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.

• I have two new foster rabbits: Willa and Spencer, and I recently inherited our oldest living foster rabbit, Honey.
• I spent 45 minutes on Friday evening cutting mats out of the hair on my cat’s back – he’s so fat that he just can’t groom himself well, and all of the saliva just ends up gluing the hair together. It’s gross, and now he looks ridiculous. I hope he’s more comfortable.
• I’m moving forward with dog adoption – I’m working with a local rescue group, and went to an adoption event last Saturday to meet some of the dogs. I think I met “the one”, but am still waiting for the home visit to find out if I’m approved. I have a good feeling, but you never can tell…
• I’m psyching myself up this week for the big MEMORIAL SERVICE this Saturday. This thing has taken on a life of its own, and it’s more than my mom would have wanted. As far as I’m concerned, the only people that should be there are people that knew Mom, that loved her (or at least liked her), and have been supportive of our family. Those people will all be there, along with several others who haven’t had a presence in the lives of our family for years. The planning was sort of taken out of my hands – not unwillingly – so I’m just going to sit back and watch it unfold. It’s interesting to hear Dad’s perspective, because I think he’s looking for a different experience than I am. I’m pretty well over it, at this point, and am trying to figure out how I’m going to hold it together in front of all these people. I know I don’t have to hold it together, but I’m not really into sharing my grief at this point. Except in writing.
• I painted the spare bedroom this weekend – it’s a lovely shade of blue now, and while it needs another coat before it’s officially done, I’m ready to start filling it up with furniture. I’d like to get this daybed and thisbookcase from IKEA; I’d also like to get this lampshade to hang from a pendant cord. I think I’d like a glider, like this one to put in the corner for reading, but I’ll be checking Craigslist for one of those. I would also like to get a drafting table to use as a hobby station, but I’m not sure if that’s practical, since I also need to squeeze the sewing machine cabinet in there somewhere. Oh, and my grandmother’s cedar chest will be moving into that room, though I may refinish it and paint it red. I’m planning to hang the Sunbonnet Sue quilt that my Gammy made me when I was a little girl – it’s bordered with red and white gingham, and I think it’ll look great against the blue walls. Once that room is done, it’s on to the living room – I’m beginning to be in dire need of a new couch.

I think that’s about it. I’m ready to go to bed – I have an early day tomorrow, and then another night with the girls. It seems Pawpaw is playing “roadie” this week doing security for some kind of tour, so I’m pulling double babysitting duty. It’s a good thing the girls are so cute.

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.

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

WOOHOO!

It’s a good day for the bunnies, and an even better day for those of us that have been involved with the PETCO rabbit adoption program. PETCO announced today that they will cease the sale of rabbits in their stores nationwide, and will implement an adoption-only program for rabbits based on the model piloted and implemented VERY successfully in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. We implemented this program in central Indiana around three years ago, and saw adoptions increase dramatically. Bigger than that, though, was the even more dramatic decrease in surrenders to local shelters. The best part of working with Petco to house adoptable rabbits in the store is the opportunity to reach people that may not have thought to contact a rescue organization to adopt a rabbit. These are people who wouldn’t necessarily go to an adoption or education event. I’ve always enjoyed the education part of rescue the most, and it clearly has an impact.

If you are interested in adopting a rabbit, please check out Petfinder.com and see what’s available at shelters or rescue groups in your area. In Indiana, please visit the Indiana House Rabbit Society website to see a list of adoptable rabbits.

If you’re interested in adopting Poppy or any of our other adoptable rabbits, please visit our website at www.indianahrs.org. You’ll find a list of upcoming events we’ll be participating in, as well.

Second, I have a sick bunny. Hazel had surgery almost 3 years ago to open his floppy, loppy ear canals to combat recurring ear infections, but somehow he managed to develop one in the last month that caused some facial nerve damage, leaving him unable to chew properly. He got to the point where he would eat a soft mush on his own, but in the last few days he’s having a harder time with that so I’m syringe-feeding him again. He doesn’t mind it, but it’s just a lot of extra work. Life is much easier when he eats on his own, and fortunately he seems to be back to it as of yesterday.

Third, I’ve been landscaping! I started Thursday night by spreading 18 bags of topsoil on the flowerbed. Naturally it rained on Friday, so I spent the day driving around buying plants and more dirt. It doesn’t sound like I did much those two days, but when I think about the fact that I, personally, moved almost 2000 lbs. of dirt… it’s a wonder I’m still standing! Saturday I got up early and added cow manure and peat to the flowerbed, then turned it all under. The soil here is such heavy clay, it really needs a lot of work. I also bought mulch, and then spread some of it around some existing spots. Sunday was D-Day… I spent the entire day adding another 22 bags of topsoil to the flowerbed, raking it smooth, putting down landscape fabric, planting all but 5 plants, and mulching. I finished at 8:30… just 1/2 an hour before sunset. Phew! My goal was to get it done over the weekend, and it is mostly done. I have a few more plants coming from White Flower Farm, and I’ll be visiting Soules Garden in a couple of weeks to pick out some daylilies to fill in the big bare space. I’m planting all perennials, and most of them are not mature plants, so I’m excited to see how it looks in the next couple of years.

I may join NaBloPoMo for June… just waiting to hear what the theme is. I’m hoping it’s something I can be creative with, but I can say for certain that it’s a lot easier for me to post when I have to… it’s easier having a reminder of sorts.

Anyway, Hilo now lives at my house, where she is relearning the fine art of being a well-behaved lady rabbit instead of an utter heathen. For the first couple of months she was here she lived in a little smaller cage with the cage closure in the front, and that did NOT go well. She had become very aggressive about hands reaching in for her, and caring for her on a daily basis was definitely not fun. I’ve had aggressive rabbits here before, but not like her. I count five scars on my right hand alone… all from the Tiny Teeth of Terror. Last month after my rabbit, Angus, passed away I moved her down to the bottom of a 2-story Bunny Abode. She hasn’t been the same rabbit since. No more lunging, no more attacking, she lets me stick my hands and arms into her condo without any trouble at all. It’s so amazing and wonderful to earn their trust, and to see such a big change in such a short time, with so little effort! This is one of the primary reasons I enjoy rescue.

Hilo was originally found by one of our volunteers just hopping around a neighborhood all by her lonesome. She loves to be petted, and will sit by you and lift her little nose to have it rubbed for as long as you’ll rub it. She’s really fun to watch, and as long as you approach on her terms, she’s happy to have you around. I will be excited when she finds her real forever home, and hope she finds a person to appreciate her for the spirited little bit that she is.

If you’re interested in adopting Hilo or any of our other adoptable rabbits, please visit our website at www.indianahrs.org. You’ll find a list of upcoming events we’ll be participating in, as well.