The ER Bunny

Yes...I wish those letters stood for something like "exotic radiant bunny", but they actually do mean just what you probably thought. Meet our Emergency Room bunny!

Here is how it happened..

We went out after church and got the bunny a litter box because it is too hard for Brody to clean the cage with the heavy tray, and we heard there is a really good chance to teach them to use it. I proceeded to take the bunny out and put him in his exercise pen while I got the cage all cleaned up and ready. Bryan decided it was a great time to clean off the patio as well. (Have I mentioned how messy bunnies are?) Anyway, being a guy he did what guys do and brought up the leaf blower...which it turns out really scared the hec out of Dusty. It scared him so much that he flipped out... literally... and broke his leg. Bryan noticed it because it was dragging and when he picked him up to look at it, it was awful! The back right leg could just do a full turn and was just hanging there. Bryan was sure that the bunny would have to be put down, not thinking there was anything they could do and was also sure that he was suffering. So, we prepped the boys and after the tears decided to head to the emergency room because of course this would happen on a weekend;) While in the waiting room, I used my nifty little iphone and did some research and it turned out the results weren't as bleak as we thought.

After meeting with the doctor, we had three choices..

1) Put him in a very small space and keep him confined as possible and let the bone heal. This option came with a huge risk of infection.

2) Splint the leg which obviously came with a price tag and an inconvenience.

3) Have surgery with an osteopathic specialist to fix it properly which probably cost as much as a car and would be a tougher recovery.

We went in the middle and splinted the leg. Bryan and I fully admit that this was done mostly out of guilt since the bunny was in our care when it happened! Also, I have to admit if the bunny was a jerk of a bunny or jumped out of the cage, we might not have been so willing:) Truthfully, he is a darn sweet bunny and a real good pet, with a great personality.

So, we went back later and picked him up and it has been quite the ordeal around here. Turns out bunnies don't have much of a will to live! Who would of known? Anyway, getting him to eat and drink was critical in that first 24 hours so like a nurse I was there holding the water bottle and hand feeding him Timothy Hay and kale that we happened to have on hand. After a day he did start coming back to life and is now progressing very well.

Thankfully, we have not had to put one of those awful collars on him that prevent him from chewing. The first day, he put that hole in the top bandage, but has left it alone since. I am grateful for that because I imagine that would be a huge step back for him adjusting. We are just now getting our bunny back and I can't wait for that thing to come off his leg. Obviously the litter box training is on hold and we can't take him out of the cage, which is a big bummer for all of us!

I know there are people that are going to call us crazy for doing this and some that think we should of put all costs aside and gone for the surgery. We made the best decision for us, which is all we can do. The truth is we could afford it and this is a perfect example of why we save from every check that we can. Although it isn't at the top of our list on how to spend the money, especially with the holidays coming up and with both boys having birthdays, but we felt we owed it to everyone to do something since we could. We would of had no trouble explaining that we weren't going to do something if we really couldn't.

Plus, if you would of looked into Brody's sad eyes that day, trust me, you would of wanted to say you would do something too;)

I can't wait to blog that the splint is off!