Roger's Story

Life with a Disabled Rabbit

I am not going lie, a life with a disabled rabbit was not an easy road for my family and I. Especially because everything happened so unexpectedly. In November 2007, a lady in a car drove up to my house, dumped a hind-leg paralyzed brown rabbit right in front of my house, in the front yard, and drove off like nothing has happened. This all occurred while I was at school and so I received all this information from my neighbor. As I came home from school, I noticed a bunny who had a hard time moving. At first, I did not know what was wrong but I soon realized that the bunny's leg was stiff and was dragging his lower half of his body as he tried to run away from me. Since I had to go back to school for my second class, I brought the rabbit into my backyard so the rabbit would not get away. That night, we put him in a box lined with newspaper and decided what to do with the rabbit, we named Roger. We came to the conclusion to keep Roger for as long as he lives. However, I was not prepared for the work that lied ahead of me. In the past, I NEVER had any pets and so I had to do hours and hours of research about taking care of rabbits, especially a disabled one. We decided to diaper Roger and I had to change his diaper 5-7 times a day, around every 4 hours per day and I had to feed his cecotropes whenever he has done them in the diaper. At night time, we would give him a "butt bath" to eliminate his chances of getting urine scald. In 2009, his ability to urinate began to deteriorate and so I would have to express his bladder whenever I change his diaper 4 to 5 times a day but I still do wash his butt and he is still staying strong!