A bunny!
Can we get one…pleeease?
by Kelly Phelan Barnhart
|
|
A bunny! Can we get one…pleeease? by Kelly Phelan Barnhart
|
I consider myself an authority on rabbits as members of the family. And most of my knowledge of these irresistible companions flies in the face of how they are usually kept by people.
The bunny I was given for my birthday as a child, no doubt on sale after Easter, went the way of the statistics. Oreo was placed in a cage outside in the summer heat and winter cold, and was unwelcome in the house after peeing on the couch and chewing the wires to the stereo. His water froze in winter, and I forgot to feed him without a reminder. He stayed with a friend and her rabbit when my family went on vacation, and weeks later, I also had his son, Hydrox. The younger rabbit lived less than a year, when neighborhood dogs broke into his cage and ended his life. Oreo, a domestic dutch rabbit, was not bred for the outdoors, and after four years, he died of pneumonia after a September snow and October heat wave.
Sadly, most rabbits given to children as pets do not survive a year. However, “house rabbits” living indoors with loving companionship and proper nutrition live to about ten years.
The year I was married, my husband acquiesced to adopting a house rabbit. We found her, a little brown bunny with dark extremities and a white nose, the constant motion of which gave her away in places where she thought she was in full camouflage. Her rich coloring resembled a cup of coffee just after the cream is added, but before it is stirred. We named her Bailey and brought her home.
It was my first experience housetraining a rabbit, and Bailey hopped right into her litter box moments after arriving in her room. She was fastidious. We had “bunnyproofed” the place, and she became an instant member of the family. I already knew how charismatic these little creatures can be, but it was fun to see her wrap my husband around her little paw with her flirty leaps and bossy demand for attention. She trained us to come when she rang a bell and came flying from any distant corner at the call for her evening hay. She would spend as many hours as we could give stretched out together on the floor or the couch, reading, singing or watching TV, and if her little white nose ever found an idle hand, it would make itself known and available for patting.
We did not have a ready source of rabbit health care information pre-internet, and I was not aware that 80 percent of un-spayed and un-neutered rabbits develop cancer by the age of six. And so another of my long-eared friends followed the stats.
We were heartbroken, and
it was a year before we ventured again to find a bunny. This time,
Foster found
us, and he was another personality altogether, although he shared Bailey’s
perfection in using the litter box. Foster couldn’t be bothered to snuggle
endlessly, he had things to do, and made himself busy running the place and
keeping his things in order. (Rabbits are very funny about their things. If you
want to keep a rabbit busy for an hour, move their stuff.)
One hot summer night, I was awakened by Foster when he jumped up onto the bed next to my pillow, thumped an alert with his hind leg, nudged my cheek and audibly whimpered (for a rabbit, that's like screaming). A man was climbing our balcony, and the sliding glass door was open. It turned out to be a neighbor from the condo above ours who had lost his keys, and thanks to my guard bunny, I nearly caused him to fall over backward as I came to the door screaming at him to get off, surprising myself and my husband as much as him.
By now a rabbit enthusiast, I found the Massachusetts chapter of the House Rabbit Society (HRS), an organization for the rescue of abused and abandoned rabbits and education about them as household companions. I became a volunteer publicist for the organization, cautioning families with small children to consider a less fragile pet, and encouraging rabbit owners to bring their pets indoors.
Learning the benefits of the companionship of other rabbits, we took Foster to a local HRS foster home to meet some prospective girlfriends. No, we weren’t about to start a colony; all HRS rabbits are spayed or neutered, and most are litter trained. And after Bailey’s cancer, we’d had Foster neutered within weeks of bringing him home.
Foster found his lady love,
and Fedora joined our family. At six months old, she had already had a litter
and been abandoned. I hate to think what might have become of her babies. Her
behavior told a sad story of abuse. She cowered and trembled when she used the
litter box, as though she had been kicked around in the past for doing what
nature makes inevitable. It took a very, very long time for her to use it
properly and consistently, in fact it took my inventing a new kind of litter
box, but now, she sits proudly doing her business, her elegant long ears perked
for my words of praise. She does still leave a few occasional “fool’s raisins”
just outside of her box, which take little effort to vacuum.
Foster and Fedora jumped and galloped happily around our condo, which was carpeted. When we renovated our house, they scampered from rug to rug (to our bed) in our temporary apartment, which had hard floors. After two years of renovation, we moved into our home and they occupied the office. Although welcome to roam the house, only when Foster’s curiosity overcame him did he made an occasional venture off of the safety zone, their area rug, to rush through the kitchen to the dining room rug.
Foster and Fedora were here first. Then came baby Jack. As elated as I was to welcome my wonderful son, I was still the former HRS publicist who had advocated for families with children not to get a rabbit, and I felt conflicted about bringing a soon-to-be-toddler into my rabbits’ lives.
Kids love bunnies, but in a way that can sometimes be dangerous to such small, delicate animals. You can’t ask a two-year-old not to kick, shout, and squeeze with excitement. Or to stay interested in something for more than a few minutes. So I am not an advocate of giving rabbits to young children, or even older children without the ultimate responsibility of care and companionship falling on the adult.
What has worked in my household since the arrival of Jack has been the rabbits having their own space, with places to scamper that a child cannot follow should play become rough. And what I had hoped did come to be, that growing up with rabbits, Jack would never have that sudden urge to pounce on the bunnies. Their interaction has surprised me -- both their trust in him and his gentleness with them.
We lost our spunky Foster recently to kidney failure. I must report that our veterinary bills for his brief period of illness were more than a few hundred dollars. While the cost was beyond pocket change, and the veterinarian offered euthanasia as an alternative to risky surgery, I am of the belief that the responsibility of pet ownership includes whatever is necessary for their health, safety, comfort and contentment. I encourage readers to look into veterinary insurance for the well being of any furry family members.
Fedora’s emotional soul has taken years to heal. While she and Foster became instantly inseparable, it took years for her to trust me. Now, at seven, she is nearly blind, with a chronic and ultimately terminal illness called “snuffles,” and finally at peace with herself. Most rabbits are innately pretty bossy, and this timid beauty has finally come to assert herself, rattling a toy for fresh greens and nudging my ankles for attention. She leaps to the door when I come to her room, tripping over her dishes to find what I’ve got for her, even if it’s just a stroke across her cheeks. She is a very different bunny today than the frightened and abandoned rescue we adopted. She is happy. And she is loved.
My recommendations for parents considering bringing home a rabbit this season? Visit the HRS website at www.rabbit.org. It is loaded with information about rabbit care, nutrition (the pellets most pet stores sell are nutritionally unbalanced), behavior, and adoption information. There is also a link to the Massachusetts chapter should you choose to adopt. Similar local organizations include the House Rabbit Connection, Inc. at www.tagyerit.com/hopline, the House Rabbit Network at www.rabbitnetwork.org, and Sweet Binks Rabbit Rescue at www.sweetbinks.org. Try not to be influenced by the adorable photos of adoptable rabbits if you have any doubts about your ability to provide a safe, loving home.
Despite my success with simultaneously having rabbits and a toddler, my hope is that many families will make an informed decision and choose a stuffed animal or chocolate bunny until their children are older.
|
|
 |
 |
Because of the pasteurella, we did not seek a companion rabbit for her, who might also have contracted the common illness. When she passed, we decided to look into rabbit-friendly dog breeds, and take the time in our household without rabbits to raise a puppy. We welcomed Raleigh, a Great Pyrenees, from the Angels Run shelter in December. He now weighs in at more than 100 pounds of marshmallow fluff, and he eagerly awaits his first bunny. Look for this photo of Raleigh on our holiday greeting cards at the Boston Gift Show.
|
home
· products
· photo gallery ·
wholesale orders ·
buyers say ·
where to buy ·
things we care about
68 Wesson Road · North Grafton, MA 01536
· 508-839-7710
info@barnhartgallery.com