Hello everyone! Been a while since I’ve poked in around here. I’m the girl who’s mom ended up taking my college rabbit, Marjory, after I got married and falling in love with her until she passed just a couple months ago at age 9. You can check out my other threads if you don’t remember me, hopefully some of you do
Well, first of all, last time I was here I had written a thread about myself having bunny fever. It ran wild in my mind for quite a number of weeks, and then I decided to just let it rest and focus on my dogs and also helping my mother grieve and find a new friend. She has now been volunteering for a couple months at a rescue and working with the rabbits! It’s been SO good for her. If you remember my dad also loved Marjory even though he isn’t a big pet person. And now really doesn’t have any desire to get anymore pets. It sounds like he might be open to one more time to a well behaved rabbit, but not right now and not for a while. I’ve told my mom she should maybe wait a year and continue to volunteer and love on the shelter buns in the meantime.
The criteria, mostly to appease my dad, would be for a rabbit to be potty trained and friendly. Well, guess what happened… a rabbit came into their shelter who looked super similar to Marjory, a dutch bunny who also happened to be female. So of course my mom fell in love and called and told me about it. I felt she was really just falling in love because she looks like her, and I told her to remember that that isn’t what is important. It’s the personality. She even broke the “one year” rule and tried to convince my dad and he wasn’t having any of it.
Finally that dutch bunny got adopted and I was relieved, and my mom was of course heartbroken. Dutch bunnies all look so similar and I think that was just playing a trick on her heart. If she pushes a rabbit on my dad too early and the rabbit has some underlying issues that will need to be worked out (which it will, potty training will need to be reestablished no doubt in a new setting) he will likely resent the rabbit and they won’t be able to share in caring for and loving it like they did with Marjory. I think once some time has passed, my dad will be more open to it, even if the bun isn’t “perfect.”
Do you think this is good advice? Me telling her she should wait a year before considering? What do you think about her suddenly throwing that all out the window for the dutch Marjory twin? Have you ever gotten another rabbit after one has passed that you purposely got because it looked exactly like your previous bunny? For me, personally having dogs, I definitely wouldn’t want to go for another dog that looked exactly like my late dog.
Wish I lived closer to her so I could volunteer with her! It’s been very therapeutic for her. And I just feel very hopeful that by next summer they will be able to welcome another bunny into their lives.