A Paw-ful for Truffles

Time for another dip into our "post bag"! Here's a lovely story from a friend of the Rescue who recently took one of our single bunnies into her family.

When I first met Caroline I had a house rabbit, Honey. I thought that Honey was a happy rabbit - she would spend hours sitting in between my feet as I tapped away on the computer and would happily sit on my lap for a couple of hours each night as I stroked her. Caroline said that Honey should have another rabbit for company and suggested one at the sanctuary who had been a house rabbit. When Honey met Trevor (who I renamed Truffles) their friendship needed to be encouraged by putting pineapple juice on their foreheads, they licked each other heads and so started a friendship that lasted a couple of years.

Honey and Truffles were inseparable and always sat together.

Sometimes Honey’s over enthusiastic affection could leave Truffles

a little squashed but he didn’t seem to mind!

Sadly, Honey was not a well rabbit and Truffles was clearly very lonely when Honey died.

When I contacted Caroline to let her know that I was looking for a new mate for Truffles she suggested several rabbits. One of them was Ephra. When I first looked into Ephra's hutch I thought that it was empty - then I saw her huge black eyes peering out at me from the back corner. Ephra was a very nervous jumpy rabbit who was happy to hide from the world. And no wonder, before she came to the rescue she had been living in a shed with several other rabbits, the result of a pet shop selling a rabbit to an elderly lady and getting its sex wrong so the rabbits bred. The owner was soon over run with rabbits and on becoming ill her sister contacted Caroline for help. By then the problem was sizeable and Caroline bravely took on about 50 rabbits.

Unknown to Caroline Ephra was pregnant when she arrived at the rescue, her young age and the stress of being moved were probably what contributed to Ephra destroying her babies as they were born. She had had a tough start and no wonder she was nervous. Her huge black sorrowful eyes just made me want to give her a chance. She probably wasn’t the best match for Truffles but Caroline was happy to bond them. Ephra was intrigued by Truffles who rather rudely sat with his back to her. Eventually they started to get on. When Caroline brought the pair of them back to my home, Ephra hid in the corner of the kitchen under a chair. Truffles was pleased to be back home, had a quick sniff around and wanted his usual stroke and tickles from me. He then remembered Ephra and though he never usually sat under the chair before went and joined Ephra to keep her company and reassure her that all was well.

That was two months ago now and during that time Truffles has really helped Ephra (now called Moet) to gain her confidence. She is first to dash across the kitchen floor in the morning to greet me and stand by the fridge where she knows that her greens are kept. She knows the sound of the dried food tin lid being lifted and even dashes into the utility room to help herself to extra hay.

Moet and Truffles are great chums and much to Truffles relief he does not have to spend his time sitting under the chair in the corner to be with her. Truffles likes to do a bit of DIY and Moet is keen to help, they spend many a happy hour reshaping a cardboard box to get it just how they like it.

They have a big outdoor run where they enjoy eating grass and leaves from a cherry tree, and like an old married couple are back inside to sit side by side and join me watching Coronation Street! Although Truffles tends to fall asleep.

Without Caroline neither of these rabbits would have had the opportunity of a better life than they had had prior to coming into the rescue. Like so many other bunnies they have a great deal to thank Caroline for.

All pictures provided by Sue