I’m not new to rabbits, but I haven’t had one for a very long time.  I’m a single working mom and wanted a pet.  A dog was too much work and I’m not a big fan of cats so a bunny seemed the right choice. I searched for a bun at the shelters for over 6 months and was on several call lists if one came in, but no one ever called.  Really, I think there were just to lazy to call me.  Utah is a kill state and doesn’t have a good adoption program at all (I know, it’s awful!).

Finally, I just ran out a patience and went to a pet store on a whim.  I know that’s a huge faux pas in the bunny world, sorry everyone.  I picked out an adorable little brown one (I think she’s some type of Netherland dwarf mix).  It was about 7 weeks old.  I named her Rosibelle, Rosy for short.

A couple days after getting her a noticed something strange.  She was missing a back foot!  She was so tiny, I hadn’t even noticed before.  I had several people tell me to take her back to the pet store.  Why?  She’s perfectly healthy and happy.  I don’t care that she’s not 100%. I figured she was just born that way.  Now I’m extra glad I got her because someone else would have thrown her out like garbage.  

Several weeks pass and we are bonding quickly.  She enjoys being pet and jumps on my lap to get loves.  Often, she won’t let me stop petting her, and nudges my arm to continue. That’s when I noticed something startling, her little stump was bleeding!  What I thought was a simple deformity is now  an actual amputation.  She has an open wound on the end of her stump and she walks on it all the time.    

I took her to the vet to see what options, if any, I had.  The vet told me there wan’t a whole lot he could do.  We could amputate the leg completely (which was about $800-900) or we could hope it healed on it’s own.  He sent me home with an herbal healing powder to put on her sore twice a day.  Now, as many of you know, bunnies don’t generally like to be handled, and I’m battling razor-sharp claws day-in and day-out to put this powder on.  It’s not working.  She pulls her scab off every couple of days and now there is a new problem; she’s a growing baby bun and with that growth her bone is now sticking out of the stump.  I can tell she’s in pain, my once sweet little rabbit that loved attention stays in a corner all day and hops away when I get close.

I take her back to the doctor.  He thinks she has, or will have, a bone infection.  Fearing that her life now has a price tag on it, my doctor gives me one last option; he will cut away the protruding bone and close the wound for $300 and not charge me if we have to put her down later.  I’ll take it.  Help her please!

story continued…