The Bunny Update

Hello all! Well, we have some very good news regarding our baby rabbits. When I came home from class on Thursday night, the bunnies were still in the yard, right where I had left them. I lined a small cardboard box with soft towels and fabric, and went outside to pick them up. I thought there were only three little bunnies, but I ended up finding four with my flashlight. Four baby bunnies slept in a cardboard box in the laundry room Thursday night. When I got up Friday, I went to the feed store (Cowboy Corral) and bought some kitten formula and two tiny little bottles to feed the bunnies. I tried to get them to eat, but only two of them would suck, and they only took a drink or two before turning away and squirming. I got on the internet, and did a lot of reading about wild baby bunnies. The internet is such an amazing thing. I found out that baby rabbits only eat once a day for maybe 5 minutes. So if you are trying to raise them yourself, you only should feed them twice a day, since the kitten formula is less caloric than rabbit's milk. The bunnies went back into the box for the morning.

Later in the afternoon, it warmed up nicely, and I decided to give the mother rabbit another chance to claim her young. So I took the whole box outside, and put it near where the original nest had been. I laid it on its side, so that the mother rabbit could get inside to her bunnies. I had an appointment for a haircut at 5 pm, and when I drove into the driveway after my haircut, I noticed the mother rabbit leaving the front yard. So Pono and I used the back door the rest of the evening. When my friend, Lily and I went out with flashlights after dark, the baby bunnies were all gone!!! Mama rabbit came through, and moved them to a new location. Yay!!!

I felt so much better knowing that they were with their mother, in their natural home. This morning, Pono and I were returning from our morning run, when Pono cornered something under a bench in our front yard. Imagine my dismay when I realized it happened to be one of the baby bunnies, who had a broken leg. I couldn't let Pono have it, so I ended up taking it inside. I knew what I had to do, but it was hard!!! I took little bunny to the vet, and asked them if they could put it down, since I couldn't bear to do it myself. They kindly agreed to help. As soon as I turned over the box with baby bunny, I cried. I pretty much cried all the way home. Of course the bunny would not survive with a broken leg, but still it was sad for me to let go of that exquisite little baby bunny. I have consoled myself with chocolate chip oatmeal cookies from the local bakery. I do take comfort in the knowledge that the other three bunnies are safely ensconced in a new home.

Opening exhibition for my show at True World Gallery is tonite!!! 7 pm. Perhaps that will take my mind off of the tiny ball of fur I left with the vet.