Thursday Flasback

If ever there was an aptly named bunny it was Jester, so cheeky he never failed to make you laugh. Or make you feel bad if you forgot to grate his breakfast. His toothless smile only added to his super cuteness.

Jester

It is with a heavy heart that I report that our dear little Jester passed away over the weekend.

Seeing him every morning at the Rescue has been such a highlight of the breakfast routine for so long it is hard to remember a time when Jester wasn't here. The earliest photo I can find of him was this one from May 2009:

This was most likely shortly after he arrived. He always had quite a sweet personality and of course always looked handsome and adorable!

Most noticeably, he was fairly bold and very friendly. Not a cautious one, if you were in his enclosure then he was probably on top of you looking for treats!

Though if you didn't have any on you, he was quite happy entertaining himself watching the world go by...

But mostly he was in your face looking for food or entertainment.

Jester was one of the easiest bunnies to photograph and his adorable looks always made for a great picture. Not surprisingly, with so many great photographs of him he regularly appeared here on the blog. His distinctive, happy, (front-) toothless face made him a frequent star of our Monday Mouf feature!

Having no front teeth, his breakfast was always grated. Like most bunnies he LOVED grated carrot, so much so it was best to grate it away from him or you would be repeatedly clonking him on the head with the carrot as he excitedly tried to eat it straight off the grater.

Apart from a recent course of treatment for mites, he had always been a healthy boy with no real medical issues. The first sign that anything might be up was Friday evening when he seemed off his food. The Friday team left a note for us to check on him first thing on arrival Saturday in case he had gotten worse and needed to go to the vets, but sadly he had passed away in the night. He was 8 years old.

A dear sweet fluffy friend who we all loved and will miss terribly. Binky free, Jester.

Step Up 2 - Jester Boogaloo

BHV: OK bunnies, it's Monday, who wants to be todays Monday Mouf?

"I've not done it for a while, I might be interested..."

BHV: Well Jester, it's Monday and we want to cheer the readers up with a big smile to start their week. Do you think you could manage that?

"Maybe. What's the going rate for a Monday Mouf these days? I don't just roll out the old Jester smile for nothing you know..."

BHV: Since it's you, how about some grated carrot? What do you say to that?

BHV: Thought so.

The Jester Always Smiles

Jester Mouf

Bunnies have teeth that constantly grow, which they wear down by many daily hours of grazing. Evil human meddling with their evolution to breed cuter, rounder-faced bunnies is likely to blame for many of the dental issues we see. When the top teeth don't grow straight and in line with the bottom teeth they don't wear properly and evenly. Consequently we have bunnies who either suffer regular dentals at the vets or, in the worse cases, end up having the offending teeth removed.

As if they know it's our faults, bunnies who have had their incisors (front teeth) removed always look as though they about a second away from sticking their tongues out at us...

Up For Grabs

In Jest

Being called Jester you'd think he'd be better at taking a joke. This morning I told him I couldn't find the grater so he'd have to go without his usual carrot...

Face of the Jester

I dare you to look at Jester's sweet little face and not want to cuddle him and take him home.  I double dare you.

"Don't blame yourself.  I should probably warn you that as a kit I gained a Masters Degree in Human Emotion Manipulation from the University of Squeedon."

After dinner nap

Christmas dinner is followed for many with an afternoon nap. Seems carrot and greens for breakfast has the same effect on some bunnies.

"zzzzz"

Jester By Name...

Were you ever at a wedding, or perhaps out celebrating with people from your workplace, leave your camera on the table while you go for a little dance, only to discover later that one of your "friends" took an "amusing" picture of themselves while you were gone?

'Cos the thing is, I DO remember, at the Rescue, putting my camera down a few times to go and deal with something. I DO NOT, however, remember taking this picture of Jester.