Bye Bye Bunninator...

For those of you who don't know, Bun Bun was my pet bunny for about two years, who was laid to rest yesterday, April 6th, 2008. I "found" Bun Bun while driving around my surburbanite wannabe neighborhood, just sitting in the grass on the side of someones house, chomping away at some grass. Bun Bun was no average, out door rabbit, Bun Bun was overgrown and the size of a medium sized house cat-so I knew it wasn't ferrell. Bun Bun appeared to be an Easter pet who was let go, skittish, but curious. I have an affection for bunnies, since I have been an owner of buns for many years....and it had been a while since I had a bunny. So, I made "capturing" the rabbit a mission. That rabbit was going to be mine! ^_^ I wanted to make sure I could get the bunny before something bad happened to it, like a car accident, or a possum, etc. I wanted the rabbit to have a good home free of neglect, and full of love.

I scoped the bunny out like a creepy stalker for a few weeks to make sure I wasn't going to be stealing some one's pet. I noticed the bunny had a similar routine, every few nites he would sit outside and run around the side of one to three houses on a specific block at about two a.m, and it would terrorize the dogs coralled inside a neighboring fence. There was no evidence of an owner, and the bunny did not stick to one particular yard. I was going to lure the rabbit into my clever trap, with treats- since I know bunnies have a crazy sweet tooth for things like granola bars and cookies, and other things they probably shouldn't eat.

One night I was close to success, and the rabbit even came up to my hand, pulled the food out of it, and darted off. The rabbit was getting bolder, but was still very wary. The only time neighbors noticed me stalking the bunny was when one man came home from work in a big red pickup truck and gave me a strange look. I said, "I'm trying to catch the rabbit", and smiled, nervously, all teeth, trying to look innocent and convincing. The man replied, "Well good, I hope you do, or I'm gonna let my dogs take care of him...that rabbit drives my dogs crazy and they keep me up at night barking about that stupid rabbit!", and chuckled. I asked the man if he knew of any neighbors who mentioned a lost bunny, and he replied that he hadn't heard anything. I knew for sure then that I HAD to catch him! Dog food!?! No way! So, after weeks of devotion, and bribery with sweets, the rabbit trusted me enough, and with a cookie in one hand and at Link-style fishing net, I swooped down in one swift motion and caught her!

The rabbit squirmed, and kicked, and was petrified, and she even tangled her big feet in the net. I carefully picked her up and ushered her to the back seat of my car, drove home about two blocks, and took her inside after carefully untangleing her, to her new home. At first I named the rabbit Big Boss, but later the nickname, Bun Bun, seemed to stick. It took a while, but Bun Bun, who was shy and sheepish at first, developed into a brave adventurous bunny. Bun Bun warmed up so much that she would hop on the bed to snoop around, and dart around the bedroom for fun, jumping up wildly into the air and kick her heels together, which is commonly known as a "binky", a little dance bunnies do when they are happy or excited. Bun Bun became so friendly that she would nudge me demandingly when she wanted affection, so I would pet her.

Bun Bun was generally a very good bunny, and learned quickly, so I was able to litter box train her like a cat (which was very nice) so I could let her romp occasionally on her own. The only thing I had to be wary of in particular were playstation wires on the floor, or my bf's phone charger-which got chewed through, I believe on several occasions....anyway, Bun Bun was always a character, and would like to eat together with "family". If me and my bf entered the room with food, Bun Bun would dance around from left to right when in her hutch so we would feed her too, or would beg for treats, like so many bunnies do, if she was romping around on the floor.

But...Bun Bun got really sick about a month or so ago. She got a scratch from a new roomate bunny named Demo (yes, for Demolitionist) and I took her to the vet for antibiotics to treat it. Demo did not get along with Bun Bun, and I had to seperate them, Demo was very aggressive and territorial and tried to attack Bun Bun. After separating the bunnies, Bun Bun seemed to get better, and the scratch healed with antibiotics. Then, almost out of no where, after I thought Bun Bun was getting better, Bun Bun seemed lethargic and depressed, and started losing weight. Bun Bun barely wanted to eat (which was weird because Bun Bun was always food crazed) and was starting to sneeze a lot. Bun Bun's illness progressed, to the point where when I came home from work one day, she was wheezing like a pneumonia patient, and even coughing.

I immediatly took Bun Bun to the vet E.R., and they told me she could have an upper respitory infection, snuffles, or at the worst, pneumonia. The total cost to admit her for full care was about $1700.00, which, I did not have. The doctor even noted that if Bun Bun did in fact have pneumonia, with treatment there would still be a 50% mortality rate. I started crying my eyes out, feeling like since I am strapped financially that I was sentencing my bunny to death. The most I could afford were some shots for antibiotics, and then we left, hoping for the best. Bun Bun did not seem to get better, and a few weeks later had dropped weight significantly. Bun Bun was so sick that she stopped eating hard food, and I had to spoon feed her baby food or soft foods. It was very upsetting. Bun Bun was trying her best to fight the sickness, but was not winning. After all her weeks of struggle, last weekend she was so weak that she could not walk, and collapsed in her litter box. I started weeping, and carefully took her out, cleaned the box, and lined it with towels, placing her back carefully to try and rest in some sort of peace. Bun Bun had the look of death in her eyes, half open, with her chin slumped down on the towel.

Last Friday I took off of work and I contacted the Humane Society to look into euthanization. I didn't want to take Bun Bun in to be put to sleep, but keeping her around almost felt selfish---that is until the vet told me my "options". For $50.00, I could be present for the euthanization, or, I could go to the shelter, which only asks for a donation, but I could not be present for the "treatment". I told the woman on the phone that I wanted to be present because I wanted Bun Bun to know I was there for her, and I wanted her to be calm and peaceful. The woman paused, and said, "Well...are you sure you want to be present? Rabbits are a little more difficult than cats or dogs...and to euthanize them you have to wrap them up and inject them into the heart...." She said it as politely and as concerned as possible, and I replied "Well, I'll think about it, thanks..." and hung up, immediatly bursting into more tears. As if my feelings could not get more intense, I was devastated! My option was to let my bun die a slow and possibly uncomfortable death, or, panic her and have her stabbed in the heart the last short moments of her life. Call me in-humane, but I'm sorry, I could not come to terms with that method of euthanization for Bun Bun.

So, on the weekend I did all I could. I comforted Bun Bun as much as possible. I had her sleep next to me for two nights of the weekened, spoon and bottle fed her, and relaxed her with lots of petting and soft talking. Bun Bun tried to "go to sleep", and was very drowsy, but when she caught herself fading out, and her eyes started to droop, she jerked her head up, as if to say "I'm not leaving yet!" and tried to shake death off a little longer. After being home with Bun Bun all weekend, I knew I had to give her some alone time. I was tired of seeing her suffer, and she may have only been "holding on" because I was around, I'm sure despite her own pain from being sick she knew I was in a lot of emotional pain as well. Even if I'm crazy, or delusional, I'd like to think that animals can understand when we are in pain, too, and are concerned.

After going out for a few hours with some friends on Sunday afternoon, just as I had predicted, I came home to find Bun Bun had passed on. I was deeply saddened, but joyful that she was finally out of misery, free and no longer in pain. Me and my bf decided to bury her in the woods nearby our house that runs along the Econolockohatchee river. There was a spot on the trial that was beautiful, and since it was a preserve, we could visit nearly anytime, even in years to come if we move away from where our house is.

It was really late at nite, around midnight, so we had to be sneaky, and yes, we would most definetly be tresspassing on the preserve's property. After I prepared Bun Bun's make-shift coffin, a shoe box lined with my favirote soft hello kitty pajamas and flowers, and double bagged...we went on our burial quest-if you will. It had been raining all day long (I must say, like a movie the weather fit the mood exactly) and it did not cease in the late evening, either. My bf and I got dressed up in the crappiest clothes and shoes we had, grabbed a flash light and a shovel, and drove off with Bun Bun to the woods.

We had to hop a fence and crawl through barbed wire to get onto the preserve's trail from the back...and navigate through near darkness. When we finally got the the bank of the river after wading through foot high rain water and frogs (and god knows what else that luckily we did not see) we started digging. We were nervous and did not want to get caught for tresspassing, so we mostly dug in the dark, with the rain making the ground squishy and slippery. We buried Bun Bun near a really big tree, and I included a picture of Bun Bun with a note about her just in case she ever gets unearthed by anyone. I thought it would be nice so, in the worst case scenario, whomever finds the box knows how cute Bun Bun used to be. (Yeah, I know. I'm weird...). I put lilies in the hollows of the tree right were we buried Bun Bun. I did not want to make the ground look too much like a grave site you know, because it might look peculiar to hikers and it would increase the likelihood of a ranger digging Bun Bun up...

Any how, the trip was a success, if you want to call it that, and we walked back through the dark winding trails, through the barbed wire, and slunk out to my car- soaked and covered with mud. No park rangers, no crazy forest bums, no police-so it went okay despite being filthy and sad. Bun Bun was a great bunny, who will be sorely missed. I never knew that a rabbit could have so much personality and warmth until I owned one and spent time with them... and I would reccomend buns to those with a lot of patience, because they will suprise you when you really get to know eachother. Sorry for such a sad story you guys, but I felt like Bun Bun needed a memorial. Rest in peace, Bun Bun.