Benoit "Baby Boy" Horan

With heavy heart, we said goodbye to our beloved Benoit today.

On New Year's Day 2014, Zach and I drove 5 hours (one-way) to purchase a French Lop buck from a breeder. We initially contacted her in December, but had to wait until the babies were old enough to be weaned.

The selection process was quick - the breeder only had two 8-week old bucks to choose from. After I held each one and did a thorough health check, I left the decision up to Zach. As I suspected, he selected the calmer rabbit, who we had pre-named "Cadbury."

Driving home for the first time! He still had "airplane ears" - they weren't even fully lopped yet!

The 5-hour return home gave us plenty of time to determine that he just didn't seem like a "Cadbury." Several days passed before agreeing that he needed a French name to suit his heritage - thus, Benoit.

Eating cilantro in hopes of getting things moving!

Little did we know that Benoit was so much calmer than his brother because he had GI Stasis - a condition that can quickly turn fatal for a rabbit. After not pooping for 5 days - despite frantically force-feeding pineapple juice, parsley, and cilantro - we were relieved to come home from work and find that Benoit had pooped ALL OVER the kitchen floor. There is probably no other time in our lives that we can say we were thrilled to see poop on the floor....

Had we picked the other brother (or if I hadn't been an experienced rabbit owner), Benoit's life would have been quite short. It's happenstance that he came home with us!

Benoit's spunk and race-car like tendencies (e.g. running high-speed laps around the coffee table) quickly melted our hearts.

Where's Benoit?!

Summer afternoons were spent letting him lay in the yard and eat grass, dig holes, and run around. The only thing he really didn't like were the loud squawks from the crows - which are understandably startling if you've spent the majority of your life indoors!

When we returned from our honeymoon in 2015, Benoit had developed an eye infection. From there, the ailments just started to snowball. He eventually developed wry neck, which affected his balance, causing him to fall and roll. But, he always managed to bounce back! It wasn't always a 100% bounce-back, but always at least 80-90%. Benoit was always such a valiant fighter.

Selfies with Benoit!

This is a "bang" pose!

"The Prince" in his castle!

We decided Benoit needed a girlfriend, in hopes the companionship would help him. We went to a rescue for what was supposed to only be a "look-see" and turned out to be a dire need for a foster family. So....we brought home a Mini Lop (Benoit doppelganger!), who we named Bella.

We had high hopes for their romance, but despite her spay, she was still mean (Z & I were both bit on numerous occasions), and could not overcome her abusive/traumatic background. On a particularly well-behaved day, we let Bella sniff at Benoit through the fence - hoping they'd be interested/form a connection. Bella bit Benoit on the nose, and we promptly decided that she would be going back to the rescue asap!

Ironically, despite never being in the same cage, Benoit picked up some of Bella's habits: eating more hay, and growling at me when he didn't like something I did (I quickly told him to knock-it-off, and told Bella to stop being a bad influence on Benoit!).

Bella was up to no good!

A relapse in January 2017, left him laying on his side, unable to stand. Each day we walked downstairs to his cage, we hoped for a miracle. We knew his bounce-back track record,  so we knew anything was possible. The sudden onset of his illnesses were sometimes met with similarly rapid recoveries.

For 8 months, medicating him 2x a day was a reality. 

He never did bounce-back, leaving him permanently laying on his left side. However, his spirits remained high - he still enjoyed the head rubs, affection, food & treats. He constantly attempted to stand up, and then resorted to "running on his side" - where he would run with all 4 legs - just not getting anywhere too fast. :-) We constructed a wheelchair in hopes that it would help him regain balance/use of his back legs. Despite best efforts, he didn't self-propel as we had hoped.

 Downward dog with Benoit...?

In this last week, Benoit's health quickly deteriorated, and his remaining quality of life diminished. We were faced with a difficult decision we hoped we'd never have to make.

In these last few days, we gave him as many bananas, Trader Joe's whole wheat crackers (his favorite!), oats, and other treats that his little heart desired. We also took him out in the yard for some fresh air and his fill of dandelions.

We will truly miss his binkies, "bangs" (throwing himself onto his side in pure bliss), and his cuddles.

May he rest in peace....pain-free.

<3

Laid to rest under the burning bush and a dandelion-topped cairn.

The entire Bethel Vet clinic truly loved and cared for Benoit. The vet told us today, that he was a "one in a million" rabbit. Our many thanks to Dr. Aubrey Fitch for her impeccable care and love of Benoit.