We received a voicemail at the beginning of May from some concerned members indicating that there was a domestic rabbit at a local animal shelter, and could we help? At the time we were trying to work out how many rabbits we could take to help the Missouri HRS chapter with a confiscation case they were working with, but I had room, and our commitment has always been to local rabbits first.

I picked Willa up from the shelter on May 22, not knowing what to expect. All of the shelter staff I had spoken to kept telling me what a nasty bunny she was… I imagine that if I were stuck in a tiny cage surrounded by predators, I’d probably soil myself, too. At any rate, they took my carrier back to the kennel area, and what they brought out was this beautiful, vibrant, lively Harlequin rabbit. I brought her home and set her up in a condo with a litter box full of hay, gave her some toys, a water crock, and a food bowl, and left her to settle in. Do you know, over the next 24 hours she did not leave a single pootie outside her litter box? Not ONE. So much for the “nasty” bunny.

Willa is a sweet girl, and she’ll make someone a wonderful companion. She really doesn’t like hands reaching into her condo – she tends to cower toward the back, although she’s getting better about it each time I have to lift her out and put her back in. She is not shy about letting you know that her food bowl is empty – she either fills it with her toys, or turns it upside down. She loves to be petted once she gets over the initial worry about what those hands might do, and she especially loves treats.

My hope for Willa – and for all of our foster rabbits, really – is that she is able to find a home with people who will love her and respect her for being a rabbit. So many potential adopters seem to have such high expectations – I think it’s because they have no or very little experience with rabbits, but many people don’t understand that rabbits are not like dogs or cats. Rabbits make excellent companion animals, but not all homes are the ideal homes. The goal, I guess, is to find forever homes.

If you’re interested in adopting Willa, or any of our other adoptable rabbits, please visit our website at www.indianahrs.org.

is Moses!

I finalized his adoption with Indy Great Pyrenees Rescue today, and couldn’t be happier. He’s really sweet, and has been such a good boy since I got him home. He fell asleep on the ride home – I had to take a detour because of a road closure I didn’t expect, so it took almost an hour – and as he’d breathe out, his cheeks would puff out, too. It was too cute! I’m very excited to have him home with me, and can’t wait to write about our adventures.

Angus was “rescued” by a well-meaning samaritan. He was housed in a feed trough at a local pet store/nightmare, and because he was missing some fur over his shoulders, she thought he had mites. She bullied the manager into giving the rabbit to her, but she wasn’t going to be able to keep him. At the time, there was an email list for local HRS members, and she posted there looking for a home for him. I had always wanted a rabbit, and had moved into an apartment earlier that year, and decided that it was the right time.

Angus was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. He was about four months old when I brought him home in October 1999, and he was actually quite healthy… just overgroomed by his litter mates. He was bouncy and fun, very entertaining, in those early days. I did everything I could to make his life happy – he had tons of toys, I built him a ginormous cage, fed him salads that I weighed (HRS recommends 8 oz. of greens per 6 lbs. of rabbit – I just wanted to make sure he was getting enough!), and bought him the best hay and pellets money could buy. I even adopted a friend for him – Benny – though he and Benny weren’t interested in being roomies. We went through lots of things together… 2 different apartments, and finally, a house; several different cages; MANY new bunnies coming in and out; emergency, life-saving surgeries and all of the nursing that came with that. He was the undisputed king of the bunny room, and knew that I belonged to him.

Angus was the bunny that started everything for me – I became involved in rabbit rescue the next year, and started my fostering “career”. I can’t imagine living without a rabbit now – there’s something about earning the complete trust of a prey animal that makes the relationship seem more special. Angus’ passing left an Angus-sized hole in my heart that no other bunny could ever completely fill, though they certainly do ease the ache. I miss him every day, and I hope he enjoyed our almost-nine-years together as much as I did.

Love you, sunshine boy.

Mom and I always have fun when we’re together, and at some point we almost always have a moment where we completely lose it… we laugh, and laugh, and laugh, until we pee our pants and tears roll down our faces.

We went shopping while Mom was here over Christmas, and stopped at the local Sonic for a cherry limeade for me and a chocolate-cherry Coke for her. While we waited for the waitress to bring our order, we watched as shopping carts made their way across the Meijer parking lot we were facing, and sadly, we started making up stories about them. One of the shopping carts looked like it was trying to make it over to the Sonic, but got stopped at the curb… we assumed it was just hoping to take a break and get something to drink. There was another shopping cart that was obviously trying to latch itself onto a truck bumper so it could try to break free and make a new life somewhere else, but the wind blew it just the wrong way and all of it’s newfound hopes and dreams were dashed.

The third shopping cart, though, the one pictured above… well, it was really making a break for it. We watched as it rolled through the parking lot, headed for traffic. And I said to my mother, speaking for the shopping cart… “Look! I’m just tired of being pushed around!”

We haven’t laughed that hard in a very long time. It felt GOOD.

I lost a good friend today, one of the best I’ve had in years. Her name was Wendy, and she had cancer of the spleen. She was a funny bunny… she and her boy toy, Waldo, have been living in my bedroom for the last 3 years or so, and she has entertained me, snuggled with me, comforted me, and made me laugh big belly laughs. I couldn’t help but love Wendy, even after she nibbled on the woodwork, ate my Bunny Suicides collection, and ripped the paper cover from the sheetrock on the wall behind their pen.

Wendy has been going downhill since late last summer – I took her and Waldo in for their annual exam, and because something had just been off with her for a while. The vet palpated her belly and noted that her spleen was enlarged; she took x-rays and found that her abdomen was so full of fluid that there wasn’t much visible. The next step would have been ultrasound, but since there’s no good treatment for cancer in rabbits, we really didn’t see the point. I brought her home to live out the remainder of her life – 4 months – comfortably, snuggled next to her Waldo. She surprised me by being her usual bouncy self all the way up to this morning, when she could no longer move around the pen. She tried… oh, she tried, and it was the most pitiful thing I’ve ever seen, and I just couldn’t let her suffer. For a being so full of life and vivacity, it was simply heartbreaking to see that her body could no longer keep up with her will. Waldo and I took her to the clinic and said our goodbyes, and just like that she was gone.

It’s never easy, losing a companion animal. Rabbits are special to me – as prey animals, they aren’t very trusting, so when they put their trust in you… it’s just one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever experienced. Wendy came from a horrible place; she lived in a wire cage below another rabbit’s wire-bottomed cage, so you can imagine how filthy and nasty her hair was when we rescued her. She came a long way in the almost-5 years after rescue… I’m so happy I got to know her, and to share my home with her.

And now that my blog is officially maudlin, I’m posting the lyrics to Blackbird by The Beatles, because it oh-so-appropriately came on the radio on our way to the vet this morning. I know, I’m a sap.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise, oh
You were only waiting for this moment to arise, oh
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

What IS that smell? I’m sitting here on my brother’s couch, snuggling with my brother’s puppy, and I’m having a hard time seeing the computer screen through the haze of puppy farts. She’s only 10 weeks old… how in the world can she make that kind of odor at such a young, innocent age? If she weren’t so cute (see picture at left), I’d throw her away.

I still think I’d like a dog, despite spending all this time with Bailey. I also think I’ve decided an adult dog would be great. Or at least a young dog, already house trained and past the mouthing/biting stage that this one is currently going through. When she’s not asleep, she’s attached to one (or more) human appendages with those needles other people call “teeth”. Tonight I literally dragged her around the living room by my pants leg… I used to only worry about the bunnies ruining my clothes, but now I have to worry about an 11 week old puppy? Again, it’s a good thing she’s cute. Also, I can leave her here and go home to my quiet little bunnies, who do NOT bite.

ETA (the next morning): The haze of puppy smell? Was NOT puppy farts. It was a pile of puppy doo-doo on the floor behind the couch. Apparently when I took her out to go potty I didn’t wait long enough for her to do all her business. Bad Aunt Amanda.

I’m so irritated — my broadband went on the fritz lastnight, so I couldn’t post. ARGH.

This truck pulled up beside me at the corner of Southport and 37 the other day. It’s obviously been a workhorse for many years, and was still chug-chug-chugging away, spewing pollution into the sky with every chug.

It seems like Christmas is coming faster than ever nowadays. Everywhere I go – shopping, out to eat – the merchandise is out and the advertising has started. This year has flown by so quickly… I’m not ready!

1. What is your first name? Amanda
2. What is your favorite food? Pizza
3. What high school did you go to? Salem Park Academy
4. What is your favorite color? Pink
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Clive Owen
6. What is your favorite drink? Mojito (hey, we have the same favorite!)
7. What is your dream vacation? Europe (over several months, especially the UK)
8. What is your favorite dessert? Caramel Walnut Brownies
9. What do you want to do when you grow up? No idea!
10. Who/what do you love most in life? My Nieces
11. Choose one word that describes you? Mellow
12. What is your Flickr name? Little Miss Magic

Now, the pictures that represent the words…