I had never had a bunny before and thought I could provide a nice indoor home for a rabbit. That is how Bronco came into our lives in March of 1994. I adopted him through a rabbit rescue group in New Hampshire. He was about a year old, mini-lop and had been in foster care for several months. He was very cute, and was white with some gray tips of hair. He got along well with Kisha and Holly, but I started thinking he might do well with a bunny companion.

Since the rescue group had already had Bronco neutered I knew I could start looking for a bunny-buddy. One day about 2 weeks after I adopted Bronco, I was visiting the MSPCA in Methuen MA. on my lunch hour with a friend from work. They always have a variety of animals at the shelter and this week they had a large number (50+) of bunnies that were taken in as a law enforcement case. The bunnies ranged in age from 4 weeks old to adults. My friend spotted this cute little brown bunny who was about 8 weeks old. The bunny was a female and her left front foot was white. My friend called her "Lefty" and I decided to adopt her on the spot.

I had bought a large 2-story rabbit cage for Bronco and it came in handy. I separated the top part off for Lefty and the bottom part for Bronco. That way they could smell and hear each other and start to get use to the presence of another bunny. I was able to litter box train Lefty in about 2 weeks (Bronco was already trained to use a large litter box stuffed with hay). After Lefty was spayed, I could now work on introducing the bunnies to each other.

It only took a few supervised bunny greetings in our kitchen before Lefty and Bronco decided they like each other. After that they were inseparable. The had their large bunny condo to hang out in during the day and when we came home at night, they had the run of the first floor in the house. It was always interesting to have friends come over and see their reaction to two bunnies sitting in the middle of our living room and then see Kisha and Holly walking right by the bunnies. Everyone got along fine.

Rabbits make great pets and should be kept indoors for their own safety and health and so they become part of the family.
For more information on rabbits and care, please visit the House Rabbit Society.

In the July of 1997, when Lefty was 3 1/2, she came down with Pasteurella. It is a common bacteria that most bunnies have in their bodies, but during times of stress, the bacteria can cause illness. She had developed a systemic infection along with a rapidly growing tumor under her chin and she needed emergency surgery. We brought her to Angell Memorial Animal Hospital in Boston, MA. to see the exotic animal veterinarian and they operated on her the next day. Lefty survived the surgery, she was a hardy little bunny. But the infection had spread to her left eye and left her blind in that eye.

Being blind in one eye did not seem to bother Lefty too much. She knew her home and where everything was. And she had Bronco to guide her. Bronco seemed to know that Lefty could no longer see from her left side and he took to staying that side. He would hop beside her and lay down with her, usually on her left side. I guess you could say Bronco became a 'seeing eye-bunny' for his best pal Lefty.

Bronco and Lefty lived a good life together for almost 6 years. Then suddenly when Bronco was about 6 1/2 he became ill and we lost him on May 1, 1999. One day he was perfectly fine and the next day he was gone. It was terribly sad and I did not know how Lefty would do without him. She was 5 at that time and I considered getting her another bunny companion. But because of her blindness and the stress of introducing a new bunny to her, I decided to see if she faired well on her own. She missed Bronco, but seemed to adapt to being an only bunny. Often the cats would sleep with her in her condo, so she did have companionship.

As Lefty got older, she started to develop arthritis. She was about 6 1/2 and was getting less mobile. She started staying in her condo more and it was obvious she was having difficulty moving around. Then one day in January of 2001, Lefty's rear legs could no longer function. I brought her to my vet to see if there was anything we could do ... but I already knew the answer. Later that day, I held Lefty as we set her free to join her best buddy Bronco, who was patiently waiting at the Rainbow Bridge for her.