Shimmer came to Puffball Paradise from a farm who housed her in a dirty rusty cage outside and used her to breed rabbits for meat. She had countless litters of babies who sadly did not live as long as she did as they were killed for food. She had a previous fracture of her hind limb that resulted in a malunion of the bone. This was never treated but prevented her from being a good jumper and caused her pain later in life. Bunnies from situations like this rarely receive vet care. She also had dog and cat ear mites from the farm.
When Shimmer came to Puffball, she was pregnant with what would be her final litter. She was about 3-5 years old. We reached out to rescue to see if they could help us place her babies once they were born. As a REW (ruby-eyed white) bunny, her babies would likely be difficult to place in homes because many people do not want red eyed rabbits. Shimmer herself was part Californian and part New Zealand White.
Shimmer went on to have ten beautiful babies. She was the best mom we’ve ever seen and had no difficulty wrangling her bunch. After the babies were weaned, Shimmer was spayed without incident. However, she developed a mammary carcinoma (a cancerous lump) which needed to be removed. Following this procedure, Shimmer suffered from the unfortunate and extremely rare side effect of tracheal stenosis. The only way to save her life was the placement of a tracheal stent.
She spent about a week on oxygen while we set up her stent placement at a specialty hospital and then we drove her straight from one hospital to another to have her procedure. Tracheal stents are uncommon in rabbits with only one research article available regarding this procedure. However, stents are placed in cats, and we sought out the most experienced vets in our area to perform the procedure.
Shimmer did amazingly well with her stent placement with the only obvious result, beside being able to breathe better, being a rattling sound to her breathing. She went on to live with us for another three years before granulomas developed on the distal end of the stent and we had to peacefully let her go before she would not be able to breathe.
During her time at Puffball, Shimmer was bonded to a silver fox rabbit named Titan. The two were very closely bonded with Shimmer being in charge in their relationship. She ultimately had a second lump removal and was treated for head tilt which resolved. She was on medications for pain and arthritis.
Shimmer was and always will be very dear to us. She was an inspiration in so many ways and taught us the importance of perseverance in the face of adversity. We miss her rattling breathing which was uniquely Shimmer but most of all we miss her spicy personality, her dislike of dogs and thunderstorms, her demands for pets, and her big bunny flops.
