V forgot her rubber boots here on the weekend. Today she was at her mom's house and tomorrow at 4am she is going on a student exchange to Quebec. I thought she wouldn't need them, so I put them in the garage so we wouldn't trip on them by the back stairs.
It turns out that she needed them after all. She came by while we were out to pick them up, but didn't know I had moved them. So it was that at 9pm I had to drive them over to her mom's house and drop them off. There had been a bunny, a house bunny, that someone "set free" in the neighbourhood hanging out with the neighbours cat.
This is where I have to translate a little for you. I have a house bunny. I have had house bunnies for the last 24 years. A well cared for bunny lives 8 - 10 years. They are social and require social grooming from their people. They litter train very easily and (with a little more effort) can be kept from eating your electrical cords. They are very loving pets that can be leash trained and also trained to do simple tricks. For more fun than you would expect, search for "Rabbit Show Jumping" on YouTube. In that 24 years I have had Silky (who died of old age at age 10), Pixel (who had to be put down when her teeth failled, age 8), Emmy and Mr Vimes who were SPCA Bunnies. We had them both at the same time and I don't know how old Emmy was. Mr Vimes was born blind and had a chronic pastuerella infection. He died at age 3 of kidney failure. After he died, Emmy became very depressed and a year after he died, she stopped eating.
Three sets of bunnies, averaging an 8 year commitment each.
People aren't prepared for that. Male bunnies make EXCELLENT pets, once you get them fixed. Before that they go at it like... well, like bunnies. With your laundry, slippers, books, toys, vacuum, everything really.
We currently have a mini rex called Slipper. He is very new. He was named by Toddler girl. We think he is about a year old. He was fully grown when we got him, so it is kind of hard to tell. We got him fixed and she is very polite and snuggley.
I know bunnies. I also know that house bunnies are from southern climes and universally freeze to death in our climate. If they aren't hit by a cat or mauled to death by a cat or dog first. Setting a house bunny free is sentencing it to a horrible painful death. People would be much kinder to put a free ad in the paper or take them to the SPCA. This one had survived for 3 days because the neighbour's cat was protecting it. The other neighbour's cat had already been stalking it.
This one wasn't that hard to catch. It would have been even easier if the friendly cat hadn't intervened a few times. I have brought it home. It is in a cage. Slipper was male, this one still is. That isn't a good mix.
The two bunnies are close enough in size to be a good pair of bunny friends. They are so far grooming each other through the cage. The unnamed bunny snuggled right into my as soon as I picked him up and nudged me for scratches.
We can't afford to get this bunny fixed. We can't keep the bunny without getting it fixed. Bunnies aren't subsided and a bunny neuter costs $160 at the one place in town that we know does it.
The SPCA here is really good, but intact males are not easy to adopt. C and V are assuming we will keep him. So I am going to do the thing I really hate to do. I am asking for help. It amazes me, but I apparently have 300 regular readers out there. If you would be interested in throwing a buck or two towards a bunny surgery, let me know.
We have overspent on windows this month and we are committed to paint next month.
On the other hand, if you are local and would be willing to take on a bunny.... let me know that too. He is very sweet.
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