Baby Bunnies

Six days ago we... or... well... Lily... found 3 baby bunnies in our backyard.  It has to be the height of rabbit stupidity to make a nest in the middle of a yard that houses a big, rambunctious, Golden Retriever.

 Amerah was playing outside, in our little pool, and was the first to notice that Lily had something live, hanging out of her mouth by the foot.  Hearing Amerah shouting at Lily to "drop it" I assumed that the dog had taken off with her goggles again and didn't pay much attention until a sopping wet, frantic child rushed into the house, holding a sandy, wet, frightened bunny.

Curious and excited about her new chew toy, Lily would not leave the nest alone... to make a long story short, we ended up adding 3 tiny bunnies to our menagerie.

As I do with everything, I researched the heck out of "how to care for wild baby bunnies."  I fed them a Goat's Milk formula with an eye dropper, wiped their little bums with a damp cotton ball, and left them alone in a quiet room so they wouldn't be stressed or handled too much.

Last night they were feisty and guzzling formula.  This morning Flopsy and Mopsy were hovering over Cottontail's almost lifeless body.  Thinking the rabbit was already dead and unable to face taking it out of the box, I woke Dave, who had only been home from work for 4 hours, and he gently lifted the bunny from her bed.

There is a poignancy that I can barely describe, watching my husband sit in our home office in his boxers, cradling a tiny rabbit in his humongous hands, gently stroking it's fur as it takes it's last breaths. 

Cottontail is about to be buried in our backyard, in a very deep hole so that Lily won't find her.  I'm tearing up just writing this.  It's amazing how attached you can get in 6 days.