Pages

6.03.2009

Cupid: A special Valentine's bunny

                            
This is Cupid, shortly after he arrived at the rescue. Cupid is burned in my memory, both for his happy ending, as well as the horrific way that we found him. As you can see in the picture above, he is scruffy, dirty, and bony (note his jutting hip). When we got the call from the shelter he was at, they told us he didn't seem to be eating. We had little room in the rescue, but in these cases where the rabbit needs vet care, we often will find the room and step in to see what we can do.
        
I drove to the shelter Valentine's day of last year, dreading it as I always do during shelter visits. I knew that I could only take the one bunny as we didn't have any other room. My heart ached for the others there and I braced myself even before walking in. All that I had been told, was there was one bunny not eating. I was not prepared for what I found.
            
When I walked in, I saw him immediately. I barely announced to the staff that I had arrived before running to the cage that Cupid was in and pulling it open. Even from across the room I could see how diminished and bony he was. When I picked him up, a feeling of horror coursed through me - it felt like I was lifting a furry sack filled with bones. In his cage, his food was untouched, and not a single poop. I nuzzled him, doing all I could not to burst into tears, wrapped him in some towels and put him in the carrier. In the car, I drove as quickly as I dared - fearing the entire time that he would have a heart attack before we could get him to the vet. I dropped him off with another volunteer (Fluffy's mom!) to finish the journey, and the look on her face when she saw him mirrored my own. He tugged her heartstrings, as he had mine, and she named him Cupid.
        
Cupid had been surrendered by his owner to the shelter. He was that way when they got him. He had been so neglected that he was starving and his owners didn't even notice or care. But he made it. He pulled through, weighing in at 2.2 lbs (less than half of an average holland lop). Miraculously, he had no internal damage to his organs. He made wonderful progress in his foster home, putting on weight and stealing everyone's heart. He was dirty, and missing a lot of fur, but he soon could clean himself without falling over, and his fur grew back. He was affectionate and trusting, showing little sign of the horrific past he had suffered. He was happily adopted and now lives with his loving, forever family.
To see some better pictures of Cupid, visit this link and scroll down about 1/3 of the way. You will find Cupid's story, and a before and after picture of him. His story is a close call, but a happy ending - one of the rabbits that make those of us who volunteer in animal rescue remember that it's worth it.
        

8 comments:

Carmen S. said...

How heartbreaking! I'm so glad Cupid found a forever home and got over his horrendous past! So awful knowing there are human beings that can treat animals that way!

d. moll, l.ac. said...

Love the happy ending, it is so tragic that people could ignore him like that. At least they had the good sense to surrender him in the end before it was too late.

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

Yay for Cupid!

Tidbit's story was similar. When I found her at a county shelter she weighed only 3 pounds, her fur was thin and dull, and she had no ruff, even though she was an adult New Zealand. She checked out fine with the vet and I took her home, where she ate almost without stopping for several days.

She weighed nine pounds for most of the time I had her and her fur grew in thick and soft. She was very affectionate and didn't seem to resent the treatment she had once received. I've always wondered, though, if her past neglect caused some sort of subtle damage that would explain why I lost her after only four years.

I'm wishing Cupid many happy years with his forever family!

Anonymous said...

Poor Cupid! I'm really glad he recovered quickly and suffered no emotional damage from the way he was treated.

The Bunns said...

We got Lucky just about the same way and now he is a robust and active dandy Holland lop!!!

Totally Timmy said...

The animal auction that is held every weekend in my area is horrific. I took as many as I could in but there are so many in terrible shape. One had a broken leg, starved, terrible infection and screamed if you touched her ears because the mites were so bad. They said don't buy her, get someone to hit her on the head...nice people...She would lick my hand while I was working on her and between the vet and myself she had 2 weeks of love and pain killers.I named her Dandelion because she loved eating them so much.

The SPCA was called but they never contacted me so I doubt they followed through. I'm glad some of them make it though. I have a few happy ending stories myself.

The Fluffy Tribe said...

Cupid we are so happy you found a wonderful home and do not suffer anymore from stupid people. *nosebumps* ~The FLuffy Tribe

☆RabbitoBonbon☆ said...

Cupid is very cute after all! Nya~~ xD