Hey everyone!
If you’ve seen my previous posts, this might not come as a big surprise, but Teddy is my world and I can get SO anxious about his care, especially if a new challenge comes up. For people like me who can’t help loving animals soooo much and getting super attached, how do you deal with this? (I know plenty of other people can just take it in stride and not get overly attached, but for me, that’s not an option because I have no way to turn down my feelings on this.)
It can feel so weighty sometimes that I’m the human who’s responsible to decide what course to take with him medically, and when challenges come up I’m always so terrified of intervening either too much or too little (and/or doing the wrong thing). It’s a delicate balance (e.g., he usually gets stasis from the stress of a vet visit). I love him so much, I just really don’t want to screw it up with him, you know?
I don’t obsess like this about our cat, and I didn’t about the dog I grew up with — I think that’s because dogs’ & cats’ constitutions seem so much sturdier in comparison. I know they can get serious illnesses too, but day-to-day, they can’t be frightened literally to death, they won’t get GI stasis from a car ride, if they lose their appetite for a day or two it’s not a big deal, if they eat something bad they can throw it up, etc. Plus, they have been domesticated long enough that they have an easier time understanding and communicating with us humans. Not that bunnies can’t do that too of course, but with a dog I have much more confidence that they can communicate what they feel/need and that they can feel comforted by me. With bunnies, I’m always afraid I’m missing something and/or not able to comfort them well enough.
Despite understanding on a cognitive level that I’m just a flawed, limited human, and all I can do is my best, on an emotional level I can’t forgive myself for not being able to care for Teddy perfectly (i.e., with superpowers like omniscience and a magic wand). Because he’s such an amazingly wonderful little bun and he deserves nothing less than perfect care, truly. I know that perfect care isn’t within reach of any humans, but it’s still what he deserves. I can’t tell you how much I yearn to be able to be sure that I’m not missing things with him, or that I’ll always know what the right call is, or that I’ll be able to do the most possible to prevent him from suffering.
I know this is a lot, and I was hoping to hear from anyone who feels similarly strongly about their bunnies — how do you handle this? Friends and family have tried to comfort me with perfectly reasonable logic, like that all we can do is our best, or that Teddy has a good life, maybe above average for what most bunnies experience. While I appreciate these arguments, I still feel quite stuck on the distance between what I can offer him and what he deserves (perfect care, comfort, and happiness, all the time), and the grief/anxiety I feel about that distance. Do you have any advice about this?
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