Pickles the Tailless Wonder

Every evening around 7:00, we take the kiddos outside to expel one last burst of their never ending energy. On Monday evening we did the same thing. I told Josh to shoo the kids outside and that I'd meet him out there after I run to the bathroom (pregnancy bladder ya know). I had just got into the bathroom when I hear Josh screaming madly at something outside. I ran out there to find Josh yelling at a big white shepard-mix dog running wildly and quite scarily in our backyard. He yelled to get the kids inside. The dog was pretty scared, but scared dogs, when backed into a corner, can become angry biting dogs very quickly. I was naturally just worried initially about the kids, but the moment they were safely in the house, I ran back out with one major concern in my panicked mind. Our rabbits.

It's pretty warm out these days and Pickles and Nacho have burrows they've made underground in their outside ground pen. Two years now, without a single event worth worrying about and it all went to pot in a few moments of dog terror. The dog was going nuts trying to escape our fenced yard and I hollered at Josh if it got to our rabbits. He said he couldn't find one of them but the other one was out in the back of the yard scared out of its mind. The fence was torn up and there was evidence of their burrows being dug out by the dog. Though, I was sure Nacho would bolt the second I walked up to her, she was nothing but grateful for me picking her up and rescuing her. I put her in her cage and went back to search for Pickles (a.k.a the nice one). No sign of her...except her tail. I was certain she was dead. I mean, you see an entire tail on the ground with fur all around and you know it's gonna be bad, right? Pickles, that lucky bunny, had somehow escaped certain death and made it back to her burrow. Thank the good Lord those bunnies are great diggers because if that burrow wasn't so deep, she'd be dog fodder.

While I'm trying to get poor frightened Pickles out of her hole, the stupid neighbor dog went through the fence and ran back across the street. Through the fence...as in not the gate, but through the actual fencing. I have no idea how it did it, but Josh said it was gone so I concentrated on Pickles. I got her out and she was making some pretty awful noises from the pain she was in. That blasted dog had ripped her tail clean off of her leaving naught but a gaping 2" circular hole where it used to be. No bone. No fur. Just a hole. I was pretty mad because this dog is notorious for getting out and it's not the friendly type. So, I called the non-emergency police line to report the attack and damage. The police got there at the same time that the owner walked up and found her dog out. It was a huge mess and I felt bad for calling the cops on her, but seriously...control your dogs people! You lose a rabbit in the country and you expect it. It's a violation to have dogs running free in the city so the owner was cited for that. After we wrote our police reports and the officer took pictures of the 'crime scene', I rushed Pickles to the emergency vet so she wouldn't die of infection or shock.

I'm happy to say that Pickles is safely back at home and sewed back up properly. She has no tail now, but at least she didn't bite the big one. One extremely large vet bill later, I'm still trying to contact the chick with the stupid dog so she can pay me back for the bill. If I don't reach her by tonight then it's off to court I go. *sigh* The court date is on July 10th unless I drop charges, but $300 for a rabbit vet bill is insane and it was definitely not our fault. The charges are already against her for reimbursement, but here's hoping for an easy fix and for her cooperation. For the next 10 days Pickles is an indoor bunny until her stitches are out and her meds are gone. I hope that 10 days goes fast because her sister, Nacho, misses the company. Here's to our newly remodeled bunny: Pickles the Tailless Wonder. (Poor Pickles.)

That's Pickles new tailless look. about 8 large stitches and zero fluffy bunny tail.

Indoor Pickles is getting lots of attention right now.

I'm happy to say that Pickles is safely back at home and sewed back up properly. She has no tail now, but at least she didn't bite the big one. One extremely large vet bill later, I'm still trying to contact the chick with the stupid dog so she can pay me back for the bill. If I don't reach her by tonight then it's off to court I go. *sigh* The court date is on July 10th unless I drop charges, but $300 for a rabbit vet bill is insane and it was definitely not our fault. The charges are already against her for reimbursement, but here's hoping for an easy fix and for her cooperation. For the next 10 days Pickles is an indoor bunny until her stitches are out and her meds are gone. I hope that 10 days goes fast because her sister, Nacho, misses the company. Here's to our newly remodeled bunny: Pickles the Tailless Wonder. (Poor Pickles.)