What, Doesn’t Everyone Travel With Their Bunny?
Longtime readers may think that I do operate under the sincere “What, doesn’t everyone travel with their bunny?” premise. Yes there was that time we headed to my sister’s cabin only to find we’d left Bonanza behind at home by mistake. But that was seven years ago. Lately I’ve been leaving the little darling (who’s survived 10 years living with us and is now a remarkable 13) at the vet’s when we go away. However a horrid virus, commonly referred to as “Bunny Ebola,” has hit our corner of the world. Out of careful precaution no professional outfit is boarding rabbits this summer. If you don’t mind the gruesome details you can read about rabbit hemorrhagic disease here. The name alone makes me shiver.
Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t share that there was another option other than carting her along. A good friend kindly offered to stay at our house for the three sleeps that I’d be away. However the required prep work would have outweighed the benefits. I do tend to let things slide house-wise during the summer. It was easier if Bonanza just hopped along on the journey.
Rabbit Care 101
I’ll keep it short. The key thing about rabbits is they don’t handle the heat well and when they feel punk they stop eating. Mindful that our journey would be seven and a half hours long and would involve two ferries, a water taxi and a land taxi, I had to watch her carefully. Bonanza needed to be kept cool and watered and fed. A good jumper, she obviously couldn’t run loose in the car so I tucked a frozen water bottle alongside her water bowl and handfuls of fresh timothy hay into the small pet carrier.
What, doesn’t everyone travel with their bunny? If they’re like our grand dame maybe they should. She handled the lengthy journey like a trooper. Munched on her hay, spread herself splat over the chilly water bottle and dozed like the drowsy traveller she was.
The fun began at the water taxi dock. You schlep everything from your car down the ramp to the dock. I took B first so she could soak up the sea air. When I got back with the second load she was surrounded by curious onlookers.
“Can we pet your bunny?” “Geez, I feel bad that we left the cat at home.” “You’re quite attached to your rabbit, are you? Does she, um, go everywhere with you?”
And how did she manage once we got to our destination? Extremely well. You couldn’t fault B’s accommodation. My sister Wendy kindly donated the shady patch of land at the side of her house for Bonanza’s large fencing. Once that was set up I threw on some towels to protect B from curious eagles. And I couldn’t have asked for a better assistant, my two year-old grandniece Ms. H, who was always more than eager to yank up the weeds and grass by the handfuls.
We’re back home now and I think Ms. B is going through some major withdrawal. Oh, she’s eating fine and everything but it’s not the same without the endless attention of Ms. H.
And our Poppy? Where was she while we were away? At her favorite boarding kennel, a little slice of heaven out in the countryside. Her photo is still front and centre when you enter. Can you spot it?
In my next post I’ll share the key reason for this vacation. But will leave you with a little hint …
And yes, Laugh Out Loud is now available for download on Kindle!
More on that and the wonderful ladies of the ‘Sandy Bottoms Book Club’ next time …
Enough of what, doesn’t everyone travel with their bunny? I’m curious about you. Is a rabbit part of your world, other than in a stew? Do you leave your beloved pets with good friends or drop them off at the spa? Or are you happily pet free? If you’d care to share, I’d love to hear.
21 Responses
Wow, good on you for packing up your bunny to take with you ! We also travel with our furry friends, 2 dogs, and on occasion our daughters bunny if she is also away.Hence why we still have a mini van even though our girls have left home ! It does take some doing, as you said, they don’t travel well in the heat. Great idea with the frozen water bottles !!
Yes, you do and I’ve got the picture as proof! Mr. G the bunny travels in style with you, I must say. Makes B’s travel home look rather sad if truth be known! The water bottle idea was a tip I picked up from rabbit lady Michelle. Before she installed air conditioning she told me she threw in frozen water bottles with each of her charges.
We used to rely on a friend of Youngest Son for cat sitting duties. However, he’s moved away from the area. For our last vacation I had to scramble (even taking to Facebook for suggestions) to find a new person to fill in, I did find a gem, but paid twice what I was used to. I guess I didn’t know how good I had it.
Oh you are lucky! It’s such a relief to know they are being well taken care of. Things are complicated here with the rabbit virus as folks who own rabbits are leery of taking on another.
In the past we have flown with a small daschund. Everyone on the plane hated us. Good post. Bunnies are quieter?
Ha! Yes, bunnies are quieter until they “thump” to warn any and all other bunnies in the area that there is potential trouble afoot. So delightful to be woken by that at 2am when Bonanza is down the hall from my bedroom … waaaaaay down the hall …
First of all, I encourage EVERYONE to get a copy of Laugh Out Loud. The book will, in fact, make you laugh out loud, especially the essay by our talented pal Kelly! I recently gave a copy to a friend recovering from surgery although I waited until her stitches healed so it didn’t hurt to laugh. 😉
Bunny ebola?!?!? How terrifying! I’m delighted that Bonanza enjoyed her trip to Wendy’s, doted on by sweet Ms. H and protected from “curious eagles”.
As I’ve said in the past, you’re the best, Mo. And yes, “Bunny Ebola.” Uh huh. When I pop into town to get the requisite flake of timothy hay from the “rabbit lady” there are now two phone numbers tacked on to her fence. You have to call one of them before you can go in. You then must reassure the person on the other end that you have NOT been anywhere near a bunny that has this fearsome virus.
I love a good bunny’s tale …. seems your bunny can add travel to its resume. Poppy takes on travel….title of your next novel.
Hahah! Yes, indeed. The gal at the rescue place assured me “Oh she’ll live at most ten years. If she was wild, only two.” Meanwhile his owner, my son, has gone on to graduate high school, leave home and attend 5 years of college and then a 6 months overseas internship and she’s still going strong at 13 …
How sweet! My Aunt and Uncle have a bunny named “Benni” and what a character he is! He has his own bedroom complete with a small ‘doggie door’ to easily provide access. Benni will actually jump up into your lap for a few nibbles or cuddles. My Aunt and Uncle are lucky enough to have a neighbor who comes over to ‘bunny sit’ when they are out of town. I think, though, that Benni could be quite the ‘world traveler’ if given a chance! He definitely has that “man about town” look to him. LOL!
Now Benni has quite the life. Oh that’s grand. I won’t tell Bonanza as she’d be very jealous. Her life is far less interesting. She resides in my son’s room in Winter and outside during the day in Summer. I’m scared of the interaction between sweet Poppy and her. Poppy’s enthusiasm might cause a bunny heart attack, or worse yet, a broken bone or two. So, we keep them apart. Poppy has been known to lick her head when B was feeling punk and that did get B eating again. Perhaps out of terror?
I may be dating myself but “Have Bun, Will Travel” keeps going through my brain. Anyone remember Palladin?
Ok … so I had to google it. And yes, now it’s entrenched in mine.
I’m so pleased you protected her from the eagles! Who knew one could travel so well with a bunny?!
The thing is, I was left looking like the wonderful woman who takes her precious bunny everywhere, when in reality …
I did not know bunnies travelled so well! I’ve never had one, although my kids have asked. Just dogs for me, thanks! And I spotted your sweet Poppy right away:)
Now you see, this is where I admire you. You stood firm. I was this close to getting a second rabbit as my son implored the importance of “bunny bonding” …
AW! You are even more infamous than the “Cat Lady” is now! LOL. This is both adorable and hilarious, Kelly. I’m really REALLY impressed the traveling went so smoothly for that little cutie pie. And I can imagine people asking if you take the bunny everywhere you go. HA!
What a trip you had! SO cool.
PS: I’m so glad you keep bringing up the book because it reminds me I MUST go get it asap. Well, as soon as we recover from summer and back to school spending! Sigh.
Aw, thanks, Chris. Yes, it was quite something having folks assume that I took the rabbit everywhere. The gal at the Olive Oil/Vinegar store was absolutely gobsmacked when I asked her if I could “bring my bunny inside.” Wished I could have filmed her double-take.
Best of luck with the return to school prep! I won’t mention how delighted I am that those days are over for me … Promise.