Did you know that rabbits make wonderful companions? With proper training they are quite clean, playful, and affectionate pets. Next to dogs and cats, rabbits are becoming more and more popular. Thanks to social media they are gaining more popularity as people learn what a wonderful pet they make. But don’t jump right into buying one, first educate yourself, then find a local rescue/shelter and see what rabbits are up for adoption. Always, adopt, don’t shop, there are far too many pets waiting for a loving, forever home.
Our website promotes rabbit welfare and share 10+ years of experience living with a house rabbit; Cooper the Pooper (2009-2019), and MINI (3/28/18).
Learn More: House Rabbit Diet | Rabbit Basics | Litter Box Training
Before brining a rabbit home you’ll want to rabbit proof your home. Rabbit proof, what does that mean? Rabbits are notorious chewers so you’ll want to protect cords, baseboards, and your plants. This is why it’s very important to educate yourself before bringing a rabbit home, especially if they’ll be roaming free.
Some rabbit owners build an entire enclosure for them if they can’t roam freely throughout the house. For instance MINI, I have to protect her from our cats so I had a custom enclosure built just for her, plus, she has an entire room to herself. It’s very important to provide them with ample room to jump and run in. A hutch is simply not enough space for them, regardless of their size.
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Nine years and five months, that’s how long I shared my life with Cooper. I wish it could have been a lifetime. I like to consider Cooper being my true love. He taught me what love for an animal is and losing him taught me how much of our lives they fill.
It’s taken me a few months to write about his passing and updating his website. It hasn’t been easy, copping with Cooper’s loss has been quite difficult for me. I’ve been lucky to have lived my adult life without losing an immediate family member, so I don’t know what that loss feels like. But losing Cooper has been detrimental to me. Having a pet in your lives means that your life revolves around them. You have their feeding times present at all times and with a rabbit, you monitor their every move to prevent any illness. You don’t realize how much of your life they occupy until you lose them. I was very aware of this in the last few years and I dedicated my life to him. I created his website and grew his social media platforms to help bring awareness to proper rabbit care. I made a career off of this, and I’m thankful to say that thanks to Cooper I am where I am today. Wanting to help other rabbit parents pushed me to learn so much and because of this, I am where I am in my career.
There hasn’t been a day since Cooper’s passing that I haven’t shed tears. Everything that I do reminds me of him. What hurts the mosr is knowing how much he suffered at the end. He should have died of old age soundly in his sleep, he didn’t deserve to suffer. This is what hunts me the most.
Carrying on with his social media platforms was something I wanted to do, I wanted his legacy to live on. But I have found it difficult and overwhelming to do. Finding images to share and reading everyone’s comments/messages are triggers for me and there are some days that I don’t want to do it. At the same time, I’ve received so many supporting messages thanking me for continuing to post and that’s what’s keeping me posting.
It wasn’t until this week that I was finally able to go through all the messages of condolence that I received on Instagram. It was amazing to see the immediate support that I received, and I’m still receiving it. It was so overwhelming that I had to open a PO box for him, so many wanted my address to send something. And I’m still receiving cards and gifts of condolence. Yesterday I was at a local store shopping with my husband, when we approached the cashier she immediately asked me if I was Cooper’s mom. We were both frozen at our tracks. I said yes and she expressed her condolences and told me to give myself time to heal, and how very sorry she was for my loss. I felt my voice cracking as we spoke and as soon as we stepped out of the store the tears just shed down my cheeks.
It’s not easy. I recently read an article about a similar situation and one paragraph resonated with me.
“Pheobe’s death makes me feel like someone has come along with a giant eraser and rubbed out my face. I am going to have to learn to exist without a face. And possibly a personality”
That’s me in a nutshell. I feel as I’ve lost my personality, my face, the one thing that gave me purpose and made me not only be a better person but do better for animals alike.
I was very lucky to have him in my life, and I’ll be eternally thankful that he was placed in it. He was perfect, and sometimes even the best of luck seems perfectly devastating.
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…
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