Bunny - Okay!

We had some pet drama the other day that involved our dog and rabbit. The rabbit room is normally fenced off to prevent the dog from messing with her, but this time the dog managed to get through the kitchen gate and knock down a second gate to get through. Once through the gates, dog can easily get through the fences around the rabbit cage (because they are made to keep bunny in and not dog out). According to my younger brother, dog was ready to pounce on bunny and a minute later things would have turned ugly. Thankfully, my brother was able to save bunny right before dog could maul it. In an act of heroism, he picked up dog (who was probably all worked up) and tossed him into another room. 

Bunny, however, was in some serious shock. We took her straight to the vet where they gave her some shots and put her in an oxygen enhanced box. The vet told us that rabbits are highly sensitive to stress, and even something minor such as a barking dog or drawing a blood sample could stress a rabbit, literally, to death. When we left the vet we did not know if bunny would make it – she was not really moving and her color was still bad. We decided to let her stay the night at the vet because we did not want to risk her becoming more stressed from transportation. It was strange to imagine that bunny could be alive one day and dead the next. Thankfully, the vet called today and said that bunny was moving, eating, drinking, and, my favorite, pooping so we were able to take her home.

I think it is easy to throw blame on the dog or even a person for all of this happening, but one thing that kept me calm was not dwelling on the “could” or “should” have’s. Dog is dog and we can’t change his instincts. What one person did or did not do also cannot be changed so we can only look forward and do our best in the present. I’m glad bunny is okay – this incident has made me appreciate her more.