Thumper

Let me introduce you to Thumper.

This little bundle of fur hopped into our lives around this time last year (precise date completely forgotten unknown).
I say little but she is actually the size of a small dog a bit bigger than your average bunny.


We first spotted Thumper on a Monday evening when I was taking the girls to piano. Julianna was taking her sweet time getting ready as per usual so Michella and I decided to stand beside the side door to wait for her. When we shut the door something gray darted under the garden furniture. We worked out that it was a rabbit - the ears somewhat gave her away. I did make the comment that it was a gray bunny so could possibly be a tame one but the rabbit wanted nothing to do with us at this point so we thought no more of it.

The bunny next came up when we were just heading out the door to go to school on the Wednesday morning. Vinny was walking the girls to school too so I told Michella to tell her dad what we had seen in the backyard just two days ago. Before I had even finished my sentence, one of the girls goes, 'Look! There it is!' So Vinny, naturally, says, 'Let's try and catch it.'

So they tried and they succeeded. The girls have been trying to catch a bunny for years and have never been successful. I don't think that there was much of an idea that we would be successful in achieving the object this time.

I mean, what do you do with a bunny that you have just caught in the backyard?

It didn't work out well for the Barbies, who were dumped mercilessly out of their nice, cozy box onto the cold, hard floor. The bunny was then dumped, with a little more care, into the nice, cozy box.

Remember, this is all before 8.30am. This is how the bunny spent her first day with us. I was asked to look up 'how to look after a rabbit' on the internet because no one had any idea. Well, Robbin would have known because she had a house bunny when she was younger but she was at work (which is probably how we managed to get away with catching and keeping a bunny). So we gave the bunny iceberg lettuce and carrots.

Cos that is what rabbits eat, right?

Wrong! Apparently, you never give a rabbit iceberg lettuce and eating carrots makes them really fat so they are only meant to be given as treats. Just like Ben & Jerry's should only be eaten in small portions and not straight out of the carton all in one go. Which I never do because that is disgusting and so unhealthy. And if you believe that, you'll believe anything.

So, we actually left the carrots but switched the iceberg for dandelion leaves, blueberries and a strawberry (also a treat).The bunny did get her own cage and it turns out that she is 'potty trained'. Yes, that's right, people! The bunny that we caught in the backyard uses a litter box. Can't complain too much about that.

We think that she was let go by her owners. They had probably gotten her as a gift for Easter and then she grew too big so they just dumped her (much like the Barbies out of the box). Well, their loss is our gain.

The girls came home from school that afternoon and christened the bunny Thumper. I know what you are thinking: totally zany, wacky pretty ordinary name for a gray bunny. It suits her.

She didn't think much of the name either at first but then she realised that the book tasted really good so she must be named after a really great bunny!

Thumper is a very sweet pet and puts up with a lot of manhandling loving. She loves carrots and strawberries and company. She is definitely interested in what is going on around her. She doesn't give two hoots when the dog next door, Ceili, wants to play with her in a way that may or may not end in Thumper's demise accidentally or on purpose. No one really knows that, except for Ceili, of course, and she isn't getting much of a chance to play the game! She has her own pen out in the backyard with a cover over the top so that a hawk doesn't swoop in and snatch her. She loves to drag the girls around when she is on the leash (because you can't lead a bunny like you can lead a dog on a leash. You have to follow them.) Yes, I do realise that leash is the American version but then, I have lived here for nearly two years!Well, I must say that Thumper is such a super rabbit. I'm definitely going to have a hard time saying goodbye to her. She is my little buddy that keeps me company in the day! Maybe I'll just go and give her a strawberry.......