I Lost My Darling Furball

My Kamita sprawled out sleeping behind the couch: Kamikaze, my bunny companion of 10 years, passed away on Sunday night. She's been blind for years and struggling with neurological problems for some time now. I was debating all day Sunday whether it was, you know, time... to take her to the vet the next day. But in the end I didn't have to.


Here are some of her baby pictures. She was small enough to sit on one of my hands and fluffy with big ears to grow into. She got her name, incidentally, because sometimes the ears stuck straight out - airplane ears. Plus, she did take a couple dive-bombs out of my arms when she was little.



Kamita (kah-mee-tah) was also smart and really into food. She quickly figured out that food came from the kitchen, and usually from the refrigerator. Whenever I would get something from the fridge and sit down on the couch, she would jump up on the couch to see if she could get some. One time I had steaming hot pork chops on my dish. I got my drink and walked over and sat down on the couch. Well, Kami came running, and with a flying leap, landed smack dab in the middle of the plate of hot gravy. She quickly realized this was not a good place to be and jumped off. Then she ran across the (light-carpeted) room, shaking her feet to get the gravy off. What a mess! (I ate the pork chops anyway.)


Here Kami meets my nephew Toby. When Toby lay down on the floor, she hopped over and immediately started grooming his head. Quite a privilege, since usually she demanded to be petted first. She was, admittedly, very generous with her affections once this prerequisite was met. This trait endeared her to many people who didn't like pets, such as Suzie and my mom.



Visiting my parents' house, her favorite thing was the stairs. She LOVED to race up and down the carpeted steps. She would take the last 3 steps in a single bound. We had to put a bell on her to keep her from being stepped on.


For a few years, we lived at Hope's house. Hope had 2 cats and a dog, so Kami had to stay in our room. She really hated the wood floors. When I first moved in, I opened her cage door. She put her front feet out and they splayed out because of the slippery wood. She got right back in her cage and refused to come out after that. I got her some little carpet squares, so she could hop from one to another.


During this time, she liked to get up on my futon. Most mornings, she would jump up on the futon, come find my face and lick it till I got up. Sometimes I was so tired that this failed to work. Then she would go find my bare feet and lick them. That never failed to get me up!

Once I was up and getting ready for school, she liked to straighten my sheets. She would dig at them and pull with her teeth, then turn around a push with her two front paws to smooth things down. That's what she's doing here:






This is how Kami looked right before jumping up on a bed or couch. She's looking for a clear place to land. Her face really looks like raccoon eyes from this perspective. Poor Kami hasn't jumped up on anything in a long time because she's been blind for a couple years now. But this is one of my favorite pictures. I will always remember her I'm-about-to-jump face.

Apparently, the guitar case makes for a perfect bunny head-rest.
After I moved to CA, Buttons was added to the family. It took over a week to convince Kami that the addition was a good one. To keep her from attacking him, I had to introduce them outside. Kami hated the patio; she was a spoiled house rabbit. She even hated grass. I mean, she would eat it, but she sure wouldn't sit in it! If I took her in the grass she would insist on being in my lap. The only other place that ever happened was at the vet.

In any case, Buttons, being rescued from the streets, loved being outdoors. So Kami would not attack him because she was freaked out. He would largely ignore her as he explored. This picture is of a bunny power struggle when I was bonding them. Each is trying to get the other to groom her/him FIRST. That dictates who is top bun. Buttons, being a smart boy in realizing that peace was better than position, eventually gave in.

Eating together is social and helps bonding.

Eventually they could tolerate each other in the house. Before this pic, Kami had attacked Buttons a number of times. She liked to fight. I have the scars on my hand to prove it. (She wasn't trying to bite me, but another bunny and I foolishly intervened.)





Eventually Kami came around and since then Buttons and Kami have spent most days lying around together, or on top of each other...

Mi querida Kamita... eras mi bebé, mi amor, durante años de soledad y tiempos difíciles. Te voy a extrañar muchísimo... tus besitos, tus orejas como silk. Nunca te olvidaré.