My bloodpressure was rising, because just 2 weeks before that, I had lost my dear white, red eyed Flemish Giant Bonkie.
I looked at the picture, and my heart broke. I saw the same sad eyes as Bonkie had, when I got her from the shelter (Bonkie was dumped in the woods and was ill).
I phoned the man (a little bit pissed) and asked him some things. To my surprise, he was very friendly and did seem to care a lot about this giant. I told him I would call back. I was a little bit confused. Maybe I was wrong, maybe she was a happy rabbit.
However, I could not get her out of my mind, so I called back the next morning and got his wife on the phone and she told me the story: Bientje (thats her name) had been very mistreated by her former owner. That guy didn clean her hutch, which was also far too small for a giant and her waterbottle was completely filled with algees. She didn receive love or attention at all. They had rescued Bientje but were unable to keep it.
When I heard that story I thought: I was right about those sad eyes! and told the lady that we were coming to pick her up immediately. We drove 500 km all together to rehome that lovely giant and thats quite a distance in Holland!
When we got home, I put Bientje in my bedroom and was up all night talking to her and get her to calm down as she was rather restless. The next morning I put her in a bigger hutch outside (Bonkies former hutch), When I came back after half an hour I was shocked! She had given birth to one death baby! Poor Bientje, she was pregnant, and because of all the stress and mistreatment it was born dead.
We took her to the vet and he examined her. She was very stressed, he said, but other than that, she was healthy.
After that, we took good care of her, but she showed "abnormal" behaviour. She was very stressed, couldn sit still, was running, then lying down, running again, eating a little bit of food, etc. It went on and on, she was completely out of breath constantly! I asked other rabbit-owners about it and they told me all the same: Bientje is just very happy to be with you, and doesn know what is happening to her. Now she is able to run and she gets lots of love and attention, so she wants to enjoy it every minute of the day!
Now, a few weeks later, shes still euforic. She is running around my legs, she wants to make babies with my hand (haha) and she is really enjoying life!! For the first time in her life!
When shes used to her new home, she can choose a nice ex-male rabbit to live with! I hope she lives a long and happy life with us!!
Ingrid en Bientje
(The Netherlands)