Very unfortunately we found out the hard way this week what a wonderful veterinarian we have.  On Friday evening Trudy poked her nose into the tea garden, to which Sarah – as fast as lightening – expressed her sincere displeasure by promptly snipping the entire right side of Trudy’s nose away from the rest of her face. 

I’ll pause so you have time to wonder why I’d exaggerate such a gruesome injury; except I’m not exaggerating.  The entire right side of her sweet nose was separated from her face.  We discussed the emergency vet and after assessing Trudy’s condition, placing a call to our regular vet, administering medication for infection and pain, and risking our fingers by holding the wound together with a bandaid (nope, not kidding, and the best part is that she left it on her nose until the next morning!) we just hoped someone would be in the office that Saturday morning. 

While our Grand Champion Flemish Giant doe has a disfiguring injury the day before a show, Mike and our son gathered up all the gear and packed it and the other buns in the truck during the early hours on Saturday and headed for the show.  Trudy and I waited for the phone to ring.  At only a few minutes after 8 am, we got a call from the vet’s office and Trudy and I were packed up and headed that way.

Dr. Thompson examined her as well as he could without moving Trudy’s nose anymore than necessary.  He promised to do his best and I waited with the other pet owners in the lobby.  About 15 minutes later, Doc came out to the waiting room and said he had cleaned the wound, sutured the tissue, and felt it went much better than he’d hoped.  With a few moments of light joking about a bunny with a bandaid on her nose and follow up care instructions, I thanked him for working us in.  The waiting room wasn’t completely full, but it was obviously a busy Saturday.  Still, Doc made time to talk with me and ensure I was ok as well as our bun.  How often do you find a medical professional, or any professional for that matter, who can genuinely show care and sincere appreciation?  Doc is definitely one in a million.

The veterinary assistant brought Trudy out in her cage, which is always so much fun to see the looks on other pet owners’ faces when they see a rabbit that’s bigger than their dog, and she looked wonderful!  Her nose had some swelling, which is to be expected, but with two small areas where fur had to be trimmed you could hardly tell she’d had an injury.

Today, day three after the injury, Trudy is completely back to her old self.  Her nose is still a little swollen, but it looks like she’ll heal well enough to show next time.  If she’s smart enough to keep her nose on her own side of the garden; she’s a smart girl.