Tag Archives: rabbit bite

Rabbit Bite

rabbit removal

My boyfriend’s a pretty tough guy.  He served in the Army for six years.  He worked construction while putting himself through school.  And, even though he now works at an office job, he spends his off-hours doing big projects around the house, hunting, or taking the family camping.

But, when he got a rabbit bite, he actually yelped and tears came to his eyes. I’ve never seen him cry out in pain.  Even when he accidentally put a nail through the fleshy part of his ring finger, he just grunted and drove himself to the hospital to have it removed.  Apparently, the surprise and pain of a rabbit bite was enough to get the best of him.

Our daughter had been playing on the trampoline with her friends, and she came rushing inside to tell us excitedly that we had rabbits in the backyard.  We’d been aware we had rabbits around our property, but we’d kind of put off doing anything about it.  When my daughter discovered the rabbits, she was over the moon.  She’d wanted a pet for a long time, and had figured the rabbits came to be her pets.  So, my boyfriend took the opportunity to show her and her friends a few things about wild rabbits, teach them how to be safe around them, and that they definitely are not pets.

My big, tough man didn’t think to put on his work gloves.  He took a rabbit by surprise and grabbed it up, intending to use it to teach the girls.  That’s when the rabbit bit him.  Lesson learned, I guess.

The skin was pulled back and the cut was ragged.  It had already started to swell and it would probably bruise. As my boyfriend was washing the wound, I asked him when he had last had a tetanus shot.  That’s when I learned something new about this wonderful, strong man.  He was afraid of shots, so he hadn’t even thought about getting a booster.  It was probably fifteen years since he’d had a tetanus booster.  I choked back a frustrated retort.  How often did he go out in the woods by himself, hunting or camping?  He’d spend so much time preparing for any contingency, but he’d failed to do this one simple thing.  I didn’t say anything to my boyfriend, but I did inform him that we were going to the doctor to get the rabbit bite looked at.

Once he as at the doctor’s office, I informed him he was going to get a tetanus shot, end of story, and the doctor backed me up.  Now I know he’s safe, and my daughter and her friends got an excellent lesson about how to behave around wild animals, no matter how cute they are, it’s time to focus on getting rid of the rabbits.  Cute or not, they’re starting to destroy the yard and have already proven they’re a danger.