Bunny companionship during mourning
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Q: How many bunnies do you have?
A: I had four before but now I have two bunnies, named Venadito and Manchitas.
Q: What happened to the other two bunnies?
Floofy died first because of hypothermia and Tiny died afterwards because of depression.
Q: How did you found out about his death?
A: When I was at school and barely finished practice, I got a phone call from my mom telling me that Floofy passed away. I was devastated and I could only think of returning home as quickly as possible to give him a final goodbye. Once I got home, my heart sank when I saw Tiny staying by his side in hopes he’ll wake up. She seemed so sad and it was understandable since they had a strong bond and to find out your partner had died must have been harder for her than it was for me.
Q: How did Floofy’s death affect you?
My mind was at a constant worry that the worst possible situation would happen to my other bunny, Tiny. Oftentimes, I would catch myself thinking about Floofy’s death and the impact he had in my life and tear up in the middle of the class. It got to the point where I would worry so much that I just wanted to drop everything and go home to check on Tiny.
Q: How did his death affect your other bunny?
A: After Floofy passed away, Tiny stopped eating and moving completely. I researched ways to help her and stumbled upon an article about bunnies going into depression. The possible solutions listed on the site were to either get another bunny to keep her company or to spend more time with her.
Q: How did you deal with Tiny’s depression?
A: I decided to spend as much time as I could with Tiny in hopes that in the next few days her condition would not get any worse. One day when I returned home after school, I found two more bunnies in the cage with Tiny. I immediately fell to the ground crying because it was a relief to see that Tiny had company and wasn’t alone in her mourning while I was at school. Her conditioned seemed to have improved because she had a bit more energy compared to the previous days. When I saw them all bond, I was really emotional and had high hopes for her recovery. But as things seemed to have been getting better, some time later I found out that Tiny didn’t make it.
Q: What did you learn from this event?
A: I learned how to take care of my bunnies better and not take them for granted. I make sure to play with them every chance I get.
