The challenges of lockdown have been indubitable and numerous, but there have been small highlights. One of these for me has been spending more time with my big, grumpy but wonderful rescue house rabbit, Sprinkles. I adopted her in 2013 after she was abandoned with twelve other bunnies, and I never expected to still have her around eight years later. Whilst I should have done more research on the lifespan of a rabbit, I feel very lucky to still have my old lady around, with as much character as ever to keep my family and I entertained in lockdown after lockdown.
When we found ourselves in the first throes of the pandemic in March, Sprinkles had very recently had a brush with death after experiencing temporary stomach paralysis which prevented her from digesting any food. I had stayed at home throughout January in order to syringe feed her, and leaving her to return to Sheffield in February was a real tug. Although the rest of the world was fairly terrifying in March, returning home and seeing her again felt very special. By this time, her stomach had recovered and she was putting weight back on (which was – without a doubt – her favourite bit of being poorly!) and seeing her grow strong and healthy after we had prepared to say our goodbyes to her felt like a little slice of a miracle against the backdrop of a pandemic.
Since her recovery, she has been as fantastically grumpy as ever, undoing shoelaces, hiding behind the fridge until she is given broccoli, and fighting the tumble dryer hose. However, I do get the privilege of being her favourite. When she’s not napping, ripping up boxes or lunging at me, she might deign to offer me a snuffling kiss. If she manages to get hold of a strawberry, she might also perform a binky or ‘zoomie’ and speed around the room, showing us that she does like us deep down.
The last fourteen months have been incredibly challenging for everybody, but I’m grateful to have had a charismatic bunny to share my experience with. She is a creature of routine and hates late nights and sleepy mornings, which helps me to structure my time better when the days roll into each other, and her antics make it hard to feel low when she is about. Her little world might not have been impacted by the pandemic, but I like to think she’s been quite pleased to have me home.
