Dave died suddenly yesterday.  Were gone to a family reunion in Pennsylvania and were five hours away when my sweet neighbor called crying to tell me he died while she was petting him on his rug near Buster.  There was nothing anyone could have done, but she felt terrible to have to give me this news on the phone.  We are almost positive that he died of the same complications that killed our little Boo Boo Bunny three years ago.  It’s a common ailment in rabbits that affects their digestion and kills them quickly if something isn’t done.  The problem is that Dave didn’t exhibit any of the symptoms until he was very far gone, so he would most likely have died on the way to the vet even if we could have diagnosed him.  She said he was lying in a prone position and made a small hiccup noise and then just stopped breathing.  He’s the only pet we’ve ever had that died peacefully and at home.  We are sorry we weren’t with him, but he had his friend Buster near and Miss Terri stroking his fur.  Of course we were still hours from home and couldn’t even comfort Terri or prepare Dave for burial.  Dennis and Tama came over to help her and Dennis wanted to bury Dave for us.  He’s recovering from knee surgery and we didn’t think this would be a good idea.  Actually Jim wanted to do it so we had a short service in our ever-growing pet cemetery and placed Dave beside Rosie & Violet.

Thank you Dennis, Tama & Terri for all you did.  I know you loved that crazy little guy as much as we did.  😦

Here are the last pictures I took of Dave, playing with his second best buddy, Mr. Mulder.

Buster seems OK and I’m sure he’ll be fine living with his cat friends, Mulder, Rowdy and Sam.

Best Buns

Thanks for reading. –Deb

Dave Burlingame: January-August 2013