Blonde Team Go: Bun's Story - A Multi Part Series

It was a week or two into December 2013 when Jeremy approached me with a question. He wanted to get me a Christmas present, but wasn’t sure if I would be ok with it, so he wanted to know whether I wanted it, but at the same time didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Of course, I was puzzled and tried to think of everything it could be, but alas, I was stumped. I told him it was ok to tell me and that’s when he asked if I wanted a baby bunny. I was giddy! After the initial shock of getting something so amazing, I asked him more questions about where the bunny was from and how old it was, etc. Apparently, his coworker [at the time] bought two female bunnies and had them for a month and one day discovered that one was not in fact female. He had a new litter of kits that needed homes. So naturally I said I wanted one and asked if I could get a picture to pick it out. Of course I picked the runt because it was so it’ll bitty. My new bunny wouldn’t be ready to come home for another week or two as it was still too little.

Two weeks went by and I found out it would be a little longer than normal because rather than separating the two adults, the coworker left them together a little too long and the momma had more babies. Apparently, my bunny was “taking care of” some of the other babies so he didn’t want to separate that one yet. Finally, January 9^th, 2014, I got to pick up my bunny. It was so small and fit in the palm of one hand! We had no idea whether or not it was a boy or a girl and the soonest we would be able to make it to the vet would be on Saturday (2 days later). So until we found out, we just called it Bun. Of course, this didn’t stop the Facebook polls of what should we name the bunny. Saturday finally came and the vet came out of the back with the bunny and said “it’s a girl!” My first instinct was to go to the store and get an “it’s a girl” balloon and do a photo shoot because why wouldn’t I?

Of course, with this photo shoot, I had to announce a name so I pooled all of my favorites together and Bun’s official name was Cinnamon Bun Ape Cakes Peaches Poof Averie Snowball IV Olson the first. Now for the reasoning behind the long name. Cinnamon because her eyes were creepy red, Bun because that’s what we had been calling her until we knew her sex, Ape Cakes because my 4 year old niece picked out the name, Peaches was from a Facebook poll and I had considered it before someone else suggested it, Poof because she was a little fluff ball, Averie because that’s what my other 4 year old ‘niece’ picked out, Snowball IV from the Simpsons and Olson the first because she was the first of her name. Naturally, we ended up calling her Bun or B or little b for short, but she had a formal name.

I hadn’t owned a bunny since 5^th grade when I had Hocus Pocus, so I figured I should probably brush up on rabbit care. I spent quite a bit of time on the Google and found a family owned company that sold hay and pellets from Central Washington, so I knew it would be fresh and I picked out a rabbit savvy vet that was local. I had read that you want to spay your rabbits as they are prone to uterine cancer, but I couldn’t do that until she was at least 6 months old.

At the time, my grandma was living in an adult care facility and I would bring Bun to visit her. I was always amazed at how relaxed Bun was and how she loved being held. Out of curiosity, I thought about getting her certified as an emotional support animal, but never did follow though. Around the 6 month mark, Jeremy and I were going on a two week trip to Hawaii for a friend’s wedding then our postponed honeymoon. We got back in early June and that’s when my grandma’s health took a turn for the worse. Over the course of the next month and a half, she slowly declined until they focused only on palliative care. My grandpa had passed away 3 days after we got Bun and now, 5 months later, I lost my grandma too. I held Bun a little longer over the next week because I felt like she was my only connection to my grandma anymore.