So, now that you've seen that Sandy has passed away, I should tell you about him/her.

Three years ago we got a call from a friend saying that her daughter had caught a rabbit and would I please come over and check it out. They already had a rabbit in the house, and snakes and ferrets.

I got there and here was a beautiful brown rabbit that looked much like a cottontail but had some characteristics of a Flemish Giant rabbit. I used to have rabbits when I was younger and had been thinking that I wanted to get a rabbit.

The friend was really not able to keep Sandy, which I was glad of because I couldn't really see Sandy thriving in their chaotic household, so I took him home. We had a big crate that we could use and built shelter for him and set him up right outside our door...(rabbits had always been outdoor pets in my family before this)...Once the weather got hot, just a matter of 2 weeks later, I started bringing him in during the daytime and letting him be in his crate at night when I got cooler. He had been found running around in a cemetary, so I thought he would be most comfortable outside.

Well, we found that he went from skittish and frightened to a seriously trusting and happy rabbit while he was inside with us, which prompted me to decide that he is a house rabbit now...and gave him the run of our large bathroom. He started out right away litter trained, and he didn't chew on anything that he shouldn't with the exception of my shower curtains. Those he chewed to shreds, and I replaced them 3 times! He loved being in there, and when we could, we let him out in the rest of the house. We didn't do that a lot because at this time our house is just not rabbit-proofed - we need to enclose all the wires, etc., before we can allow bunnies free run of the whole apartment. Anyway, he went from probably abused, missing a small patch of fur, with one ear clipped so that he can't be used for show, and that is also a signal that they shouldn't be bred.

Oh, the he/she thing. Well, I thought that he was a he, but about a month ago discovered that he wasn't built like our other rabbit, who is definitely a male. Took him to the vet, who couldn't tell if he was a "fixed" male or a female, but once I saw the exam I am pretty sure that he was a she....but since we had been calling him a he all this time we figured we would get him and ourselves confused if we changed the pronoun to "she" at this late date. So we keep calling him "he".

He would come up to us and beg for attention, and if we didn't give him attention quickly enough he would chew on our clothing, and if he could reach nekkid leg (shorts weather), he would just start licking our legs and feet until we picked him up and cuddled him. He got so that he trusted us enough that he actually would take naps in our arms (nothing I've ever had happen with a rabbit before). He would stretch out so relaxed that his back feet would be behind him, heels and soles of his feet sticking straight up. He had a long tail for a rabbit, a big fat pad under his chin in the classic Flemish Giant conformation, but he never grew past 8 lbs, which underscores why his ear was clipped. If he had bred true, he would have gotten to be about 24 lbs - yes, that's a lot of rabbit! As it was, he got bigger than any other rabbit I ever owned, and he was much more cuddly and friendly and loving than any other. In a lot of respects, he was more truly attached to us than any of our cats ever got.

He was a bright light in my life, and it is a great deal darker now that he's gone. He will be missed forever, and we'll honor his memory for all our lives.