Bye-bye bunnies...

Pasturella got into my meat buns bad, and I had to do the grim chore today. (Or rather, yesterday, I suppose.)

I've been rabbitless for only a few hours now and I think I'm having withdrawals. :weep: I keep pacing to the window to look out at my bunnies, but there are no bunnies to be found. It's so weird. I hope the next buns I get don't get sick like this. ;~;
I haven't been rabbitless since before I got rabbits! D: That's at least 5 years of bunny petting and now I have to take a break? Absurd! I can't function without a bunny.

But in all seriousness, I really really painfully miss my NZR doe, Gaia, most of all. She was my baby girl, and I couldn't stand to turn her into bunny burger, so she was buried. I loved this rabbit more than I like my dog. (I'm not a dog person...can't help it.) She was better potty-trained than him, too! And bigger, and didn't yap at 4AM... She was the closest to a "pet" rabbit I've ever had. I feel like I just had a chunk of my soul smashed.

Gaia was a good girl. She did a great job and gave me a lot of joy and meals while she was here. I saved back a tuft of her fur to put in a small jar as a keepsake.

That was a tough decision, Nyctra, but in view of your other graphic post, I think it was the right one to make. (((HUGS)))

Your Gaia sounds like a very special rabbit. She certainly was pretty too. Hang onto those good memories of her.

Damn I'm so sorry to hear about the outbreak.

"P" is my worst nightmare and I'm just waiting for my luck to run out. It decimated my colony as a kid (thankfully my show Netherland Dwarfs were not affected - my dad said they were too ornery to get sick )

A couple of my meat rabbits have wormed their way into my heart and there will be plenty of tears when their time here is done. Gaia sounds like a wonderful doe and tribute to her name - the Greek earth goddes - my condolences on her passing.

I'm so sorry, Nyctra.

What an agonizing decision to have to make. As I mentioned in your other post ( abscessed-lung-graphic-t22718.html ), outwardly your rabbits look so healthy that the decision would be all the more difficult to make. You must have a huge core of strength to have been able to carry through with your decision.

I hope that you can find another group of rabbits soon to restart your program. They will be fortunate indeed to land in your capable hands.

Pasteurella is actually very fragile outside of the host animal- it only lives about 24 hours on surfaces- so you don't necessarily need to wait long to find new stock.

I would give all of your cages a thorough cleaning and disinfect them with either bleach, vinegar, betadine surgical scrub, or rubbing alcohol, just in case there is something secondary going on (like bordetella) ... or if you are like me, do all of them in succession. I have a steam cleaner that I fill with straight white vinegar when I am really determined to eradicate the possibility of disease organisms surviving.

:rip: Gaia and all of her fellow herdmates... and a big hug to you for taking such good care of your rabbits up until the end. :grouphug:

I am so very sorry, Nyctra!

I am so sorry, based on your photos you really did the right thing. it must really hurt though. Gaia was a lovely doe. I have one that's a special pet too and I know I'll cry when it's her time.

There was a time a few years back when I culled my entire herd due to pasteurella. I only remember the months with no bunnies as a kind of depressed daze...But there was relief too, because I was no longer stressing over unwell rabbits. I knew no one was suffering, and no one was going to infect other rabbits.

Gaia was a beautiful doe!

I was also forced to cull my own favorite doe this summer due to blowing white snot. I never confirmed the cause, but I don't mess around when there's a risk of pasteurella.
Those good girls can really pull at your heartstrings.

Zass":1y4e2hdo said:

...But there was relief too, because I was no longer stressing over unwell rabbits. I knew no one was suffering, and no one was going to infect other rabbits.

Click to expand...

Pretty much exactly how I feel right now.

Roundabout after some bad feed, everything spiraled south and it was clear it wasn't going to get better. I'm not sure if it was the moldy feed that dropped their immune systems and let something take hold, or if it was all the grungy strangers my dad was bringing around so close to my rabbits. But something changed and things went to heck.

Of a batch of 39 kits, it killed 22 before they even hit 4weeks, and that was mostly culling for abscesses or snot, some died for seemingly no reason. I know it was pointless, but I'd hoped it would pass and wouldn't carry on into the next batch...but of course it did. Generally, the signs showed in abscesses and snotless sneezes. (Greydoe's lung was the first internal abscessing I've found; most were just under the skin or in nursing doe boobs.)

After either the bad feed or disease made a handful of does wither away, I didn't want to see that happen to another rabbit, especially not Gaia. One or the other had brought her to the emaciated brink once before, but she pulled through it. I didn't really have any hope for the herd; I was just being selfish and didn't want to say goodbye to her. Anyone who looked bad off bit the dust. It took a while before I found the gall to do the deed thoroughly.

It was all a nightmare, but in a way, even though it sucks losing Gaia and everybun, it really is a relief to be free of it. To go out every day dreading finding abscesses, snotties, or worse was really wearing on me.

Most of my buns didn't look bad to me...but looks can be deceiving. 'Cause of this, I think I might end up being really critical of my next buns. Everything's definitely getting a thorough cleaning and fixing up before I get any new buns.

How very, very sad. So sorry, Nyctra.

By any chance... did you ever sell any of Gaia's kits? If so, maybe someone is raising grandbuns of hers that you could restock with? There was a thread or two on RT about the possibility of beating P by breeding the survivors with resistance, so if someone has stock that isn't affected... just a thought. I sure know how it feels to have something to carry on from a pet that was so precious.

Just one buck, but heck if I know where he wound up.

I have a breeder in mind already, and I believe they have just what I need (NZRs and Giant Chins...what luck!). Their buns look pretty healthy. I still want to make a line of frosties.
I did manage to make one, and he didn't grow into much frosting at all. Just a little on his ears and the bridge of his nose. I wish I could have kept him. He was sweet and had weird a curly tail.