Against All Odds, Resilient Bunny Recovers After Breaking His Leg

When Lance and My’s pet bunny rabbit got injured, there was little hope that he would make a full recovery. But Lance and My refused to give up on Abungadi the bunny and his injury turned into an incredibly rewarding experience for everyone. Not only did Abungadi recover, but the bond between him and his humans also reached a new level of trust and love.

Against all odds, my bunny made a total recovery from a broken leg

“Meet Abungadi (Uh-bun-gah-dee). He’s a willful bun, full of personality.”

“We’ve had him since he was a wee bun.”

“He and his buddy Peter roam our yard during the day and come indoors after sunset.”

“One day, Abungadi went outside in the morning as usual. He hobbled back inside two hours later with his leg askew and showed signs of pain. We took him to the vet as soon as possible, and found he had a severely fractured femur!”

“Wow! The vet did an amazing job mending the bone. What you see is a thin metal pin held along the bone fragments with loops of wire, which stabilizes the fracture. Keep in mind that rabbit bones are very thin and frail compared to animals like cats. Putting the bone back together like this requires incredible skill. Even still, the vet believed that a total recovery is highly unlikely.”

“His leg was held in position with a tight wrap. Even right after the surgery, he displayed his usual willful self and kept up a strong appetite.”

“A silver lining to this catastrophe is that he would pass out in our arms for the first time ever. There’s no word for this sort of bliss.”

“Unfortunately, Abungadi had to spend much of his time in a large cage. Whenever we approached his cage, he would stand up on his hind legs in anticipation of receiving a treat. We thought this was bad, but later learned that bones heal stronger when they gradually hold more weight.”

“Finally! The leg wrap is off and a few weeks later the pin is taken out. Here he is enjoying a nice, comfy flop for the first time for about 10 weeks. For now he will stay confined to a pen until he regains his strength.”

“Abungadi is back to having free reign of the yard and house. Throughout the ordeal, he remained undefeated and kept up his usual energetic and food-crazy self. At first his leg poked out to the side like you see in this picture, but as time went on he has treated it more and more normally. Now he has about 95% of the normal use of his leg. We’ve since reevaluated the safety of our yard and removed anything that his leg could’ve possibly been caught in.”

“Back to his old habit of searching the furniture for food and houseplants. Look at those legs! You’d never know that the vet was once worried that his leg would be completely stiff, but he regained almost all of his range of motion! It’s been quite a journey for us and Abungadi. Caring for him so intensely brought about a renewed appreciation for his indomitable spirit.”