So you might wonder what qualifies me to do this.

In 2012 I undertook the Veterinary Nursing for Rabbits course to give myself a formal qualification, but rather than giving me a wealth of new knowledge, this confirmed what I had learnt from 10 years in practice and over twenty years of owning rabbits (and not always from doing things in the right way).

Although I don’t currently have any bunnies, I have had quite a selection of rabbits in the past, ranging from the very sweet (Fudge the Dutch was particularly friendly), to ASBO bunnies (Elmo was very aggressive and badly behaved, but he was a rescue so I forgive him), the tiny (800g Brian the blind Netherland Dwarf) to the huge (grumpy French lop cross Muffin).

But there was one who was particularly special who started my love of bunnies.

I got the not very imaginatively named Spot when I was eight years old, a black and white English. He unfortunately had to be put to sleep when he was almost seven due to having a really nasty abscess in his tear duct which was probably related to a problem with one of his teeth and could not be treated. Knowing what I know now, I find it hard to believe that he managed to make it to that age without having problems with his teeth earlier.

Despite my parents’ efforts, he had an appalling diet. I shared everything with him, including salt and vinegar, hula hoops and ice-pops. Unsurprisingly he didn’t really like vegetables or hay, instead preferring rich tea biscuits, yogurt drops, the peas from his rabbit muesli (this is in the days before complete pelleted diets were being produced), and any other human food I would sneak to him. His teeth should have been awful, but surprisingly they never developed the spurs that we commonly see in rabbits that have a bad diet. Phew!

He was a prolific digger - the second his feet hit grass he would start - he was so good at it there were occasions when our next door neighbour had to move his run to stop him escaping whilst we were out. This didn’t please my dad too much as he used to put a lot of effort keeping the garden tidy, and I was particularly unpopular after letting him loose in the garden for a run and not noticing that he was digging up all of the flowers that had just been planted in the border.

He was also a bit of a wimp. If the window cleaner came or the grass was cut then he would hide in the back of his hutch and you wouldn’t see him for hours, but weirdly he wasn’t bothered at all by fireworks. Despite this he was an incredibly good natured bunny. He would patiently sit beside me in the garden whilst I read to him the books which I had been sent home from school with and was supposed to be reading to my parents (he probably enjoyed this activity, knowing this was the time he was most likely to get a few hula hoops).

Luckily I can’t think of a single occasion when he bit or scratched ande I can honestly say that he was one of the best tempered rabbits I have ever met - he would let you do anything to him.

He was so fantastic that despite having had a variety of breeds, if I ever get any more rabbits in the future then I would like to have another English, even though I know the chances of getting another rabbit like him are slim. When he died I knew I wanted to have another rabbit, but he was always going to be a hard act to follow.

Luckily Muffin didn’t even try, I couldn’t have chosen a more different rabbit ... but she is a whole other story!

Gemma RVN

Oh and thanks to Gemma's mum who kindly delved deep and found these great old pictures of Gemma with her lovely Spot.