Bunnymad UK: Seven years with Ebony 'Thunder Cloud'

Ebony today, with her bunny.

Today marks seven years since Ebony joined our family. This is the story of how she came to live here.

At the end of November 2018, when we lost Mabel, we knew we had to find a new companion for Dijon quickly, but our local rescue centres didn’t have any single female rabbits available for adoption at the time.

On 6 December, we saw an advert for Ebony – or ‘Thunder Cloud’, as she was called – as we browsed the Rabbit Rehome UK website (a database of rabbits, both at rescue centres and living with individuals (but not from breeders), needing new homes). We were drawn to her as she had also recently lost her partner, and was living in a home not far from us.

Ebony’s previous family called her ‘Thunder Cloud’.

Apparently Ebony did that same feet-out flop in her former home.

We contacted the owner, late that night, to find whether Thunder Cloud was still available, ask for more information, and tell her about our situation and setup. We received a reply early the next morning.

Unlike many of the rabbits waiting for homes, Thunder Cloud was by no means unwanted or neglected. Three months before, in September, her owners had become ‘accidental bunny parents’ when a small white bunny (male) had turned up at their house. Realising he needed company, they had adopted Cloud from the Pets at Home rehoming section, and bonded them.

They didn’t know much about Cloud's background – they believed she had been one of the rabbits who had been returned to store, rather than old/unsold Pets at Home ‘stock’; her exact age was unknown, but they guessed she was a couple of years old (our vet later said she was probably younger than that). Cloud (she is black with a white cloud-like marking) was called ‘Thunder Cloud’ by their young daughter. They had been informed by Pets at Home that Cloud had been spayed and vaccinated, but didn’t have any records (we later confirmed with the vet in that store that she had been spayed, but they had no record of her vaccinations! To avoid any risk, she was vaccinated by our vet, as soon as we adopted her). She mostly had free roam of their living room, with a large puppy crate as her shelter.

Just like Dijon, Cloud had lost her former partner (Pipkin) in the last week of November. They had noticed his teeth looked long, and their vet had confirmed it was a problem, which would require an operation to remove the teeth, then further operations each time they re-grew. Alternatively, he would need the teeth filed down every 8 weeks (possibly that was why Pipkin had been abandoned). The owners were given a stark choice: they thought the expense, and the stress to Pipkin, would be too much and made the heart-breaking decision to have him put to sleep. They were still missing Pipkin, who had been “a lovely wee spirit, a proper mad march hare, very full of magic”.

Her owner told us that Cloud seemed fine, and was still eating well, but she knew that the pair had been close – Cloud had spent hours cleaning his ears (maybe also trimming his whiskers, as she’s done for her next partners?!). She added, “I am sure she needs another bun to cuddle up with; she has been sitting on the sofa in the spot that they used to sit together”.

We were told that Cloud was quieter than Pipkin had been – Pipkin had been the one to binky, run in mad circles, and climb the bookcase. When we enquired whether Cloud might be bored living with a 7.5-year-old rabbit, she replied, “I don't think Cloud will mind a quiet life”!

We learned that Cloud was a little shy, and didn’t like being picked up, but that she would allow them to stroke her ears; she loved parsley and would eat from their hands. She was “not super friendly, but not aggressive at all”.

Cloud’s owner was still 50/50 about whether to find a new home for Cloud, or to adopt another bunny (she had also checked for rabbits available in local centres), but, after consulting her children, had decided “whichever seems best for Cloud is what we will do”.

We decided to visit with Dijon, as we’d heard that you can tell from the rabbits’ initial reaction whether the bond is likely to work. In the end, we decided against taking him, knowing it would be stressful, but the owner told us she was more than happy to have Cloud back, if it didn’t work out.

We arranged a date, Sunday 9 December, and agreed that if we thought Cloud was the one, we would take her that afternoon; we would also take her cage and belongings, to minimise stress of being in a new home.

When we entered the living room where Cloud was living, she was under the sofa. Eventually, when she emerged, we saw a beautiful black, fluffy, slightly timid rabbit. It was agreed with the slightly tearful owner that we would take her home. We stressed that they were welcome to visit at any time, and that we would keep them updated. As we were about to leave, the little girl gave us Cloud’s fluffy bunny companion, to place in the carrier alongside her. We still have that bunny, remarkably unscathed, compared with everything else in our living room… perhaps the bunnies realise the significance.