KatTheHippie
Well-Known Member
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
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