Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Virginia - a sad, sad bunny story

One time my mom and dad came home from a car auction with a huge white rabbit for my brother. He named her Virginia because that is where they bought her. Virginia was pregnant. He looked forward to her babies and had a wonderful nest for them but she miscarried or something.

Billy doted on Virginia and took loving care of her. He barely allowed Rhonda and I to even pet her. He kept her in a box in the garage at night and he converted our large doglot into a rabbit pen with everything a bunny could ever want in it.

Every year there was a rabies clinic in our hometown and we would take our pets and get their vaccinations. We took Virginia with us that year and the vet gave her the shots she needed. Billy held her the whole time so none of the dogs or cats could get to her. When she got her shots she kicked very hard and Billy almost couldn't hold her but he managed to not drop her. He was about 12 by the way.

We took her home and put her in her pen. Billy kept caring for her and after about 3 days he came to my mom and told her something was wrong with Virginia. He said she couldn't move. Mommy went to check on her and found her back to be broken. (mom was an RN) She talked to the vet on the phone and he said it was possible that Virginia had kicked so hard that she had broken her back.

She told Billy there was nothing they could do for her and let him say his goodbyes to his beloved Virginia. She took Billy in the house and made arrangements for our neighbor, JD, to humanely end Virginia's life. Somehow JD let Virginia loose and she ended up under his boat which was on a trailer in his yard. He couldn't get to her so he was using a boat paddle to try to scoot her from underneath the boat.

Unfortunately Billy sneaked out of the house when my mom wasn't looking. He became hysterical because he thought JD was beating his rabbit to death with the oar. He was inconsolable. I think Virginia actually met her demise by being shot in the head but I am not sure about that part.

We all did everything we could to try to make Billy feel better over the next few days. My mom went and bought Billy a huge goldfish that he named Marvin. Marvin was beautiful. He lived for years. I can remember Billy and Mommy making emergency runs to the dime store to buy heaters and filters when they would break down.

They took no chances with anything going wrong with Marvin.

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