Another bunny update

Arya developed a dental abscess back in May and had to be put to sleep – which was very sad as she was a lovely, if somewhat highly-strung, bunny and she and Aragorn (whom I must remember to call Cassius) were a close bonded pair, reliably being found next to each other. Here’s the last photo I took of them, less than a week before Arya died. And a video of Arya eating banana. All bunnies love banana.

Aragorn (front) and Arya

Poor Aragorn (sometimes, Cassius) has been on his own since then, though he seems to have had a reasonable summer, spending loads of time outdoors eating things he shouldn’t.

Eating home-grown mint

Eating a cute little succulent

Eating out of the green waste bag

A few months back we made approaches to the Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary (where he, Arya and Taylor came from) to enquire whether they had an older female needing a companion. Somewhat luckily, they did have a bunny, Chloe, who had recently lost her companion. The whole thing has been delayed as Aragorn (sorry, Cassius) developed an ear infection and they wouldn’t take him until it had cleared up. Thankfully, it did, and we delivered him to the OAS last Saturday morning, where he was put into a pen with Chloe, separated down the middle initially. Earlier today Ruth received an update from Laura at the OAS saying that all seemed to be going well so far, and sent us a cute picture of the two bunnies lying side by side. I won't risk jinxing things by posting it here but we're keeping fingers crossed. The OAS appear to take rather longer over the whole bonding process than Reading Rabbit Rescue, so it could potentially be another couple of weeks before Arag Cassius, and hopefully Chloe, come home.

To finish, an amusing Catherine Howard-related snippet. Ruth and I had a bit of a panic before visiting my parents for the August Bank Holiday weekend in that our pet sitter was unable to make it and we had to briefly contemplate taking Aragorn (or Cassius) with us. Ruth contacted Steve and Sandra at RRR to see if we could borrow a large cage for the weekend, such as the one we gave them once we stopped using it to house Harley and Lola. To our surprise (as they only offer boarding to rabbits who came from them) they offered to take A/C for the long weekend as they had a free cage. When we delivered him, and had the usual sneaky look at the other bunnies in runs in their enormous garden, I couldn’t resist asking if they had been successful in bonding Pippa. No, was the answer. Sandra tried twice, but apparently on both occasions CH/P behaved in such an aggressive and territorial manner with the male bunny that she had to be removed from his presence. After two attempts they decided not to try to bond her again, and rehomed her as an ‘only’ rabbit to an owner who’s at home most of the time. Sandra theorised that Harley must have been her one true love. Sounds a tad over-romantic to me. We were surprised as CH was a mild and well-behaved little thing the whole time she was with Harley - she has clearly become more assertive with maturity.