January 8, 2011

The Sad Tail Of Spunky The Rabbit - Part One

As many of you will know, Spunky Nutella the bunny has been a fixture in our household for nearly a year now. My kids wanted a dog, I laughed in their sad little faces (I have three children, I certainly don't intend to have another) and adopting a rabbit (okay, buying him for cash) was the compromise.

Previously we'd had fish, but all but one kept floating to their watery graves in record time. When we finally worked out that the cause of this high mortality rate was that one fish was eating all the other fish's food, none of us could bear the thought of another fishy funeral. We let Jelly (the acquatic equivalent of Russel Crowe in 'Gladiator') live out his natural life (which only took a few more weeks) and then shoved the fish tank in the laundry, where it proved very useful for soaking whites.

If the truth be told, I wasn't keen on having a pet at all, unless it was a cat. I love cats. I grew up with Sam, and then Peanut, and they were beautiful companions. Attractive, self-cleaning, self-reliant, and, at the end of the day, a soft, purring pillow to cuddle on my lap whilst watching TV. Attached, but not clingy. Affectionate, but not needy. The perfect animal.

Sadly, however, it turns out that both my husband and my middle child are allergic to cats. Now, if it was just my husband who was affected, obviously we'd still get a cat and he could move out to the garage (or take Claratyne three times a day forever). But seeing as my daughter is afflicted too, I have to (grudgingly) do the right thing.

So, no dog, no cat, and no fish. That pretty much left a snake, a monkey, a giraffe, a hamster or a rabbit as a potential pet (or at least that's what the kids told me). I'm not keen on snakes, monkeys are pretty high maintenance, and I discovered that Boo was wrong about giraffes being domestic animals. In the end, it came down to a hamster or a rabbit as the next member of our clan.

We trooped to the pet shop en masse to make our choice, and almost immediately rejected the hamsters. They were far too reminiscent of mice for my liking (and, as mice make me scream and jump on tables, this might prove inconvenient should we take one home). Besides, they didn't have cute little bunny ears; not surprisingly really, seeing as they weren't bunnies.

But Spunky had cute little bunny ears, and didn't look much like a mouse at all. Out of all the rabbits in the cage, we recognised him immediately as The One. He would be our bunny. Spunky Nutella. The pet who would transform our family and bring us all closer together by our love for him.

We paid the money, and we took Spunky home, cradled carefully in our arms (okay, cradled in a little cardboard box). He was tiny, very sweet, and full of promise.

But the story did not end as well as we believed. Because very soon afterwards, things started to go horribly wrong....

14 comments:

  1. Oh dear God Kerri please I NEED PART TWO before I go on holiday. Poor (not so) Spunky Nutella.....

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  2. Kerri, I need to know in advance if I'll be needing a tissue for pt 2. I had a wonderful free-range chocolate brown shadow-bunny for nearly 8 years, who'd plonk under my garden swing and get a back rub from my swinging feet while I read the weekend paper. Of all the members of my family (human and not), she was the easiest. She died the same day as Jane McGrath. I was in mourning for at least a week or two and still do miss her. :'(

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  3. Oh GOD, don't leave us hanging. I just came back from the pet shop (which i keep accidentally calling the Fish&Chip shop to my children's horror) with 5 more fish. My bloody sister gave my eldest a fish for Christmas to mess with head, but i know you would dearly still love to have a sister mess with your head & give ridiculous pets to your children, so i'll grin & bare mine . . . anyway, of course all 4 children wanted fish now. Argh!! So far we're doing well, only lost 1 fish in 5 weeks (first fish was a pre-Christmas Christmas gift while passing through Bowral early December). I'm waiting to hear what happens next in your pet parade . . . love Posie

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  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  5. I need to know! Have not been in Twitterverse lately and am completely out of the loop, however I do hope all turns out well...

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  6. Oh noes! I SIMPLY MUST KNOW! You cannot keep me hanging like this!

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  7. Am so glad to read that support for Spunky is swelling! Save Spunky! And while you're at it, why not buy one of those hairless cats? Sure they're ugly, but even unattractive animals need love (and they won't shed).

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  8. Oh dear. I hope there's no boiling water involved in part two...

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  9. I can totally relate to the fish as pets issue. In my life before children (deep sigh), I had a series of goldfish which died in rapid succession. Finally, after many fishy funerals (and burial in the garden....I just couldn't flush) I managed to keep one alive for about 18 months.

    When the screams for my daughter to have a pet became unbearably loud last year, I finally caved-in for her birthday. I thought goldfish would be a lovely, low maintenance, inexpensive, non-needy pet.

    Ha! I think we have now spent approximately $2,000 in fishy medicines, heaters, thermometers etc to keep my daughter's goldfish alive. We have clocked up 4 months so far....but the stress of it is just about killing me. I even dreamt last night that they all died.

    Maybe we should have gotten a rabbit.

    I can't wait for Part 2!

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  10. Will Spunky Nutella live to see another day? stay tuned. i'm hopeful.
    have personally had a bad bunny experience, but i need to believe that all do not end tragically. you crack me up Kerri

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  11. oops, i am Anonymous.

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  12. I have also had a bad (& expensive) bunny experience but we will be buying a new one soon. Slow learners I guess. Just had to comment on your brilliant summary of the cat. You described their appeal beautifully.

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  13. Kerri, I need to know in advance if I'll be needing a tissue for pt 2. I had a wonderful free-range chocolate brown shadow-bunny for nearly 8 years, who'd plonk under my garden swing and get a back rub from my swinging feet while I read the weekend paper. Of all the members of my family (human and not), she was the easiest. She died the same day as Jane McGrath. I was in mourning for at least a week or two and still do miss her. :'(

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