Barney The Bunny (2012 - 2025)

Barney in 2012

MAY 7, 2012 - JANUARY 29, 2025

It's really sad and peculiar no longer having my usual morning routine of feeding Barney first thing, but on Wednesday I found our beloved bunny had died in his sleep.

We buried him later that day and are planning a small memorial, with flowers and a statue, to mark his grave site.

He was over 12-and-a-half years old; in human terms that's about 90.

Named after my favourite character in How I Met Your Mother, Barney came into our lives on July 7, 2012, when we picked him up from Pets At Home in Tunbridge Wells and brought him back to his own residence in the garden of our old home near Tonbridge station.

At the time, the general advice was to get a single rabbit, as - we were told - a pair of males would fight, but this thinking has since changed.

The small size of our garden meant there was no convenient way to attach a covered run to his hutch, which therefore necessitated me lifting him out of his hutch and manually placing him in the run every time we thought he'd want to stretch his legs. Usually, though, he would sit in the run and glare.

In those early years, he was no fan of being handled.

Barney's original hutch

A fit and sturdy rabbit - a blue Netherland Cross, half-dwarf - the only injury he ever suffered was a very early (even before his first birthday) hind claw snagging incident that our wonderful vets resolved promptly.

Otherwise, he was very hardy and healthy, with the only real sign of his advancing years being the gradual loss of his eye-sight, beginning in 2021, but even then that didn't seem to bother him as he knew he was safe within the confines of his hutch and run, and that he would never want for food and water.

Every Christmas, he would travel with us to Rachel's parents' house, where they had a holiday home set up for him - his own dedicated hutch - and, as a member of our family, would get his own Santa's sack of gifts (usually food-themed). 

Barney (and Alice) have personalised gift sacks from Father Christmas

Barney's holiday home in Rachel's parents' garden

A couple of years after we took in Barney, we adopted Alice and she loved him from their first meeting. Every chance she got, she'd want to play chase with him or stroke him with her paw and give him a good lick (puppy kisses) behind the ears.

Best of Friends: Alice with her 'brother from another mother'

When we moved house in 2019, Barney found himself living in a much larger hutch, with an attached run, and he really took to it.

He definitely chilled out a lot, and you could tell he felt comfortable knowing he was very secure in this new environment.

Barney's luxurious new home in our new garden

Enjoying the expanse of his new run

He lived through boiling hot summers and wet summers, hurricane-strength winds and snow storms, visiting dogs (much larger - and more excitable - than Alice) and unwelcome foxes, but nothing seemed to bother our Barney.

I also discovered that there are few sights more adorable than a rabbit stretching itself and yawning.

Rachel's best friend Aime also included Barney in our family gifts (above and below)

Celebrating the Year of The Rabbit in January 2023

As he grew older, his fur got a bit tuftier and lately I'd noticed, under this fur, he felt like he was getting thinner, even though he was eating well and was still quite fiesty.

His passing, although not totally unexpected given his age, has left a huge bunny-shaped hole in my broken heart. Both Rachel and I were really upset, and Alice was very confused as to what was going on - thinking of her giving him kisses because she thought he was asleep still brings a tear to my eye.

Barney was loved by all and will be missed terribly.

On his 12th birthday, last year