Hollie - 31st August 2015

by Sixer Mon Aug 31, 2015 4:49 pm

My little Hollie Dollie - how cruel this year has been to my bunnies.

Hollie came to us in October 2007, along with her sister Rosie as partners for Herbie. Smaller than Rosie she was very protective of her bigger sister and they bonded easily with Herbie. They spent that first winter indoors and it soon became clear that Hollie adored Herbie. After the post spaying fall out - caused by Rosie - we split the trio up and left Hollie with Herbie as they seemed the closest pair. They moved outside into a customised shed and I loved to see the pair of them snoozing in the window in the sun.

Hollie was a smart little cookie, she immediately mastered the cat flap - which we had to prop open for Herbie's benefit - and whilst in the conservatory had managed to break into the treat pot. She would spend ages trying to groom fluffy Herbie and put up with his referred aggression. She truly was devoted to him. She loved being out on the grass, binkying and charging around. She also won the award for the cutest bunny lips out of all our rabbits.

She and Herbie were together for six and a half years, it was so sad to see her on her own after we lost Herbie. I managed then to bond Hollie with sister Rosie and her partner BJ. It gave me so much pleasure to see the three of them snuggled together. This happiness only lasted four months as a baby wildie rabbit got into the garden and the referred aggression this caused broke up the bond between Rosie and Hollie. I was not able to get them back together and keeping them separate in their shed was not a long term option.

Hollie then went to Honeybunny's rescue to be bonded with Bobbin Honeybunny, an elderly Nethie. Although the bonding didn't go to plan, my daughter Louise had the pair of them to live inside with her. After 9 months living next to each other Louise was able to finally get them to bond, which we were both so happy about. Tragically. nine weeks later we lost Bobbin to lung tumours and poor Hollie was on her own again. She was such a good girl at Louise's, making no attempt to shred, dig or chew. With the loss of Spring we then attempted to bond Hollie with Spring's partner Gabriel but neither was having this at the first attempt.

At about this time Hollie had started to limp. With no improvement we took her back to the vets. It was now obvious that more was going on than just a sprain and it was confirmed that Hollie had tumours in her bones. The kindest thing was to let her slip away whilst sedated.

Sleep tight Hollie Dollie. Thank you for being part of my life. I hope you are now safe and happy with Herbie, and Bobbin too xxx