I got a nice comment from Truce on my “Boundaries” post yesterday. It made me remember a day in the long distant past when I lived in Bremerton, Washington.
As impossible as it may be to imagine, at that time I was a Navy wife, and since my husband was away at sea much of the time, I got a dog. She was half black lab and half collie, very smart, and ball crazy. You could get her do just about anything if you had a ball in your hand that she knew you would throw for her after she did whatever it was you wanted her to do.
We used to go on long walks down the power line right of ways, and through the logging roads. We really had a wonderful time. One time we were down in the bottom of a little creek and she started up a rabbit. This was no ordinary wild rabbit, but a very large white rabbit that immediately made me check to see if I was Alice or not. It was a little nervous about the dog, but it clearly knew that dogs were not truly to be feared. It seemed very thin, and rather confused by being out in the woods.
So I took it home, and ran out to buy some rabbit pellets for it. The poor thing was extremely grateful to have someone providing it sustenance. Pretty sad that it was starving out there in the middle of blackberries and clover. It obviously was a house pet, because right after it ate it went and used the catbox, much to Susan’s and CioCio’s dismay.
My cats were not exactly sure what to make of this beast. Susan was just terrified of it, and refused to come near it the entire time it was in the house.
Cio Cio was a little braver, but definitely confused.
I knew this poor beast was lost, had probably accidentally escaped from a loving home. After I canvassed the subdivision all around the draw where the rabbit had turned up in a vain attempt to find the owners, I contacted the local Humane Society. They took it off my hands.
Only two days later they called me to let me know that the owners of the rabbit had turned up and had gratefully appeared and taken it home. I was glad its experience of “going Walkabout” ended well.
You saved a little lost bunny! You must be getting life points for that act of kindness.
I love the cat pictures. If faced with an enormous white rabbit, I’m sure my cats would react similarly. Did the cat in the second picture try to thump the intruder with his paw? He looks poised to do that at any moment.
No, she was poised to run away, actually. This was the last step taken towards this inexplicable phenomenon, a sniff, and then a dignified retreat to the bedroom upstairs where she could Own the bed.
That’s such a great story! And I’m so pleased you took the bunny home and that she/he was reunited with her/his family. Huge points to you! And to your cats for allowing the stranger house room for a while!
A friend of mine has two bunnies (giant lops) and two cats – one of whom has just had two kittens… you can imagine a) the fluff in her house and b) the interesting hierarchy for dominance! Basically, the female rabbit is ‘alpha’ because she will take NO NONSENSE from anyone. If one of the cats is sitting in her favourite spot by the fire, she just goes right on over and sits on top of them. They all groom each other, cats and rabbits (hence the fluff mountain), but she only ever gets groomed, she doesn’t do any grooming of the others. Its fascinating!
I have to also give you huge points for taking in that poor lost little bunny. I don’t know what I would do if our pet got lost. It’s nice to know there are people like you out there who would take care of her just in case.
I have a friend who has a bunny who also just hops all over the house and plays with the dog and guinea pigs. She hops into the litter box (trained herself) when she needs to “go” and she hops into her little bed at about 10:00 every night to go to sleep. Very cute!
–L
I had heard that rabbits could be very good pets. I’ve never really had that much experience with them. It must be very interesting to see an animal which we think of as “prey” dominating a predator.
One of the reasons I have never gotten into rabbits is I am unwilling to start having a relationship with a species that could become a very good food source. Rabbits reproduce well, and if you have the right sort of cage will keep your lawn mowed, and deal with some of your compostables too. I suppose this is probably politically incorrect.
Let me just say for the record that I always perceived that poor lost white rabbit as a beloved pet, and never once regarded it as food.
.