My friend woke at 4 a.m. to a clamor. Her rabbit stood at the bottom of the stairs thumping and thumping. She had never heard him thump before. Turned out the diabetic cat was extremely ill; she rushed him to the emergency vet. The rabbit was calling for help for his cat buddy.
In the United Kingdom, a man was lying on the couch asleep when his rabbit jumped onto his chest and beat on him. Biting, digging, making a racket. The man's wife finally noticed and when she tried to pull the rabbit away, recognized that her husband was in diabetic shock.
In Indiana, a man woke in the middle of the night to hear the new rabbit -- acquired at a flea market a few days earlier -- making a big fuss in the living room. Thumping, throwing things around in the cage. He went out to the living room to find the rabbit was jumping and hitting the sides of the metal pen. His wife, 8 months pregnant, was asleep in bed. With the rabbit still clanging and banging in the other room, he checked to make sure his wife had not wakened. She was not sleeping. She was going into diabetic shock.
These are true stories. Has your rabbit ever woken you from a nightmare, comforted you during times of distress, or brought to your attention that another human or furry family member was trouble? It’s more common than you think.
Extensive research shows that trained service animals are invaluable for helping those with disabilities, handicaps, and medical issues live more independent lifestyles and thrive physically, emotionally, and even economically. The American Disabilities Act considers service animals - including medical alert animals - as any guide animal, signal animal, or other animal that is trained to provide assistance to an individual in specific need of those services for a disability or medical issue. Alert animals specifically are characterized by their ability to alert their human counterparts to the onset of debilitating events or happenings, such as a hypoglycemic episode. Hypoglycemia/hyperglycemia releases chemicals in the body that have a unique smell that is undetectable by humans, but dogs can sense. Anecdotal evidence suggests rabbits may have the same ability.
Unfortunately, rabbits cannot currently be legally recognized as service animals – at least not yet. However, they can be prescribed as an emotional support animal by a mental health professional or registered as a therapy animal by an organization like Bunnies in Baskets. Pet Partners even registers nine different species for therapy animal work, including small animals like rabbits, guinea pigs, and rats! The benefits of spending time with therapy animals are seen across species. And yes, rabbits are used as therapy pets all the time. You can read our recent story about that right here.
While medical alert rabbits may not be afforded the same rights in public facilities as service dogs (and certain miniature horses per revised ADA guidelines), the life saving benefits they can provide are very real, in so many ways. You probably already know that a bunny can change your life. But one day, he may just save it too.
