Category: Sanctuary Buns

Sanctuary Buns /

Pumpkin

It is with sadness in our hearts that we share the news that our sanctuary rabbit, Pumpkin (AKA Mrs. Pumpy), has passed away.  She was eleven and a half years old.

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Pumpkin came to us in November of 2005 from a mass rescue of “meat rabbits” by the Logan County Humane Society.  Pumpkin never overcame her feral rabbit side and always remained at a distance and unsociable with humans and other rabbits.

After several years in foster care, we decided that it would be best if Pumpkin remained in our home to live out the rest of her years and placed her into our Sanctuary program.  She stayed with us for over ten years.  In the time we had her, Pumpkin did become very attached to our dogs.  She liked playing with them and teasing them at her level. 

The last several months, her health began to slip.  We went through several battles with stasis, from which she always recovered.  Arthritis made it difficult for her to get around.  She passed away peacefully in the night.

Thank you to all of Pumpkin’s sponsors.  We will surely miss our dear old Mrs. Pumpy.

Sincerely,

Sue and Keith Zimmerman 

We rescued Pumpkin and seven of her siblings on November 26th, 2005, from the Logan County Humane Society after they had been seized from a meat rabbit operation that was operating under poor conditions. All of the buns were wary of humans since they’d never been handled as pets. Although the others were eventually adopted, Pumpkin had an attitude and was always skipped over. She was quite distant and would growl, charge, and box during any attempt to handle her. Sometimes she would scream when she was picked up.

Pumpkin did, however, seem to like dogs, and since we have five of them, she had plenty of company. She would be completely at ease around them, even playing with them and teasing. At one point, we moved Pumpkin from our foster population in the outbuilding into the house, hoping that more frequent interaction with humans would put her at ease. It did not work. She is still averse to humans (and other rabbits).

Sanctuary Buns /

Cecelia

Cecelia, one of our sweetest Sanctuary Rabbits, passed away recently from an inner ear infection and related illnesses.  Cecelia was a beautiful, happy bunny who did hoppy skip hop dances at mealtime and wore a butt skirt like no other bun.  We will miss her spirit and her boundless energy.

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Cecelia is a huge hunk of happy, snuggly, and funny all rolled into one big white pink-eyed bunny. But if we move too quickly or are late in delivering her hay and pellets, she serves us an occasional bite on the hand, usually drawing blood. Everything has to slow down for Cecelia or she becomes overwhelmed and ready to strike. Like many of the Sanctuary rabbits, she’s usually passed over for a friendlier or cuter bunny at adoption time.

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Our sanctuary rabbits require special love and care. Their home is with us at the sanctuary and they are not available for adoption. You can directly support these rabbits by sponsoring them.

Sanctuary Buns /

Patches

FAREWELL

May 29, 2008

With tremendous regret, I report that Patches has left us. Despite still having a tremendous will to live and fighting spirit, her condition deteriorated to the point that it was impossible for us to keep her clean and dry. She had begun to lose her appetite and her rear legs were becoming less and less functional. I did not want her to suffer from the pain and discomfort that was beginning to overcome her.

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Thank you to everyone who knew, visited, loved her, and contributed to her care. She is most definitely one foster rabbit that I will never forget. I’m certain that her mischievous spirit is still inspiring the other fosters in our care!

Keith and Sue

This is the story of Patches, a foster rabbit who came into the care of the Buckeye House Rabbit Society in April of 2004. Patches was a stray who had been spotted running around a Massillon-area construction site for several weeks. The workers were finally able to capture her and contact BHRS. She arrived at our foster home on April 24, 2004 in a deplorable state of health with the following ailments in need of urgent attention: fur mites, ear mites, numerous embedded ticks around her head and neck, a urine-soaked rear end, and intestinal tapeworms. Additionally, she had no fur on the bottoms of her feet (most likely from living in a wire-floored hutch), an eye injury that was healing but had left a large white scar, and very dirty and stained fur. She exhibited signs of head tilt and seemed to be very unstable whenever she tried to walk. Her rear limbs were very weak and she fell over whenever she attempted to take more than one hop at a time.

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Patches was treated with Revolution for her mites and ticks, antibiotic ointment for her injured eye, and medication to kill her tapeworms. She was tested for Encephalitozoon cuniculi as a possible source of the head tilt and rear end instability, but the results were negative. Thorough examinations and x-rays have led her care-givers to determined that the head tilt was caused by the ear mite infestation (since cured), and her instability is the result of a past trauma that has left an untreatable muscular-skeletal or neurological injury. She will never be able to posture herself correctly in order to urinate without soiling the fur on her back legs and genital area. Because of this, she has suffered repeated urinary tract infections and bouts of urine scald. She must eat a very controlled diet since any moderately high-calcium foods cause her to produce sludgy urine that is almost solid.

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Patches has been placed in sanctuary status because her various conditions require constant, specialized care that most adopters would find difficult to provide. Her posterior must be shaved, washed, and treated with protective ointment regularly and her housing requires twice-a-day cleaning and disinfecting. Occasionally we must administer subcutaneous fluid injections for week-long periods to flush the sludge from her bladder. She visits the veterinarian regularly to receive prescriptions for antibiotics and pain relief medication.

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In spite of her afflictions, Patches is one of the most affectionate, attention-craving rabbits that we’ve ever cared for. She endures all of the washings, medicine dosings, and exams, and then immediately starts nudging for some bunny loving and pets. She will sit still for kisses and petting just as long as someone is willing to give them. And even though she usually loses her balance and flops onto her side, she still loves to run in short spurts and do binkies! Her first mission during her exercise times is to visit each of the other foster buns to say hello and rub noses. She is a very happy rabbit!

— Keith and Sue Zimmerman

Sanctuary Buns /

Lorenzo

FAREWELL

Kristen Doherty writes, November 24, 2002

I am sorry to tell you that Lorenzo passed away today. He underwent invasive bulla (middle ear) surgery on Thurs, which was his only chance for any kind of recovery from his severe ear infections and head tilt. I was providing basic post-operative care since his return home on Fri, and he quickly began to decline until he could no longer fight. The infection was extremely aggressive and was putting severe pressure on his brain and nerves. He was suffering horribly, couldn’t eat, and was struggling to breathe, so Paul and I drove him to the vet. Lorenzo’s vet assured us that we were doing the right thing by ending his pain. Paul and I can say we did everything we possibly could to give him a chance. In just seven weeks, he stole our hearts, and we will miss him terribly.

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Lorenzo has severe head tilt. He was abandoned with 16 other rabbits by a 19 yr old girl who was “rescuing” rabbits. Apparently she had a drug problem and left home one day, and left the rabbits in her family’s garage to fend for themselves. The girl’s family was going to euthanize Lorenzo, so I took him home.

Lorenzo is currently undergoing aggressive ear treatment since both ears are badly infected. We’re convinced that his feisty personality is what’s keeping him fighting this horrible infection. He was put under anesthesia twice to clean/debride abscesses deep inside both ears. A few days after the very first ear cleaning, Lorenzo was able to stand, whereas he could not before.

More recently, Lorenzo underwent a complicated and costly surgical procedure called a bulla osteotomy to remove more infected tissue and debris from the middle ear. It is his only hope of achieving a near-normal quality of life. We are hoping that the surgery, along with follow-up treatment, will enable him to stand at will and to someday walk and hop. As long as he continues to receive treatment, Lorenzo will remain a Sanctuary rabbit.

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Lorenzo’s treatment will require long-term use of medications and possibly ongoing surgeries and ear flushings. This means several trips to the vet.

Lorenzo is roughly 8 yrs old and currently lives in a 25″x16″x15″ cage with a top-opening lid. The cage is lined with towels and fleece.  — Kristen Doherty