Bringing bee home part 2

And back to the story.

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Bee became a pet to class 3G, who loved him very much. He was let out during lesson time, as was used to tame the students. When they were naughty, their teacher would say, "You must behave because otherwise, the rabbit would be scared." And in their naivete, they would believe her. Every weekend, he would go home to my colleague or another colleague. So went on his life for a few weeks. When the March holidays came, it seemed no one was able to take in the rabbit. Knowing that I loved rabbits, my colleague approached me to ask if i could take him for the March holidays. Of course, i couldn't wait! I was hoping they'd ask me in the first place! So, cage in hand, and without asking the permission of Mum, i brought him back for the March hols.

He was so sweet and refused to come out the cage. Well behaved, so we thought. Mum was besotted! She would talk to him and feed him vegetables, almost like the old Bee. When he was more confortable, he would come out of the cage, but didn't venture far. How were we to know he had hare instincts?? When the time came for him to go back to school, Mum was heartbroken. It was just a matter of time before she asked if we could keep him. I had to think of a plan.

I approached my colleague and told her that bringing the rabbit to and fro and exposing him to naughty kids was bad for his health. It was no way for a rabbit to live. And since I was willing to become his owner, could i take him? After little consideration, she nodded his head. He was officially ours! I was so excited to take him home and love him, and Mum was delighted. He would soon show his true colours, by coming out the cage and jumping all around - on the sofa, the bed and dashing all over the house. His dashing, we've come to know now, is called binkying. And rabbits only binky when they're happy. We were happy that he was happy. Come to think of it, we called him 'siao', but perhaps his 'siao'ness was a reflection of how satisfied he was living with us. :)

So that was how Bee came to live in the Yeo household. He brought so much joy to our lives. Before he was sterilised, he really behaved like a hare. When he was let out, he would jump on the sofa and go crazy! Attacking the pillows, tunnelling in and out of the several pillows that lay on the sofa were normal. He was particularly fond of mum and would always want to pounce on her. The look he had in his eye was pure determination. Once, she held out a cushion to prevent him from jumping onto her and guess what he did? He used his strong hind legs and leapt over the pillow and eventually still landed up on her lap! Boy, was she stunned beyond words. All she could do after that was pat him and shower him with even more attention. He certainly knew who had the softest spot for him, and used it to his advantage. But he was a mean fellow, and has left me two permanent scars on my arm. His way of reminding me never to forget him, I suppose. How can i?

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So, the legacy of yet another Bee lives on in my blog. In part 3, i'll blog about some of the things i remember most about the Bee and post up some pics and a video, if possible.

Bringing Bee home Part 1

The title has two meanings. One, the story of how Bee came into our lives in the first place and two, where he rests now.

Let's talk about number two first. We brought him home in a porcelain jar last week, a week after his death and could think of no other place to put him, than in the room where he spent his last days. He is now sitting on a shelf in the room, where Sara still is. We've decided to keep Sara and to love her as much as we can, instead of giving her away. That kind of decision is not easy to make even as the pain of Bee's death weighs upon us... But Sara is not a toy, she cannot simply be given away just because we are devastated about Bee. When i walk to the room, it just doesn't seem the same. I still call his name, but see no hyper bunny come hopping towards me, an earnest look in his eye. Getting over his death is going to be difficult, even though we kept him for only 3 years.

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Rewind 3 years to 2004. I was still a student in NIE, on practicum at Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary School. Practicum was a stressful time because we had to be evaluated on our delivery of lessons and even the lesson plans that we crafted. Though we had reduced number of periods, it was still challenging as we had to eat humble pie and acknowledge our strengths and weaknesses. One day, after coming down from class, I noticed a box near my colleague's table. When i looked into it, there sat a small brown rabbit! Rabbits, in case you guys don't know, are my passion. Seeing them just makes my day! This rabbit was small, had his paws spread open. This open splay would be one of the things we remember about Bee. We would call him 'samseng' because it was as if he sat with his legs wide spread. Anyway, he seemed lonely and i started patting him. I soon found out that his owner had left the country and put him with a pet shop. My colleague happened to pass by and thought of adopting him as a school rabbit. So began Bee's journey in KCPPS.

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The rest of his journey will be continued later. As you can read, he eventually ended up in our house. How he did that, well you will read in parts 2 or 3. Meantime, let's hope Bee is happy on the Rainbow Bridge. They say that the rainbow bridge houses all the rabbits who have left this world and up there, they are happily playing with an abundance of carrots and grass. I imagine him up there, and it brings me comfort.

Goodbye Bee

My beloved rabbit Bee passed away today at around 4.45pm. He was in my hands, and as he wheezed to take his last breath, I could not believe what was happening. Everything happened to fast. The diagnosis? Gastrointestinal Stasis - almost always fatal in rabbits and their condition can deteriorate in 12 hours. In Bee's case, he only had 5 hours.

Come to think of it, it was pure luck that we spotted him feeling unwell. We (V and I) went over to Mum's place at 12 noon to talk about some things. We were supposed to go over at 2pm, but there were some last minute changes so we ended up there at noon. When i walked over to say hi to the rabbits (as per normal), I noticed that Bee was flattened out in the cage, almost the whole length of it. That was abnormal, as he usually did not spend time in the cage, except to poo or to wait for food, and never lying down the way he did. As I examined him, I realised his bottom was wet and that he did not seem to want to move.

We then tried to feed him his favourite pellets... to which he would normally try so hard to get by jumping up and down and running in circles with Sara, our other rabbit, to prevent her from getting the food. Today, however, when we put the bowl in front of him, he scarcely moved. It was a clear sign that something was seriously wrong.

We called many vets and finally got an appointment with Namly Place Animal Clinic. The earliest they could make was 2.30pm. Thinking that was a long time to wait, we proceeded to Joyous Vet in Choa Chu Kang, to see if the walk in queue was shorter. Of course, we were dismayed when it took us 10 mins to even get to the registration counter. In the end, we went back to Namly in Bukit Timah. By this time, Bee was quite weak and his ears were cold. We covered him with a blanket, but he was visibly uncomfortable and kept fidgeting in the box.

When we saw the doctor, she said that he was in bad shape and the next 24 hours would be crucial. He most probably had gastrointestinal stasis, a condition in which the rabbit's gut just stops moving. She put a stethoscope to his gut and there was no sound at all. Following her diagnosis, she gave him a painkiller jab, followed by a vitamin jab to boost him. We thought that he would slowly pick up after that...

Sadly, by the time we had reached home, Bee was even weaker and when i took him out the box, he limped to the cage and slumped there, occasionally squirming about. The doc said we should let him rest, but at the same time be by his side... which we did. However, at 4.40pm he whimpered and stumbled out of the cage, collapsing on his side. Then he wheezed and gasped.... and i could feel his heart slowly stop beating. It was devastating, and seriously, I felt so helpless thinking of what I could do to help him. We massaged his gut and his heart, thinking of jolting him back to life.... Of course, to no avail. We just had to accept that he had just left us.

The suddenness of the whole thing is harder to accept than the fact that he is no longer around. We brought him to Mount Pleasant Animal Hospital where he will be cremated and his ashes put in an urn. Yes, he meant that much to us, and will always be fondly remembered. I wish he was still around, hopping happily when I walk near him and running away with a carrot to prevent Sara from getting her share. He was one crazy rabbit - we fondly call him 'harebit' because he looked and behaved more like a crazy hare.

Somehow, this loss is no easier than the last, because it is permanent. I know i won't be seeing him when i go to mum's place, and the only memories I have are the pictures in my computer and the very precious videos I have of him. Thank goodness for the digital age... I at least have some videos of him running and dashing about. Sigh, life certainly is fragile.

When i am up to it, I will write about how we came to acquire Bee in the first place. He certainly brought alot of joy and was a great companion to my mum. I guess, she will be more affected by his passing than I am, as she spends more of her time with him, feeding him and patting him. Now that he is up there somewhere, I'm sure he will look down and be happy that he had such a loving 'mummy'.

Bye bye Bee, I love you and miss you already.