Beaumont Wilshire

[LizzyBunn]

 

 I don’t know what to do. This morning I woke up and my bunny was dead. I feel angry and sad and confused. 

We moved last Saturday and yesterday I spent the day hanging things on walls. We haven’t been able to let the bunns romp around much because of all the stuff everywhere. We’d been bringing them out for little day trips in our new sunroom. Yesterday my plan was to keep them in their condo until I had everything hung up and put away. My husband feeds the bunnies in the morning and he doesn’t remember if Beaumont ate or not. In the afternoon Beaumont was on the top level of the bunny condo drinking water and I reached in to pet him. He seemed completely fine. He and his lady Parsnip spent the day snuggled and sleeping, as they have been in the afternoons lately.  At 4pm I gave them greens and Beaumont didn’t come down from the snuggle level of the condo. Parsnip chomped a little and then stretched out. Usually he eats right away but somtimes he lets her eat first because they are silly and cute and she is top bunn. I watched him though the rest of the evening because I hadn’t seen him move much from the spot he was hunched in. 

I opened the bunny condo up around 7 and neither of them came out. I figured they would when they wanted to. Maybe around 8 Parsnip came out for little 30 second explorations. Around that time I noticed that Beaumont was holding his head kind of weird. He seemed a little droopy, tilted just a smidge to one side. His body was normal but I started watching him really closely and eventually he starting sitting in a slightly uncomfortable way as well. I took him from his condo, which was hard because he was in the one spot that is really hard to get to if not bunny sized, and brought him on the couch with me. He isn’t a snuggle bunn at all but usually if I can secure him on the couch and he might stay a little while. He felt smaller to me but he’s been multing a lot and I wasn’t sure if it was just lack of fur. I held him for as long as he would let me and rubbed his belly. He pooped a couple tiny poops. My plan was to take him to the vet first thing in the morning. 

My husband was upset about a work thing and was being sort of huffy and loud and I didn’t want to upset Beaumont and he was starting to get qsuirmy with me holding him. He hopped around the apartment a little and then went back to his spot in the condo. I sat on the ground next to it and rubbed his nose. My husband was getting more upset about the work thing and I was trying to give more of my attention to him. Beaumont eventually went down to his litter box and snuggled next to parsnip. He still looked like he was holding his head werid but I was distracted by my husband and decided there wasn’t anyhthing I could do until the morning for beaumont anyway. 

 

This morning my husband woke up to feed them and beaumont was layed out in his litter box. Parsnip seems unconcerned about him being dead. she’s doing her regular stuff. Is that normal? I am angry at my husband for being in a bad mood last night. it makes me feel like I wasn’t as attentive to my bunny as I should have been. In the past when I have noticed something was off I immidiately did everything I could asap. 

We’ve had these bunns for 3 years. They are about 6 years old and were from the wild before we got them at a shelter. Beaumont was my bunny. He was the top bunn. I love him so much, he has made me so happy. I don’t understand. I know bunny longevity is partially due to hypervigilent owners/mothers. I feel like I let him down. I don’t know what to do with him now. how do I proceed? I’m terrified of Parsnip dying. She is robust and healthy but it really only takes 6 hours. My heart is so heavy and sad.

I’m sorry this is so long. I just don’t know what to do or who to talk to.I’m scared other people will say he was just a bunny. But he wasn’t, he was my bunny. 

Here he is from two days ago, He is the brown  one

 

  

[NewBunnyOwner123]

I see he was going through a heavy shed. Maybe he had some sort of blockage? I’m not sure but I will say that I a, terribly sorry for your loss. It’s always hard losing an animal, they become family he wasn’t just a bunny, he was your companion, your friend. Binky free Beaumont. Give a little extra attention to parsnip as both of y’all will be grieving and be missing his presence

[Valkyrie]

This is why I get kind of mad when people say bunnies live for 10 years, because most do not. Realistically, a full bunny life is 5-10 years. You can’t blame yourself because care only goes so far. He had a hard start to life and you don’t know what he experienced in the wild. Starvation or a scare could have caused a dormant health issue that suddenly exasperated with his age. We also have to remember that most of the rabbits bred, especially those that are not purebred, are bred as livestock, not house pets. If he was from meat stock originally, they are not bred for good genes and longevity so many do not live past 4. 6 years is a full life, even though you wanted him to be with you longer. Take comfort knowing that you gave him a life better than he probably ever dreamed of out in the wild or in the shelter. You gave him a beautiful condo and infinite love.

He was not just a bunny, and there are many people that will agree. About a month ago I came home and went to give my senior bun some love. I got him as a rescue and he was around 6 years old too. He had dropped weight and I think had a stroke a couple days before so I made up some special food for him. I went to give it to him and when he tried to jump out of his litterbox, he suddenly froze in pain and wouldn’t take the treat. It was obvious that he had had another stroke while I was at the store. I started crying and called my husband over. We put him in the litterbox and pulled both of them out onto my lap. We gave him a blanket and I sat there stroking him until the pain passed, I knew he wouldn’t make the night so I just cried. After about an hour, my husband made me put him in the cage because I was jostling him too much and we had to bring my dog in from the backyard. I laid beside his cage until my husband made me go to bed at 1 am. He passed away during the night in his litterbox as well. His eyes were closed though so I know he went in his sleep. I e-mailed work to say that I would be late because I had to bury him before I came in. I expected to get in a lot of poop for it because they would think he was just a bunny, but I was wrong. None of my bosses or coworkers are bunny people, but they understood that I lost a furbaby and offered their condolences. They also let me keep to myself and grieve that day and gave me more sympathy the day after. During my lunch break I went to Wal-mart and picked out a nice bush to plant over his grave, it really helped me a lot. That night I also had a volunteer shift. I told my team that I would only stay long enough to set up and show them the ropes because I couldn’t stomach being away from home until 11 pm. I needed to go cuddle my other furbabies and grieve with all of them. They all understood as well.

Don’t ever feel alone because you have chosen to be a bunny person because there are a lot of us out there. And even if someone is not a bunny person themself, as long as their heart belongs to another animal they will understand your loss. And don’t stay mad at your husband, he is probably feeling guilty too. He probably didn’t realize that there was anything seriously wrong because bunnies hide their pain so well.

[LizzyBunn]

Thank you so much NewBunny123 and Valkyerie,I really appreciate your comfort and support. I spent the rest of the morning in bed and slept a little. I’m not angry anymore. I know it wasn’t anyone’s fault. It’s just so sad. I am glad to know that 6 was a long life. I hear about bunnies living to 12 and beyond and I imagined that if I was careful mine would too. He was having a serious summer shed. He look so mangy And he was the main groomer of Parsnip as well. She of course looks like a sleek, lovely lady with only a few stray tufts. She spent the morning in the litter box with Beaumont and played with her toys in there and then laid in a differed part of the cage. We took him out and put him in a box until we can take him to the vet tonight to get cremated. Unfortunately we are in an apartment and there are no pet cemeteries near by. I am hoping that our cats will snuggle with Parsnip. Or I guess I hope Parsnip lets them. The cats like the bunnies a lot but the bunnies always seem a bit annoyed by their presence.

Valkyerie, I am sad to hear about your darling bunn. It’s really wonderful that the people in your life were understanding. I will try to keep an open heart to other peoples healing thoughts.

Thank you both <3

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