Living on a farm, it seems quite normal for me to be surrounded by animals. But even when I was a kid living in a rough, crime-riddled town I'd adored animals and showered myself in pets. Now, I have four dogs, two rats, six goldfish a cat, a rabbit, 12 sheep and about 600 cows. Unfortunately, my two llamas and a rat recently died.
I'm very close to all of my pets, but I'm closest to my rabbit. Having so many dogs, two of which are terriers, I'm always very nervous that they would catch and injure my rabbit, whose name is Stitch. He lived in a huge pen in the garden, one I built myself. There are a couple of gaps here and there, but I covered them up as best I could for fear of Stitch escaping.
Today, that fear came to light. My mom burst into the kitchen and panted, "Stitch is out!". He'd escaped into the garden, where the dogs had been all morning. What if they'd got to him?
I rushed outside and found him sitting in his bucket of rabbit food, munching away contentedly. He looked fine, I noticed with relief. He hates being picked up, so after a minor struggle I scooped him up into my arms and took him back to his pen, where I locked him into his hutch until I could find and close off his escape route.
We had to rush into town as mum had a hairdresser's appointment, so I decided to fix whatever hole I could find when I came back. Sitting in the car, I brushed rabbit fur off my white top and froze; I was covered in blood. I quicky checked myself over, but I wasn't cut anywhere. It wasn't my blood. It must have been Stitch's.
I was so nervous and impatient as I waited for mom to be done, and I shot to Stitch's pen as soon as I was home. Scooping him up again, I checked him over and almost screamed. His tail was missing. His whole tail has just been torn off, leaving a bloody straw-like stump where it should have been. Terrified tears rolled down my face, and I gave him extra food and pondered what to do.
We have anti-maggot spray for sheep, and I am considering spraying some on his tail. I hope it won't be too strong for him, being a small animal, but there are so many flies around. Maggots would be disasterous.
I don't know which dog, or maybe cat, attacked Stitch. But I am terrified for him, and furious at them, whichever one may be guilty. They seem to sense my anger and are wisely keeping well away from me. I hope poor Stitch is okay. He's the best company I have on this isolated little farm, where all of my friends are miles away. Advice would be fantastic!
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