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Miss Dill
 During
spring and summer months in my neighborhood the wild bunnies can be seen grazing
on the green manicured lawns. It’s
fun for my sister and I to see the wild ones as we both have domesticated
bunnies at home.
One hot,
humid June evening we saw a small white and black rabbit hopping around near a
tennis court. We were both amazed
to see this domestic bunny out on the lawn with four wild bunnies.
The white and black bunny kept running up to the wild bunnies, gingerly
stretching out to touch a nose and only to be rejected violently with flying
legs and feet.
My
sister and I decided we would figure out a way to capture the domestic bunny the
next day. However, before I was up
that Saturday my sister went outside and was able to catch the bunny in the
already hot morning. Connie immediately went to our laundry room sink and ran warm
water, washing off the hundreds of fleas covering the bunny.
When she brought the bunny into the house we dried her off and found
ticks in her ears and on her body. One side of her face and the ear on the same
side and under the neck were red and raw without any fur.
We applied a medicated antibiotic ointment on the sores.
The bunny flinched every time we applied the ointment.
Then the small bunny settled into a temporary home, a large carrier with
timothy hay on the bottom and water, timothy pellets and fresh vegetables.
 The
following Monday we took the new rabbit in for a vet checkup.
The vet found another tick deep in her ear.
The red, raw ear had a puncture clear through it and the vet advised us
to use Neosporin on the sore, red areas. Then
like a couple of expectant parents my sister and I asked the vet to sex the
bunny and confirm we had a female. She
had never been spayed. When the vet
examined her teeth, she told us the female was at least 5 to 6 years old. She weighed 2 pounds, 4 ounces and was obviously a dwarf
bunny. I told the vet that I was
going to keep the bunny adding to my dwarf family.
I named her Dill.
Several
months before, I had adopted 2 dwarf bunnies from the local humane society that
became an affectionate bonded pair. One
of the adopted bunnies is a Netherland Otter female, named Sage and the other is
a male, named Basil, a Hotot. Dill
looks just like Basil from the back. I
moved Dill into a new cage until her new condo would arrive.
Dill
continued to heal and all her fur has grown back.
Her coat is soft and shiny. She
loves to lie next to her ‘cold buddy’ and stretch out.
She plays with her toys and will sometimes tear up the newspaper in the
bottom of her timothy hay filled litter box.
She loves all fruit treats, especially bits of banana.
Dill has started to lay closer to the front of her condo this week.
She doesn’t shrink back as often when I put my hand in her condo to
clean, change her hay and water, or just pet her.
Dill loves to be petted, she will ‘flat head’ and grind her teeth in
a bunny purr. She is very alert and
watches my sister and I, the other bunnies and my older female cat.
In fact, she is very curious about the cat and has timidly greeted the
cat when she has been out for exercise.
Fortunately,
it doesn’t appear that Dill was outside more than a couple of days.
The vet told me it was great Dill was found and flourish. For me
it’s a privilege to have this bright, sweet little Dill in my home and life.
Bonnie
Update
9 months later: Dill had a laser spay surgery a few weeks
ago and is doing quite well.
I
decided to go ahead with the surgery for Dill. Unspayed female rabbits have a very high occurrence (85%) of
uterine cancer after 5 years of age.
 Update 2 years later:
Four months ago a handsome agouti lop, Carmello, (Carmel) needed a home because
his owner was getting married. But Carmel beat her to the alter because he
bonded with Dill right away. They are affectionate and inseparable.
With a bonded mate it was now time to find Carmel and Dill a home together. Carmel
and Dill went to a new loving home with a mom and her two
children. These bunnies are so fortunate to have each other and a new
family! |
