Lupin: How it all Began

How did it come about that we started to keep house rabbits? Well, it all began fifteen years ago to the day...

It was a cold, damp, drizzly Sunday afternoon, when we spotted the most beautiful looking lop-eared bunny. I’d promised my wife I would buy her rabbit, and that day was just the right day to do it. So, one rabbit, a hutch, and all the required rabbit paraphernalia were purchased – coming to a grand total of £18.81 (an amount neither of us has ever forgotten.)

During the drive home, names were discussed, and we came up with ‘Lupin’, and the name stuck.

My understanding at the time was that rabbits lived outdoors in a hutch, but it was such a cold afternoon, and the rabbit had been living inside an enclosure in a garden centre, that it struck me quite heartless to put the poor creature outside. So, I suggested that we keep he indoors until the weather was less inclement.

She never did go outside to live.

The first night she hutch resided on the landing outside our bedroom.

The second night it was in the kitchen.

Thereafter it was in the living room.

It was a bit of a secret, and we didn’t let many people know that we were mad enough to keep a rabbit as an in door pet. Thankfully, times have changed and as a society were are a little more enlightened.

What struck me about keeping a rabbit was just how sociable they were. Whatever we did, Lupin wanted to be involved. When I was ironing, she jumped on top of her hutch to be as close as possible to the ironing bored, and she sat there, calmly watching the iron move back and forth. When we played the piano, she jumped from the roof of her hutch on the piano keyboard.

She was an adorable rabbit, who unfortunately was only with us for eight months before she succumbed to pneumonia. But the happiness she brought, and the lessons she taught us about keeping a house rabbit, have never left us.

For some snippets of Lupin in action, view the Run Rabbit Run in the Videos section.