This may sound a bit off - a breed of rabbits may be placed on the endangered species list. One might ask - but rabbits breed like…rabbits! Why would some be considered endangered? But the Pygmy rabbit, a tiny rabbit weighing in at only 1.8 pounds when full grown, has found itself losing habitat, and unable to adapt. They are currently protected in Washington, however, the U.S. government is considering putting them on the Federal Endangered Species list.

Several rabbits were released into the wild, but they have been unable to adapt, falling prey to predators. These tiny lagomorphs need protection, and placing them on the Endangered Species list will hopefully give them the help they need, to prevent this tiny (and adorable!) rabbit from becoming extinct.

We’ve already announced this news to most people, however, if you haven’t heard yet, Preston and I are going to be parents in June. I’m about 4 1/2 months pregnant with our first baby. At my last appointment, the doctor said he guessed that the baby is a boy, but he would verify that at my next appointment (which is next week). I’ll post and let everyone know!

Anyway, it’s exciting thinking that we’ll have a new Wily in June - our own little linkbuilder/bunny lover.

I was reading on ksl.com about a member of the Utah National Guard, Major Craig Jenkins, who was trying to make his pictures of Iraq more interesting for his kids. He said no one was really interested with the pictures of himself riding in helicopters, etc., so he came up with the idea for Combat Bunny, a little pink stuffed bunny with a military uniform that goes everywhere, and has pictures taken in famous places, such as “The Green Zone,” the Cross Sword Monument, and many others.

The idea has gotten pretty popular, and it’s easy to see why. The cute little pink bunny gives a bit of comic relief to a tense situation. Humor always helps when kids are worried about their parents, and this was a great idea by Major Jenkins, to help make learning about Iraq a bit funnier, and more interesting for his kids.

Check out the photo album in the link…my favorite picture is the bunny strapped into the seatbelt with Major Jenkins.

It’s been a month today since Honey Bunny died. It’s hard to believe it’s been a month already - we still really miss her. I bought some daffodil bulbs to plant on her grave so they’ll come up every spring.

We’ve talked about eventually getting another bunny (or two) at some point, but I think we’re not going to get any more bunnies right now - at least not for a little while. It’s been very sad, but we’re doing ok. I think having two bunnies would be a little bit easier, because when you lose one, you still have another one. That’s how it was when Fluffy died - we still had Honey Bunny. It has been hard, though, with Honey gone, because there aren’t any bunnies there to distract us. Knowing us, though, we’ll always have a bunny or two.

I bought a good book that was written by a woman that lost a pet bunny suddenly to sickness, similar to Honey Bunny. It’s a collection of her poems that she wrote as she was going through those tough times. Anyone that has lost a pet, bunny or otherwise, would benefit from reading this. It’s called When Only the Love Remains by Emily Margaret Stuparyk. It’s a very sweet book, and it’s been good to read. I still miss Honey, but it helps me think about the cute (or naughty) things she’d do, and it reminds me of all the fun times we had with her. I’m just glad that we had a chance to have Honey Bunny with us for 5 1/2 years. She was great. We still miss her, but we’re glad to have the happy memories.

Today was a heartbreaking day for Preston and me. We got a call from Dr. Orr (Honey’s vet) around 10:30am, and he said she had taken a turn for the worse, and we should come there to say hi to her. Preston and I headed out of the office and ran up to the vet hospital. We got there about 11:30, and they brought Honey Bunny into one of the rooms so we could hold her.

She was very weak, and couldn’t hold her head up. She was wrapped up in a towel to keep her warm, and we took turns holding her, petting her, and talking to her. She just snuggled up to us, and seemed to be really happy that we were there holding and kissing her. She rested her head on my hand, and sat there as we scratched her nose, one of her favorite things.

We were able to hold her for about a half hour, and we told her that we loved her, and we were ok if she wanted to go. It was so sad - she died in my arms around noon today. It was peaceful, and even though we miss her terribly, we know she’s in a better place.

The staff at Creekside Animal Hospital told us that she waited for us to get there so she could be with us when she passed away. It was so sweet, and it meant a lot that we were there for her, and that she waited for us.

We miss her terribly, and our house is so lonely without her. It was so hard to say goodbye, but we know she’s in a better place, and she’s not in pain anymore. She’s with her other bunny friends - Bonnie Bunny, Fluffy, BunBun, and all of her babies. I know that we’ll be with her again in the next life, and for that, I’m grateful. I love Honey Bunny so much, and it’s so hard to say goodbye. She was there for us during so many difficult times, and it’s painful not having her here anymore. We’re grateful, however, for the 5 1/2 years we had to spend with her. She brought so much joy and happiness to our lives - I like to hope we did the same for her.

Honey is still hanging on - she spent the weekend at the hospital, and we got to visit her Sat. and Sun. She seemed to perk up a bit yesterday morning, but the vet techs said she couldn’t stand up yesterday evening. Her weight is 4.5 pounds instead of her usual 6.5 pounds, and her temperature is low. They did say she was sitting up this morning, which was a good sign. She’s not eating on her own, yet, though.

They put her in an incubator, and that helped her a bit. They’re still force feeding her, but she’s not putting on weight yet. I’m waiting to hear back from Dr. Orr, but it’s good to know that they’re working really hard to keep her alive.

Honey is still critically ill - we’re praying that she’ll have the energy to get better. It’s been a tough road for her - hopefully she has the will to keep fighting. She’s such a sweet bunny - it’s been hard seeing her go through this. I’ll write more as I know more.

Today I brought Honey back to the vet because she has been very lethargic, and she refuses to eat. (We’ve been force feeding her again for the past couple of days.) She’s just been sleeping a lot, and hasn’t been herself at all. Even her eyes look sad. She just hasn’t been her spunky self. She even refuses her favorite treats.

I brought her in to see Dr. Orr, and he’s very concerned. He said she has a mass the size of a baseball in her belly, and said it seems that her gut has shut down again. Unfortunately, this time, it seems like her body is just overwhelmed, and she’s giving up. He thinks her immune system is shutting down. Her prognosis isn’t good - this whole sickness has taken a toll on her little body, and Dr. Orr says she’s critically ill.

They’re keeping her in the hospital for the afternoon, and they’re going to do some x-rays and give her some painkillers and other medicines to try to get her system going again. I’ll post more as I get more updates from the hospital, but it doesn’t look like things are going to turn out as we’ve prayed they would.

I’m still hopeful - I think any pet owner would be - but it’s been heartbreaking. I feel good, however, knowing that we’ve done everything humanly possible to give her a couple more months - pain free - with us. I want what’s best for her, but it’s so hard trying to prepare for the worst. Honey has been a part of our family for 5 1/2 years, and has been there for me through the worst times in my life. She’s been such a comfort to me, and I pray that now I can be a comfort to her. I’ll post more information as I get it.

Honey just went to the vet on Thursday for a checkup, and she seems to be doing pretty well. Dr. Orr wants to have her totally off of medicine to see how she’s doing. She finally started eating some hay on her own last week, and Thursday we had a major breakthrough. She started drinking a little bit of water from her sipper bottle. We’re really happy about this - we’re not going to be giving her fluid injections this week, so she really needs to drink to be sure she’s getting her needed fluids.

Her feet still have sores - it’s really sad. Those will probably take a while to heal, but hopefully she’ll keep getting better. But we’re excited that she’s eating her hay, and last night she started eating some timothy hay pellets. Fingers crossed - hopefully she’ll keep getting better. It’s amazing how long it takes for bunnies to recover from illnesses like that. She’s doing well, and hopefully she’ll keep doing better. More later!

Today I brought Honey back to the vet for a checkup. It’s been just over a week since we brought her home from the hospital, and she seems to be doing well. She does have hock sores on her feet, so we have to wrap her back feet and put neosporin on the sores to keep them from getting infected. She’s not a big fan of this…but we’ll try to help it heal quickly so it doesn’t become a chronic problem.

Dr. Orr said she’s doing well. We don’t have to give her Baytril (antibiotic) or pain meds anymore, but we still have to give her the fluid injections and Metaclopramide along with force feeding the Critical Care.

Hopefully she’ll start eating hay again soon, but she is doing a good job of eating her veggies. She’s running around more, and seems to be getting better and better. Dr. Orr is happy with her progress. She’ll go back in a couple of weeks so he can evaluate her progress at that point.

So I haven’t had an update on Honey Bunny in a while…it’s probably because she’s home now, and we’ve been really busy taking care of her. She’s doing pretty well…eating her romaine lettuce and cilantro. I found a great rabbit supply company, Oxbow Hay, that specializes in exotics like rabbits, and they’re really knowledgable about the care of bunnies. I called and asked for some advice because Honey won’t eat her hay, and their representative, Pam, was amazing! She took 20 minutes on the phone with me to help me figure out how to get Honey Bunny to start eating hay again. She also explained the nutrition of different types of hay, and which would be best for Honey. She also gave me tips on helping Honey recover from her GI Stasis.

One tip she gave me for helping Honey to start eating hay again is to find something she likes (Cilantro, in her case), and somehow mix it in with her hay. She suggested getting dried cilantro flakes and sprinkling it in Honey’s hay. Well, that night when I tried it, Honey actually started eating hay again for the first time in quite a while! I couldn’t believe it! This is a HUGE step in the right direction.

Honey really seems to be on the road to recovery. One other problem that popped up, however, is since she was sick, she now has sores on her feet and toes, probably from sitting in a cage for most of the day when she was recovering. She didn’t have the energy to do much other than sit, so it seems this is normal. I’m taking her back to the vet on Thursday for a checkup, and I’ll have Dr. Orr examine her feet as well. I can tell she’s uncomfortable because her feet hurt, however, she’s so happy to be home and hopping around. It’s really refreshing seeing her doing so well.

I’ll write more updates soon…probably on Thursday.