i've been struggling on how to write this, but on saturday i lost one of my closest companions
i didn't post too often about dude on here just because i usually don't post things about my life on social media that much in general, it's something i tend to keep in friend circles on discord lol, but he was my rabbit who i had for about 8 years, since i was around 16/17, and i had an extremely close bond with him
dude was originally owned by my friend's family, he was brought from a small family-owned pet store and was the last of his siblings left, he didn't have any fur patterns so nobody wanted him despite him being such a beautiful and loving rabbit, he was there until he was 6 months old and put on a discount lol
for the first couple of years of his life dude didn't really get much attention, it wasn't until my friend and i took him into our own hands where he finally got the love, space and attention he deserved
i remember the day when he first moved into our room and how happy and excited he was, zooming around and binkying up in the air everywhere, i remember just spending pretty much that entire week sitting on the floor with him, playing with him and getting to know him
over the next few years dude bonded with both of us extremely quickly and closely, he'd spend most of his time cuddling with us and playing around the room
when i moved back in with my family he was even more excited since now he basically had an entire house to run around which he absolutely loved, i really can't exaggerate just how happy and playful he was during the years he spent here especially
we didn't know his exact age, but dude was around 11 years old, he would've been 12 in november, which is already very old for a rabbit, but considering that he was a mixed giant breed (half-flemish giant, half-silver fox), he was insanely old and did incredibly well for his age, most giants and giant mixes don't live longer than 8 or 9 years due to their size
over the past year or so i had noticed he'd been slowing down a bit, not really running around as much, couldn't really jump up or down off the bed anymore, developing a bit of catarax, so i knew his age was catching up to him, especially over the past few months, he'd been struggling to groom himself and wasn't eating as much
on thursday we took him to the vet, he was given some painkillers and fibre supplements, but there wasn't really much else they could do as they weren't sure what was up with him other than he was just getting old
i won't go into too much details about what specifically happened when he passed because it was very upsetting, but i noticed he wasn't doing well at all around 5am, i stayed up with him until around 8am checking on him and just sitting with him
tried to get some sleep but kept waking up at basically 30 minute intervals because i was too stressed out about him, he managed to hop right next to the bed besides me and sleep a little, which had always been one of his favourite spots to sleep in since we got him
i woke up again at around 11am, checking on him and stroking him, it was then where he made a little squeak and i picked him up out of concern, and unfortunately he passed there in my arms
we were considering taking him to the vet in the morning, but there wasn't anything that they could have done other than likely put him down, ultimately i'm very glad that we didn't and he was able to pass on his own terms, as peacefully as he could have given the circumstances, in one of his favourite places as i comforted him
i've always loved rabbits since i was a kid, but i never realised just how incredibly close, loyal and loving they can be until dude, it does break my heart to see people discount them so much because they write them off as less intelligent or that they won't love you like something like a dog can, despite them being extremely clever and being able to bond ridiculously closely with their owners, dude was the peak example of that
not only was dude an incredibly loving, sweet and friendly rabbit, he completely loved everybody who he met, but he was also an absolute freak lol, always lying down and squeezing himself into the most ridiculous places because he found them comfortable
precariously wedging himself against and under movable chairs was one of his favourites and it was terrifying every time lmao
because of his breed, dude also had a very weird coat, since he was a silver fox mix, his fur was layered very differently to other rabbit breeds, he was incredibly beautiful but an absolute pain with molting lol
you can see in this photo with how weirdly his fur was layered, since he was black it was pretty hard to see most of the time
dude was generally an extremely healthy rabbit, never had any issues whatsoever, the biggest scare he had was when he pulled out one of his claws by accident a few years ago, he was perfectly fine and we were able to just treat him with some anti-septic powder for a few days at home
i still have that claw, i'm probably going to use it in a mini terrarium in memory for him
given he was so affectionate, dude really loved licking people, especially my friend and i, before him i actually had no idea that rabbits lick people out of affection like dogs do, it was incredibly sweet
though for some reason he loved licking toes above all things like the freak he was lmfao
this is only scratching the surface about dude and how much we all loved him and the kinds of things he'd get up to, i really cannot truly put into words how special of a rabbit he was, i've never had a bond that strong with an animal before and i don't think i'll ever have something quite like that again, he was genuinely one of the best things that has ever happened in my life and i'll always hold him incredibly close in my heart and be forever greatful for being able to spend that time with him and how wonderful he was, rest in peace little man
