November should have been a month of celebration surrounding Thanksgiving and the upcoming winter holidays, but ours was marred by the loss of our rabbit Bugs, who passed away peacefully at home. It was an unexpected loss, both shocking and sad.
While there were no visible signs of illness or distress, we never knew exactly how old he was. Being an unknown small (presumably mixed) breed, I expected him to live into the double digits; and there was every good chance that he did. In my experience with bunnies over the years, I found that smaller breeds tend to outlive larger bunnies. (Upon further recollection, Bugs was approximately 4 in 2018, so that would have made him around 10 years old when we lost him). The little buns do seem to be blessed with longevity.
I remember the day that I met him and brought him home. I was finishing a volunteering shift and was in the parking lot walking toward my car when a friend told me there was someone looking to rehome a bunny. She knew all of mine had passed, and although I wasn’t looking for another, would I be interested?
And that’s how I brought home a bunny on a Sunday afternoon. Bugs (an unoriginal name that I kept) was a small fawn colored bun with straight ears. He was even tempered throughout his life, never exhibiting the tell-tale signs of an angry bunny, grunting and thumping a back foot. He may have been one of the smartest and friendliest rabbits I ever shared my home with, other than my girl Cleo (gone but never forgotten). The phrase “dumb bunny” is a misnomer, as I’m sure any rabbit parent will agree.
Bugs arrived litterbox trained, and he kept his habitat pristine. He showed me how nice it was to have a trained bunny, with a home base far superior to the wire cages with metal trays of old. How primitive in retrospect! Miss Poppie isn’t quite as cleanly as Bugs was, and requires more extensive sweeping, but she has gotten less messy since she has been here. Bugs loved head rubs, and would stand up asking for one whenever he saw me, a little gentleman in a fur coat. He did have an odd trait that no other bunny I ever had possessed—he didn’t like yogurt drops. The vanilla drops had been my go-to occasional treat for years. Bugs turned his little nose up at them every time. He was strictly a pellet, hay, and veggie bun, but perhaps this diet served him well, as I said, he passed away peacefully, never showing any signs of ill health.
I hope he was greeted by all my previous bunnies who crossed the Bridge before him. He will have no shortage of friends to romp with! Hop free Bugs; we’ll never forget our parking lot rescue bunny.
Tails of Mirth & Madness 