Meet Emma and Geri, the Spice Bunnies!

This week I’m going to talk about rabbits, an animal very dear to my heart. Although I grew up with 3 dogs around and I loved every minute of it, I never felt that I could buy a dog for our family as I have always worked and it would just make me feel so guilty to leave it all day. Our daughter Sarah would have loved a dog but I thought the better option was to take her to my parents to get her doggie fix! This worked really well for the whole of her childhood.

One day, I was watching the tv and saw an article on house rabbits. A lady was explaining how she had a rabbit that lived in the house with her, it was house trained and it followed her all over the house. She was able to leave it all day while she was at work and all was fine. I watched and thought about it for a while and the more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be a good idea for us as a family. After having several hamsters that my daughter adored and watching her heart break over their loss, I thought it would be a good time to get an animal that didn’t have such a short life span.

After lots of research we decided to get in touch with a breeder, Jayne. She is the font of all knowledge regarding rabbits and taught me so much in the care of our beloved rabbits Emma and Geri the Spice Bunnies. Yes this is going back a bit! We have been so grateful over the years to have had Jayne to turn to if we had anything we weren’t too sure about. Emma (doe) and Geri (buck) came from the same litter; we were advised that a buck and a doe are the best pairing when you want to keep two rabbits together. As rabbits are very social animals and live in large groups in the wild, it is best to have at least two together so that they have company. They can keep each other amused and bond extremely well as a pair.

When we first got them it was real challenge as they weren’t fully grown and not big enough to be neutered. Trying to keep them apart so that we didn’t get more rabbits was extremely difficult. My husband built a hutch that fitted nicely under the desk in the study, they had been happily sleeping together for around 3 weeks when the time came that they were both sexually mature and we really needed to take a trip to the vets for the procedures. We saw the vet, only to be told that Geri was too small to be sedated and we should leave him to grow for at least another month! Of course we didn’t want to put Geri’s life at risk but it made life very difficult keeping them apart. We put a chicken wire frame between the door so that they could still see each other and touch noses but they couldn’t “get together!” Geri was like a tiger walking the stretch of the door backwards and forwards eyeing Emma up. We had to put him to bed in a small crate while Emma had the large hutch, it was a trying time. Poor chap, he was very frustrated!

When the time came to take Geri to the vets once more, his operation booked, I was assured all would be okay as our vet used less than the usual amount of anaesthetic recommended due to previous losses. We were really looking forward to bringing him home so that they could be together again at last. Alas, half way through the morning, I got a call. Geri had stopped breathing before they managed to start the procedure but thankfully they stopped the anaesthetic and he came round. I felt so awful, our daughter said that Geri was her rabbit and Emma was mine, if anything had happened to him it would have been devastating for all of us. We were old by the vet we needed to leave it another few weeks, it was up to us, we could try again using less anaesthetic or we could not have him neutered. It was a difficult decision but we decided to give it another go. Fortunately, the second time he was all good and we all breathed a sigh of relief.

Emma and Geri were together once again. The beginning of a truly loving bond between them, they were always at each other’s side, washing and grooming each other. Emma lived to aged 9 and Geri to 11, he was one month of his twelve birthday when he died. Their losses were felt as deep as losing my beloved dogs when I was younger. Now, I am happy to look after other peoples pets and hopefully I won't get so attached!

Next week, I’ll talk about how you should care for your rabbit each and every day, I'll also introduce you to our new member of K9 Walkies.

Thanks for reading; I hope you have a great week.

Regards, Kath