Peanut: the First Chapter

My partner and I begun this journey of buns back in 2017, when we rescued two bonded female lionheads. We named them Angel and Luna, but they were very scared and timid. Luna slowly became aggressive in her new environment, while Angel eventually opened up and started to play. They never really showed much affection, but when they did it was phenomenal! I have always had animals, but my boyfriend has never had any before this. He was in love. Unfortunately, we became homeless and had go find them new homes :(

Fast forward to now. At the end of last year, we moved into our own home, and started setting up a life for ourselves. We were feeling the loneliness of no pets to keep our day bright. My entire life, I have had a furry companion and I felt especially lost. I began scouring gumtree and various groups on Facebook to see if there were any beautiful little furbabies about. We found two beautiful buns, which we quickly named Helicopter and Button! The lady we got them from told us the vet could not distinguish if they were male or female. Helicopter quickly changed to Peanut—it just seems so fitting. Button was so sweet and cuddly. She spent a lot of time cuddling with her Dad on his lap. Peanut began exploring as much as she could. She loved getting into tight hiding spaces and chasing us about. Every night Peanut would attempt to escape her pen, and did often jump over the sides onto whoever was sitting on the couch. She gave my partner's brother quite a scare!

A week after we picked them up and introduced them to their new home, Button fell severely ill. We rushed her to the nearest vet but they could not do anything. GI Stasis is a horrible, fast-acting killer amongst rabbits and it is difficult to combat unless you catch it in time. We did not. She deteriorated during the night. By the time we got her to the vet, there was nothing more to be done. We lost Button on March 6. My heart was, and still is, broken. What if I'd have noticed sooner? What if I'd got to the vets faster? What if... There will always be the what if.

The vet advised us to disinfect the area we kept them in case there was an underlying infection that caused this. As soon as we got home with the empty pet carrier, we set to work. We moved Peanut into our bedroom, disinfected the entire frontroom, and grieved. Peanut was subdued for two days. It was almost like she knew. She stopped trying to escape the pen, and cuddled us a little more.

It has been a week since we lost Button, but Peanut has become herself again. She tries to escape her pen every night, wakes me up at 6 AM when she starts chewing her boxes up, and explores everywhere she can! We have tried to expand her pallette, and discovered she loves parsley, romaine, apple, and cucumber. I have started to make little toys for her to play with. For example, I filled a cardboard tube with hay and cucumber slices and she played with it for an hour straight trying to get the cucumber out!

Peanut never fails to make us smile and laugh, so I am going to write about her life with us. Every shenanigan, every binky, and every zoomie is going to be documented in this and on Instagram. If you want to follow Peanut, she is here at @runbunpeanut_