Milo was such a good little bunny.  We’ve had an awesome 9.5 years with him.  We are sad to say goodbye to him today.  He has been battling head-tilt for the past month and a half.  After weeks of treatment and testing, the vet finally deduced that he probably had a brain tumor and I’ve been keeping him comfortable at home until he found a way of telling me he was ready to go.

Milo was our first pet as a couple and we will always remember him.  We adopted him in August of 2003 from Bunny Buddies, a Houston bunny rescue association.  We didn’t know very much about bunnies at first, but once we met Milo at the shelter, we knew we had to take him home.  His fur was so, so soft to touch.  I’ve since found out that he had the softest fur of any bunny I’ve touched.  We learned as much as we could about rabbits and especially learned how to build him a cage out of a product called Neat Idea Cubes.  We used the paneling for the cage walls and shelves and linoleum-covered plywood for the flooring.  Over the years, we’ve built many versions of bunny cages, now called bunny condos.  I feel like an expert now.

We named Milo after the cat from the movie, Milo and Otis.  The cat was always getting into trouble.  Of course, after we chose the name, Milo, we realized that it was also short for mini-lop, his breed.  Really, it was a perfect name for him.  We learned very quickly that Milo was curious and could be quite destructive as a digger and a chewer.  We filled our small apartment with cardboard boxes and newspaper so he had places to dig and chew.  I also filled his condo with all kinds of little toys I found.  His absolute favorite toy was the “bunny bounce-back.”  This toy had a weighted and rounded bottom and a light plastic top.  Milo loved to pick it up and throw it.  His favorite place to throw the toy was in his water dish.  He loved that toy until it finally broke.  Unfortunately, I could never find a replacement.

We also love to remember one time when we took Milo with us to Dallas in a travel cage.  We were still learning what trouble he could get into and we hadn’t perfected the travel cage, yet.  Well, he managed to jump right out of the cage and onto the bed while we were sleeping!  It was a hilarious way to wake up in the morning.  =)

For our wedding, I used photos of Milo playing with a triangular piece of cardboard as table numbers so he could be there with us.  He was never a photogenic bunny.  He would not pose for us or every sit still long enough to get a clear photo!  We thought we would be so clever and get a photo of a bunny in an Easter basket.  I filled the basket with yummy hay and then we tried to put him inside.  Oh, no, he would not go for that.  The best photo I got was of his feet leaving the basket.

In the summer of 2005, we thought Milo needed a bunny friend, so we went back to Bunny Buddies to get a bunny to bond with him.  We came home with Cinnabun.  Once we got Cinnabun used to our home, we started the bonding process which meant spending lots of time in the bathroom with both bunnies in the tub as neutral territory.  Both bunnies wanted to be dominant, but eventually we graduated out of the tub and into the living room.  I think we tried the bonding process for about 5 or 6 months when one morning a huge fight broke out between the bunnies.  From then on, they just would not bond and we finally gave up and decided we were stuck with two condos.  This also meant we needed two play areas which then meant gates dividing our living room in half.  I can’t tell you how often I’ve tripped over one of those gates.

Milo loved our old entertainment center.  It must have been extremely tasty, because he would sit in front of it and just lick it while we watched tv.  This is when we found out that bunnies are silly.  He also licked other wooden pieces of furniture, but none as much as that entertainment center.  Milo’s favorite time of day, though, was bedtime when he got a fresh handful of hay on the top floor of his bunny condo.  He had access to unlimited hay all day long, however, when it was time for bed, he would DASH up to the 3^rd floor of his condo to get ready for one fresh handful of hay.  I loved that part of our daily routine.

Milo always had a healthy appetite and his “munch, munch, munch, munch” sound is still one of my favorite sounds in the world.  It was so much fun to watch parsley and lettuce disappear into his little mouth.  When Milo lay down he had many different positions which all got nicknamed.  There was “race-car bunny,”  “chicken bunny,” and “flat bunny.”  Also, when he was happy and excited, he would run and binky in the air.  I have never gotten this on video or still photo, but it was amazing to watch.  A binky is a huge jump with a half twist in the middle of the air.

Having bunnies for pets has been an amazing joy and also a creative challenge.  For every new corner or hole they find, I had to find a new way of bunny-proofing.  I’m proud to call myself a bunny slave.  And it’s all because of Milo that I love bunnies.

Starting about a year ago, Milo started to show his age, but it wasn’t until last October that we diagnosed him with arthritis in his spine.  Since then, it seemed to be one thing after another, and by the end I was taking care of a bunny on hospice.  It was hard to say goodbye to him, but I’m glad that he’s now free of the pain and misery he was feeling with the head-tilt.

Rest in peace, Mr. Bunny, our little bunny-bounce-back.  We will miss you.