Tell us your story!

[Sophie's Humble Servant]

I have wanted a rabbit for years but I hesitated getting one because I have a cat. I came across a story online about a rabbit and cat being friends so I started doing more research on housing the two species together and if it would be possible for me.

While learning about rabbits I also started browsing the local animal humane society. They had pictures of rabbits with a description of their personality. I spent a few months looking and at the same time getting my house prepared for a rabbit.

The day we adopted Sophie, we were just going to go and "look", interact with a few of the rabbits then go home and ponder it.

I saw Sophie's picture online first but I was unprepared for how I felt when I saw her! She was so sweet and beautiful and I was overcome with emotion when I saw her.

We learned that this was the second time she was at the shelter, which I found so incredibly heartbreaking. I knew we had to adopt her! We went through a two hour interview process, I showed the girl the pictures of the condo we had already built and I promised that they would never see Sophie back there again.

After spending more than 4 hours at the shelter, what a long process, we brought Sophie home. We decided to keep the name she was given by her previous keepers because she just looked like a "Sophie".

I have been working really hard these last 5 months building her confindence, learning her behaviour and trying to give her the best life possible. When I see how far she has come with her fear issues and anxiety it amazes me! I can't believe that anyone would want to get rid of her just because she was fearful.

I am so lucky and grateful to have her in my life and this is her forever home

 

[Itchyrat]

this is the story of Miss Molly, a little Netherland Dwarf Rex that i had the honor of sharing company with for a time

a Saturday that started out great,went grocery shopping, and I even found a rabbit I'd been looking for for a couple of months (a solid black dwarf lop male) and I decided to stop by the store on Monday to get some info about where he was from and such...but fate had other plans for me, I rounded the corner by by apartment building when my Arab neighbor stopped me, he then asked "you know our rabbit Molly yes? do you want her, or else my wife wants to cook her"
I just stood there with a heavy grocery bag in my hand and didn't know what to respond, so I told him that I'd just go up to my apartment and put away all of the groceries, and I'd come down to talk to him in 15 minutes...said and done I was down there a little bit later, and he then told me that little Molly had bitten his youngest son, and the whole family was now terrified of her, and that his oldest son had already gotten tired of caring for a rabbit, after a little more than a month

so I agreed to take her, as I had already planned on bringing another rabbit into my furry family (I didn't expect it to happen quite so soon tho)
and what I saw broke my heart, she didn't have any bedding, a house or a shelf, and the water she ad was filthy and full of feces
and the only food she had in her bowl was lettuce leaves and cucumber, and the hay was in clumps,brown,and didn't even look like hay, and had no smell whatsoever
Molly herself had a harness on that had tangled with her left front leg, making her unable to even move around properly

so I got molly in her carrier and took her and her cage home with me, took the damn harness off (and threw it away) and gave her soft clean bedding, a shelf to sit on, fresh hay, fresh food and clean water, and she immediately started to show what a great character she had

the part I don't get is that my neighbor bought her for his son "to play with" and because she was so cheap
and they mistreated her so badly for over a month
even though I told them when they first got her, how you properly care for a rabbit, they still did nothing right

i had little Molly for little over 8 months until tragedy struck and I lost my 3 rabbits in RVHD, and Molly was the first to leave, but i do feel happy that she felt how it was to be loved before she passed away

 

[Srecko]

now I have 18 rabbits and 5 guinea pigs all rescued from rescue centers or from people who no longer wanted them, they are all paired up they have been neutered and now have a forever home with me.

18 rabbits! Wow, props! I consider my one rabbit to be a handful, hehe



Sent from my iPhone using Rabbit Forum

 

[Srecko]

I like the story of how I got Buster. I won him at a raffle at an event I was working. He was sitting in a kennel cab being poked with carrots all day. I felt terrible and wanted to give him a forever home.

That story is so cute! It's sad what kind of backgrounds a lot of rabbits come from, but I'm glad for people like you that are able to give them a loving home.

I'm not on Facebook much but the next time I log on, I'll look up your bunny's page! Hehe so cute!


Sent from my iPhone using Rabbit Forum

 

[Srecko]

fsshaer, she DOES look a lot happier now! Such a sweet story


Sent from my iPhone using Rabbit Forum

 

[kmaben]

Poor Molly. Glad she atleast found a good home. It doesnt take long for them to hop into your heart and take hold.

Kai's story is a little more simpler. We had gotten a klein widder maybe three months after we got Shya. We lost Teddy to GI stasis. We were going to be moving shortly back to the United States from Germany and I didnt really want another animal to ship back. I was browsing around and googeling rabbits on German websites when this giant yellow rabbit with these giant yellow ears popped up on my screen. I got one of the local nationals to make a few phone calls and translate for me.

Next weekend we were driving the hour and half out to the breeders house to take a look at these German Giant rabbits. He had sold all the yellows but had two grey babies for sale. A sister who was spoken for and a little boy rabbit who wasnt. Daddy rabbit was out running around and MASSIVE is the only way to describe this brick out house of a rabbit. He was tearing up a broom and would not be shook off. Great stubborn. Maybe little boy rabbit will take after mama who was pretty shy.

Omar had that look. That rare look every once in awhile that says I really, really, really want this. That look that cant be denied. Fourty Euros. I look in my wallet and pulled out a 20. Omar looked in his wallet and pulled out a 20. I'm gonna go with fate on this one. We'll take him.

Kai's left ear doesnt stand and he has genetic cataracts that is common with the breed. We've manage to slow down the cataracts but it certainly doesnt slow him down. He's still very cautious and a little shy some times but that's what his big tough 3 pound body guard Shya is for. He doesnt care if you're canine, feline, lapine, avian, or human. He instantly accepts you and he's the most forgiving animal I've ever met. Just ask Franklin. Kai holds no grudges even though he has a neat inch slice down the middle of his right ear. And yes in the stubborn department, he is all daddy.

 

[Srecko]

I am so lucky and grateful to have her in my life and this is her forever home

That is so sweet. It's always so sad when animals keep returning to shelters over and over. Good on you for staying at the shelter for hours through the interviews and such. She's a cutie!

 

[Srecko]

this is the story of Miss Molly, a little Netherland Dwarf Rex that i had the honor of sharing company with for a time

This is heartbreaking, but I'm so glad that you were able to give Molly a safe home and show her what true love is. :hearts

 

[TinysMom]

Oh wow - what a great thread. My story is so .... long...and parts of it hurt so much. But somehow, I feel it building up inside me as if it is time to let it out. Those who followed my old blogs on here years ago probably know much of this.

I had rabbits as a kid. I had one rabbit that ran away (we were told it was a female) and when it didn't return after about 2 weeks, my mother got me another rabbit. Shortly after that, my dad was at a gas station across the highway from where we lived and they said, "Hey...don't you own a white rabbit?" and showed him the one they'd captured. Sure enough...it was ours and "she" came home. I say "she" because we were told both the rabbits were "she"....and yet - that was NOT true. One morning I went out to feed the bunnies to find baby bunnies hopping around (mama had them inside the wood enclosure that had wire fencing around it to give them an indoor/outdoor pen). So dad built a divider inside the box and inside the wire fencing so they could be kept apart....but did you know that rabbits can dig and chew their way through things like that - and that young brothers can get mama pregnant again?

Now my parents grew up on farms in the 30's and 40's but somehow - this surprised them. I'm thinking that at one time we probably had 30-40 rabbits even though we kept giving them away. At one point - somebody (a neighbor or something) vandalized the pen and they all got loose. I was heartbroken and didn't see them again even though we looked. Looking back, maybe they took them - I don't know.

But I always had a soft spot for rabbits after that.

About ten years ago, my husband's military career was over (Thank God!) and we moved here. I was going through a bout of depression - one of the worst I'd ever had and was almost non-functional. My husband came into the house one afternoon before heading off to work (he worked 2 pm - 10 pm then) and said, "Hey...there's a rabbit outside in the front yard..". He left for work and my daughter and I headed out to check on the rabbit. We finally caught him/her and brought it in the house. Oh - what fun. He/she played with my daughter's beachball and would toss it back to her. We decided to lock him up in the night in the bathroom - and that night when my husband went to catch him and put him to bed - the rabbit BOXED at my husband. It was hilarious. That morning - my husband let the rabbit out of the bathroom and he went bounding through the house (I was still in bed...trying to ignore the fact it was a new day) when suddenly - the rabbit was bouncing on the bed - on me - trying to paw at me and get me to get up. I started laughing as I was batting at him to get off me - and my husband came running from halfway across the house....because he hadn't heard me laugh like that in years. He couldn't believe the change in me as I got up out of bed and got dressed and ate and worked around the house a bit. It was almost like I was back to my old self.

We made the mistake of returning that rabbit to its owners (it got out a couple more times but didn't come to us) but during the week we'd had him before he went home - I fell in love with having a rabbit. I did some research and wound up deciding that I wanted a flemish giant rabbit. When I went to pick one up - I also wound up getting two netherland dwarf brothers that the breeder said "should" be ok to live together. HA HA HA. Anyway - that was how we got Tiny (the flemmie) and Tio and Kyo - the Nethies.

From there my interest in rabbits grew and eventually we wound up with Puck (a holland lop) and SugarBear and GingerSpice - a pair of lionheads.

Looking back now, I wish I'd stopped there. Or maybe stopped after adding Miss Bea - our harlequin colored lionhead.

But I kept thinking - we were enjoying our rabbits so much and they added so much to our lives. The nearest rabbit breeders for any of these breeds were at least 150-200 miles away and getting them from a shelter was a no-go for most people as they'd have to drive about 200 miles to Austin, TX.

So I got started breeding lionheads and I invested a lot of money in what I felt might be good quality rabbits. I went to shows and even went to lionhead nationals one year and made friends within the lionhead community.

But I got in over my head - I did too much breeding and had more animals than I really should have. Having rabbits was no longer fun and it had become "work" even though I loved the rabbits.

I took a break from breeding and my numbers went down significantly. But during that time Tiny had died (he was truly my heart bunny) and I was wanting another - or more - flemish giant rabbits. They were truly my heart breed.....so I wound up being able to adopt Nyx from wabbitdad12 who was flying to Texas and brought Nyx with him and his dear wife Karen. We bought a small handful of rabbits and started breeding again. I did very limited breedings - after all - a flemish giant can have 13 in a litter (as one did) versus the 4-6 you might have in a lionhead litter.

I finally just stopped breeding - again. I simply was not cut out for it. I can't "cull" a rabbit unless you mean stop breeding it. The people in this area (I live near Mexico) would rather eat a large rabbit than have it as a pet.

So here I am with rabbits that I will not trust to others. My heart bunnies have all passed away and I find that I can't reattach myself to a rabbit anymore - it just hurts too much. Last year, I had to go to Maine for 12 weeks (what was supposed to be a 2 week visit) and during the time I was gone - we had a virus sweep through and we lost over 40 rabbits(if I remember right) in a matter of a couple of weeks. I'm glad I wasn't here when it happened to see all of the deaths - but in the process - I lost just about every rabbit that is dear to me.

I still have Hermes (one of my original four flemish giants I bought for breeding) and Harmony - a rabbit I flew down from New England - a gorgeous flemish giant doe that is just so awesome. I also have a couple of Nyx's children left - one is named Smithy and he has a tiny piece of my heart. These three share the tiny bit of my heart I've had to give....but otherwise, I've had to protect my heart.

When my rabbits are all gone, I probably won't get any for a bit - until I see "the one"...somewhere...and know it is time to get one again. I imagine it will be either a flemish giant, a holland lop - or a polish.

But for now, my heart is comforted with the antics of my three prairie dogs. They are still young - under 6 months old and they can live for 10-12 years (which is what I'm praying). I've had so many losses in my life with rabbits - I just don't know how much more I can take.

It doesn't help that I was attached to many bunnies on this forum and they too have passed over the years. My mind goes back to the days when I would read about Samantha and Pebbles and Raph and so many of the rabbits that have crossed over the bridge (at this point - their slaves' names are coming to me because the rabbits are blurred together). Recently Snowy Shiloh lost one and I wept - remembering the day she got her and how she almost didn't get to get her.

I wish my post was a happy one - and I guess it is when I remember first getting the rabbits and when my heart rabbits were around. I wish I could give my heart to the rabbits I have left here - but truth be told - I know they're getting older and older all the time and I just can't take the heartbreak anymore.

Peg

 

[kmaben]

Peg you make me want to run home, scoop up all my babies, and never let go. Why the life span of animals is so much shorter than ours I'll never understand.

 

[Azerane]

Bandit's story is reasonably simple, though a little funny. I had been wanting another rabbit for years, but had never been able to justify it due to travelling overseas and other things. So early this year when I moved into my own place with my fiance, I decided that if it was ok with him, I really wanted to get another rabbit. So we asked the landlord (because it's technically a no pets place) and she said it was fine if we kept him outside in a raised hutch.

So then I was browsing gum tree, looking at rabbits, and most rabbits that are commonly advertised here are dwarf or mini lop, and I'm just not a lop person. Then I came across a post for two 11 week old Smoke Pearl girls. I immediately fell in love with the look of the breed and did a little reading up on them. I continued to look around at other rabbits adds for a while, but I kept coming back to those Pearls, so I contacted the breeder and we arranged a time for me to come and look. Now, all this time I actually had my heart set on a boy, but knowing that she only had girls I suppose I was just going to have to accept that. So I arrive, and as it turns out, she has decided to also sell one of the males from the litter (I think it was a litter of 6). We go out to where she keeps all her rabbits which is in their own air-conditioned shed with fans blowing and nice clean cages, a very good start. So we look at the 3 "little" ones. At about 12 weeks by that point they weren't really all that little, but still adorable. I held one of the girls (just to compare for arguments sake) and then the boy (who only wanted to be free). I remember the boy having a funny coloured smudge in the middle of his forehead from the way his fur was coming in, and I decided to take him. The breeder then decides to pull out the father rabbit and he is just a monster, perfectly friendly, but a very large rabbit and I'm thinking gee, I hope they're usually not that big. And she did tell me that he was unusually large, but she liked him for his type which was why she bred him.

So having decided to take the boy, I go out to my car to get the carrier and we pop a smoke pearl inside, I pay and thank her and I'm on my way. I'm driving home, talking to the rabbit and attempting to bond with it when 5 minutes from the breeders house I get a phone call. As it turns out, she accidentally gave me the wrong rabbit, lol. A little torn since I've "bonded" with the rabbit in my carrier, I decide that 5 minutes is not a big deal and I turn around so that we can switch rabbits. I get back and the breeder tells me she realised that when we were looking at the rabbits she accidentally switched their places in the carriers and she double-checked their genders just after I left. So I was now on my way home with the correct rabbit, a male.

Luckily for Bandit (who's name we chose after about 3 days), his first day was spent inside in the laundry since it was too warm for him to be outside. And about a week or two after I got him, I took him into the vet to get his Calici vaccine. So we're at the vet, and after a disturbing incident where she tried to shake him out of the carrier and then Bandit leaping off the exam table, she was holding him upside down to try and sex him. And after a while she says that she thinks he's a girl. So now I'm not sure what to think, in one way I'm hoping the vet is wrong, but in another mind, I'm wondering whether the breeder had regrets about selling the boy and changed her mind and just told me she gave me the wrong rabbit.

I e-mailed the breeder and she once again double-checked her rabbits, and she said that I definitely had the boy but she was very sorry if I didn't and was happy to pay the difference in the fee of de-sexing (a super nice thing to say). But I gave it a bit of time, and about a week later I decided I was going to try and sex Bandit myself, so I flip him up and poke around and even though I've not really sexed bunnies before, I've done my research online and I'm sure that he looks like a boy. A couple of days later, I do more research and check again, and this time I know for sure because I also find one pink bunny testicle I sent an apology e-mail to the breeder and told her simply that it's hard to question what a vet says when they tell you what gender your animal is.

So now I have my boy bunny, and he's really quite the character. He's proven himself to be capable of jumping great heights, and after being neutered he decided that he absolutely loves head rubs. He really is a sweetheart and is very intelligent, he just gets things. Though it also makes him more mischievous! But I wouldn't have it any other way. I love him to bits.

 

[Chrisdoc]

Love reading all these stories of how you ended up with your bunnies.

My three are magic bunnies. I was going out with a magician and, believe or not, here in Spain, it´s still quite common to use bunnies in the act. He was doing a kids party in January, I remember the day because it was pouring with rain and he had a small wooden box in the back of the car and when I looked in, there were two tiny bunnies. I hadn´t owned a rabbit since I was a kid and they were just gorgeous. We did the show and after rescuing them from 20 kids, we took them home and settled them into a cage he´d bought with food and water. We called them Houdini and Snowy. As the time passed, he didn´t actually take them home. Well, I always had an excuse not to so they were living at my house. In May, he turned up with another little bundle of white fur, she was so tiny (turned out to be another he). He had a kid´s communion party and the new bunny was for that. I went with him again after the bunny appeared, it was quickly whisked off from little hands. I took him home and he became part of the bunny family. Four days after we got him, I thought he was going to die as he got really awful diarrhea and we had to rush him to the vet for treatment. He pulled through and got bigger than his little brothers and got stronger every day. I knew then that I couldn´t let any of them leave my house and I planned their living space and proofed the rest of the living room so they could have free run when I was home. He left in July 2012 and they stayed. I guess I ended up with the better deal. I had them all neutered last October as Houdini had started to spray expertly by this time and him and Snowy had started to fight. They came through it like champions and after some ups and downs with the smaller two, they are all back to normal and spend most of their time together.

I never intended to have any more pets after I lost my little dog in 2006 but here I am and here they are. I don´t regret keeping them for one minute and they are just fantastic little animals, it´s hard for others to understand which is why I love RO.

They´re still my magic bunnies but are now retired.

Houdini and Snowy


Houdini and Bandy


And the three together

 

[coco_puffs]

Got Coco for my birthday.
A little Nethie boy
90 wonderful days.we had
We spoiled him with toys.

Collision in the dark
Such a tragic scene
Bunniy's eyes are good at night
But a human's aren't so keen

Coco died - mama cried.
Not enough time with him.
He brought such light to my life
But now it's just so dim

Then here comes the sun
Janessa called from Luv-a-Bun!
She rescues rabbits don't ya know
And had two babies ready to go

So in the car we flew
For two new additions to our little crew
Woodrow and Lorrie came home that day
And in our hearts forever they will stay

But Coco's still here
I feel him everywhere
Running here, bouncing there
Now without a care

I'll see him again on the other side of that span
But for now there are new babies in our little clan
Who need my love and care
I wish I could tell them I'll always be there

 

[Sophie's Humble Servant]

What a beautiful poem:sunshine: