Photo taken by Lejla when I first met my little bunny love at the Petco adoption event, and took him home.

Just a little update on my sweet little boy, Cosmo (also known to many as Blizzy).

After the first two to three days of getting a regime together, ordering and purchasing what he needed, some trial and error and determining what works best, and figuring out a good set up conducive to his needs and what would be best for Joy and him to get acquainted, things settled into a natural flow.

Now it’s as if he’s always been a part of the family and although I have a new and earlier morning schedule that is all about taking care of the little ones, and then carrying on with regular morning things like making smoothies, taking out trash, and other house duties, it’s a joy to see how happy Cosmo is.

I can feel his appreciation and the immense joy he has knowing he is safe, truly loved, his needs are met, and he has no more worries to hinder his getting strong and focusing on his rehabilitation.

He loves our morning bath time together, but his favorite part is when I blow dry him, as I massage his little back side and legs and he feels the gentle warm breeze drying him off. He sits perfectly still and takes it in very appreciatively with lots of licks after.

Cosmo and me resting after his rehab time in his go-cart

I love the times where I get a chance to just lay with him and rest, as he snuggles his little head under my chin, licks my nose, and lays as close as possible with me while I have my hand on the place where the injury to his spine is to channel Reiki to him.

I took him to the vet last week to have a full exam to see how he is and got his nails clipped while there since he hadn’t had that taken care of in a while before coming to me.

The vet said he’s in great health, and she determined, which I had seen upon having him just the first day, that he was not fully paralyzed. He does have sensitivity in areas of his legs, has reactive reflexes, and some mobility. One leg is likely more painful than the other because the muscles are not as developed in that leg, which indicates he’s not using it likely due to pain. This is also the leg on the side that he seems to twist his body onto and is always dragging more.

The injury is somewhere in the lower back spinal region, but until the vet has a chance to see his past x-rays that were taken in November, she was unable to assess the full extent of his condition, only having some old written records to go from. We are supposed to hear on those some time today, but I would also be interested in getting new x-rays to see what if anything has shifted since then.

Cosmo sitting upright eating his parsley

What I do know is that those back legs of his are not fully paralyzed, although very disabled from his injury/condition, as he does move them quite a bit now, uses them a bit to shuffle himself along, and at times has come to be able to sit upright for a very short period and can even move himself around upright for a while. I’ve seen him several times nearly get himself upright on his own, so with continued effort, patience, and strength training I believe he will.

Although these periods are brief and for the most part he is laying down and pulling himself along, he is getting stronger and those little legs are getting memory back as to how to use them like he once did, again. I feel that with continued and consistent effort, on both his and my part, and with all the love, holistic, therapeutic, and energy work, we will get him to a really good place – what ever that is meant to be for his path of choice – and there is high potential of finding him walking and jumping around again one day. I believe!!

Cosmo sitting upright again eating his dandelion greens

I try to sit him straight when I put him down on the ground to help him to balance himself and get back used to sitting and moving regularly. Some days he does better than others and then eventually plops over into his laying position with legs to his left.

While at the vet I picked up his meds, to help with pain and are also anti-inflammatory (he had not been receiving these), and also picked up a little cart to help with rehabilitation, which Lejla of Bunny World Foundation dropped off there for me. It’s a cart that can be used for full paralysis, where you’d raise the back legs into stirrups and the small animal would be able to walk with their front legs and have the wheels in back as their mobility.

But in Cosmo’s case, since he can move his legs a bit, we place the legs into the holes there (similar to a child in a stroller) and strap him safely in around his back and around the upper portion of his neck/in front of shoulders, which encourages him to use his back legs rather than they just lay there idle. He is able to use all of his legs, but the back legs are supported in the harness, so not all of his weight is on them, and the wheels help him to move along quickly. (Will post a good video of this soon)

I have found that doing this around feeding time helps to motivate him, as I put his Timothy pellets in his bowl and he then follows the bowl when you pull it, rewarded for his efforts.

This provides him use of his legs, which the goal with this is to strengthen the muscles and act as physical therapy. We do this just 10 minutes a day and will work up to more over time.

We started to implement putting little diapers on him (purchased diapers made for preemie babies, after watching a video on how this can be done) while he does this, so that no accidents occur during the process.

At times he really takes off and sometimes just goes despite the pellets, exploring all around and gets going quite fast making sharp turns and all.

And sometimes, right after using the cart, he is able to move around briefly on his own like he normally would, if not for his condition. That is amazing and very encouraging! (Will post a video of this soon too, once I get it uploaded)

It is the sweetest experience and so rewarding to see him get excited at his mobility.

I can tell when he’s done, as he will get tired and lay his head down, so I then take some time after to let him rest next to me, as we snuggle in love.

Sharing kisses and licks

He’s such a lover, so desiring of just nuzzling all the time, enjoying laying next to you still on the bed sleeping, loves to be held, licks you with kisses, and gives his all to everything.

It took 2-3 days to get him to really enjoy and eat his Timothy hay, but I’m happy to report that he is fully, which is a great thing. He’d been fed the last year the wrong hay – Alfalfa hay – which is for young rabbits only, but now he’s back on track. I also provide him a little pure Goji juice in his water daily, just like Joy gets, and they both love that. This will definitely assist his healing, regeneration, and health in general.

I ordered three more organic superfood supplementation (MSM, turmeric, and echinacea) for him this weekend, which should arrive soon, to add to his holistic care and to help restore, regenerate, and keep him vibrant. These were recommended by a vegan, holistic care expert and board member of Bunny World Foundation who has had amazing results with rabbits.

I want to provide the best opportunity for Cosmo, as there are no limits to what is possible.

I’m also happy to share that Joy is doing really well. I couldn’t be more proud of her. I know we have a long journey still there in bonding them, but she is getting used to having his energy around and hasn’t been aggressive like she was at the beginning. She’s been calm, only sniffs a lot at him, but mostly is remaining balanced with only short periods of heightened alertness.

The two of them are with me all day long and Joy hardly ventures out and about from my office, except to come get me for food time in the hall. LOL! The two of them go crazy for food time! And I now have them both on the same schedule and Cosmo already knows the routine, alerting me it’s time for snacks!

I couldn’t be more blessed to have two such amazing souls in my life.