Nicholas and Baby Adele
You see, they were selling them for $19.95 and a vet call would be much more expensive than that. Besides, animals for sale at Walmart didn't EVER see the vet. (if you know what I mean)
Well, I shoplifted the baby bunnies (with the manager's help), and took them across the street to Dr. McKinney's Animal Hospital.
He looked at them and told me, "You're probably gonna have to put 'em down. They're starving to death. They are only about 2 weeks old and have been taken to early from the mother. There is really NOTHING you can feed them to simulate mothers milk in a rabbit."
It seems that rabbit milk is VERY rich. In the wild the Mom only feeds them ONCE every 24 hours, then she leaves the nest to take her scent away thus not attracting predators. So IF you find a rabbit nest that you think has been abandoned, leave it alone! The Mom will return!
So, here I was knowing NOTHING about baby bunnies. But I DID know, that I wanted very much to try to save them and that I didn't have much time.
I called my husband and asked him to make up some chamomile tea, not to ask questions, and could he just please DO it!
He heard the urgency in my voice and he did make the tea. When I arrived at the house about 5 minutes later, I RAN inside, clutching my newly found "rescuees", and I promptly got out the blender.
The manager of Walmart had given me some of the rabbit pellets that were in their cage for them to eat.( at only TWO WEEKS OLD with no teeth! SHEESH!
I ground up the rabbit chow and mixed it with the chamomile tea. Dale and I fed it to them with eye droppers. My, how they lapped it right up!
That's when the miracle occurred. Right before our eyes they turned into, ( drum roll please!).... .BABY RABBITS!!!!!
We could now tell that indeed, they were baby bunnies! Their little ears stood right up! Their little brown eyes were now shining, and most of all, the little tiny noses started the twitching. That would continue, until the day they died.
We continued on with our raising of the bunnies, adding ground apple and carrot to the "diet mixture."
People would ask me, why I thought of Chamomile tea. Well, I remember reading the beloved children's story "Peter Rabbit." And in "Peter Rabbit," his mother gave him chamomile tea as a remedy for a tummy ache when he ate too many blackberries from Mr. McGreggor's blackberry patch. So I prayed, "Please Lord, let this NOT be just a fairy-tale"! My prayers were answered. The babies were now thriving.
But, now I had a NEW problem. TWO baby bunnies. WHAT would we DO with them? We couldn't very well return them to the scene of the crime.
I learned that they were both "dwarf" bunnies, meaning that they would always be very tiny. One was a Norwegian Dwarf, and one was a Thurwegian Dwarf. We named then "Adele", and "Bunnikens." We had every intention of finding them good homes, really we did, it was just that, after you've SAVED somethin'...well,..YOU know! So, we kept "The Girls," as we affectionately called them.
Nicholas, our cockapoo, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge in May of 1998, from Canine Lymphoma, really raised "The Girls."
He was but a pup himself that day I brought them home for the first time. He was very protective of them! He sniffed anybody, up and down, who wanted to hold one of HIS bunnies.
Well, the more I thought about it, the madder I got that Walmart would have baby "anythings," that were taken from their mother too young, and then just "flush" them when and if, they couldn't survive. It made me mad enough to call up old SAM WALTON himself, in Bentonville, Arkansas!
Well, believe it or not, I actually got all the way up to his secretary! Six weeks later my phone rang one morning. It was his secretary, telling me that Mr. Walton wanted to speak with me. I was in SHOCK! After all, I had never spoken with a BILLIONAIRE before! (or SINCE come to think of it...)
He got on the line, and he said, "Hey there little lady! I understand you had a bad experience with some baby rabbits. Well, we can't have that kind of crap goin' on. I have contacted the broker, who sells to the Tri-State area... (Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma), and I FIRED him!!!! Yesiree!! Fired him and his 6 million dollar contract, and by the way Little Lady, (I LOVED being called "Little"..ANYTHING!), ..we aren't going to be carrying ANY live animals at my Walmart stores anymore. Just fish, no more mice, rats, birds, bunnies, no nothin!! Just too hard to regulate their care. Just wanted you to know, that you have caused this to happen, and you should be congratulated, Little Lady", and as quickly as he called, he was gone.
Now, for the past 10 years, our home was a Bed and Breakfast, called "Robin's Nest". Every year, until Sam Walton died, his secretary would call around Christmas time and Mr. Walton would buy 10 gift certificates, to the Bed and Breakfast, at $95.00 each and then he would NEVER EVER use them. What a NICE man. I guess, in his own way, he was paying for the care of Bunnikens and Adele.
Well, on with my story. Last summer, we noticed that little Bunnikens had a discharge and rushed her to the vet. Bad news. Uterine cancer. It seems that if you don't have a female bunny spayed and she doesn't ever have babies, there is a 90% chance of uterine cancer. We just had NO idea. We would soon learn, that our ignorance, would cost Bunnikens her life.
These bunnies had always stayed inside, in a HUGE two story cage and had been very healthy. Now, one of them had cancer. We decided to take the vet's advice and spay them both, that very day.
Adele came through with flying colors, but poor Bunnikens did not look well and 4 days later, I found her dead, or so I thought, in her cage.
I screamed my blood curdling "Dale" scream. It means, "Dale!! Get up here IMMEDIATELY!! Something is either dead or dying and I need you NOW!!!". (At least that's how Dale describes it.)
I picked up her little lifeless body. Her eyes were fixed and dilated. I began CPR...puff..puff..puff..THUMB MASSAGE..THUMB MASSAGE..after about 45 seconds, (Dale is now saying,"Honey..she's gone"..) .. BINGO!! She started breathing, and nose twitching, and I felt like I was walking on air!! Dale stood there in utter amazement!! But, something wasn't right. She seemed to be paralyzed from the neck down. I think she had a stroke. Of course we rushed her to the bunny vet, a vet who specializes in exotics. (No offense, Dr.McKinney, but 11 years earlier, you did tell me there was no way to save them...HMMPH!)
On the way to the vet, Bunnikens "died" five times. Each time, I would revive her quietly, so Dale wouldn't know, and would still drive fast! (He told me later, that he knew EACH and EVERY time, that she "died.")
When we got to the vet's, Dr. Welch's assistant vet said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I see that she has died."
I said "DOC!! You think THIS is dead? She's been LOTS more dead, SEVERAL times tonight! Watch this!!" I flipped her back on the table, and did my thing! Puff...Puff...Thumb massage..Thumb Massage..and Bingo!!
She came right back! (I was feeling quite omnipotent now!) I told the vet that what we were worried about, besides that Bunnikens kept on dying on us, was that she had probably stroked out and appeared to be paralyzed.
Well, come to find out that's just what had happened. As the vet was preparing the I.V., to euthanize our little Bunnikens, she started to "die" again. This time, I leaned over, and through my tears, whispered, "Go to the light, Bunnikens, go to the light." She did just that.
Adele, her friend, and cage mate, of almost 11 years, almost died from the grief. We told her what had happened, and let her see Adele's little body, so she would KNOW, that she wasn't comin' back. It didn't help, and we thought we would loose Adele,too.
We bought two little baby bunnies to help Adele through this. "Emiwy Wouise", and "Emmitt". We put them all together, and AACKK!!!!! She wanted to KILL them!!!! Great!! This is just GREAT!!! Now we need TWO seperate cages, and Adele is STILL not eating, suffering from grief.
We put the cages side by side. I think this helped as she started to eat again. And after 8 months,of watching them play through the cages, we were finally able to actually integrate them. HAPPY DAY!! My goodness!! Adele was a HAPPY bunny again!! They would all groom each other, and curl up and make a bunny pile!! They would "play fight" to get to the food bin, when I would fill it daily, like they had each been "STARVED" for weeks and weeks!
Well, today, just now, I went over to their cage, upstairs in Dale's office, to find that Adele had just crossed the Rainbow Bridge. I suppose, it was because she was now 11 years old. I think she must have died in her sleep. She was curled up in her sleeping position, and her little eyes were still wet. Dale is outside burying her, as I type this to you, next to the spot where Bunnikens lies.
Now, they are all together. Nicholas, and the two bunny babies he raised. Bunnikens, and Adele. Have a happy eternal life, my little one. Mama will be there to hold you again,...someday.
Copyright Robin Pressnall 2002