Sorry I've been distant. But meet the reason why!

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KatTheHippie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2011
Messages
1,045
Location
Long Island, New York
I'm sorry I haven't been around for a while, but I had a rather full plate, and was very thin on time! Below is a rescue story about my newest baby, but I just want to warn everyone now, that it gets rather sad at times.

My friend, and old room mate Samantha, contacted me one night saying that her friend Beth had a rabbit and her two babies that needed to be rehomed. She had Nelson, who was aggressive and decided that maybe getting "him" a friend would help, so she brought home Melvin. Afterwards, she found out Nelson, was actually a girl. She had 3 babies, one of which passed away soon after birth, but the other two were doing well and were ready to find new homes. She decided that it would be best to keep one of the babies, since they were both boys, with Melvin, and adopt out Nelson, and the other baby. Sam asked me if I was interested in Nelson, knowing that I grew up with a bunny who I missed greatly, and also familiar in my background of rescuing and dealing with aggressive animals.

I was unsure and told her I needed a little while to think about it.. but a few days later she called back saying that Nelson had ANOTHER litter, this time six, and her friend Beth, who owned them, was fighting with her boyfriend and moving out, so all the rabbits needed to go, minus Melvin, who she was keeping. She told me that if I didn't take Nelson and the babies, they'd probably end up dead.

And so, I began preparing my home for 6 little angels, and a vicious momma bun. First thing on the list was a new name. Nelson was obviously a horrible name for a female, and since she seemed like a fighter, I decided to name her Ripley after the protagonist from the Alien movies. I waited patiently for them to arrive, preparing a large play pen with lots of fleece, toys, a litter box, and a few kitty houses for her to nest her babies in (They were all jammed in a small rabbit cage :( ) and after they soon arrived, I realized Ripley wasn't aggressive at all.

I was expecting to get bit, kicked, and growled at (As I was told that's what she does) but instead, I got an excited bunny who ran to the front of the playpen and sat up, waiting for me to scoop her out for snuggles every time I walked into the room. She was such a good mama, and all six of her babies were doing so well. I lined up homes for all except one.. my little fluffy grey man named Oderus (After the lead singer of GWAR, one of my favorite bands, who passed away recently) and planned on getting him fixed ASAP so he could live with mom. Just after the babies all went to their new homes, I got some bad news.. little Newt, the runt of the litter who was adopted by a woman named Blythe, suffered a heart attack. I barely had time to grieve, when I went to let Ripley out to play one morning before class, and discovered EIGHT little, tiny, pink babies beneath her. Unfortunately, 2 didn't even make it through the first day.

I was livid. Beth had given me this poor rabbit, who already had two litters back to back, with six babies, pregnant. She was already so tired, being only a year and a few months old, and from nursing 8 babies over the course of 14 weeks non-stop, that her body wasn't producing milk. She did for the first few days, all the babies had milk bellies and I thought they might be okay, so I stocked her up with lots of greens, and extra healthy food, hoping that she'd keep her vitamin intake up and continue to feed them, but she was so, so tired with absolutely no recovery time in between.. and soon she just couldn't do it anymore. I started bottle feeding, though keeping baby rabbits alive is a very difficult task, and slowly, one by one, I began to lose them.. it was heart wrenching, struggling to do all I could for these babies, but none of them made it in the end. After losing the first two, and knowing most of them wouldn't make it, I decided to name them all anyway. I lost Jekyll and Hyde next, then Draven, then Orlok, and little Pugsley and Lazarus made it long enough for their little eyes to open.. I hoped that maybe those two would pull through, but I lost Lazzy first, then Pugs the next day.

I called Beth, Ripley's previous owner, hysterical, and berated her for all that she put these rabbits through. I tore her apart, and hoped that afterwards, she would realize what she had done, and how guilty she should be. She caused the unneeded suffering, of not only so many babies, but of Ripley too, who didn't deserve any of it. I also found out that one of Ripley's first two surviving babies also had a heart attack, just like Newt, so I also told her very firmly about how important it is to only breed if you know what you're doing, with animals with healthy genes, and good backgrounds, because obviously some of these babies had genetic issues that lead to these heart attacks.

And when I thought all of it was finally over, when Ripley didn't have to suffer through the pains of birth ever again, when all of her last litter were at least free of pain, and would never need to suffer again, and when all of her second litter were safe, in loving, nurturing homes with carefully selected owners who still send me pictures and updates of their babies constantly
 
Here are a few pictures and videos, of my lovely Ripley, and her sweet babies, past and present.

Ripley today, after some nice, juicy kale for dinner.


The babies from the second litter


Second litter sharing greens with mom. Counter clockwise, starting at Ripley, there's Theo, Winnona, Newt, Sinister, Oderus, and Spike


Lounging in the play pen





Momma bun




Babies playing
(I'm a video, click me to watch)




My sweet Oderus.




(I'm a video, click me to watch)

Ripley's third litter




 
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Ohh sweetie you have been busy!!! Those poor little buns and lovely lovely Ripley.

They were lucky you came into their lives and fought for them whether they made it or not ((hugs))
 
I feel like your first post got cut off and I'm hanging on the edge of my seat waiting for the other shoe to drop...
You are awesome for taking in and fighting for Ripley and her babies. You have made such a big difference in their lives! The wee ones who didn't make it are up there at the Bridge with our ratties, talking about what a great mom you are and how you tried your hardest for them, showering them with love and giving them a name of their very own. :heart:
 
Oof, I realized some of my first post got cut off, I'm glad I copied it just incase. Here's the rest of the bunnies stories.

my sweet, little Oderus died of a heart attack, just like a few of his siblings before him. I called each of the other babies owners and made sure that they took their bunnies to the vet, to make sure that they were all healthy, and nothing was wrong with them, and if there was, it could be fixed. I apologized again and again, just incase I gave them sick pets, terrified that they would lose them just as I lost so many, and hoping that none of them would ever need to experience the loss that I was feeling.

Luckily, Theo, Winnona, Spike, and Sinister, all of Ripley's remaining second litter, checked out with clean bills of health, though their owners still keep a special eye on them constantly, just to be safe.

Even though a lot of little lives were lost over the course of the last few months, I'm just glad they were with me. Atleast they were shown love and affection in the little time they were here, and treated right, and given everything I could possibly give them. They had a fighting chance, which they wouldn't have had otherwise, and at least I saved as many of them as I could.

Ripley is safe with me for the rest of her life. I'm currently training her to be a free range bunny, she's already litter box trained, and spends lots of time relaxing on the bed with me, chewing up cardboard box houses, devouring treats, and clovers when she runs around in the gated back yard, and harassing the cats, whose tails she loves to nip at. In a few months, I'm getting her fixed, because I'm scared she'll develop cancer from all of the back to back breeding she suffered through, besides, it's just healthier to fix bunnies.
 
Thank you. It really does mean a lot. I've been feeling better, since it's been a few weeks now since I lost Oderus, and Ripley seems to be coming around again. I just can't wait for her to be fixed, so that nightmare can be over.

Honestly, this whole situation, though terrible, is a message to others. Buying animals from pet stores is awful (They were the ones who first lied to Beth about Rip being a boy, hence why she brought Melvin, another boy, home), You should ALWAYS educate yourself before impulse buying a pet (Rabbits live an average of 10-15 years. They're a long commitment pet, and a more difficult to own pet.) and breeding is VERY wrong when you have no clue what you're doing, and you just shove a pair of animals together. (As we learned, either mom or dad have some kind of bad genetics, leading to the loss of so many babies from heart failure, and mom was very sick after so many litters.)

I've spoken about her story in different rabbit groups and rescue groups, hoping that it would help nail all of these lessons into peoples heads.
 
Those bunnies are very lucky to have found their way to you. I'm so sorry you lost Oderus though... I had a rescue litter last year and three passed away young, it's not easy.

Definitely get Riley spayed, it's so important with bunnies. The dad should be neutered too, that would probably resolve his aggression. (If he had been paired up with another intact male, they may have seriously harmed each other...)
 
Definitely get Riley spayed, it's so important with bunnies. The dad should be neutered too, that would probably resolve his aggression. (If he had been paired up with another intact male, they may have seriously harmed each other...)

Ripley was the "aggressive" one. I don't have dad, unfortunately, Beth gave him away to someone else. And I totally am, I'm just waiting to save up for it :)
 
That's a sad story yet it has a happy ending. Sorry about your losses, but I'm glad you got the momma - that poor thing. That happened to my sister when we were kids, but with mice and before we knew it we about 40 of them. We had a rabbit to which the vet told us was a girl, but to this day I'm convinced it was a boy since a lot of the time when we picked it up there was a pink thing hanging out that it retracted.... hmmmm....

Anyway, great job!
 
Those poor babies and that poor momma! 3 litters back to back would be so hard on any animal. At least she does not have to worry anymore. You saved them all great job on that. Kiss that momma for me. She deserves extra kisses from us all.
 
All I can say is Wow. That poor creature. I'm so glad she is finally in the care of someone who will love her and allow her to give her body a rest and take care of herself.

I'm so sorry about all those dear babies. YOu were right to give them names before they left this world. They were loved during their short stay here, thanks to you.
 
Ripley was the "aggressive" one. I don't have dad, unfortunately, Beth gave him away to someone else. And I totally am, I'm just waiting to save up for it :)

Females are known to get aggressive and/or territorial when they're caged and/or hormonal so it's expected in her previous situation. Many times, rabbits also get labelled aggressive because people expect them to act like cats and that they are not. Even if she were 'aggressive', a spay would improve her temperament a lot. Rabbits are not companion animals that should be left intact.
 
Females are known to get aggressive and/or territorial when they're caged and/or hormonal so it's expected in her previous situation. Many times, rabbits also get labelled aggressive because people expect them to act like cats and that they are not. Even if she were 'aggressive', a spay would improve her temperament a lot. Rabbits are not companion animals that should be left intact.


I agree whole heartedly. Most companion animals, in my opinion, should be fixed. Some day, I'd like to consider getting Ripley a cage mate (Not any time soon, I don't think either of us are emotionally ready to have another rabbit around, for at least a few years. I'd like to rescue again too when we are ready, and god knows what we'd be in for next, so we're taking some time.) and getting her altered would also make it much easier to intro them together.

Thank you everyone for your kind comments. I'll be sure to give Ripley kisses from everyone. It helps so much too, when I see updates from the babies owners. Seeing such happy, loved bunnies makes up for their siblings losses a little bit. They'll always be in my heart, poor sweet babies.
 
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