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Small pets

My poor little bunny has died but...

28 replies

Whattheactualfuckingfuck · 27/02/2016 18:02

I am living temporarily with my mother (for various boring reasons). Just went out to check on bunny to find her flat out in her run, clearly dead. Texted afore said mother, who breezily informed me that she had died earlier on in the week... What the actual fuck???? She has been left in her run to rot? Before I get flamed for not checking on bunny earlier, I have been working late and mother (not so dearest) has been on bunny duty. What the fuck do I do with her now, the poor little thing? She was an elderly bun, but I genuinely can't believe that my mother has literally left her in situ. Sorry, I am just absolutely horrified that someone could just leave a dead pet like this. And surely now that she has been dead for a few days, getting her and giving her a decent burial is going to be extremely horrific. I don't know what to do.

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 27/02/2016 19:28

Very Sad poor bunny.
Is her body still 'okay' as in not going manky (be careful when you lift her, she'll be bloatey with the gas build up and her nose will drip fluid TMI but true)

We left our boar (guineapig) in the GuineaPig Pighouse last year (it was too cold to dig a grave and our other pigs were inside) . It was about 4 days till we could bury him but he was still intact.

I think some people (your mother) don't view animals the way that others do, Maybe thought she's "just a rabbit".
But it's your pet and yes I'd be angry if this happened to me and my animals.

Maybe your Mother couldn't bear to lift the body (and what would she have done with her anyway?)

(I put the fish in the freezer, in a tub of water , to kill it after it was knocked out with clove oil. Left it there till binday, can't do that with a bigger animal)

When you do bury her , make sure the foxes can't dig her up. Worse than them dying is finding them shredded. Angry

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Whattheactualfuckingfuck · 27/02/2016 19:48

Thank you for your reply. When I looked at her earlier she looked like she was sleeping. My friend (bless him) has offered to help retrieve her body, difficult as she has a large run, so it is going to take some effort to get her out, and although it's been cold (again, why I am annoyed with my bloody mother for putting her out in the first place, when I told her not to), I can't imagine that she is going to be in good shape... He has offered to bury her as well, and agree with what you said about foxes getting her, they dug up the last bunny, despite my dear departed father digging deep. Never forgot the horror when I was sunbathing the next day, only to realise I was surrounded by balls of grey fluffSad I am just so angry that my mother didn't see fit to tell me, and so sad for bunny that she has been left outside on her own to rot. She doesn't deserve this. She was a gorgeous little thing.

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TimeIhadaNameChange · 27/02/2016 20:54

Pardon my French but that's bloody appalling of your mother! I'd be moving out of there ASAP!!!

My DP doesn't do animals and could quite easily live without my menagerie, yet the time one of my rabbits fell ill whilst I was away he not only set up a cage in the house and brought her in, but when she died he moved her out into the freezer (and promptly cleared out the paraphernalia from the house).

(I admit putting her into the freezer sound strange, but I have them all cremated to be buried with me when I die, and he knows the drill, even if he does think I'm bonkers!)

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Whattheactualfuckingfuck · 28/02/2016 15:08

Bunny is still out there. Dead. I can't bring myself to touch her, poor little thing. Friend is now busy. What do I do???

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FernieB · 28/02/2016 15:38

You're going to have do your duty by your pet and go and get her yourself. Put gloves on. Get a shovel and a brush if you can't bear to touch her and use the brush to move her onto the shovel. That's what I would do, but TBH I'd have put her in a box as soon as she died and she'd already be at the vets for cremation.

Enlist the help of a neighbour? Offer to pay a local teen?

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FernieB · 28/02/2016 15:40

If she's the only bunny, can't you dismantle the run to make it easier to get her?

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Whattheactualfuckingfuck · 28/02/2016 16:21

fernie if only I had been told when she had died I would have willingly and gladly done it, as she was my bunny girl and deserved/deserves no less. However, due to the circumstances, there is a high chance she will be all bloated and maggotty... I feel sick and I hate myself for this. She is in a really awkward position in the run as well, it's going to have to be broken apart. I am rubbish with dead animals, it took me about half an hour and lots of vomitting to dispose of my sister's cat's dead mouse offering... I have a cardboard box to put her in... Just don't want to see her like she is Sad

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FernieB · 28/02/2016 17:53

Totally understand. I've been in similar situations with dead wildlife in my garden and it takes me a while but I do eventually manage to deal with it.

Can you throw an old tea towel or something over her so you don't have to look at her. Have a bin bag handy, then in with a shovel and brush and deposit her into the bag. She's already gone off to the Rainbow Bridge and is busy binkying around the meadow with my old buns, so won't care how you dispose of her body. Once she's bagged, it's much easier to cope. You can put her to one side and either dig a hole or deposit her at the vets tomorrow.

Do you have any teens locally who may do this for you for a tenner?

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Whattheactualfuckingfuck · 28/02/2016 20:24

It is done. Managed to get someone far less squeamish than me to retrieve her. She is now boxed and bagged in a fix proof shed awaiting her burial tomorrow when I get back from work. Poor little bunny, but like you said, I hope she is too busy binkying about in bunny heaven to worry about what's happening to her body. I miss her Sad

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FernieB · 28/02/2016 20:37

Well done and I hope the burial goes well tomorrow Thanks.

I know it's soppy but I like to think of their spirits leaving their bodies straight away and bounding away like they did in the film of Watership Down. She'll be over the bridge having fun with other bunnies.

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Whattheactualfuckingfuck · 28/02/2016 20:38

I hope so. She was such a cute little thing. Thanks for your advice.

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 28/02/2016 21:56

I think it is very sad to hold their little Earth bodies when they have gone to The Rainbow Bridge. They've left it behind.
We have a row of three boars' graves keeping each other 'company'
And when GP1 was in a Lock&Lock box full of pear tree leaves, I moved him back so that his ear didn't get squished Sad against the side.

IRL, at work, I'm a stern faced Health Care Professional.
At home I'm a soppy old git Blush

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Whattheactualfuckingfuck · 28/02/2016 21:58

That made me sob. And I am a stern faced teacher type! She will be going next to her 'brother' (or what remains of him after the horrible foxes got to him)... Any tips for fox proofing furry burial grounds?

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Whattheactualfuckingfuck · 28/02/2016 22:00

Ps nothing wrong with being a soppy old git. I certainly am. Got 'bright eyes' on loop in my head right now... Need to get a grip.

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EastMidsGPs · 29/02/2016 20:12

Sorry for your loss, just remember her sweet nature and happy times and don't dwell on how you found her this week.
i have at times been inconsolable at the death of a much loved piggie ... didn't do 'Christmas' once when found a piggie dead on Christmas morning!! and as i've said previously when old Sophie died on holiday last year - hottest week we had, i kept her body in a cool bag and kept replacing the ice blocks because i couldn't bear to leave her hundreds of miles away from us .. even OH agreed.
If ever we come to sell this house we have a bit of a dilema .. do we explain the numerous little graves complete with stone atop (circular patterned paving slabs) or do we say nothing Confused and let the new owners wonder what we've buried SmileSmile
Love the idea of them all over the rainbow bridge playing together especially if there is mountains of fresh grass.

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EastMidsGPs · 29/02/2016 20:18

Fox proofing ... we (well when i say we i mean he) digs down really deeply we wrap piggie in its own towel and then inside a shoe box all taped up with that grey gaffer tape. Into the hole. Tightly pack soil around the box. Fill hole and stamp down on top and all around hard and then again hard. Finally put a paving stone or similar on top. Although all of this may not be practical with a rabbit .. bit bigger than a piggie.

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Whattheactualfuckingfuck · 29/02/2016 20:19

That is such a lovely idea... Unfortunately we didn't get round to burying poor bunny this eve, so she is bagged and boxed in a bike shed in the garden to be taken care of tomorrow, poor girl. But as a pp said, her spirit is gone to a better place now (and I don't go in for the spiritual stuff but it's a comforting thought). Horrifically, I have just seen three or four rather large foxes sniffing around the garden, taking particular interest in her broken apart run (from where she was taken out). I don't know what to do, please tell me they won't be able to get into the shed? I couldn't bear it if I woke up with her in bits all over the garden. I bloody hate foxes, they completely creep me out at the best of times. While I am on this train of thought, I am now having serious doubts about burying her, it will be difficult enough to dig deep enough, and they would have her out in minutes. Do you think the local vet surgery would be able to cremate her, or is that a specialist thing? Poor bunny, feeling very sad again now Sad

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Whattheactualfuckingfuck · 29/02/2016 20:20

Opps sorry, just seen your latest post!

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FernieB · 29/02/2016 20:41

Vets do a cremation service. You can ask for her ashes back but this will obviously be more expensive. I just leave mine to be cremated and the ashes disposed of at the vets.

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Floralnomad · 29/02/2016 20:49

We had a bunny cremated and ashes returned in a wooden casket a couple of years ago and it was about £60 , we dropped off and collected from the local pet crematorium . The vet had quoted £150 for cremation and ashes returned . This was a large bunny BTW and size does affect price .

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Whattheactualfuckingfuck · 29/02/2016 21:06

Ok thanks for your advice. I'll ring the local one tomorrow. Think that would be the best option for her. Still bastard buggering foxes sniffing around the garden... Angry Sad

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 29/02/2016 21:57

My GP3 was over 3lb at his fighting weight (he lost about 4+/- ounces before he died but still a sizeable animal)

After the nightmare of my GP2 being dug up twice Angry Bloody Foxes (he was in a zipped up toilettries bag) we learned that you need to really do it well.
We ended up putting a large slab over him (some spare kitchen floor tiles) then the mud on top. He was in the border but they still managed to dig under the huge filled flowerpot we put on him.

With GP1 we put him in a Lock'n'Lock tub (rectangular) so completely sealed and nothing for them to grab if they did dig him. But he was fine we put a log over his grave until it settled.(And he had the slab too)

GP3 - we didn't have a big enough box so we had to fashion one with heavy card and waterproof ducktape.
Same again with the slab and I put a wrought iron hanging basket over him (with a weight) until he settled.

With foxes it's the dug up earth that attracts them, they look for earthworms. Then if they dig and find a carcass, they think it's a bonus.

My garden has a Pet Semetary in it (a la Stephen King) , I think any prospective buyers would be unwise to unleash the wrath of my cavies if they thought about digging them up.

Though a couple of weeks ago, there was a lovely bunch of fresh grass, the type that has those velvety leaves and gets seeds, right on Dill's grave.
I did ponder for 60 secomds, then I reckoned he'd want his widows and their new husband to have it.
So they did Grin

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Whattheactualfuckingfuck · 29/02/2016 22:09

Awww Smile that is sweet! And lucky piggies! She weighed about 5+ lbs. so it would require quite a Herculean effort to get grave wide enough and deep enough to put her box in safely, without the ginger bastards getting her like the previous one (he was a whopper, took my dad about half a day to dig deep enough, Earth compacted, concrete paving slab on top and they still got him Sad) think vet is the way forward. Had a small sob when I went passed her empty hutch with her empty food bowl (I will admit it is a pink Disney 'for for a princess affair, but it was her Christmas present). Gosh, it's amazing how much emotion/feelings you can have for such little creatures.

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Whattheactualfuckingfuck · 29/02/2016 22:10
  • 'fit for a princess' even
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Floralnomad · 29/02/2016 22:11

We have several rats , a GP and a hamster buried in our garden , my DH dug a really deep hole ,lined it with bricks and slabs ,a but like an underground mausoleum with a large slab on top ,then dirt on top of that . Every animal that died we just undo the mausoleum and stick them in in their little coffins then resell it . The bunny was too big to go in so that's why he went to the crematorium .

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