Lincoln killed a baby rabbit :-(

[Diane Denney]

Tonight was just horrible. I don't want to get to descriptive because it was awful. First of all Lincoln ran after my cat outside, and rolled him, and thankfully Haku was okay and ran right back into the house, but then the next thing you know I hear this baby screaming sound, and I turn to see Lincoln has a baby rabbit in his mouth, and it's screaming and he won't drop it for me or leave it so I finally got a piece of chicken and he dropped it, but he was so badly injured. He didn't die right away either. I tried to save it, but it was too hurt. I called the vet, and they said they'd put it down for me, but the litlle guy didn't live. This was very traumatic for me and I cried so hard. The vets office told me that dogs do that. My dog Scott has chased a rabbit or two out of the yard, but never took a baby from it's nest. I didn't know I had a rabbits nest in my back yard. Anyway I found the nest, and there are still very new born babies in it, but I don't know if the mother rabbit will come back as Lincoln and now I was near it. I really hope she does. In the meantime thankfully I have the lead still in the ground so I am putting him on that in the meantime until they get a chance to leave. The vet told me that they don't know the difference between that and a squeak toy. I guess he has a strong prey drive which isn't good considering I have three cats. Lincoln is in the house with them all day, but he's in the kitchen, and nothing has happened so far. Do you think I need to worry? Sorry but I love all animals so this was very nerve wracking for me.

[Eva (Lilo and Rocky)]

yes they do scream - and so do mice, squirrels, and other rodents!! I hear it often around here, unfortunately :( But, I have adopted the cynical view that dogs are simply part of nature's own course and food chain, so I plug my ears until it's over and hope they don't drag anything inside that's still semi alive.

[Diane Denney]

LOL...I guess I lived in the city too long!!!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Luca brought his wet muddy self, carrying the still warm squirrel into the house--ugh. Not a pretty site> Itold him he was going to be in his crate a looong time.

[Diane Denney]

Oh my!!! Lincoln brought his muddy self to the backdoor last weekend, and then a couple of days later did it again, but thankfully he was squirreless. We live in a fairly new neighborhood that used to be cornfields so there aren't a lot of trees except for the ones that have been planted or were here before so there is not an abundance of wildlife except for the rabbits, and ducks. I'm surprised we don't have raccoons because of it. There are coyotes. but they too haven't seemed to make it here yet either, and I'm glad.

[Colleen & Abel]

This worried me when I first got my puppy cause I have a rabbit as a pet! My bunny lives in the house and I let him hop around in the basement a bit. I got my Goldendoodle 10 months ago and made sure to socialize them from day one. Me owning a bunny is one reason I decided to stay away from terriers. Abel can get a little excited around the bunny but all in all I think he just wants to play. He pretty much knows the meaning of "gentle". Abel also lives with a cat who is now the boss of him.

[Diane Denney]

Yeah my cat with claws is the boss of Lincoln!! My other two cats do not have their claws. Although Soby is pretty good at letting him know she doesn't want to be bothered. Haku on the other hand is not a threat to anyone or anything. He is a very floppy, cuddley loveable kitty.

[Kyoko]

I am sorry this happened to you.....
Once my cat found the rabbit's nest and brought the babies to the door one by one. Some were too injured, and some were totally fine. We kept the unharmed one, and fed them kitten fomula for a long time. They all got bigger, but eventually died... :-( Then Butter disturbed nest in a back yard a couple of years ago... We did not know any better, so we left it along and made sure not to let him out in the back yard. By next day, the nest was totally empty. We figured that mom relocated all of the babies somewhere....

[Diane Denney]

So far the babies are still alive. I put an x with twigs over the nest, and it looked like it was moved this morning, but not much. Maybe just squished down a big. They all looked fine. We are suppose to have a storm tomorrow so I hope the nest doesn't get flooded as the backyard was pretty waterlogged last time. I really wish the mother would relocate them because I've had to keep Lincoln on a lead, and he's not burning enough energy. My husband took him for a 3 mile run today, and that helped for a while, but he revs up not long after. Funny it being Easter, and it's all about bunnies!! LOL

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This will be one Easter you will always remember, lol!

[Diane Denney]

:D

[Diane Denney]

I checked on the rabbits today, and the cross of sticks that I left over the nest were not moved since yesterday morning. They are not crying, and the website I found about wild rabbits say that if the sticks are moved you know the Mom is going back to the nest. They move when I look inside. I use a twig to move the top of the nest to look at them, and not my hands. I don't want to handle them as I know that is very traumatic for them. Any ideas?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I wish I had some advice. All I can offer is sympathy. I remember how worried I was about the baby rabbits that Jack disturbed in my yard. I hope they hurry up and mature enough to hop away, so you can have some peace of mind!