My other buns

I've talked lots about George and Gemma and recently rehomed Peggy and Sue but thought it was time to mention my other buns - the three I am hoping to bond with Peggy and Sue (when I am feeling brave). Will probably be long as I tend to waffle

My other three buns are Molly, Munchkin and Dylan.

Dylan is my oldest bun. He was dark and is now completely grey. Many years ago one of my mental health clients mentioned that her neighbour had two buns in separate hutches in the sun who she didn't seem to feed much. To cut a long story short the neighbour was more than happy to give me the buns (who would have been bunnynapped if not). They were Daisy (a huge white uppy eared bun) and Florence (a beige and white uppy eared bun) - two agoraphobic buns - who I was told were two boys!!

I eventually bonded them and got them used the Great Outdoors but sadly Florence developed tumours and was PTS. That left a lonely Daisy so I took her speed-dating and she chose Dylan. I also started volunteering at the rescue from where I re-homed Dylan. Daisy and Dylan were duly bonded and lived happily together.

I used to go to rescue on a Sat and clean out all the buns. In one of the top cages was a white (more yellow really) bun who had a litter. She was only very young herself. I wasn't able to touch the babies but the Mum was happy to be hand fed and to come for nose rubs. I watched the kittens grow each week and decided to rehome Mum and two of her babies - sisters. That was Molly, Munchkin and Misty. Munchkin is a browny colour and Misty was a light grey.

A few months later I then fell in love with a tiny grey and white netherland dwarf bun. He was in a hutch all on his own and had just been neutered and had a dental. He looked so small and sorry for himself. Every Sat I would give him cuddles and he would snuggle up to me, so I saved up my pennies - and he came home with me and was duly bonded with the other five. I called him Pumpkin as I rehomed him in October. So I had six bonded buns

Sadly, Misty died very suddenly. She was clearly unwell and I dashed her to the vet but she died shortly afterwards. The vet couldn't understand what was wrong and did a PM at no charge to me which proved inconclusive - Misty seemed a perfectly healthy bun. I have since talked to the rescue owner (who has stopped rescuing now) and the other two lighter coloured buns in that litter died suddenly, had PMs which were inconclusive. That made me feel so much better as I had wondered if I had done something wrong. It seems like it was something genetic.

Then, due to my ignorance about how it was spread - despite having volunteered at rescue - all my buns caught myxi. With lots of nursing and daily vet visits they did all survive but a couple of months later Daisy developed a chest infection. She had already had an eye removed and tumour taken out which was thought to be malignant. She was a dental bun as well. I couldn't handle seeing her struggle to breathe and the vet agreed it would be kinder for her to be PTS as she hadn't responded to any medication and had another tumour. I held her in my arms after she had had the injection and she died while I was cuddling her. Daisy was a Very Special Bun and her ashes are in my study.

Then after about a month Pumpkin became ill. I took him to the vet who said there was nothing wrong with him That night I had to dash him to the out of hours vet who recommended PTS as he was dehydrated and had hyperthermia. I have since changed vet having realised I know more about bunnies than she did

So that is the story of how Dylan, Molly and Munchkin came to be living with me. I only wish I had found pet forums and HH sooner so all my previous buns (and there have been a lot over the years) had had a better quality of life.

If you've managed to get to the end of this saga - congratulations

What a lovely (and sometimes sad) story. It's fascinating to know how other people have come to bunnies and their past experiences. It's so sad that you had such a terrible vet. It's always disconcerting that we have to trust them with our bunnies' lives, but sometimes they are completely ignorant.

I think a new photoshoot is in order.

Hopefully, Auntie Katie is coming to visit over the Bank Holiday so I will ask her to bring her camera

I had an absolutely fantastic vet - and then she moved practice to be nearer where she lived - which was just too far away for me to register with. I tried lots of vets after that and didn't trust my own judgement, thinking that they must know best, even though sometimes I did wonder.

Now (fingers crossed) I seem to have found a bunny savvy vet. He does his own out of hours work too and so far, so good, he appears to know his stuff.

I am more confident about my own knowledge now and do ask a lot of questions and will offer suggestions myself, sometimes they are accepted, sometimes not, but as long as I can understand why not I am happy with that - and am learning all the time.