Snuggles Rabbito BunBun

A bundle of light & love was taken from us on May 24, 2021. My wife, two kids & I moved countries in 2018 and we were soon homesick. We suggested my kids get a pet mainly to distract them from stress of being hauled 12,000km from home. We owned pet dogs, and fish back home but not in my wildest imagination would I have thought we’d own a bunny, though I think in the end he owned us. At the pet store my daughter who was nine then wanted a ‘fluffly bunny’. I disagreed as rabbits from what I heard were destructive critters who made bad pets. She insisted and I tentatively agreed. She went into the pen to choose one of about a dozen kits. As she walked in all hopped away but one turned around, sniffed at her and even allowed her to pick him up (I did not know at the time this was unusual for rabbits). “Snuggles chose us dad,” she said to me. I could not disagree. He cost me NZ$40 which I thought was exorbitant but now I’ll pay anything I have just to have one more day with him. At home, after setting up his hutch in the conservatory and leaving my kids to bond with him, I walked away thinking “this can’t last”. How wrong was I! From day one,  this guy was special. He exuded love — I swear at 1st he had orbs of light floating over him. In no time he was nudging with his nose, running circles around us, digging the garden and getting my wife to fall in love with him. He would only poo and pee in his hutch, and spent the rest of his time as a house bunny or in the garden. My nickname for him was Rabbito, my wife called him BunBun, and to the kids he was Snuggles. He had a special way with every member of the family, and friends and visitors. He would spend his time under my wife’s work desk at her feet when she was there, run around her in the garden (I suspect she was his fave) and would jump on the couch or bed with me to demand being stroked (he loved to be stroked), or when he wanted a snack. He would lay his head on the kids’ laps, & groom us all right to the end. My wife would often say to me: “I never knew bunnies were so loving!” He developed an abscess in his mouth after having his molars trimmed, and after daily antibiotics, pain killers & five visits to the vet, we had to make the worst decision any parent has to make. It was inoperable. He was euthanized on the operating table on at only 30 months old still giving love on the day of his passing. I believe he came with love when we needed it most. God took back his angel & left us heartbroken!