Today was the one-year anniversary of the sudden death of my dear bunny Narcissus, friend to me and girlfriend to Attila for seven years.
(Narcissus on the left, Attila on the right)
A few weeks ago, I came home from work to discover Attila acting strangely, and refusing to eat. As anyone versed in proper rabbit care knows, ileus - the cessation of gastrointestinal activity - is deadly for bunnies, and swift. I rushed him to the vet in terrible fear. The vet diagnosed Attila as having a stroke, and broke the news to me that he believed Attila had been blinded. It had scared and stressed him into not eating.
The next few days were miserable for the both of us as I mixed copious amounts of small-animal gruel and forcefed it to him every few hours. After three days of that he'd had enough and refused. He nibbled at some bok choy but the vet told me to remove it as it was too sugary for the delicate state of his stomach. I resorted to shoving dandelion stalks in his face until he snapped at them in frustration. Finally, he took a bite here, a bite there. When he started eating hay on his own again I nearly cried in joy. Never have I been so happy to clean a litterbox.
He's doing fine now, and the vet even believes he's regained some of his eyesight. It's hard to say how much, but he navigates without a problem and rarely bumps into things. He's become exceptionally affectionate, and enthusiastically licks my collarbones when I hold him. Other than the residual loss of eyesight, he's perfectly healthy, which is amazing for a 10-and-a-half-year old rabbit.
Much thanks goes out to my friend Meredith and all of my imaginary internet friends - you know who you are - for being so supportive and rooting for Attila the whole way, and to the pet-loving community members of Etsy who touched me with their many responses and concerns to a thread I posted there about Attila. Such big drama over such a small rabbit! But he means the world to me, and I hope we have a great many more years together, before he rejoins his beloved Narcissus.
