Benny the Rescue Rabbit's Ongoing Medical Care

We rescued a gorgeous lop named Benny from Romeo's Rabbit Rescue in Perth back in 2019. He came from a hoarding situation and was one of 33 rabbits in a backyard breeding situation. More like a situation that had simply gotten out of control due to neglect. He hadn't been fed the right foods as a baby and there was a lot of inbreeding going on.

When we first brought him home he had a very pee stained bottom and we weren't sure what was up, so Romeo's offered to make him a forever foster until we worked it out, as clearly something wasn't right medically. After a serious bout with bloat, we discovered from an x-ray that he had a spinal deformity that meant he needed to be on pain meds administered twice a day for the rest of his life. This wasn't such a big deal to us and after much discussion and reflection we decided he didn't need to be in the forever foster program and we wanted to make room for other bunnies in need. So we adopted him.

Benny turns 4 in October and is the sweetest, loveliest, lickiest, kissiest boy. He has a gorgeous rescue bun wife from Romeo's named Evie and together they free roam a whole section of our home and just live the high life!

The thing is, in those years, Benny has had three serious episodes of bloat (two surgeries) and two episodes of stasis needing emergency hospital care. This has happened despite grooming, very careful food - hay and water at all times, very minimal oxbow pellets, small amount of greens and only Asian greens and cilantro, and also one oxbow digestive treat or papaya treat. Nothing seems to prevent this sweet boy from falling very ill. We are going to be shaving him when he is moulting, and truly hope that helps, but he is very prone to falling sick as rabbit savvy vets have sadly confirmed. Last time he had bloat he also had pancreatitis.

His medical costs until now have come to $10,000. Just yesterday we paid $2300 for an emergency overnight hospital visit. And he needs to be on gabapentin twice a day for life.

It is starting to become a lot for us to handle and yet we never, ever want to surrender Benny & Evie as they are truly family members to us and we cannot give them up.

I decided to start a fundraiser for his ongoing medical care as it has come to clear that this isn't going to be an easy road ahead. We were told by Little Pet Vet that he is going to have continuous medical issues and to be prepared for these costs coming up again and again.

This rabbit community is so tight knit and supportive and any bit would truly help this dear guy live his best and sweetest life.

Thank you!

Benny & Evie thank you, too!