R
RainbowBrite
I thought I would tell you the story of my late bunny, Faisel. Do not worry if you do not want to read it. I know this is a hamster forum and this may be long. I tried to condense his story as much as I could.
Thirteen years ago I used to chat to somebody from time to time online who mentioned they had a 18 month old rabbit they did not want. Something told me I must take this rabbit so I told them I would take the rabbit off them. He happily agreed. I quickly tried to research rabbits as much as possible and bought things the rabbit would need. I got a carrier and went to collect this rabbit. I arrived at the flat where the person I chatted to and many of their young siblings were there. The children were from 18 right down to 2 years old. I collected the rabbit quickly and noticed quite a bad smell.
Once arriving home I let the rabbit out the carrier and that is when I realised this rabbit was not well. His eyes were red and swollen, he was thin with patches of fur missing and he smelt so bad that I gagged. They had given me his 'things' which were a cracked plastic bowl, rice crispies (the cereal for humans) a human hair brush covered in human and rabbit hair, a water bottle green with algae and a tennis ball. I sent the person a message asking what food the rabbit ate and he said they only give him rice crispies and sometimes hamster food. I named him Faisel.
The poor rabbit seemed starving and wolfed down the rabbit food I had given him. I set up a play pen with a litter tray, water and hay and he lay down and went to sleep. This was Saturday and on Monday I made a vet appointment for him. I was given an appointment the next day and the vet was horrified and asked me why I had taken on this rabbit. I told her I wanted to care for him. She said he will need to stay overnight as they were not really sure what help he needed. I left and told my self Faisel may not survive but at least he was safe.
The following day I went to see him and was told, he had a parasite and his fur was given treatment, he needed to be neutered, his teeth had the worst decay possible and his front teeth had to be removed, his guts were rotting due to not having hay, his nails were so overgrown and they cut them. The rotting guts explained the terrible smell.
Through out the months Faisel was neutered and had many dentals. I had to teach him to eat hay and he was not happy as he did not want to know. Slowly he learned to eat hay and he adored fresh food. Having no front teeth meant celery had to be grated and any herbs had to be broken up. He was deaf and it was found he had ruptured ear drums.
I then met my partner who fell in love with Faisel. Faisel loved him too.
Faisel was very nervous and would shake each time he had to go to the vets. His fur would fall out in fear. He would not allow me to touch him at all but after two years he started letting me stroke him. This was wonderful and amazing progress. I always allowed him to do everything at his own pace. He taught me a lot and I was pretty clueless about a lot of things when it came to his care. I accidently gave him too much fresh food and he became ill. His little body was not used it and could not cope.
He had the most amazing personality. He was very grumpy and always wanted to be left alone. Often if I went and sat with him he would turn his back on me. He had so much fur but I was not allowed to brush it or he would shake. He had terrible guts that never recovered from his poor start. He ended up loving hay and would eat a lot of it. Being a grumpy boy he would be angry when I put out fresh hay for him and would refuse to eat it until I left. He never liked me thinking he was happy or pleased with anything he had done.
He had so many vet visits and I was very lucky as an animal charity helped me with this. He was quite famous there and they all knew him. He had a few mini strokes too.
Faisel always had eye issues as he had terrible teeth and he needed regular eye treatment which caused him a lot of stress. He hated his litter tray being changed and would sit in it when he knew it was going to be cleaned. He was very stubborn but so so loveable. He was free range and his favourite place to be was under my bed. I think he used it as his burrow.
At over 9 years old Faisel seemed unwell and I took him to the vet were he was kept overnight. Sadly he could not be saved and he was put to sleep. It was nice that he could finally be at peace as he had been through so much in his precious life. We miss him very badly. We did everything around him such as not getting a bed as he liked going under that one.
I do not have many pictures as he would turn his back if I tried to take a picture but here are some for you to get to know what he looked like.
Here is Faisel with his water bowl.
Here he is sleeping. He always looked so relaxed sleeping
A nice picture of him.
Thirteen years ago I used to chat to somebody from time to time online who mentioned they had a 18 month old rabbit they did not want. Something told me I must take this rabbit so I told them I would take the rabbit off them. He happily agreed. I quickly tried to research rabbits as much as possible and bought things the rabbit would need. I got a carrier and went to collect this rabbit. I arrived at the flat where the person I chatted to and many of their young siblings were there. The children were from 18 right down to 2 years old. I collected the rabbit quickly and noticed quite a bad smell.
Once arriving home I let the rabbit out the carrier and that is when I realised this rabbit was not well. His eyes were red and swollen, he was thin with patches of fur missing and he smelt so bad that I gagged. They had given me his 'things' which were a cracked plastic bowl, rice crispies (the cereal for humans) a human hair brush covered in human and rabbit hair, a water bottle green with algae and a tennis ball. I sent the person a message asking what food the rabbit ate and he said they only give him rice crispies and sometimes hamster food. I named him Faisel.
The poor rabbit seemed starving and wolfed down the rabbit food I had given him. I set up a play pen with a litter tray, water and hay and he lay down and went to sleep. This was Saturday and on Monday I made a vet appointment for him. I was given an appointment the next day and the vet was horrified and asked me why I had taken on this rabbit. I told her I wanted to care for him. She said he will need to stay overnight as they were not really sure what help he needed. I left and told my self Faisel may not survive but at least he was safe.
The following day I went to see him and was told, he had a parasite and his fur was given treatment, he needed to be neutered, his teeth had the worst decay possible and his front teeth had to be removed, his guts were rotting due to not having hay, his nails were so overgrown and they cut them. The rotting guts explained the terrible smell.
Through out the months Faisel was neutered and had many dentals. I had to teach him to eat hay and he was not happy as he did not want to know. Slowly he learned to eat hay and he adored fresh food. Having no front teeth meant celery had to be grated and any herbs had to be broken up. He was deaf and it was found he had ruptured ear drums.
I then met my partner who fell in love with Faisel. Faisel loved him too.
Faisel was very nervous and would shake each time he had to go to the vets. His fur would fall out in fear. He would not allow me to touch him at all but after two years he started letting me stroke him. This was wonderful and amazing progress. I always allowed him to do everything at his own pace. He taught me a lot and I was pretty clueless about a lot of things when it came to his care. I accidently gave him too much fresh food and he became ill. His little body was not used it and could not cope.
He had the most amazing personality. He was very grumpy and always wanted to be left alone. Often if I went and sat with him he would turn his back on me. He had so much fur but I was not allowed to brush it or he would shake. He had terrible guts that never recovered from his poor start. He ended up loving hay and would eat a lot of it. Being a grumpy boy he would be angry when I put out fresh hay for him and would refuse to eat it until I left. He never liked me thinking he was happy or pleased with anything he had done.
He had so many vet visits and I was very lucky as an animal charity helped me with this. He was quite famous there and they all knew him. He had a few mini strokes too.
Faisel always had eye issues as he had terrible teeth and he needed regular eye treatment which caused him a lot of stress. He hated his litter tray being changed and would sit in it when he knew it was going to be cleaned. He was very stubborn but so so loveable. He was free range and his favourite place to be was under my bed. I think he used it as his burrow.
At over 9 years old Faisel seemed unwell and I took him to the vet were he was kept overnight. Sadly he could not be saved and he was put to sleep. It was nice that he could finally be at peace as he had been through so much in his precious life. We miss him very badly. We did everything around him such as not getting a bed as he liked going under that one.
I do not have many pictures as he would turn his back if I tried to take a picture but here are some for you to get to know what he looked like.
Here is Faisel with his water bowl.
Here he is sleeping. He always looked so relaxed sleeping
A nice picture of him.
