Anthea,

Hi Anthea, sorry for the late reply. Thank you for your kind words. As I said to a couple of other community members .

i.e.

We buried Winnie Saturday evening, after letting her partner (Nessie) sit on and next to her for several hours (we'd been advised by a rabbit expert to allow this).

When we buried her we showed him what we were doing. Yesterday morning when we let him out for his morning run, he went straight to her grave and sat there for an hour. Later when he'd gone back inside (we gave the rabbits the garage and the snug room (12' x 12') as their home when we moved to this home eight years ago as we don't believe in cages, plus it was a spare room and we rarely used the garage for cars), our cat sat on the grave; within minutes Nessie came running out and tried to bite her, (he has a benign tumour on his jaw so can't bite properly; we have to hand feed him every three hours including over night), shooing her off, then stood guard over her grave for a few hours before wandering back indoors. Just shows their intelligence and bonds to each other.

Whiterabbit-uk,
The bond between animals never ceases to amaze me - those wonderful creatures.

I had a cat for years when I was living alone. In the same building was another cat, much older which after some years died. My cat mourned the loss of him for weeks and it took me days to understand why she acted so stranger until it finally clicked - her friend was no more. No they are both together in heaven.

Anthea,

Hi Anthea, sorry to hear you lost your cat. I dread the day our cat, who we rescued from an uncaring single guy, who kept her in an outside shed and left food, that was basically eaten by other cats in the area. We noticed how thin she was so started to feed her. Just before we moved to our new home eight years ago, she'd got so used to coming to our house,, we bought a collar and tied a message to it asking if anyone owned the cat (we didn't know the details of the owner at the time, and were told later by a neighbour who lived across from us, who discovered that the owner lived in the house directly behind theirs. and knew about the poor treatment of the cat. Anyway just before we moved we needed to take one of our guinea pigs to the vets so took the cat as well just on the off chance that she had been tagged. Which it turned out she had, so the vet said we would not be able to take her home as she had to be (by law) returned to the owner detailed on the electronic tag. That evening we got a call from the owner (because I'd left a note attached to the collar with our telephone number) asking if we would like to take her, which of course we did. He did impart some history and it turned out that she had been living on a farm (almost feral apparently)and had become pregnant, all but one of her kittens had been given away. When the guy who eventually took her went to the farm for a kitten, he was asked if he would take the cat as well

With respect to our dwarf rabbit Nessie, we've been taking it in turns to sleep in the family room since Winnie passed away Saturday. It's next to the room and garage that we gave to the rabbits; we also have left the door open to the room and Nessie has slept next to the sofa we have been using. He has either stayed with us almost constantly since Winnie passed or has sat on her grave (that we filled with perennial flowers yesterday to mark the grave) . Emily, my daughter is either going to make a statue of a rabbit (she's a really good sculptress), or buy a ready made one to put next to the grave and flowers.

We are still uncertain as to whether or not to get a 'replacement' for Winnie; the main concern is perpetuating the loneliness when one of any pair passes away plus not all replacements will bond. We are in touch with a rabbit sanctuary, but at the moment they don't have any suitable candidates. I've yet to contact the RSPCA to see if they have any suitable rabbits ( they have to be at least 7 or 8 years old).

Whiterabbit-uk,

Thank you. I was holding her in my arms all the way to the vet when we had to put her down.
What a story. I am sure she is well with you. Cats normally know with which persons they want to stay.
The second cat we have now also chose us - she came last August, hungry, matted and afraid - trying to get food from the other cat we have. After some days he was still looking the same, so I started to pet him and then could comb him and while he was eating I started cutting out his worst hair knots. Another couple of days I went to the vet with him to see if he is chipped. Which he wasn't and he also wasn't neutered. So I put him on our national platform where you can add your missing or running up pets. Nobody asked for him, only one lady but her boy had yellow eyes and ours has blue-greenish ones (he is black). After the period of 2 months (I think) you can keep the pet. So I immediately got him chipped and vaccinated and whatever. In November we moved to our home (from a flat) and of course the cats had to stay inside, which he didn't like. On night he run away and it took us some days to lure him back home and of course he caught a cold. So it took some more weeks until he could be neutered and he was going beserk inside. My husband works often from home (journalist, not only due to Corona) and was a wreck about it. Eventually the time has passed, we got him neutered and opened the door. He never left anymore and is an avid snuggler now.
We wanted a second cat again but said we wait until after the move so we don't have to move a new cat - the universe had other plans. Now here we are with our boys, a redish-caramel tiger called Jesse James and the black one called Seamus - they are not friends but the house and surrounding is big enough for both of them. They are always near.

How nice your daughter would be able to make a statue. Nessie is still sad too, he needs some time, I would say. Yeah, the bonding for a different pair is always a bit tricky or not happening (see our cats). As long as Nessie is with you all he is surely well and who knows suddenly a new friend for him shows up.

Anthea,

My daughter wanted to be a vet initially; her best friends mother is a vet and it inspired her. She's always had an affinity with all the animals we've had or taken in as strays since she was a toddler.

When she was in her second year at sixth form (UK 16 to 18), she arranged a two week work experience at an animal sanctuary that we'd taken a couple of animals to after finding they were injured (a pigeon and a hedgehog). It was within communing distance from our home (about 45 mins drive). It changed her mind about applying for courses at university that would lead to becoming a vet because she couldn't bear the part of the job that involved putting animals to sleep. Even in the two weeks she spent at the sanctuary she'd become too attached to many of the animals she had been given responsibility for feeding, cleaning etc, that included a fox, a barn owl and a badger.

While she was at the sanctuary she saw several animals put down because they had been too severely injured; (the sanctuary was for wild animals not domestic pets).

When she was picked up at the end of the day she would often burst into tears immediately, on the days she'd had to witness animals being euthanised.

Stay safe and have a great week. :)

Whiterabbit-uk,
I understand well why she refused.

My sister is a zookeeper (well not for big animals) and did her apprenticeship in a sanctuary. Everytime I was there I wanted to take home all the cats and dogs. I have no idea how my sister dealt with all this putting down, even they didn't have to do it as frequently as with your daughters sanctuary.

Same to you and your family.

unruly,

Thank you for your kind words unruly, appreciated.

We buried Winnie last night, after letting her partner (Nessie) sit on and next to her for several hours (we'd been advised by a rabbit expert to do allow this).

When we buried her we showed him what we were doing. This morning when we let him out for his morning run, he went straight to her grave and sat there for an hour. Later when he'd gone back inside (we gave the rabbits the garage and the snug room (12' x 12') as their home as we don't believe in cages, plus it was a spare room and we rarely used the garage for cars); our cat sat on the grave, within minutes Nessie came running out and tried to bite her (he has a benign tumour on his jaw so can't bite properly; we have to hand feed him regularly), shooing her off, then stood guard over her grave for a few hours before wandering back indoors.

Roookii,

Thank you for your kind words Roookii, appreciated.

We buried Winnie last night, after letting her partner (Nessie) sit on and next to her for several hours (we'd been advised by a rabbit expert to do allow this).

When we buried her we showed him what we were doing. This morning when we let him out for his morning run, he went straight to her grave and sat there for an hour. Later when he'd gone back inside (we gave the rabbits the garage and the snug room (12' x 12') as their home as we don't believe in cages, plus it was a spare room and we rarely used the garage for cars); our cat sat on the grave, within minutes Nessie came running out and tried to bite her (he has a benign tumour on his jaw so can't bite properly; we have to hand feed him regularly), shooing her off, then stood guard over her grave for a few hours before wandering back indoors.

Whiterabbit-uk, that is so touching. I had a rabbit when I was much younger and I don't think that people understand how loving they can be. I hope that your heart heals and her memories bring you joy.

Roookii,

The memory of her will always bring a smile to my face once we get over this loss.

When we let them both out into the back garden (most days over the Spring, Summer and early Autumn, depending on the weather), she would bink so often, showing how happy she was. It was a joy to watch. Both her and Nessie used to race around the main lawn, and often hide in the bushes and flower beds; a lot of it captured on video. We have many hours of video and hundreds (if not thousands) of photo's of her and Nessie, mainly taken by my daughter; who has literally taken photos and video of them both every day of their lives from the day we got them, apart from when she was at university before the pandemic, and even then, she would be home every weekend continuing with her filming and photography. :)