Also, sorry if this thread is kind of all over the place… my brain is nothing but all over the place right now. But I thought you guys might be able to give some insight.

<3 <3 Love this community.

Thanks for the responses, guys. And the encouraging words.

Sarita – I thought it was Baytril, it’s actually Bactrim!   I was confused when you asked if it was refrigerated because no one had ever said anything about refrigerating it.  The vet hasn’t gotten back to me yet but her next dose isn’t scheduled until 8:30 tonight.  I was more worried because it was just sitting out on a counter, not concealed in any type of container except the one which it came in. 

I thought I’d add a few pictures of my brave little bun buns.

You get fined $50 for each time an animal is seen in your condo (we do own, RabbitPam – it’s a condo association rule to help keep the values on the property up). I’m not sure if they would come back daily to check if they DID find an animal inside or if you could play it off as you were watching someones pet while they were out of town, pay the fine and be done, or if we would have to replace them somewhere else until time has passed and we could smuggle them back in, LOL. We aren’t putting anything of theirs in the insurance submissions, just our stuff. But we have been in contact with management and no one has mentioned anything. So for right now, it’s not an issue. Also, no one except firefighters saw me bring them out. I quickly left with them as soon as we got out. People weren’t allowed in the building and were being evacuated to another building so there were no residents or management that saw me with them when they were brought out. Just firemen everywhere. So I THINK we are safe. If not, we will have to deal with that when the time comes. Our evacuation plan we had with both of us covered concealing them so they couldn’t be seen. But when we went up to get them, all I cared about was getting them out, dealing with repercussions later. So this new plan for when one of us is only home will be concealing them also. The really good part is – if we DO get caught and need to relocate them for a bit, our rabbit community here is fabulous with boarding other peoples rabbits so we could find a responsible person to take them until we could get them back.

RabbitPam, I figured as much. They are munching on two big bowls of greens right now. I was concerned about Nora though as she hasn’t been introduced to greens yet. I was waiting until she gained weight and got off her meds for her resp. infection before introducing them to her. The vet and us both were sure she wasn’t being fed at the pet store because of how skinny she was – so I worried about trying anything new with her tummy until we made sure the infection cleared and she was used to the pellets with no tummy issues. She hasn’t become lethargic at all yet though, so I’m thinking she’s fine.

The fireman made me laugh as he carried them downstairs – he said “I bet this isn’t a pet allowed building as no one has mentioned people and pets” and I was like “yeah.. no” and he was like “who gives a $*&! right now anyways.” I couldn’t help but just laugh.

We got really lucky – besides smoke damage only a few other things are ruined. The door is a goner but the condo association is replacing those (Yay!) and a few things fell off the shelves and broke. But other than that, just smoke damage. Thank goodness for how well our building was built to contain fire to one area or I’m sure it would have been much worse.

We can return as soon as our condo is cleaned. We were trying to get in contact with the company who is doing the building – but they haven’t called us back yet. They advised not going back until their cleaned. So we are waiting. Rather than taking the buns back in with that smell lingering. I’m not sure if it could be harmful to them but I don’t want to risk it.

Monkeybun, no baths. But I did wipe them each down with a damn washcloth. I was afraid of stressing them out too much after the day they had. I’ve never seen them so terrified. It was horrible.

Which makes me want to point out – catching a bun that is terrified (even in an x-pen) is NOT easy. So practice those evacuation plans with the bunnies guys!!!! They were horrifying hard to get a hold of.

Yeah, the condo insurance (wasnt sure if it was through the association or not) is paying for the door but nothing else inside the condos. We have already filed a claim with homeowners insurance and have been calling back and forth to see what it covers and what it doesn’t. So we are on the ball with this – thankfully!

My brother works is a lawyer at a law firm that represents insurance companies so he told me to keep him in the loop on whats happening to make sure we aren’t being worked over or anything. And is giving good advice on how to go about getting things covered so we don’t get stuck in any of those weird loopholes.

LBJ, He was a very disturbed man – I’m confident he had a mental illness but no one ever thought he was violent. Although, he had flipped out on a few people more than once…but we always just thought he wasn’t good socially. Because it was never violently or anything of the such. Just a little freaky. He seemed off quite a bit. And the newspapers said he had been in a court battle with our condo association for having back $10,000+ in association fees. But he denied he did. Personally, I never thought he should be living alone. He looked like he couldn’t manage very well. But this is of course just based off from seeing him in the hallways and such. We haven’t seen a picture of the man so I’m not POSITIVE it is this same individual BUT I’m almost certain as there were only a few people down that way and he’s the only single man I’ve seen down that way that is around that age. And I never saw him come out of the building either. Not to mention, they said the man who did it was a “recluse” (statement from his neighbors) but no one thought him violent. So I’m pretty positive as everyone is very friendly in our hallway except for this man. He was always muttering and fighting with himself under his breathe. And would lash out at you (verbally) if you said something. One time we were waiting for the elevator and he came up and my BF was like “these elevators take so long” and he just started yelling about how you have to wait your turn and it’s just not fair to everyone else if you don’t wait your turn and was pacing back and forth in the hallway while yelling and muttering this to himself, half at us and half I’m not sure because he’s always muttering and talking when no one is with him. Really a sad story if it is the man I thought. A lot of people in our building are very elderly and don’t have many visitors – we’ve been told they’ve lived there since the building opened and it’s like a lot of their children just left them there and forgot about them. Or something. It’s really sad but most of them are very friendly and get around well. It’s just such a sad story. I really worry about the people who are elderly, this is their home and they may have no where to go. You just want them to live the rest of their lives out in peace and them someone has to go and do something to shake their lives up.

NewBunnyOwner, the buns were running EVERYWHERE. And they are in an x-pen. Oh god. Grabbing them was so difficult. Between my nerves and their terrified looks, ugh. Just horrible. As Monkeybun suggested, they can be taught to run to a carrier. A blind lady who is WONDERFUL in our rabbit community has taught all the buns in her house to come on command. To help in case of an emergency. After my situation, she has worried that they may be terrified and just run. Ignoring the call. She has fosters also. I think it’s just a situation you have to prepare for the best you can. With evacuation plans and whatnot. After what happened, one of the ladys who runs the rescue where we got Simba from – she has TONS of rabbits as her rescue is based on fosters and she said her evacuation plan in an emergency is to throw them all in pillow cases. Because she just wouldn’t have enough hands for all those carriers.

Thank you everyone else for your kind words – and especially with saying I did the right thing. As much as I tell myself, I can’t go back over it in my head. I do. It’s really hard to deal with the fact that I left them. It was to get help. But they are my babies. They rely on me to make them safe, to keep them out of dangerous situations, and to care for them at all times. I just keeping staring at them and thinking “what if I couldn’t have gotten back to them in time”. Rabbits have become such an important part of my life, they healed me from a miscarriage when nothing else helped me mentally. They really gave me everything I needed in one of the hardest times of my life – and so it has really been weighing on my mind about leaving them behind. They are my little rocks. Whenever I have a bad day, even the Terrible Tans are always jumping all over me. Like they know. Le Sigh.

Thanks for all the help and kind words everyone. My boyfriend kept telling me all the things you all are – and I know he’s right. But sometimes you need to hear it from multiple people to help it settle in.

Roberta, I saw it on the rabbit Community on Facebook and my heart really goes out to her. So much. I have burst into tears a number of times by just looking at my buns and knowing they are safe and okay. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain she is feeling right now. Binky Free Babies <3 <3 [Roberta's comments transferred to March Chat per her request. RP]

The smoke smell is all gone from them. So I think they’re all good! Everyone has been eating, poo’ing, and drinking just fine. Although the Tans are starved for attention. Every time we are near them they are jumping against the x-pen at us trying to reach us. We just haven’t had as much time to be with them as we are trying to figure everything else with the condo out.

A cleaning crew came yesterday to clean up a lot – another company came and took all of our clothes, shoes, bed stuff, anything they could wash with something they said would take the smoke out. Today starts the long process of throwing pretty much everything away and replacing. Containers we have, food, hangers, pillows, ect. They said just about anything plastic would absorb the smell. Someone has to come out when they get a chance to repaint the walls. We are holding up. The money is not, LOL.

We have an appraiser coming in to check from our homeowners insurance ASAP (who knows when that will be). We are using the same service the condo building is for fire renovation. So they’ve been really helpful so far with taking anything that can be washed through them. And giving us estimates of what can be kept and what can’t be – we went there today to try and throw out and replace stuff but they said we should wait until the insurance company comes to look so we don’t buy and have them decide not to pay for it. So it’s going to be a long process I’m sure.

So we’ve decided to remain at his fathers place until something that can get settled between insurance company and whatnot before we throw anything away or purchase more – so we are just surviving on necessities for now.

Thought I would update anyone who was still interested: We had cleaners do a quick-clean of our condo and they apparently didn’t do a very good job as the place was still pretty bad. So we cancelled our contract with them and got another cleaning company through the insurance agency. The insurance agency was pretty adamant about finding a way to cancel the contract because the cleaning company we had (they were doing the whole building) and couldn’t do a thorough clean for a few weeks at the least. And the insurance company was afraid they would have to pay for our hotel expenses so they dealt with the other cleaning company and got us a new one. So today they are inside cleaning the condo – which HOPEFULLY means we will be able to be back home either tomorrow or Friday!

So far we haven’t had any problems with the insurance company and we’ve asked questions the whole way so not to get stuck up in any traps. I think we are all ready to go home. I know the hallway where it happened as been worked on non-stop so people could move back onto our floor. My boyfriend was up there yesterday with the insurance lady and he said they have gotten a lot done. So cross your fingers for us!!! Buns and humans are all ready to go back home.

Although, I must admit… I am a little worried! The smell of smoke still lingers on that whole floor. When I’ve gone up to the condo to scope things out (two or three times I’ve been back now) it puts me a little on edge. Funny part is I think it’s more about the bunnies. I’m kind of nervous to leave them alone in the condo now without one of us there.

HAHAHAHAHAHAH! The nanny cam…. I think I just died laughing. Such a perfect idea. Sounds like what the boyfriend did when we were cementing Simba’s bond with the others – I told him to watch the bunnies (non-stop like I had been the past FOUR weeks) and I come home and he’s in the other room playing video games. I was livid and then I was like… “Oh no you didn’t….” Yupp, he did. He couldn’t have told me about such a thing when I was doing the bonding…..

This may not be necessary – as we may be moving home tonight!! Let’s hoopeeeeee. The insurance company has been going HARD on the restoration company they hired to finish the job. (We told them if we were displaced for much longer, we would need a hotel. Haha! Seemed to speed them RIGHT up!). So they had four guys working non-stop for three days (including today!) and they called this morning to let us know they should be finished today! OH PLEASEEEEEE I PRAY WE CAN GO HOME TONIGHT!!!!!!! It also depends on if the insurance company thinks the walls and carpets need to be redone and painted, so let’s hope everything else is okay! They estimated after everything is said and done – the insurance company will be paying about $30,000 in damages. Which is insane. Thank GOD we had homeowners insurance or almost everything would have been lost.

Some of our clothes – the cleaners have been doing a crappy job on – so the insurance company is also thinking about telling them to keep the clothes and giving Aaron money to buy new ones. (I’m not on the homeowners insurance but I agree). His suit came back smelling like an ashtray – the SECOND time they had to take it back and reclean it. Both times saying this happens a lot and it just meant it needed to be soaked longer. As a company, why would you send any of your clothes back like that? Just ridiculous. I have some items with me though that they did emergency cleaning on and they came out fine so I’m fine as long as we can get home and settled back into our normal lives!

We are HOMEEEE!

HAHAHAHA, Hazel… Too funny. I might need one! Sidney keeps trying to jump the x-pen. Idk what’s gotta into her – I guess all the stress and anxiety from moving place to place. Nora is doing the best – she has a new house so maybe she just doesn’t even notice. Haha! We are going to buy them another x-pen to expand their area – they are all in a large one right now. But this is the first time in a really long time that no one had any accidents! WHOOOP. I think Sidney will be okay though – she has her bunny buddies to help her through this.

It IS really good we had homeowners insurance – almost everything has to be replaced. It’s so depressing throwing SOO much away. We had to spend a huge chunk of money on new sheets and blankets and pillows. And we have two air mattresses for friends when they stay over so we had to replace everything that goes with those. Oy Vey. Not to mention the food. Throwing away and documenting sooooo much food. Never realized just how stocked up on food and items we were until you’re going through them all. The spices, everything. And my BF is a big cooker. So it’s all expensive tooo. I’m not sure how much of the food products the insurance will cover – we have a lot. I can’t see them covering it all. LOL. But it’s whatever I suppose. Has to be replaced no matter how you look at it. Whether they pay or not.

We also got a $6,000 laundry bill. OY. Half of which is mine (I’m not on the homeowners insurance). And half of which is still horrible smelling. BUT the insurance company offered to pay for my laundry bill too! They seem to just want the whole thing settled as quickly as possible. They had all the carpets steam-cleaned and the smell is all gone so no need to replace those. Our condo doesn’t smell like smoke anymore except when you get really close to the door because of the hallways. But it’s coming along..

We are going to the Penguins hockey game today! WHOOO. We have sold the last few tickets we had because everything has been so crazy between Nora being sick and the condo being a disaster. We really should stay and inventory and replace – but we felt we deserved a break out at the game.

It really does feel good to be home but I think I’m having some bad anxiety from it also. It’s not being in the condo itself – it’s the hallways. They just remind me of all the smoke and not being able to see, the running, having to leave the buns for help. It’s overwhelming I suppose. I threw up last night (I ate and my stomach just couldn’t handle it) and this morning it has been TERRIBLE. Hopefully the anxiety (if that’s what it is) goes away soon. It’s annoying to say the least.

Haha! So sorry for the scare – I hate alarms also!

I can’t help but laugh at what you said about them happily spending time together now. Sidney was ALWAYS nit picking on Simba and apparently the situation turned out to be a GREAT way to stress bond! LOL. She hasn’t picked on him since! We jokingly said someone needs to pull the alarm when she decide to bond Nora – we’ll just throw her right in the carrier with them! I’d probably save a lot of time and energy! Bahahah.

Well, congrats!! Bonding (especially those LAST little issues between the two) can be so frustrating. I definitely know the feeling!