Bunny Bliss

From Pumpkin the Rabbit

Let me start by saying I never envisioned myself as the lady who loved her pet as if it were a child. I do not see myself as this woman, but, let’s face it, I’ve only had Pumpkin a few months, and I baby talk to him.


For those of you who are not aware of what conspired two weekends ago, let me catch you up. When we adopted Pumpkin, we were told rabbits are social pets and prefer to be in a couple. Lately, we have been getting home later in the evenings, and there is a degree of guilt you experience when you walk into your pitch black apartment to see a bunny that has been in his pen in the dark for hours. In true yuppie fashion, our response was he needed a buddy.

We were pretty in the dark ourselves about “bonding” a rabbit, so we went to a local rabbit adoption group. By the end of the afternoon, we had a new girlfriend for Pumpkin – Squash. Cute, huh? After about 24 hours, Chris and I realized I was pretty allergic to Squash’s fur (did you know rabbits have various types of fur?). So, off we go back to the adoption group to return poor Squash. Fortunately, the group was able to find a few backups. The first rabbit was cute and absolutely terrified of Pumpkin, so that was a no go. The second set off my allergies. The third seemed to be a great fit – cute, looked like Pumpkin but gray, and really friendly.

Something that was disturbing to me in all this was the chance of a fight breaking out during the bonding process. Rabbit fights, as counterintuitive as it may seem, can result in death. Yup, people, death by bunny. You just don’t hear that often. Well, another slightly embarrassing aspect of bonding is humping. The dominant does it to the submissive to establish hierarchy. Once it is established, the dominant stops. Well, you have to monitor newly bonded rabbits to ensure they do not fight and the dominant does not start humping to submissive’s head.

As we were preparing to leave the adoption center, Pumpkin (the dominant) decided to take hump his new buddy’s head. Before I knew what happened, Pumpkin’s tender area was being bit by his new buddy. I couldn’t pull them apart until Pumpkin screamed. Yes, a rabbit scream is eerie and sounds like a baby scream. (insert shudder here) Well, as I snatched up my shaking rabbit, I realized we had an issue – he was bleeding – in an awkward place. I will spare everyone the details and just inform you that he is still a bachelor and recovered but only after I had to administer ointment twice a day for a week (because you knew there was no way Chris was going to do it).

In true overprotective mama fashion, I am barring him from dating until I forget this whole incident.