Easter Bunny

Well, I almost thought I wasn't going to have one.

I went to put Smudge to bed last night as it had been cold and drizzly all day and although it was slightly earlier than normal I thought she'd bound in as usual when called, as she seemed to have spent all day sat under a bush. Nope. She wasn't going to move from under that bush. She was sat hunched up with her eyes closed ignoring me. I prodded her - nothing. I stuck broccoli under her nose - nothing. Eventually I clambered under the bush, picked her up and put her in the summer house. Once in, she jumped into her box, huddled down and shut her eyes. Now this isn't normal behaviour for Smudge, the first thing she does when put in for the night is to check what food is available and make sure that if her food bowl's not filled, that you fill it. Instead, nothing.

I left the summer house doors open and went to get her favourite treat - a Cadburys chocolate button. When I returned she hadn't moved. Normally just the smell of chocolate is enough to excite her, but still no reaction. I practically shoved the chocolate button into her mouth - it fell out. Now, even when Smudge is having a major sulk she'll still eat chocolate if it's put in her mouth. As you can imagine by this point I was getting worried. She let me stroke her but still had her eyes shut and was ignoring me. I decided to leave her and check on her in half an hour.

Well, I probably checked her 20 times in the next four hours - she hadn't moved other than to change her position slightly. There was no indication that she'd eaten or drunk anything and the chocolate button was still sat on the floor in front of her. I decided that I'd be worried about her all night (by this point I was lurching between whether I should make an emergency call to the vets and where I was going to bury her in my mind) so I took the small indoor cage into the house and set it up on the kitchen floor so that she would be easy to check on. I brought her into the house with no resistance from her - she didn't bother to check out her new surroundings, just huddled down on the floor again. I'd noticed when I carried her in that her bottom was a bit dirty again so decided that I'd give her a hip bath (I was thinking this might be a kill or cure strategy!) She let me do this, and give her a gentle blow dry. When she was back in her cage in the kitchen I syringed some water mixed with a drop of rescue remedy into her mouth and left her to recover whilst I went on the computer and had another chat on msn about how stressed I was about her with Martyn. I left the heating on overnight and checked on her several times, the last time being about 2am, when having shoved both her food bowl and water bowl under her nose she took a drink.

Woke up at about 7.30 and went to check her, not sure what state she'd be in. She was sat in the cage looking at me. I offered her her food bowl and she ate a single pellet of food. I gave her a piece of spring greens and she had a bite! I decided that as she seemed a bit better I'd put her back in her run in the summer house where she had familiar smells. Then shattered I went back to bed.

When I woke up again about 10 I went to check on her and she was sat on top of the carry cage in her run. The chocolate button had disappeared from the floor. On seeing me she hopped down from the cage and came and said hello. I noticed she'd used her litter tray (which she hadn't done indoors over night). She still seemed a bit slow and hadn't touched her pellets but she did have a nibble of the broccoli I offered her.

As it was warming up outside I left the summer house door open and within half an hour she'd ventured out and had hopped up onto the raised patio and was sat in the sun. As the day's gone on she's continued to perk up, wandering round the garden having a bit of a forage for things to nibble, eaten some spring greens and done a little sunbathing.

So, I don't know what was wrong with her, whether she was having a major sulk, had a virus or whether she'd got confused about the role of the easter bunny and the resurrection, but I think I might phone the vets tomorrow and book her in for a check up!