Page 15 - Assisi Paw Prints issue 95

News from Rabbit Land and explore more of the house and she
became a very sassy rabbit. It took
Since the last Paw Prints there has been a lot of her a good 2 months or so to get
activity in the warren! used to her bunny parent as,
clearly, she had never been
Ghost was a wee handled well in her life. She
surprise rabbit that lived a fantastic end part
animal welfare of her life, being able to
found while go where she wanted and
investigating a have lots of love and care.
dog hoarding Pivot unfortunately went to
case. They sleep after around 4 months
found him in her new home as her tumour
locked away started to ulcerate and bleed
in a small excessively causing her too much
cage all pain and discomfort. RIP little one.
by himself.
Ghost is a
white lop eared
rabbit with red Not Just for Easter
eyes which normally
means they have very
bad eyesight issues. As one of only a few centres that rescue and
rehome rabbits, Easter is a worrying time for
But for Ghost it was more than that. The day he Assisi. Rabbits bought as gifts for Easter can
arrived he was taken to our Vet for a health check and
vaccination. One of the vet nurses quickly realised that find themselves abandoned or surrendered once
Ghost wasn’t responding to any of the usual noises in the novelty of the ‘seasonal pet’ wears off. Often
the clinic and only reacted when she walked into his bought un-neutered, it can also be a surprise if
peripheral vision. At that point she knew he was also they start to nip once they mature and become
deaf! But luckily for Ghost the very same vet nurse was hormonal.
looking for a male rabbit to be friends with her female
rabbits! She reserved him on the day and, not too long
after, she took him home to live his best life!! It’s a common misconception that rabbits
are low maintenance and make good ‘starter
Assisi received a call asking if we could help to catch a pets’ for children. They are, in fact, classed as
little stray rabbit that was frequenting someone’s garden. ‘exotics’ and require specialist care, interaction,
By chance the garden was 5 minutes away from the exercise and plenty of enrichment on a daily
home of one of the rabbit unit staff members. Luckily, the basis. Rabbits are intelligent, sociable, energetic
little rabbit, who was given the name Pivot, wasn’t too
hard to catch but we quickly realised that there was a animals that need company and lots of space
large lump on Pivot’s stomach, almost the size of a golf to bounce and binky around – the standard
ball, and, once she was seen by our vet, we received the small hutches, often sold for bunnies, are not
unfortunate news that, not only was the lump a tumour, big enough and can lead to health problems
but it also couldn’t be removed as Pivot was found to be resulting from restricted space.
in the late stages of kidney failure. The original plan was
to have her spayed and rehomed – but that wasn’t an
option anymore. Putting in the research before rehoming is vital
and our small animals team are happy to chat
The vet said Pivot only had a few months to live before with anyone considering adopting a rabbit. In the
the tumour and kidney failure would start affecting proper environment they can be adorable, fun
her quality of life. So, she lived her life out in the staff pets and really do make wonderful companions.
member’s house, where she had free rein of the entire
living room 24/7. During the day she would come out

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