Happy birthday to Nimbus, the most sweet and precious soul I've had the pleasure of carrying with me in my life. She would be 9 years old today, and while 8 years is a lot of time, it simply was not enough to spend with her. Born 07/22/17, adopted 01/18/18, and crossed the rainbow bridge on 12/17/25.
This wonderful little girl came into my life midway through high school, at a time when I didn't realize I needed her. She's been there with me through losing my father to cancer, the ensuing pit of depression, high school graduation, my first job, my first car, starting college, my first big breakup, my first internship, and every up and down in between. So many firsts and so many lasts, all with her by my side, sharing in all her love and sweetness.
I named her "Nimbus," as at the time I was learning and loving the Latin language, and she was gray like a storm cloud. And now, when she once frolicked on carpet and rugs, she is now frolicking in the clouds.
I also sculpted her urn myself, and give kisses on the ceramic head when I'm missing her extra hard <3
I want to share more about her and her life. This will be a long read, but if anything, I hope for someone to get something out of this, whether they are dealing with, or have dealt with, a similar thing with their precious baby.
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Her passing was so unexpected in the moment, but in hindsight, I now know there were signs I should have picked up on, but as a first-time bunny owner, I really just had no idea.
I found her laying lopsided in her litter box when I came home from work on December 17, 2025. I knew it was bad because she was too weak to stand on her own, and (most alarming of all) where she would normally thrash about, she did not protest when I picked her up and held her close.
I rushed to an emergency vet, where they found that her vitals were abysmal. I was told she was actively dying and it was time to say goodbye. They had the IV port inserted into her arm already before I could even agree to euthanasia.
My boyfriend left work early, made it inside the room, and she passed away naturally in our arms within just the next few minutes. Never even needed the injection. I know it is a "myth" that animals wait, but she truly stuck it out for as long as she could until she heard both our voices together, and could finally relax and feel at peace. She was always so brave and so strong.
I got her in January 2018, when she was just 6 months old, from a family who could no longer keep her. Her original living conditions were really poor; she'd been kept in a battered cage in a closet, bent in multiple places (I still don't know what happened to it, did they throw stuff at it??), with no litter box, no hay, no water bowl... just a water bottle, pellet feed once daily, and newspaper lining she'd pee and poop anywhere on. From the very first day I brought her home, I was already watching bunny YouTubers and reading forums, trying to learn as much as I could about proper bunny care and how to be an attentive mother. I'm so glad I was able to give her a much better life than the one she started with.
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In the end, while it's not 100% clear what took her from me, I know she had been progressing to this point, and her progression was rapid in her last couple months.
Her health had a few scares along the way: an episode of GI stasis around age 1 or 2, caught early, and in 2023, a tooth root abscess that took three months, a couple thousand dollars, multiple surgeries, and a week of medical boarding to heal. It wasn't until she was better and eating normally again that I realized how much pain she'd been in beforehand.
For the next couple years, she lived in my bedroom at my mother's house while I unofficially lived with my boyfriend, and I visited every day to replenish her food/water and spend time together. Over the summer of 2025, I noticed some watery poops and switched her greens, which seemed to help somewhat.
In August 2025, my boyfriend and I finally got our own place with some roommates, and I brought her home for good. She acclimated fast, eventually conquered the stairs after some gentle coaxing, and loved sneaking downstairs to be around guests and soak up attention.
Between August and December, her health quietly but rapidly declined. Her yearly checkup in August revealed a missing molar, meaning the opposing tooth would keep growing unchecked and eating would get harder. She was eating less hay and visibly losing weight, so I started supplementing critical care in October. The watery poops continued on and off, and about a month before she passed, she started having pee accidents around the house, something I now know is a sign of kidney failure. I beat myself up for not catching it sooner, though I have no way of knowing if it would have changed anything.
Through all of this, she stayed so full of love, even more affectionate than before. She'd never let anyone pick her up, a boundary from being mishandled by kids as a baby, but in her last year she'd allow me to reposition her and scooch her onto my lap during cuddles. She would willingly be held, but only if it was on her terms; that is, if she hops into my lap of her own accord. She still socialized, jumped on furniture, and hoped I'd open the fridge for romaine. In hindsight, she was sleeping a lot more, and I hadn't seen her binky in years. I thought it was just a side effect of her growing old, and I guess in a way, that was true too.
A couple days before she passed, she was barely drinking water. I planned to take her to the vet but never got the chance. The morning of, she happily ate her critical care as always. By the time I got home from work and went upstairs, I don't know how long she'd been lying there waiting for us to come home; my boyfriend hadn't noticed anything abnormal before he left for work either.
My running theory is that her dental pain made it harder to eat, she lost weight, and her body slowly began shutting down... kidneys first, then everything else. The vet on her final night noted she was underweight, her heart rate a third of normal and her temperature nearly half what it should be. My regular vet hadn't seemed alarmed by her thinness before this, just advised monitoring and even suggested I lessen the critical care to help with the abnormal poops.
She was also part lop, which I learned from the neighbor whose house she was born at... brachycephaly is characteristic of lop bunnies, so I wouldn't be surprised if a shorter muzzle from her lop parent made her more prone to these dental problems all along.
I just feel like I failed her. That if I had taken action on her weight loss faster, maybe she would still be here today. I miss her so much.
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She had been my bunny for 8 years, and my boyfriend's bunny too for 3 years. He never knew bunnies could be so amazing, but she left her mark on his heart forever too, and he now says that bunnies are his favorite animal. In her last 5 months, all three of us spent so many nights snuggling together in our new house. Bringing her home in a bunny-sized cardboard casket to an empty bedroom felt like a million tons of grief. I miss when she'd hop right up once I arrived home from work, but now, the room is just... still and quiet.
She had such a big personality; she was so sassy and bold, and very firm in her convictions. I felt so in tune with her emotions, and her with mine. It does not feel right to say she was just a pet. She was a companion and a friend. I am so grateful that so many people got to experience all the love and joy she had to offer. She left an impact on everyone she met, and even her vet team loved her for snatching the flavored medicine syringes right out of their hands and running off with it.
Nowadays, almost every day, my boyfriend and I are sharing rabbit posts with each other between TikTok, Instagram, and Reddit. Our feeds are almost all bunny... and we wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you, Nimbus, for being such an incredible light in this world.
