Take a Break Pets
Persephone needed some-bunny to love. Could I find her the rabbit of her dreams?
Watching the two fluffballs cuddle, I turned to my husband, Rick, and said: ‘They’re devoted to each other.’
Rick and I were bunny bonkers and had a house full of rabbits, all named after Greek or Norse gods and goddesses.
Buns form strong bonds and are generally happiest kept in pairs. And Persephone, a grey lionhead, and Hades, a ginger lop, were certainly a content twosome.
Only, a few months on, Hades went off his food and sat hunkered down in a corner, glassy-eyed. We rushed him to the vet, and he underwent emergency surgery to treat a blockage in his gut.
His devoted partner, Persephone, was by his side, even staying in the vets with him so she could be there when he came round from the anaesthetic.
When the phone rang the next day, I expected it to be the vet telling us we could collect our rabbits.
Instead, he broke the news that Hades had suffered heart failure and hopped over the rainbow bridge.
Rick and I were devastated, but we knew Persephone would be feeling even worse.
For weeks, she moped, grieving. We gave her loads of extra attention, even having her in our bedroom at night, but it was no use.
‘If we don’t find her a partner soon,’ I said to Rick, ‘I’m worried she’ll die of a broken heart.’
I contacted Rabbit Rescue Northwest, near our home in Salford, Greater Manchester, and they agreed to help us set Persephone up on a date.
After spending some time together side by side, but in separate enclosures, Persephone and a handsome grey lop buck gradually progressed to sniffing each other, using each other’s litter trays, and finally dinner dates.
We hoped they’d connect over carrots, but after three weeks, Persephone still wasn’t feeling it.
‘She just doesn’t fancy him,’
Rich sighed.
Persephone was introduced to another rabbit, Zeus. Similar in looks to Hades, she immediately warmed to him.
‘She definitely has a type!’ I laughed. Within days, the smitten couple were enjoying intim
