Nicolaus

Nicolaus was our pet rabbit. He was a Netherland Dwarf rabbit with Siamese Sable coloring. He was an amputee who we discovered at the local rabbit rescue shelter, WildRescue Inc. of TX aka Rabbit Rescue. When Nicolaus was discovered by the President of Rabbit Rescue, Diana, he was just a young bunny and his leg was broken and he was in pain.
Someone had brought him to the Plano Wildlife Center, broken leg & all, saying they thought something was wrong with his leg. Diana went into immediate action, giving him something for pain and arranged to take him with her. His leg had to be amputated.

As Nicolaus was recovering back with Diana, my husband and I had been visiting her when we met Nicolaus for the first time. He was soo tiny! I think at the time he was about one pound. He was full of energy, climbing up on our laps and chest giving us little bunny *kisses*. It was the sweetest thing. I have had many bunnies over the years but none that ever gave *kisses*!

We hesitated bringing him home with us at that time. We had bunnies at home already. About 6 months later we received a call from Diana asking us if Nicolaus could come and play with our bunnies for the summer. At the time we had Chanel a black female Lop and Radar a white tipped black- Netherland Dwarf. These rabbits were housed separately and did not get along. How could I say no to that. To me that was a sign that Nicolaus really belonged with us so we brought him home. He was truly a gift from God. Sadly Chanel nor Radar took to Nicolaus and within 2 weeks, Radar had taken ill and passed away.

Nicolaus had no problem at all getting around with only one of his back legs. His right back leg was gone but you would never know it. He moved around just as well as the others. He had a kind disposition, was never afraid of anyone and never ran away from anyone approaching. He truly felt safe despite whatever had happened to him previously. Everyone who met him also knew that he was special. He won people over with his bunny *kisses*.

Nicolaus slept a lot. I had never seen a rabbit sleep until Nicolaus. He actually slept for long periods of time and the older he got the more he slept. He even started to snore at some point! He would lie in the most peculiar positions that made for great photos.

Over the years just about everything that medically could happen to Nicolaus usually did. He survived many health issues that normally would have taken out any other rabbit. He had dental disease from the beginning. He had to have some back teeth filed down as they were growing pointy and rubbing his tongue causing him discomfort. There were more than one of these trips to the vet to have the teeth filed. Who even knew rabbits had back teeth! Molars to chew their food, duh! He even had to have some of his molars pulled later. The dental disease caused him to have runny eyes since he was little. On occasion he would get an infection and have nasal discharge and after medical attention, it would subside. He did have to have daily antibiotics and other medications to keep the condition under control.

One time his dental infection got so bad, an abscess developed and worked it's way right through his left eye. Oh how painful that was for him. With special treatment and a special vet, we were able to get a serum made that helped heal his eye. The serum was made with blood that was donated by several rabbits from Rabbit Rescue. Thank God! As a result Nicolaus had scar tissue on his eye and it was never the same. We don't know if he was completely blind in that eye, but he certainly could not have had full vision and his eye was forever changed.

Time and time again, Nicolaus came down with illness' and survived them all. As he grew older my other bunnies would succumb to illness and die while Nicolaus kept on recovering and lived a long life. The last year of his life, his ability to move around became diminished. It became more and more difficult for him to walk around on his leg. Assuming he was not getting enough exercise and needing to build up the muscle in his back leg, we purchased a wheelchair from Doggone wheels. We thought that the chair would help hold him up and let him ambulate better and build up the strength in his leg. We had no idea that he had arthritis in his leg & toes and could not walk on his leg. We found out this later from an x-ray. Even his front legs had become arthritic and the way he would stand and hold himself up became altered. By his trying to compensate for this, his front limbs became disfigured. His left front leg started to curl in front and became atrophied. In his final months he could not even hold himself up any longer. He could only lie on his side. He had a wonderful appetite and was given analgesics and anti-inflammation medications to prevent pain or discomfort.

He looked pitiful but we knew he was not in pain. Nicolaus would tell us when he was ready to go and he did. On Saturday March 28, 2009 he started showing signs of not feeling well. We had lit a fire for him in the fireplace because he loved to sit in front of the fire and enjoy the warmth. He sat in front of the fire that Saturday on a warm blanket, had his lunch and spent time snuggling with his companion Ella. Late in the evening Nicolaus' system started to shut down. He stopped going to the bathroom but continued to eat until later in the evening. We brought him in the bed with us that evening as we had for several months. He enjoyed lying in the bed with us while we watched TV. That night I knew his time had come. I gave him a shot of pain medication to help him through the night until we could reach the vet that next morning. I wrapped him in a soft fleece scarf that he liked so much and layed next to him and pet him all night. I knew it was his last.
That morning, Sunday March 29, 2009 at 8:00 am I called the Vet to have her meet us at the clinic so we could have him put to sleep. We were blessed that he went on the Lord's day and that we had the facility to ourselves and were with him when he passed. We thanked him for giving us such great memories and being so great. He enriched our lives beyond words. We gave him the best life a rabbit could hope for. We miss him so much and not a day goes by that we don't mention him or think about him and smile about something he did.

I thank God everyday that he brought Nicolaus to us. He was a rescued pet and was the best bunny anyone could have ever had. We are big advocate's of getting pets from the shelters instead of keeping breeders in business. Thousands of animals are ethanized each day in shelters across the world because of overpopulation. Breeders keep breeding animals, people keep buying them and others die in shelters. You can find almost any kind of breed of animal at a shelter or rescue organization. Please stay away from breeders and save a life at a shelter. Rescued animals are already spayed/neutered and do not reproduce. Please do your research before getting a pet especially a rabbit. Most are purchased for a child around a holiday and without any research being done. Months later they usually wind up at a shelter, abandoned, dumped or worse. Even shelters have "hybrid" pets.