A Rabbit that Ruled the World
by Laura Corbier
There she was a fuzzy little ball of floppy ears, licking the side of the fish aquarium that she was housed in. Dave, my husband asked to see her. As soon as the pet shop owner picked her up like in the photo shown here, we knew she was the one. Who could possible resist those fuzzy feet?!
After getting her home I wasn’t so sure. Every time I picked her, she peed on me. We also wondered why she held her ears up like a regular bunny. So off to the vet we went. Sure enough little Buffy had an infection and had to be on antibiotics. That went OK for a day or so until we figured out she was having a reaction to the antibiotic. It took a few weeks, but we got her all straitened out and then we could just concentrate on getting to know her.
I was still grieving for Moe, but soon fell in love with Buffy too. Dave and I had a home based business and it was our off season, so there was way too much time on our hands. Buffy was a natural model, she loved the camera and would always be available for her photo shoots.
Buffy took over Moe’s old condo and after a few weeks of training she’d have full run of the house for hours on end in between naps and snacks. It always amazed us when she’d be upstairs wrecking some kind of havoc, to suddenly come thundering down the stairs sounding like a herd of elephants to leap up into her litter box on the couch to do her business. She had already chosen the corner of the couch as her spot, so we thought we may as well just keep a litter box there for her.
Buffy loved the cats, but she loved the cat kibble more. Often we would catch her muzzling out the 12 pound cats from their food dishes. We could see that her naughty level was in direct proportion to her intelligence. Nothing would get past her. When I’d bring in the grocery bags from the car, she’d have a few bags already unpacked before I’d even finish bringing them in. Not like she was spoiled or anything, but I believed in providing a large variety of greenery for her diet. Every day we gave parsley, coriander, romaine lettuce, dandelion, kale or Swiss chard, grass and or hay, carrots and carrot tops plus a pellet rabbit diet and then there were the treats. Buffy loved apples, grapes, pears, tangerines, grapefruit, popcorn, oatmeal, flax seed meal and the occasional cookie or muffin. One day I was sitting on the couch with a plate of grapefruit which I was segmenting. In a flurry of fur I suddenly realized Buffy was standing in my plate. Before I could realize what was happening she had grabbed the grapefruit and was hopping across the room with it. It was so cute watching her with juice oozing from the corners of her mouth, she loved it! So much for my breakfast.
By the time Buffy was approaching four months of age, I noticed a major change in her behavior. She’d try to herd the cats, much to their distaste. I’d watch her when she was hopping away and would wonder if she was developing and extra bump between her legs. OMG, how dumb could I be?! A few days later we heard a blood curdling meow from our male cat Chubby. We ran over to him to find that poor confused little Buffy was attempting to sodomize him while his head was in his food dish. I was mortified, Dave was laughing. When he picked him off the cat we could see his little penis. Our sweet baby girl was a Boy! Even the vet had declared him a her and would be the brunt of much kidding for years to come.With no more bows for Buffy, we ended up settling on naming him “B”, just B for now, but after a few more month we decided it had to be Mr. “B”. Weird, but bunnies demand respect. “B” figured he was the Sun and we all revolved around him. I didn’t mind, but one of our cats Kitten (not to be confused with the term Bitch- also known as The Old Bag) would not hear of such a thing. Every time “B” was near she’d hiss and carry on, it wasn’t like he tried to sodomize her.
We did have “B” neutered as he was one seriously sexed up rabbit. After a month or so he calmed down considerable. He was still the boss of the house and the cats would give him a wide birth. We came to believe that B was lonely. He’d sit with his stuffed toys and kiss them. It was sad to see him try to befriend the cats, but they wanted no part of it. Dave was wandering a local pet store one morning then came home with a cute little bunny friend for B, we called her Mini.
Mini and B became the two headed bunny. Mini was his bunny and barely tolerated us. B always seemed to shine, being the one to create mischief with Mini at his hip. She adored and worshiped him. You would think that would be enough for B, but sadly no. He demanded to hold top rank in the house above every four legged no matter their size.
It was a regular day for us a Happy Haven when I heard a major uproar coming from the upstairs. There was a fury of growling, hissing and loud banging. It sounded like two wild cats engaged in combat. I flew up the stairs to intervene and was shocked by what I saw. Wedged behind the toilet was our sweet kitty Molly with terror in her eyes as she was attempting to keep out of harms way. There laying in the middle of the hall was B in all his 5 and half pounds, slightly panting with his legs out behind him and his side toward another cowering cat- the notorious Kitten in all of her 14 pounds (the old bag) There were tuffs of cat and bunny fur every where! From what we could discern from the crime scene, was that finally B had his limit of Kitten’s disrespect. With her hissing and spitting into hit face, just y his mere proximity to her, B said, “Ok bitch, you’re on!”, and the rest is history. Kitten got a bite into his ear, and he got a few into her stomach. Since that day, Kitten showed more fear at his presence than her previous disgust. Hooray for the good guys!
We took B to the vet just for good measure. He seemed Ok, but the vet put him on antibiotics just to be safe, as a cat bite is a vile mix of deadly bacteria and saliva that could fall a 200 pound man let alone a bunny, if left unattended. Basically you can get blood poisoning from a cat bite if it’s bacteria enters your blood stream. So everything looked good for a couple of weeks, until I noticed a scab at his bite site. At close examination by the vet, we found that the scab actually went along a major vein on his ear. Once some of the scab was removed, the vet found that gangrene had infected a large portion of the top layer of skin on his ear. After the debridement, there was a gapping wound that was an inch and half across and three inches long. I nearly passed out when I first saw my baby. By this time, Dave my husband was working as a long haul trucker so now I was home alone all week. I’d have to suck it up and learn to deal with the queasier aspects of our pets health care like the regular cleaning of his wound and the application of the ointments. I could barely look at it let alone touch it!
“B” required regular debridements for I think six months. It seemed like we were chasing one infection that led into another, and many of them antibiotic resistant. I remember one afternoon talking to the vet on the phone about Mr B’s current state while both B and Kitten were sitting on the couch. Near the end of the conversation, I asked if he might loose the whole ear. It was then that B lunged up from his spot and attacked Kitten with his full fury. It freaked me right out, but I believe he understood my conversation. B also known as Beeber developed a fascination with Kitten. She would sit on the couch in her favorite spot, while he’d perch on the arm behind her. His glare of hatred would only take a few minutes to take effect. Kitten could not stand his psychic warfare very long before she’s sulk away. Beeber would then stretch himself out on her spot, so smug and pleased with himself.
“B”‘s ear infections spread through out his body, most devastatingly into the bone of his jaw. We then found ourselves in a cycle of tooth removal, tooth trims and more antibiotics. During this procedures B would have to be put under general anesthetic . This went on for years. The summer he turned four seemed like a blur of weekly visits to the vet. Amazingly Beeber was a trouper, always loving life and finding mischief. He adored us and lavished us with his kisses, even when he was ill. Some time that summer, B took a turn for the worst and stopped eating. I began to feed him with a syringe. I was not letting go of my bunny angel. I could still see his will for life and I’d do what ever it took. My vet recommended we try Guelph University as we were at a dead end. So off we went. They ended up pulling another tooth and trying an antibiotic concoction. I guess the combination of the strong medication and the stress of the 2 and half hour drive there and then back was too much, he just got sicker. He spent three or four days in hospital care and then seemed to rebound slowly. I’d sit with him for a few hours each day, often crying trying to bring myself to letting him go. Every time I came ready to euthanize him, he’d begin to rebound and come back to life. I couldn’t bear to end his life as long as there was quality and happiness in his life.
A few days after I got him home, he developed heat stroke and loss the use of his rear end. What more could happen!? Off to the vet again. Subcutaneous fluids had to be administered daily for a week. Did I mention it’s a half hour drive to the vets? All this time I still fed him by syringe four times a day. It was at least two months before he began to eat again . Meanwhile he had lost almost half his body weight. He was a skeleton with fur. Gradually he did regained all his weight and developed the pet name Momma’s Little Fatty, sometimes we called his Dad momma’s Big Fat Fatty. I’d sequel out his name as he’d go sideways through the living room on his tip toes, shaking his fuzzy bum. Both my husband and I cherished our little bun every day he lived because we never knew how long he’d last.
Still we carried on dealing with abscesses in his ears. The vet had to install a kind shunt in his ear to allow the infection to drain. During these times, we’d have to separate B from Mini in attempts to save her from becoming infected as well. She was obsessed with keeping his infection sites clean. Both of them would pine for each other, it was so hard keeping them apart. Then we found that the abscesses started to spread again. I found one on the centre of his stomach. We just prayed he wouldn’t get on in his major organs or it would be game over. Off to the vet again. This time we just laid him out on his back which makes them go docile and limp. He laid like that until the vet finished scrapping away all the infected tissue with a scalpel, at least 15 minutes. She kept remarking on how amazing he was for allowing the procedure. Every one at the vet was very fond of “B”. He became well known among the other regular visitors.
Beeber loved the car. He’d stand in my lap with his front feet on the wheel looking out windshield on a good day and on the bad days, he’d lay in my lap as I drove. I’d only let him drive or sit in my lap when we were on the back country roads, in town I’d make his sit on his towel on the floor. He was always such a good boy! He rarely used his carrier to travel, but preferred to go on his harness and lead. We’d customarily go down to see the ducks at the park if he was feeling good before we’d go to see the vet. He’d hop along the fenced duck pens with his floppy ears flapping in the breeze, trying to doge the mud puddles on the way. People were always amazed to see him down at the park and would often ask to take his picture. He was born to model that guy! His newest nick name at this time was Doggy. I don’t really think he knew he was a rabbit. I’d just call him my little Doggy. I do remember one lady in the vet’s office giving me a look one afternoon after she over heard me murmuring what a good little dog he was. Her eyes when wide when she saw inside his carrier, then says to me, “Do you realize that’s a rabbit?” I replied, “Shh, he doesn’t know that!”
The fall season after his rough summer, I decided I wanted something that would be special to him that I could keep after he passed away. I was going by a local pet supply shop and saw the cutest little hat for dogs. Well you can image. I talked the lady into creating a custom hat and vest made from black satiny cloth that sort of looked like leather. I got her to trim it out with silver studs. I added a big silver B for his hat, and trimmed the jacket with silver chain. He looked bad in his biker bunny outfit. He’d go to the park all dressed up and people would flock to take his photo. He loved the attention he got when he had the outfit on and besides he’d tolerate anything to make his mum happy. Dave my husband was a bit embarrassed to walk him when he had his outfit on, often making some comment about B being one of the missing Village People. Go figure, but he’d walk our little dwarf bunny Trinket in her pink snakeskin outfit!
We kept up the good fight until the fall just before B turned Six. I had just opened a gift shop in town and was no longer working from home. B still required tooth trimming under anesthetic every three to four months. The vet told me there was always a risk that some day he may not come back out of the anesthetic. He had to have had a least a dozen if not more surgeries. I always thought that would be how we’d loose him. B was off his food again and acting strange. This time the vets news was beyond devastating. His bone infection in his jaw had spread to his brain. A form of meningitis. I seem to remember the vet gave him an antibiotic injection and sent us home. I was working that day at the store and Dave was home for the day as well, but had to leave for a run that night. We let B sit around in the back office. He seemed confused and unable to see right, running into things, then becoming frightened and sitting with his face in the corner. We could not console him. I put him to bed that night. I found him dead the next morning. I felt so empty inside, I could barely cry. Now there was some relief, he’d never suffer again. Now my concern was for Mini, how would she live without her soul mate. She loved her Daddy OK, but he was only home on weekend, now all she had was me.
Unable to deal with the loss of B right away, I wrapped him in a blanket and put him inside a box and then put him in our large deep freeze out in the garage. I needed some time before I could bury him or have him cremated. It would be almost a year before we closed that chapter.
With all that the poor little guy went through, he always remained loving and playful. His energy filled our house and our hearts. A year before he died he gave me a wonderful gift, it was the lesson of forgiveness. Kitten (the old bag) had to be evicted from the main part of the house to live with our crazy dog Tera in the laundry room. She could not be trusted to contain her evil ways. One evening Dave was feeling sorry for her and had “the old bag” in for a lounge on the couch for few hours. There was Dave with Kitten at his side and B jumps up onto the couch about a half a foot from Kitten. He looks at her and inches closer, she turns away and growls just as B leaned into her and kissed on the head. Only months before he’d try and kill her if he had the chance, but now he’d forgiven her. She was still a bitch to him, but it didn’t matter to him anymore.
He was a lover not a fighter.
Tags: cat bite, holland lop
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