Meet Tiny Elvis

When the Campbell Johnsons decided to grow their family, they knew right where to turn. Bunny Buddies volunteer Terry Bosien just happened to be fostering the perfect mate for their Daughter Dutchess.

Dutchess and Tiny Elvis, circa 1998

Something in this house is making me sick, I thought. We had just moved into a remodeled older home near Houston's Medical Center, and I kept feeling like I had the flu. Since my husband, Wade, is the one with the allergies, it seemed strange to me that he wasn't getting sick too. After several weeks of this, I woke up one morning too miserable to go to work. A quick trip to the local clinic and a little blood work later, and we had our answer. In medical terms, I was "very pregnant."

Our thoughts quickly turned to Our Daughter Dutchess. We didn't want her to feel neglected, so we decided to see if there was a bun brave enough to undergo the bonding process with her.

Another Bunny Buddies volunteer, Terry Bosien, had been fostering a small Hotot-looking bunny with tons of attitude. She called him Tiny Elvis because he reminded her of a character from a Saturday Night Live skit. The day she brought him over to meet us, she put him in my lap. "Whaddya think?" she said. "Is he just too wild for you?" :-) He was adorable!

Next came the hard part: bonding him with Dutchess. It took about four weeks, but eventually they became inseparable. A few months later, when we were consumed with the work of a new baby, it was comforting to know that Dutchess was getting plenty of attention from her buddy Tiny.

Unfortunately, we lost Tiny to unexpected GI problems a couple of years later, but we never regret adding him to our family. After we all went through the grieving process, we adopted Lucky to be Dutchess' new companion. Now 9 and 10, Dutchess and Lucky have grown old together, and it's been very rewarding to know that we played some small part in giving them a long and happy life together.

To read about the bunny who was labeled unadoptable, see Meet Dutchess.

Debbie Campbell and Wade Johnson
Houston, Texas, July 2005