I know how you feel, Claudia. Even if we had a plant for years, every new season we await them anxiously to bloom and rejoy in Nature's wonders again and again. And then a hungry critter comes and takes it all away!
I have the same problem with rabbits and mice. This year they have been more agressive tan ever. Would you believe they even climb to my terrace to eat plants? Last week they destroyed my recently emerged Tropaeolums (T. tricolor, T. brachyceras, T. azureum and some spontaneously hybridized ones). I do not expect them to regrow, at least not for this season (they bloom in Winter down here). On some of my pots they even dug out the tubers and ate them
