what to do with bunny in the event of family emergency?

[Lani]

 

I need to write this both for input and to just talk to someone and this forum is such a wonderful place for supportive advice. My granny (my great-grandmother) has been very ill for over a year now. She had a severe stroke last year and, to everyone’s surprise, has held on this long. But today I found out today that my granny’s children (my grandmother and her brothers & sisters) are pre-planning the funeral arrangements as things have taken a big turn for the worse. The nursing home she was in asked the family to “take her home and make her comfortable.” I’m not quite sure the anticipated timeline, if we’re talking about days, weeks, whatever. I know my granny, as we call her, is a very very strong willed woman and won’t go until she’s totally ready. She was not even anticipated to make it this long since the stroke so she could easily surprise everyone again, but the doctors don’t seem hopeful. Now that they’ve started this planning, they’ve asked the family that isn’t in Hawai’i to start thinking about being able to make a sudden trip out there when the time comes, things like do we have the financial means, time off from work etc.

I’m so torn up over all of this because I always felt a very special bond to my granny. When the time comes, I will do whatever necessary to make sure I’m able to make the trip back to Hawai’i. This brings up the issue of what to do with Oreo. Here are the options I’ve come up with so far:

– Have my roommates pet sit. I’m not terribly thrilled with the idea of asking one of my roommates to look after her because, although they like her and think she’s cute, they haven’t really grasped the idea that she isn’t like a cat or dog and needs to be treated with a different approach. In fact, when I was trying to explain the “prey” mentality to one of my roommates she said “so rabbits are basically wusses.” Thoughts on having a pet sitter who is completely inexperienced with rabbits/doesn’t understand them?

– Try to convince my friend who is a vet assistant to bunny sit. The problem here is that I live a hour from her house and work, so it would be pretty inconvenient for her. Really the only way I see that working is to have her stay at my apartment and commute to and from work. I would have no idea what to pay for someone to live in my apartment and care for Oreo. Of course, the bright spot here is that Oreo knows my friend. And the friend has a great grasp of what it takes to care for her. But is the commute situation totally unreasonable?

– The new vet that we are going to on Thursday does boarding for $15 per night. I’ve never boarded any pet and have no idea what to expect from that experience. I plan to inquire about it when we’re there but any thoughts/previous experiences from boarding would be helpful.

Basically, I am stressing over my granny’s health and the idea of needing to find a pet sitter for Oreo if we need to make an emergency flight out of town. I would really love any and all thoughts/suggestions/advice/if you’ve had to leave suddenly and what you did, etc. cause I really don’t know what is the best decision in this situation.

 

[MimzMum]

Is it possible the vet assistant who knows your bun could take Oreo to her house for the time you’d be away? Perhaps if that option was open, you could begin taking Oreo over to be there from time to time until something changes with your grandma?
I definitely wouldn’t go with the person who knows nothing about how to care for a rabbit, nor is willing to learn. That’s asking for trouble.
The boarding would depend on how well you think they would care for Oreo, and how much you are willing to spend. I really vote for the vet assistant friend and some convenient lodging situation so she doesn’t have to commute…or to offer to pay for her expenses if she does.

I know how you feel. My husband’s family is all in the 48 and God only knows what we’ll all do if someone there suddenly takes seriously ill. I assume he’d go down there, but if it’s his mom the kids would want to see their grandma and I would probably have to stay here to care for the house and the pets. There is no one else.
I hope things go well for you and your grandma…at least as well as can be expected for the situation. (My husband’s uncle has been given up on by his doctors a number of times and he’s still with us, so you never know.) But I do hope you’ll be able to work something out for you and Oreo.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Is it possible the vet assistant who knows your bun could take Oreo to her house for the time you’d be away?

That’s what I suggest as well. He would be most comfortable with someone he knows and it would save your friend the long drives.

[Lis]

Hey Lani – if you PM me, I can give you the name and contact info of my rabbit-savy best friend who lives in Virginia Beach and goes to school in Norfolk, since I think you’re local to that area. I’m sure she’d be willing to help you out if you need a pet sitter on the fly. She has a bunny of her own.

[Lani]

I have thought about taking Oreo to my friend’s house and obviously it’s something I have to talk to her about. I know she will have to talk to her parents about the idea of pet sitting Oreo at their house. My biggest concern is that their family has 4 golden retrievers so it would take a lot of coordination amongst their family to designate one room as a no dogs room for however long. Would keeping the dogs out of the room be sufficient? Or would I need to be concerned about them being in the house, barking, the smell of the dogs, etc bothering Oreo? I believe her family might be willing to work with me in this type of situation but I wouldn’t know what to ask as far as dog/bunny boundaries.

[jerseygirl]

Another options are Rabbit Rescues. Some offer boarding.

I’m not sure how all vet boarding options work but I’d would think the other animals there would stress a rabbit unless they’re used to other pets. At least in a rabbit rescue they’re with their own kind. Of course, you’d have to explain to Oreo that’s she’s just there for a holiday, not forever.
 

The nursing home she was in asked the family to “take her home and make her comfortable.”

I hope you don’t mind my asking this. Was the nursing home the place she’d been living or just where she was convalescing after the stroke?

[Elrohwen]

My sympathies for your great-grandma! She sounds like a really strong lady and I’m sure it will be hard on all of you.

For Oreo, I’d choose the roommate or the boarding. I’m not really in favor of boarding rabbits since they can be nervous, but if she’s generally laid back that should probably be fine. Otherwise, I’m sure your roommates would be ok. I’ve left my bunnies with a non-pet loving friend for almost two weeks and it wasn’t a problem – he didn’t spend a lot of time with them or let them out of the cage like I would have, but he kept them fed and their litter box clean and that’s what really matters. If you think your roommates are trustworthy, just not bunny people, and they are willing to do it I think you’ll be ok. You’ll still be available by phone or email to give them advice if they have questions.

eta: I also like the idea of your friend taking Oreo to her house. We’ve left Otto in a house with dogs - Otto was in the finished basement and the dogs weren’t allowed down there and he was fine. Unless Oreo is an extremely nervous rabbit I don’t think having dogs in the house would bother her too much.

[LittlePuffyTail]

My Mom’s dog comes over sometimes and I x-pen the rabbit room off (there’s no door, just a bead curtain) but the sounds of dog panting, nails clicking, etc make Olivia and Stormy nervous but I assume if the door to Oreo’s room were always closed and there’s not a lot of barking, bunny would be okay.

[Lani]

Posted By jerseygirl on 08/02/2011 09:35 AM

I hope you don’t mind my asking this. Was the nursing home the place she’d been living or just where she was convalescing after the stroke?

 

She went to a nursing/rehab home after several months in the hospital after the stoke. Now she is back in her own house, where she lived before the stroke, but with ’round the clock care/company.

As for Oreo, I’ve thought about it a lot and the comments here have really helped, thank you! The more I think about it the more the idea of taking Oreo to my friend’s house seems to be the best plan. My friend is very close with our family and knows the situation so I think she will understand and hopefully her parents will be ok with the idea too.  Their whole family loves pets and are very into treating their pets like family so I know Oreo would get a lot of attention there. Plus the vet clinic my friend works for sees rabbits in emergency situations and regularly coordinates their care with the rabbit specialist at the clinic I used to take Oreo to before we moved out of the city.

I am still hesitant about the dog situation but Oreo has never seemed like  an exceptionally nervous rabbit, except in the car. I guess I just have “over-protective mom” syndrome when it comes to the idea of leaving her alone in a new place, no matter how much I trust the person looking after her

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