Hat tip: Three Dog Night

Poor Cosmo. He’s been without Peanut for over a month now and, while he’s adjusting to bachelorhood as best as can be expected, there’s no question he misses his mate. Originally, we thought we would try and find him another mate (and had the folks at Brambley Hedge Rabbit Rescue been a little more cooperative and trusting he probably would have), but as days turned to weeks and we had time to discuss Cosmo’s situation with a couple of other rabbit owners in the same situation, we decided that, as hard as it seemed, it was best that he live out the rest of his days solo.

You see, the problem is, we didn’t expect Cosmo to outlive Peanut. Given Cosmo’s age (we think he’s around nine) as compared to Peanut’s 5 1/2, we always assumed Cosmo would go first and leave poor Peanut as the lonely widow. But that didn’t happen, and we just came around to the idea that finding a mate for Cosmo would mean having to find yet another mate for Cosmo’s mate once Cosmo was gone. Would that be fair to a young rabbit? We thought not.

Like anyone in a similar position (rabbit and otherwise) Cosmo has had to make adjustments, as have we. With no one to groom Cosmo’s face and his eyes, we now make it a point to wet our hands and run them across his face each night. Cosmo used to take his breakfast (slice of banana, a few treats, romaine lettuce and some parsley) in his cage area with Peanut; now he likes to take it in the litter box with Marlie having hers on the other side of the fence. (And just to be clear: there’s no point in trying to hook up Marlie with Cosmo – any time they’ve been together Marlie starts playing the aggressor and attacking Cosmo – she’s a beat!). Therefore, on the recommendation of Kelly at The Bunny Basics, we put a stuffed animal (a rabbit, BTW) in Cosmo’s area for him to groom and lay next to when he’s vegging out at night.

I think Cosmo senses he’s now a bachelor for life. He’s stopped chinning the cardboard box in his area that Peanut used to frequent (a rabbit’s way of broadcasting their status as “available”), and he’s got his own routine down: instead of one tied to making Peanut adhere to his every whim he now just does his own thing. It’s kinda sad, but it is life. And whether you be a rabbit or a human, life is all about comings and goings.