My Little Munchkin
I’ve had a lot of pets over the years, in fact I can’t remember a time that I didn’t have at least one animal, but my favorite pet was a rabbit named Munchkin.
This is the only photo I have that shows him off pretty well. I have other photos of him, but they were taken by myself, as a young child, and they are blurry macro shots that only show half of his face.
I’m not sure what the correct name would be for his color coat, but he had tan/orange fur. I’m guessing he was technically considered one of the following: fawn, orange, red, or sandy. I’m not sure which one best fits him.
I can’t put my finger on just why I liked him so much, but I loved that little guy. He was small and very soft. I remember nuzzling up to him behind his ears. The fur behind his head, on the back of his neck, was the softest thing I had (and have) ever touched. He was independent but at the same time loved company. I think he combined the best of both a cat and a dog. The cats never liked to cuddle and the dogs were generally too big and loud to be fun for a quiet child like myself. Sadly I only owned him for 2 years. He had a degenerative muscle disease that ravaged his back legs. By the time we decided to have him euthanized, he could barely use them. I hated to put him to sleep, but my mom convinced me (and she was right) that it was the best thing for him, since he could no longer get around properly.
A couple things I learned about rabbits in the short amount of time I had Munchkin:
Their poop isn’t very messy and some moms don’t mind it scattered around the house:
Munchkin was my first rodent-like pet so I had no idea that their feces were not like dogs, cats, etc. I don’t know why my mom put up with this, but she had no problem letting Munchkin have free range of the house during the day. He’d use the litter box to urinate, but he’d poop whenever and wherever he wanted. Since a rabbit’s droppings are practically dry, my mom would just have me sweep it up whenever he would go. Still though, his poop was on the carpet! When I think about it now… yuck!
They aren’t the smartest animals when it comes to their instinct to chew:
Muchkin, like all rabbits, loved to chew and on more than one occasion he’d sneak behind the couch and munch on the lamp’s electrical cord. He’d hit the current, squeal, and shoot out from behind the couch. Poor guy. Since his death, I’ve wondered more than once if his leg problem stemmed from being shocked a few times. I really hope it had nothing to do with it.
They have good memories (when NOT talking about their instinct to chew) and can be very affectionate:
At night, Munchkin lived in the basement fruit cellar that my mom converted into a HUGE rabbit run. In the morning when my grandfather would come over to babysit, he’d open up the pen and Munchkin would run up the basement stairs, run through the house, up the stairs to the second floor and into my room. He’d jump up on my bed onto my chest and tickle me in the face with his whiskers. I didn’t like getting up in the morning, which I assume is the same with most kids, but this always made it better. 
Whenever I see a rabbit I think about Munchkin. I occasionally think about getting another rabbit, but I think I’d like to wait until my own daughter is old enough to appreciate a rabbit like I appreciated mine.
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This is my entry for the 50th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy: Family Pets
Enjoyed reading about Munchkin! Had a friend who had rabbits all the time (& when they had two at a time it was of the same sex so there wouldn’t be extra bunnies!) Thanks!
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June 18th, 2008 at 9:15 am