A Hoppy Holland Holiday

I don't even know how to start this post because never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever have a house pet.

I've always been horribly allergic to cats.

I like dogs and my kids have begged for a dog but I think they're a little too high maintenance for me right now.

I think they finally came to grips with me saying no to the dog but they still wanted some kind of pet.

I never thought I would decide to give it a try.

I started thinking seriously about it in the fall.

I thought, "It would be fun to surprise the kids with a small, furry pet at Christmas.  It might not be that bad and it would help them learn some responsibility."

I talked to Andy about it and he was all for it. (He grew up with a lot of animals in the house).

I went to Pet Smart in November and asked an employee, "What is the cleanest, easiest to take care of little, furry animal?"

Without hesitation, he replied, "A bunny!"  He went on that you can easily litter train rabbits.

Okay...the only problem was they didn't have any bunnies.

So I was educated on the animals they did have; guinea pigs, hamsters and chinchillas.

I had been leaning toward a chinchilla going into the store.  They had just sold the one they had and weren't sure when they would be getting another one.

I came home still going in that direction and hoping they would get one in soon.

I hopped online and kept looking at other things.  I thought it would be super fun to get a hedgehog!

They are not legal to have as pets in every state so I checked into Utah and they are legal.  However, the more I researched it the more disenchanted I became.  Super pricey and kind of hard to get your hands on.

So I think that's when I started looking at the bunnies.  I googled "dwarf rabbit" and although the Holland Lops I don't think are technically a dwarf breed, they came up in my search and I immediately fell in love with them.

I mean...how can you not?

They are a smaller breed but can still get up to 4 pounds.

I didn't know how far I would have to go to find one but soon discovered 2 Holland Lop rabbitries within 30 minutes of us.

Both had bunnies that were going to be ready to take home just in time for Christmas.

I got serious about the bunny idea and then started wondering if I would be allergic to them.  Why hadn't I thought of that before?

I arranged a time to go visit and spend time with the bunnies to see how I would react.

My dad graciously offered to go with me so one Saturday morning early in December we took a little drive.  When we arrived at the home I saw some of the cutest little creatures ever.  There were a bunch of colorful little bundles of fur just a couple of weeks old all snuggled up together.  The woman was super nice and answered all our questions.  She had also brought an adult in for me to hold to make sure we covered all our bases as far as allergies went.  I held and snuggled the adult and the babies for about 20 minutes with absolutely no reaction!  I was so excited :)

I kind of fell in love with the runt who snuggled into the crook of my arm and fell asleep.

I went home and started ordering everything from Amazon that we would need (which was a lot of stuff) to be ready for the arrival of our bunny.

A couple of weeks later it was time for reserving the rabbits.  There was a waiting list and I was toward the bottom so when I got the phone call that it was my turn to choose I asked about the little runt.  She was still available.  I can't say that I chose her immediately...there were two other very adorable ones to choose from as well.  Of course I did decide on her though...my motherly instincts kind of go out to the runt...especially if that runt is a good snuggler :)

I picked her up the morning of Christmas Eve.  I was so excited :)  I couldn't wait to surprise the kids the next morning!

Andy took the kids somewhere so when I arrived home I could bring her in and hide her in the guest room downstairs.

I was a little worried that after a week or so of having her in the home I would regret it...really hoping I wouldn't, but concerned just the same.

I can happily report that after 3 weeks of rabbit ownership I am still very happy we have added her to our family.

Earlier this week we did have a mishap of leaving the cage door open and having to hunt for "Honey" in the basement but you can be sure we have had, and will continue to have, multiple talks as a family about being responsible and doing our part to help with her...I used the Little Red Hen example :)

{More on how her name came about in a future post}

I hope she is just as happy with us as we are with her!

I LOVE that little, flat face!

FYI:  "Honey" is a high quality show rabbit!

This is the place from which she sprang and I was so happy and impressed with their business.  Kristen knows her stuff and was so kind and continues to be helpful with questions I have for her.
(Just in case you think you need one :)