Last year Vita’s bunny passed away and she was heartbroken. We buried Lucky wrapped in one of Vita’s old baby blankets in the backyard. Over her grave we placed a flat stone and Vita sprinkled flower petals on top. We tried to comfort Vita as best as we could but in the end we realized she just needed time…time to grieve, time to remember Lucky in her own way and eventually time to heal. She grieved for days. We would think she was doing better and then she would get a faraway look in her eyes and tear up. Some days she wanted to talk about Lucky and other days she didn’t want her name mentioned. Then slowly, over time, we started sharing memories. We could joke about how mean the bunny was to everyone but Vita. Vita was the only one never bitten by her. We spoke about how she used to thump her feet on the cage, make a growling noise when she was displeased and we laughed more. Lucky had a large cage, a rabbit condo that we kept in Vita’s room. She even had a hammock that she would sleep in. She was a spoiled princess. We debated whether or not to sell the cage or at least move it from Vita’s room after Lucky passed. In the end, we decided to leave it and wait for the day when Vita decided to get another bunny.
A couple of months ago, that day came. She told us she was ready to have another bunny and she wanted it to be black just like Lucky had been. One of Ben’s co-workers, Sam, raises rabbits for their meat and pelts. Ben talked to her and found out that their rabbit was going to have babies. Not only did she have babies, the runt was all black and for a very small fee we could have her him once she he was weaned. As soon as she was able, Sam began handling the bunny so it would be used to people. On the day after we returned from vacation, we were able to bring the bunny home to our house. Vita named him her Carly Neville. This bunny loves people. She He loves to be held, pet, cuddled and will hop to you for attention. We are working on litter training; Lucky was litter trained when we were given her and we have a small corner litter box in the cage. We researched and found that it can be harder to train a young bunny but there were suggestions given online that we are trying out. I hope she he gets the hang of litter training soon, I also hope she he lives a very long and happy life with us.
Carly Neville 2012
a savage day 