Our Animal Family

Our Animal Family

Introducing Alice, (Miss Muffet), Ghost, (Rocky) and Sarah!

Sunday, July 31, 2005 - Rest in Peace, Rocky

Rocky, our second bunny, passed away today. We didn't notice that anything was wrong with her until today. Two nights ago, Rocky wouldn't come into her hutch for the night. That happens sometimes with either rabbit so if we have trouble getting them in, we let them stay out for the night and they would definitely be hungry for treats the next night. Last night, Rocky wouldn't come in again. Bob tried again later in the evening before we went to sleep, but he couldn't find her. She was probably underground in the passage she had dug.

Today in the morning, Bob found her on top of the hutch, a very unusual place for her to be. He tried to give her food and water but she wouldn't have either. We brought her inside and noticed that she had blood on her fur. We thought it was porcupine quills because they were hard, but after washing and examining them, it turned out that it was just dried blood. We washed her, and cut her nails, and noticed that she had 2 wounded areas: 1 on her body and the other on her neck. We're not sure how she got them. Inside the house (so she would stay cool) we set up a box with a towel for her to sit in, as well as a litter box. We brought a carrot to her mouth and she wouldn't eat it. Nor would she eat oatmeal flakes or yogurt drops. She wouldn't move but just sat still. She did hop from the towel to the litter box but it was a slow process for her. We knew that her time was short as she just wasn't herself. We put some water in her mouth to try to hydrate her using a nasal aspirator, but she didn't seem interested.

We had appointments to see houses, and when we came back, she was resting her head on the edge of the box and some blood was on her fur on her neck. She didn't touch her food. Bob brought her upstairs as I was bathing Brandon, and I heard him say that she was dying while they were in the hallway. I looked out and Rocky was convulsing on the carpet. She stopped for a little, but she was still breathing. Then she rolled onto her stomach and looked like she was trying to hop but her legs weren't working properly.

Bob decided to take her to the emergency vet and she passed away peacefully in his arms in the car. Rocky has now joined Miss Muffet and they are probably happily playing together again. We're just so glad that she didn't die while we were out looking at houses, but waited to die in Bob's arms. Bob is so loving with animals; it was a perfect place for her to go.

We're not sure what caused Rocky's sudden death. We don't think she was attacked or she'd be in worse shape! One thought about how she got the blood on her body and neck is that maybe she got caught on the fence or something and it ripped into her fur. Bob thinks she died from dehydration because she wasn't drinking anything even when we tried to force feed her the water. I don't know why she wouldn't want to eat or drink. Perhaps she was already in bad shape before then and knew her time was near.

Brandon doesn't understand about death yet, but we made a point to tell him that Rocky died and is going to heaven. He says "Rocky blood on neck" and "Rocky in heaven".

Rocky will live on in the 2006 MCSPCA New Beginnings calendar. She (along with Alice and Ghost) was photographed for the calendar in March. We are glad that she was able to be a part of it before she left us.

Thank you, Rocky, for the many years of love and happiness you have given our family.

Our new bunny Sarah! (9/16/03)

Eww what is that smell? (6/3/03)

This is love! (6/3/03)

... and so is this! (1/20/03)

Ghost and Miss Muffet

We came home from vacation and found CHAOS!

Look at their "innocent" faces!

Our friend, the squirrel!

<-- We went to Little Furries Rescue in Brick to find a new friend for Rocky on 9/02/03. We originally wanted to look at a male rabbit named Joey who looked just like Miss muffet until we saw his size! He was huge! There was a small rabbit named Trina. She is a calico mini rex rabbit who is 3 years old just like Rocky. We renamed her Sarah because in Taiwanese, Trina sounds like the word for drool and saliva. When we first introduced the rabbits, Rocky chased Sarah and was biting her and Sarah was so scared running away and hiding in the corner so it took a week for us to be able to leave Sarah alone with Rocky overnight and without supervision. Now they are getting along a lot better. Rocky likes to lick the back of Sarah's neck. They don't stay side by side yet like Rocky used to do with Miss Muffet, but we're sure they will in time!

Rocky loves Sarah! 9/16/04

<-- Alice (brown shepherd 1996 MCSPCA alumna) introduces Ghost (2002 MCSPCA alumnus) to Rocky (2001 MCSPCA alumna, so named because of the black eyes) as Miss Muffet (a stray 1996-2003) pretends not to care.

This is my pal Rocky (6/5/03)

Bobs loves to sleep with his dogs doesn't he? 1/20

Bob's loves (6/7/03)

Alice loves the frisbee! (2/17/03)

Ghost disappears in the snow! (2/17/03)

June 2, 2003 - Rest in Peace, Miss Muffet

Today, the night before the 10^th anniversary of Bob’s father’s death, Miss Muffet, our bunny, passed away. We recently discovered that she was skin and bones along her back and we’re not sure how long it had been since when we pick her up, we pick her up from below and usually pet her head.

On Saturday, Bob took her to the vet and discovered that her teeth had been too long from not eating enough hay, she had a tumor in her gastro intestinal tract as well as a small tumor in her lungs. They could not be removed and as she was 7 years old, she was nearing the end of a rabbit’s life span. She also had an enlarged heart and fluid in her stomach, which the vet pumped out. Finally the mystery of the dirty laundry room where they lived was made clear. Miss Muffet, with her age and problems had trouble with incontinence so she had trouble holding it in to go into the litter box, which she was always very good about doing. The vet told us to give here whatever she wanted to eat, and to make the rest of her life happy, which we proceeded to do by giving her all the things she loved: carrots, alfalfa, yogurt drops, vegetable puffs, chickaree, and to administer Furosemide every day to keep the fluid from coming back into her stomach.

When Bob brought her home, she was now all skin and bones since her stomach had been pumped. We wanted to fatten her up before we let her again play with Alice as she used to do, jumping over her over and over again and cleaning her ears. However, on Monday, Miss Muffet had had a case of diarrhea. Wendy cleaned her bottom and the floor before she went to sleep and checked on her again around 1am (Tuesday morning) after waking up to pump, and poor Miss Muffet was lying lifeless in her litter box. We wonder whether she knew it was her time and went in there to rest peacefully. It was very sad. Bob was at Newark so Wendy called him to give him the bad news and we talked about the happiness she gave us and that we gave her a wonderful life.

On Tuesday, we buried her in the wooded back of our house and our neighbor and their two children who always loved looking at Miss Muffet came to watch. We gathered stones to mark the grave and they suggested making a cross out of sticks and placed it on top. We were surprised that they wanted to see her in her box before we buried her. Nothing but the best for Miss Muffet, she has a Tiffany & Co. box as her resting bed. We went to the SPCA on Tuesday to see if they had any bunnies to keep Rocky company and were happy to see that they didn't, despite it being so close to Easter!

Miss Muffet, there is no other rabbit that is or was as friendly as you were. We will miss you very much. Thank you, Desiree, (who found her as a stray) for bringing her into our lives.