International Rabbit Day is a great opportunity to appreciate the joy that rabbits bring to our lives. Take the time to celebrate the rabbits in your life and find ways you can support rabbit welfare worldwide.
There are many rabbit welfare organizations you can support through fostering, volunteering, and donations. Find a local rescue or shelter here, or if there aren’t any organizations nearby, you can donate to the House Rabbit Society headquarters.
How will you celebrate bunnies today?
um, I have a question. We have four house buns, and our newest addition was a male rabbit named Harry Potter. Harry (for short) was adopted healthy as a horse, and was even neutered, an added benefit. We brought him home this summer, and he has lived a free run rabbit ever since. The other four of our rabbits live in pens, and are let out often during the day. The already-bonded and spayed girls needed only a few sessions to become friends with Harry. Harry and my husband had also bonded, and were immediately unable to separate. Harry, the two year old lop bunny, got a pampered life and was fed only hay as he has been ever since he was weaned. The whole house has plenty of bun-friendly toys, and a large cardboard castle complete with blankets and fun. The house is also fully bun-proofed – no dangerous objects, no things to chew on, everything you can possibly think of. The bookcases are blocked off with special mesh, the cords are covered, food is kept away from bunny paws! We walked in last week to find our rabbit lying on the floor and dead. My husband, a doctor, tried CPR techniques and felt for a pulse, massaging his chest. Harry was dead, and we are still grieving. only today was I brave enough to do research and ask this question. The only abnormal thing about his body when we found him was that his tummy was bloated and hard. The day before he died he showed no signs of sickness, perfectly alert and fine. We have experienced senior rabbit deaths before, our first bunny Lola went under extreme arthritis and one day collapsed. She slowly decreased her food intake and became less active during the time we tried to nurse her back to health. Then, she was breathing heavily one night, then just died.
This was not the case withHarry Potter, his death was so sudden. I have heard of some diseases where this happens in that period of time – so quick.
Do you have ANY idea for maybe how and why Harry died? It’s just so strange!!
Lillibunz I just wanted to express my condolences on the loss of your poor Harry. How sad for you to have come home and find you had lost him.
when my bunny, who passed away in January, became ill I feared coming home every day that she might have passed while I was gone. But to leave a healthy guy & have all the precautions in place that is so sad.The condition as you describe it sounds like the awful gastric stasis, but it doesn’t seem that could have been what happened in such a short time if he was fine before this happened. Sorry not very helpful, I just felt badly for you and him and wanted to let you know people care. (My bun, sad as it was passed away when I was with her so I didn’t have to deal with your situation. Still was very sad & I miss her much; she had a pretty long life but had numerous health problems throughout) Take care..
We bunny lovers and parents should just feel so blessed to have these sweet creatures in our lives and celebrate this on International Rabbit Day and every day. Also we should do what we can to help bunnies in need. : )
Thanks for the support! I couldn’t bear to read some of the things rabbits could get sick from, Myxamatosis, a terrible disease where the rabbit dies in a period of 24-48 hours, is brought on by Mosquitos in the fall season. But I have never let Harry play outdoors… To many horrible things could happen, we also have a beagle next door who has gotten into the yard several times. I did not take that chance! It was quite a coincidence he died right when we were gone. Perhaps he ate a food or plant we had in our house, but the fridge is too heavy to get into, and the pantry is on a bottom cupboard, so it doubt it. I still don’t know but we are still really sad and miss him so much. ): All my other bunns and us will enjoy the international rabbit day by giving them a few new toys and cherishing their lives! I also help at a shelter and some buns come in for me to help! :-3 love u Harry!