MINI came into my life eight months after Cooper’s passing. She was almost two years old and had been returned to the same shelter by two different families. When she was returned, my friend who worked at the shelter, knew who MINI needed. A week later, MINI came home with me!

This is when I realized I had it way too easy with Cooper. He was an angel from heaven. He was always so well-behaved and such a sweet boy. I was in for a rude awakening bringing MINI home.

The first night she jumped out of her enclosure, something Cooper had never done. She wasn’t potty trained and was extremely skittish. She had been through a lot between the two families that had her, and she was never potty trained. Cooper was always so clean and organized, I never had to worry about anything with him. But MINI was the complete opposite. Messy with her hay and peeing everywhere. I had to start from scratch with her and limit her access to the room until she knew how to use the litter box.

Boy was I regretting my decision about bringing her home. Like I said, I had it way too easy with Cooper. But time and patience paid off. Eventually, MINI learned how to use her litter box and had free range of her entire room. It took a few months, but she learned. It wasn’t easy though. Ha!

It took a while for her to trust her new family. I don’t think she was ever handled, cuddled, or given love. She thumped up a storm every day for no apparent reason. She would box me and run away if I tried to get too close. She had also never tasted fruits or vegetables! Thankfully, she ate hay, unlike Cooper.

Once she learned to like veggies, she was eating a large plate of veggies nightly. To the point that she taught Maya, our tuxedo cat, to eat a small salad of her own, and she continued to do so even after MINI’s passing.

MINI was two days shy of turning seven years old when I lost her. She lived such a short life, but I am glad I was able to provide her with a loving home for five of her 7 years. She was spoiled, and had an amazing room all to herself. She made friends with our cat Maya. She ran around like crazy on our second floor, and would enjoy getting some sun in our backyard.

I wish I could have provided her with so much more. I have so many regrets because she didn’t deserve to suffer so much towards the end. Just like Cooper. Both of my sweet angels suffered so much towards the end of their lives. It’s not fair, they didn’t deserve to suffer. It hurts my heart knowing how much MINI went through towards the end. We fought such a difficult battle, but I couldn’t watch her struggling to breathe. Every day was a challenge to get her to breathe, it wasn’t fair to her.

Unfortunately, MINI suffered from mineralization of calcium in her nasal cavity. It’s an issue that some flat-nose rabbits suffer from. She was diagnosed in February 2024. It wasn’t bad, she needed saline nebulizer treatments daily and that was it. It wasn’t bad until she caught a bacterial infection.

Due to her condition, MINI’s nostrils and calcium build up in her nasal cavity which wore away the membrane that protects us from bacteria. We all have it, we breathe in everything and that thin membrane protects us from catching everything. Well MINI didn’t have it any longer and she picked up a nasty bacteria. One that Dr. Diaz hates seeing in rabbits because it’s a very difficult bacteria to fight.

We fought it for 7 weeks with no positive results. We switched medicines, she was on three different antibiotics, and nothing helped her fight the bacteria. Her day-to-day was a struggle to breathe. I never left my house while taking care of her. I was with her 24/7 because I needed to help her when she struggled to breathe. In the long run, she was exhausted and had lost so much weight. Struggling to breathe took a huge toll on her health. I couldn’t watch her suffer any longer and we had to make a decision.

The day before, we had a follow-up with Dr. Diaz where we discussed what the next steps could be. None of them were good because we had reached our last resort, and switching her antibiotics to a stronger one was something Dr. Diaz rarely did because of the 50/50 chance of helping. My other two were continuing with the current care plan or making the difficult decision to help her cross over to the rainbow bridge. I was ready for none and decided to go home and think about our next steps. Twenty-four hours later, my husband and I were back at Dr. Diaz’s office; MINI had suffered too much and she had a very difficult day. She was limp, exhausted from trying to breathe. I couldn’t let her go one more day with this struggle. We helped her crossover to the rainbow bridge and join Cooper.

I love her so much, and making that decision was so difficult. I hate that I had to make that decision for both Cooper and MINI. They both deserved so much more. Watching a rabbit suffer is the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. They are so precious and so small, they shouldn’t suffer as much as they did. I’m so sorry I couldn’t do better.

With MINI’s passing, my rabbit parenting days have come to an end. I don’t want to watch another rabbit fight to live. Yes, I know I provided both Cooper and MINI with an amazing life. They were loved and cared for like they should be, but both of them suffered towards the end. All I ever wanted was for them to die of old age. I cannot go through this again. My heart cannot take it. As much as I miss having a rabbit in my life, I will carry on the amazing memories I have of them with me and I will cherish them forever. Cooper & MINI, I love you both so very much.

There is no love like bunny love…