There was a cardboard box on the dining room table with 2 young children staring at it. The man shooed the kids into the next room and beckoned me to the box. I peered over the edge and there, nestled in the hay, was that beautiful rabbit.

 Well, kind of.

In the car my friend looked at me sideways “you just tipped a man for a sick rabbit.” 

I nodded and stuffed a spare fleece in the box to keep the rabbit warm on the drive, then called the RSPCA and left an anonymous tip about a neglectful breeder.

Upon arriving home I was horrified to find bloodied bedding in the cage. There was blood on the floor and the sides as well. 

My heart sank – They had fought.

 I separated them immediately and studied each rabbit for damage… but both were completely fine. Dazed from being grabbed, but fine. I turned my attention to the cage and tracked the clumps of fur and blood into Casper’s favourite hidey – hole. 

This was unforgiveable; that sad and angry rabbit had hurt my Casper. She would have to go! 

I cried as I cleared out the bloodied bedding. I didn’t want to give up on this poor wretched rabbit, but I had put Casper at too much risk already. Maybe she had bitten his tongue? Maybe his fur was hiding the wound. My mind was racing, what on earth stupid thing had I done?

Then my hand closed around a warm, moving lump. I screamed and dropped it. After regaining composure I began to dig gently in the bedding. To my utter surprise I found three tiny baby rabbits. I knew I had adopted a sick rabbit, I had no idea I had adopted a pregnant rabbit! That explained the blood and the complete lack of bunny injury! Casper had let her give birth in his bed! I cried even more as I thought about how I had instantly blamed the new rabbit – she had been so scared and ill and now had finally felt comfortable enough to have her children! She definitely needed us and from the way Casper behaved with her, he needed Tuppence.

Tuppence and Casper made amazing parents. At first I tried to separate Casper because I knew that male rabbits can be aggressive towards babies, but he threw such a fit when he couldn’t meet the tiny wiggles that I begrudgingly let him meet one. He immediately started licking it and from that moment on he stood guard at the edge of their nest (he even thumped to get my attention when one of them crawled out!). Tuppence would nurse and Casper would lick her face while she nursed. As the babies grew older they would just sit on Casper or play under his ears and he would shower each of them with undying affection. (They also weed on him a lot which was less adorable.)

Eventually I rehomed 2 of the babies (one went to a family friend whose 10 year old house rabbit had just died, the other went to a colleague who was looking for a mate for her house rabbit) and I kept the runt and named her Batatinha – she was so endearingly ugly that I named her “Small Potato” in Portuguese. She is now a truly gorgeous rabbit and everyone who meets her comments on how beautiful and graceful she is.

With my final warren number at three and the time to really focus on building my own relationship with Tuppence it soon became clear that she had never stood on her hind feet before or been able to stretch out fully, so she was extremely wobbly. She’d never binkied or zoomed and didn’t really know how to interact with rabbits or humans. 

Over the next 2 years Tuppence made incredible progress.

Myself and the three rabbits moved in with my fiance, where Tuppence quickly blossomed from a shy and disinterested rabbit into the most curious and playful darling I have ever met. The hocks still lack fur (we don’t think it will ever grow back there now) but are no longer red or painful. She still squeaks and grunts and snores (and always will) but her breathing is much better and the vets are really happy. 
She no longer bites or shows any form of aggression, and if she’s not with Casper I can guarantee you she’s following me or my partner! She’s the first to greet us when we come home and adores being held (especially where she can feel a heartbeat). She’ll throw toys back at you, investigate everything that you’re doing and aggressively headbutts humans if she wants attention. She’s not only learned to stand on her hind legs, but now she can do it on command! She’s such a bossy little character and will think nothing of throwing your hand out of her way or forcing you to stroke her. She pushes the other two around and organises the cage exactly to her liking. She’s really grown into her own lively personality and we are so proud of her and love her so much.

Why am I writing all of this now? Well, because my darling rescue rabbit, who had never really learned to rabbit,  has just this week learned how to binky! It was messy, it lacked grace and composure, but it was a definite binky! And now she’s learned that, she is refusing to stop! 

We could not be happier!  

Here she is! Showing you how good she is at standing up now!