at times to keep Ringo alive and he is. Doing great for that matter. Now some how I screwed up and Teresa is sick. So yea we all have doubts, we can only do our best.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

That's why vets are vets and we aren't. Rabbit savvy vets will also tell you that they are still learning all the time. Bunnies are complicated..... most animals are in some form.