Tigger joined our family in September of 2016 and was the king of the castle, until the very next summer, that is. As Cathy and I sat outside on our front porch on a misty, rainy day – one of our favorite activities by the way – relaxing, reflecting and complaining about the week; we were unexpectedly confronted with a soon to be new member of our family.
Did that just happen?
As we sat on our ground level front porch enjoying nature, we were suddenly face to face with a solid black bunny rabbit mere feet from us. It stopped, looked at us, we looked at each other, then the bunny; the bunny looked at us and proceeded to hop around the side of the house. We looked at each other with a confused look “Did that really just happen?”, when Levi came running through the house, flinging the screen door open with excitement in his voice “Did you guys see that black cat that was just in our yard?”. Telling him it was actually a bunny not a cat because we just saw it ourselves, he thought we were yanking his chain. About that time it came back around from the same side of the house it came from earlier; it seems to have made one loop around the house and came back.
Ring around the rosie-
Levi decided he wanted to catch it and followed bunny foo-foo around the house a few times before he was eventually able to just pick it up. We could immediately tell this was no wild bunny, I mean you can’t catch those! After we checked with all the neighbors, we quickly recognized the bunny was not from this neck of the woods. We traipsed to the store for some supplies just in case no one claimed this black beauty. After continuous checking throughout the neighborhood over the next few days we realized this bunny was now ours, which I was not complaining about since I was already attached.
Since the vet visit was still several days away we attempted to identify the gender of said rabbit ourselves, I mean how hard could it be, right? Well obviously a lot harder than we thought; have you ever tried to look at a bunny’s undercarriage? It is quite a task! The few short glimpses at the Netherlands that we were allowed, we found what we thought was most definitely indicative of the male species. So now we needed a name, and after some consideration we decided on Roger, get it? Roger Rabbit.
It’s a what?
I took a Roger to the veterinarian and left with an un-named female, ha ha! This was quite obvious to you I am sure, considering you know the name of our new addition. Our veterinarian ensured us this was a common mistake as female areas tend to appear “large”, especially if said bunny is in heat. She also estimated SHE was approximately 4-5 years old, which is quite on up there in bunny years. See bunny age chart here – https://gaunttfarmantics.com/my-bunny-is-how-old/
To surprise the family with the news, I stopped by the store and bought some pink supplies and decorated her cage with it. Cathy and Levi could not believe it since they also saw what appeared to be ‘male’ in nature below the furry tail.
It took a few days, but after watching her personality emerge more each day we decided on naming her after both of our mothers; both stubborn as hell! Elisabeth is my mother’s middle name while Lucille is Cathy’s. Essentially her personality proved that we named her accordingly, after two very determined, set in their ways women. We absolutely love it when she thumps at us because we thump back, this tends to continue for a few rounds until she finally gives up, realizing that her momma (me) is gonna win that fight, ha ha!
Sweet Lou-lou –
Lizzy Lou, or Lou-lou as we have been calling her lately, quickly became my emotional support animal, as she loves to lie in bed with me cuddled into my arm. She seems to love it as much as I do considering that when I lay her next to me she immediately shifts around and sinks right into the bed, followed by a big sigh – I am not kidding about that. We will stay in bed together like this most nights, until I fall asleep and either Cathy or Levi would place her back into her pen for “night, night”. She is and always will be my baby girl, no matter how many other baby girls we may end up with 🙂
Her coat is solid black and feels like velvet; it is the most beautiful fur I have ever seen or felt. We tend to spoil our animals, so she has put on some weight and has acquired a cute little dewlap; however we have managed to pause her weight gain and she is in good condition according to her veterinarian. Lou-lou has been spayed as we did not want to risk her getting uterine cancer. It is the most common type of cancer in rabbits and can occur in up to 60% of female bunnies over the age of 3 years old.
“Cancer of the Uterus in Rabbits”, Petmd.com, (from internet 7/25/2019). https://www.petmd.com/rabbit/conditions/reproductive/c_rb_uterine_adenocarcinoma
So if you have a female bunny, please do get her spayed, this is not a matter of population control that concerns me, (that is another topic for another day). This is literally a matter of life or death for your female bun.
Onward to meeting Buddy – until then
Buddy Gauntt and in case you missed him, Tigger
Toodles!
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