We lost another of our rabbits this weekend, as we found Geronimo passed away in his area yesterday morning. On Saturday night before I went to bed he was munching on hay and a piece of kale as he normally did. As we were falling asleep an hour later we heard a commotion coming from the bunny room, but didn’t think anything of it: Geronimo like to rearrange the cardboard “bunny condo” from time to time, and we figured that was all that was going on. But that’s where Tracey found him in the morning, so there must have been something not so innocuous going on there.

We originally got Geronimo (above, right) back in 2009 from a rabbit rescue with his mate Ginger. They were originally backyard bunnies, and I don’t think their early years were the most pleasant because we noticed Geronimo was very agressive and protective when it came to food (he’d chase Ginger, and later, Butterscotch around the cage when he knew food was coming, and then always position his body between his bunny mate and the food), and he liked to lay next to the water dish, sometimes with one of his big lop ears draped over the dish in the water. I also don’t think he ever saw really well, as he would move his head from side to side (called “tracking”) to see things, and he was very sensitive to people approaching him quickly; it took a long time for us to gain his trust and accept us petting him or kissing him around his head and face.

We weren’t sure after losing Ginger back in 2010 how Geronimo would take to getting a new mate, but he sucked it up big time during a week-long bunny “speed dating” engagement, and gradually came to accept the younger and more skittish Butterscotch as a part of his world. While not exactly showering her with affection during their time together, it was clear he accepted her and enjoyed her company nevertheless.

The fact that Geronimo spent his last day doing what he always did during his time here: munching contentedly on timothy hay, shredding a telephone book, and making it a challenge for Butterscotch to get to her food tells me he was just an old rabbit whose time had come. That’s the problem with getting rabbits from rabbit rescues: because it’s difficult (if not downright impossible) to tell how old rabbits are once they get past their adolescence, you never really know how much time you’re going to have with them. And, as hard as it is when it comes to say goodbye (and this is the fifth straight year we’ve lost a rabbit), all you can do is cherish the time they spend with you, and at least in the case of Geronimo, know he didn’t suffer and passed away surrounded by all the safe and familiar sights, sounds and smells he knew as his bunny world.

Rest in peace, Geronimo – you were a good guy and we’ll miss you.