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<TITLE>Re: [Groop] Funny bunny</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Verdana">Although I was hesitant to read the entire Tone tome, I’m glad I did. I’m sorry for your loss of Spencer, but it really did put a smile on my face to hear about Marzipan and Sergio. I hope you two have many years of enjoyment with your bunnies.<BR>
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Chris (Glorko)<BR>
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don 8/18/07 12:52 PM, Tone at Tone@moon-shine.net wrote:<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#000098">> First off I have some pretty sad news. I know this will sound<BR>
> completely off-topic at first, but bare with me. Like Groo comics there<BR>
> is a humorous ending to all of this, which is fairly related to the<BR>
> Groop.<BR>
> <BR>
> About a week ago our pet rabbit Spencer died. My wife had<BR>
> Spencer for almost eight years ever since Spencer was only a couple of<BR>
> months old, and Spence was very healthy up until about a month before we<BR>
> moved from NYC to PA. For those, who do not know, depending on the breed<BR>
> of a rabbit eight years is generally considered a fairly long time for a<BR>
> rabbit to live. There was not much we could do because surgery is<BR>
> usually not recommended in rabbits and especially risky with senior aged<BR>
> rabbits. We think Spence was suffering from ovarian cancer, which is<BR>
> pretty common in mature female rabbits.<BR>
> Unfortunately, the first veterinarian, who Spence was brought<BR>
> to, did not recognize Spencer was actually a female. That was why<BR>
> Spencer was given a boy's name. This is understandable because the<BR>
> younger a rabbit is, the more undeveloped their sexual organs are, and<BR>
> thus their sex is harder to determine. Luckily for Spencer, ever since<BR>
> her first vet visit she never really had any health issues, but that<BR>
> meant her sex status was not corrected when she was still young enough<BR>
> to undergo surgery. If my wife had known Spencer was a girl, she would<BR>
> have gotten her spayed earlier, which would completely eliminate the<BR>
> risk of developing ovarian cancer.<BR>
> This part of my e-mail is not particularly related to Groo, but<BR>
> I wanted to let people know the importance of spaying female pet<BR>
> rabbits. I only got to know Spencer for a little over two years and I<BR>
> consider myself fairly "manly", but I still cried and found it heart<BR>
> braking to watch Spencer die in my wife's arms. I know a number of<BR>
> Groopies on the list have children, who I imagine might actually have<BR>
> pet rabbits. I would hate to think something as simple as not spaying<BR>
> their rabbit could prevent their little life from hopping around a few<BR>
> more years. Though it is rare, some rabbits have been known to live up<BR>
> to twelve years, so Spence could very well have had a few more years in<BR>
> her.<BR>
> <BR>
> So with that sad stuff out of the way let me get to the Groo<BR>
> related part of this story, which might put a smile on your face. After<BR>
> we got back from laying Spencer to rest in the backyard of my<BR>
> parents-in-law, where all the pets of my wife's family have been buried,<BR>
> we came back to an empty apartment. It did not take long for my wife to<BR>
> miss having a rabbit around, so I agreed we could get another rabbit.<BR>
> Even though I very much dislike having bunches of LITERAL dust-bunnies<BR>
> of fur all over the place, my wife's happiness comes first. :)<BR>
> This time however my wife and I decided to each pick out a<BR>
> rabbit for ourselves instead of only having one rabbit. Since my wife<BR>
> had Spencer ever since Spence was a baby, my wife was always Spencer's<BR>
> primary care taker. By having me pick out my own rabbit, it would make<BR>
> me more directly involved. More importantly though rabbits are very<BR>
> social creatures, so having two rabbits gives them company when people<BR>
> are not around. Some rabbits have been known to become depressed when<BR>
> alone for two long, which may cause them to become prone to eating<BR>
> disorders and health problems.<BR>
> For the past few days my wife was looking at the web sites of<BR>
> local animal shelters searching for bunnies. She had originally bought<BR>
> Spencer from a pet store, but this time she wanted to rescue a rabbit.<BR>
> We found a humane society not too far from us, which had some young<BR>
> rabbits born while their mother was pregnant at the shelter, so<BR>
> yesterday we drove over there and adopted two rabbits. :)<BR>
> We were able to take home one of the bunnies, which is a girl. I<BR>
> THINK my wife finally decided to name her Marzipan, which is actually an<BR>
> off-white sugary almond & egg paste used in making candies. The reason<BR>
> for her name is because the little bunny is practically all white except<BR>
> for an almond-colored muzzle and egg-yellow watermark-like patches<BR>
> around the rear of her back, and of course she is sweet like candy. :)<BR>
> Now for the WHOLE reason of this post... the other rabbit I<BR>
> picked out is a boy, who I automatically named "Sergio". The reason for<BR>
> my choice is because the rabbit is all white, but has a black streak on<BR>
> each side of his face along with black/grey rings around his eyes. The<BR>
> black horizontal stripes on his face make him look like he has a little<BR>
> mustache, and obviously the Sergio we all know and love is immediately<BR>
> recognizable by his wonderfully endearing handlebar mustache. I would<BR>
> try to grow one myself, but my wife really does not want me to. I guess<BR>
> I will have to live the handlebar mustache dream through my bunny<BR>
> rabbit. :)<BR>
> Unfortunately, I can not yet offer any photos to show you guys<BR>
> at the moment, so this e-mail is just a teaser. I will have photos soon<BR>
> after picking up Lil' Sergio Tuesday afternoon when the Lil' guy gets<BR>
> his lil' balls snipped off by the animal shelter's vet before he can be<BR>
> released. Even though he is a boy and there is no worry of ovarian<BR>
> cancer, non-neutered rabbits will sometimes spray to mark territory and<BR>
> tend to be more aggressive. Also, if we ever decide to get another<BR>
> female rabbit in the future, we would not have to worry about Lil'<BR>
> Sergio doing what rabbits do best. ;)<BR>
> I will post photo links as soon as I can. Best wishes everyone,<BR>
> _TONE_<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><I>my journal in cartoon form</I></FONT>, at:<BR>
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