brett1985 Posted March 26, 2017 Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 Bare with me on this, as I'm not usually sentimental. Went to clean the rabbit hutch out this evening, only to find the rabbit lying underneath the hutch. Nothing unusual there, but when I went to entice her towards the run door she was just kind of dragging her back legs along. Now she's no spring chicken, but was fine this morning. Called the Mrs out and she starts getting rather upset, so me being the soft *** that I am agreed to taking her to the vets. I couldn't bate to watch the poor little thing just dragging herself about. Turns out she had a tumor that had affected her spine and back legs so made the decision to have her pts. Now we bought this stubborn little rabbit when we first moved in together 9 years ago (despite my reservations) and she was my shadow from day 1. We'd often bring her in to the house and she'd follow me everywhere, even to the loo if I wasn't quick enough to get the door shut... lol Now I can't say it was easy making the decision to have her pts but it was the right thing to do, but what I can't get my head around is how I've shot rabbits for years without a pang of emotion, but I feel like absolute rubbish this evening. God only knows what's going to happen when I have to make the call for the pooch... Funny old world eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saddler Posted March 26, 2017 Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 Aye. Lost a few smaller pets, all characters & very missed. Still got a lot of guinea pigs (50+)in the herd, so difficult decisions ahead. Small price to pay for their company & the little **** have a better diet than we do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oowee Posted March 26, 2017 Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 Sad news to loose any pet. My grandad used to keep rabbits for food and we had one as a pet. Every year when we went on holiday rabbit would stay with grandad and we would collect it when we came home. The rabbit never got any older. Never realised until I was 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12gauge82 Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 (edited) Nothing wrong with what you did and I would say quite the opposite, it'd take a very cold person not to care for an animal they'd spent the last few years living with and caring for, even a rabbit. I laugh when I hear the tripe antis spout, most shooters are some of the most caring people I know and genuinely care about wildlife, the ones I know take it very personally if an animal isn't despatched instantly. I don't think most of the general public care what squalid conditions their chicken lived in before they picked it up from the supermarket shelf, yet their anti shooting? Sorry for your loss, I recently had to put a dog down and it was the most upsetting thing I've done in years, still struggling with it now, but you've got to remember the good times and that you always did your best for them, we all meet our maker in the end, no one gets out alive, most animals are just on a shorter journey than us is all. Edited March 27, 2017 by 12gauge82 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team tractor Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 I've just had 2 for my daughter (mrs really lol) £10 each but you know the vet bills will be more . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 Vets bills are astronomical. They charged us £260 to send our dog to doggie heaven a few weeks back. How much do they charge for a rabbit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12gauge82 Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 I don't begrudge paying a vet within reason, it takes a huge amount of training to become a vet, as long as they're in the job for the right reasons and charge a fair amount, drugs aren't cheap either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brett1985 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 (edited) Thanks for the comments gents, i'll show the wife later when she's a little less upset and I'm sure she'll appreciate them. Price wouldn't have been too bad had we gone during normal working hours but as it was half 8 on a Sunday we ended up paying the out of hours charge so the final bill came to £92. In all honesty though, i'd have paid twice that to not see the poor thing suffer. Edited March 27, 2017 by brett1985 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Geordie Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 My son was gutted when ours died. Was the same! Would spend more time in the house than the garden. Chewed the beads off the blinds, chewed through my speaker cables and the phone line. But still miss it. Now we have a pooch, and i dread her going. She is a nut job! But so adorable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbob Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 When we used to go lamping at my work you could always spot the dumped rabbit a dwarf or a old english , normally they would be the first i would shoot as there the first the land manager sees . but this night i picked up a old english and the wife put it into a hutch next to the ferrets well a couple of weeks later this thing gives birth and there mostly the wild brown rabbit colour . all goes well they get to six weeks and the wife rehomes them to her mates then they start dying of myxi dont know if it was in there system or they got the flea when i was passing with a rabbit to feed the ferrets it cost me £15 each to replace them with ones off a mate that bred them i think that was the only time i felt sentimental over a rabbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
four-wheel-drive Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 Its the same for most people if we get emotionally attached to any animal it is so different to how we feel about ether farm or wild animals you can shoot a wild rabbit or bird and not think twice about it. going back to the rabbit people do keep them as house pets you can teach them to use a dirt box like cats have they do make very good pets I think that I would prefer a rabbit in the house to a cat they do not bring mice in to the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferguson_tom Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 I was gutted when my 3 chickens got taken by the fox so can understand feeling toward an animal you are more than happy to eat. My friend had a rabbit and the Vet charged him over £100 to put it down I was shocked and that was in normal hours. When i spoke to another friend who is a vet elsewhere she said if i had dispatched it then a good chance could get done for animal cruelty as its a pet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
four-wheel-drive Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 I was gutted when my 3 chickens got taken by the fox so can understand feeling toward an animal you are more than happy to eat. My friend had a rabbit and the Vet charged him over £100 to put it down I was shocked and that was in normal hours. When i spoke to another friend who is a vet elsewhere she said if i had dispatched it then a good chance could get done for animal cruelty as its a pet! I am guessing that they also had the rabbit cremated that is not cheap to do we always have small dogs so we can bring them home and bury them in the garden saving loads of money and I prefer to bury them myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
figgy Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 Got nothing to do with being a rabbit but the bond you had with it. Feral rabbits are a different thing eating crops and causing damage so have to be controlled. Know folk who have kept Jackdaws and magpies that were very tame and clever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 Nothing wrong with what you did and I would say quite the opposite, it'd take a very cold person not to care for an animal they'd spent the last few years living with and caring for, even a rabbit. I laugh when I hear the tripe antis spout, most shooters are some of the most caring people I know and genuinely care about wildlife, the ones I know take it very personally if an animal isn't despatched instantly. I don't think most of the general public care what squalid conditions their chicken lived in before they picked it up from the supermarket shelf, yet their anti shooting? Sorry for your loss, I recently had to put a dog down and it was the most upsetting thing I've done in years, still struggling with it now, but you've got to remember the good times and that you always did your best for them, we all meet our maker in the end, no one gets out alive, most animals are just on a shorter journey than us is all. Good post. I'm not a great cat lover but well remember how upset I was when this crazy animal we had housed for a few years had to be put down. Anyone who didn't grow attached to a pet would be a pretty cold individual in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wandringstar Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 My male rabbit seems to be clever, he knows that last summer I was worried he wasn't drinking enough, so I kept hand bottling him like a baby, when I had finished I would give him a little treat, now whenever he sees me he runs straight to the bottle to get the treat. Also last week he dident want me clearing his cage out, so he laid on a pile of **** and did that playing dead like they amazingly do, yes he is a pain in the neck, eats everything, hides and wont come in, sprays you and bites you no matter how nice you are to him, he is 6 now, in very good health, but it will be sad when he does go, but then he could be here for a lot longer yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saddler Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 Anyone who didn't grow attached to a pet would be a pretty cold individual in my opinion.....I could have introduced you to cats that would make you rethink that.Not mine, but knew of one that you smelled before it hove into view. A semi feral collection of matted fur, lice, fleas, dried puke, bottom truffles & god knows what else. It had a temper you'd not believe... It's "owner" thought it was lovely...everyone else thought it needed to go to the happy hunting grounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wandringstar Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 We had an old aggressive cat that we found stray when we were kids, it attacked when you walked past, it was said by the vet that it had been terribly mistreated and that had affected its personality. It was the most joyless, cold, animal, but we looked after it anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny long shanks Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 (edited) Its heart breaking to lose any pet. We lost our dog 12 months ago and that moment will always stay with me. The wife is a vet nurse for an animal charity, so we always seem to be taking in strays. We have a house rabbit and he is really clever, very clean and fully house trained. He has got a real personality going on and loves to wind up the other dogs. I will be sad to see him go. I don't think its strange to miss a pet, they different to the animals out on the farmers field. Believe it or not I nearly became a pigeon fancier not so long ago. 😂 Edited March 27, 2017 by jonny long shanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 I used to go out ferreting come home then have to sort out my sisters rabbit for her meant to be a dwarf but it was huge poor thing must have wondered why I smelt of rabbit and ferret I hope domestic rabbits don't know what ferrets are? Never been a cat person but when my nan died years ago family were asked if they wanted anything as a memento and I said the cat, to say people were shocked was an understatement but I knew she would have wanted her looked after despite her being the nastiest little cat ever think she bit pretty much everyone she could, I only got scratches so felt happy. As you say pets become more than just animals they get into your heart and your head despite what people think of shooters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
four-wheel-drive Posted March 27, 2017 Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 My male rabbit seems to be clever, he knows that last summer I was worried he wasn't drinking enough, so I kept hand bottling him like a baby, when I had finished I would give him a little treat, now whenever he sees me he runs straight to the bottle to get the treat. Also last week he dident want me clearing his cage out, so he laid on a pile of **** and did that playing dead like they amazingly do, yes he is a pain in the neck, eats everything, hides and wont come in, sprays you and bites you no matter how nice you are to him, he is 6 now, in very good health, but it will be sad when he does go, but then he could be here for a lot longer yet. They do say that Rabbits tend to poo in one place as there digestive system is so bad that they eat it again to get all of the goodness our of it after all grass has not got much goodness in it that may be why he did not want you tacking it away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arjimlad Posted March 28, 2017 Report Share Posted March 28, 2017 We've had a pet bunny for the past 9 years and reckon he has to be 10 years old if he's a day. He (touch wood) seems to be OK - a bit doddery but still enjoys a lollop around the garden, time in the run to roger an old football into a state of swoon (he's not had the snip!), and a fuss every day. Last year he suddenly got very thin & weak, I spent some time cleaning him and fussing him, he seemed to have lost all his spark, so I thought I'd have to put him to sleep. Spent the whole day worrying about him but when I got home he had perked up, and 24 hours later was a whole lot better. He put on weight & is now completely back to normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wandringstar Posted March 28, 2017 Report Share Posted March 28, 2017 mine dident get neutered either, I dident like the idea, he too, enjoys playing football. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.