Leaf
Well-Known Member
I just wouldn't feel right, closing the year without saying a formal goodbye to the three little souls I lost in November.
Until now I've mulled over whether to post or not, but I think there is an important message to send out.
Our rabbits are the heartbeat and bonding thread between all of us here on the forum.
They depend on us, love us, bring us joy and, at times, pain.
Some here may remember when I brought my little fluffy crew home. They were given to me by a co-worker after both of her sons were killed in a car wreck while returning back to the county fair after taking an disqualified light-weight animal back to their farm.
I felt honored to take the rabbits in and promised to cherish them, care for them and love them, of course.
As "blue ribbon winners" withprizesbehind them, they were my pride and joy. Though I have never bred an animal in my life I considered doing so with these, as they were beauties and carried a wonderful pedigree behind them.
In the end, I decided I wasn't ready to take any such step and opted to have the three fixed, a final decision - a gratifying choice because I felt it was the right one.
In November I took four rabbits in to be altered.
I've had multiple rabbits fixed this year (jeez- Bumble Bee, Diamond, Genelle, Onion, Cricket, Skeet, Taps, Blue, Anseland my friends boys, Ben, Oscar and Coal).
The cost gets high very fast.
Risks are always there. One that I lost (Cricket, wbo has her own memorial here), I later learnd was given a medication that rabbits don't tolerate. The vet knew this. The new vet tech should have as well but made a "mistake" on a chart notation and I was unaware of the widely known *fact* that rabbits do not tolerate amoxicillan. I was actually unaware of this completely until I read of another fourm members loss in their thread, unfortunantly I read it a little too late.
The other three I've lost, the ones I post about now-I'm not positive what happened. It was with a different vet completely. All three were healthy, same breed (two related, one not). A fourth was spayed the same day - different breed, slightly older - same vet, absolutely no problems.
The ONLY possibility I can see is that the day they were fixed (all on the same day) we had a power outage when a truck hit a power pole and wiped out that side of town for just over 8 hours. All 4 were overnight stays when the outage occured.
So, my experiences have been rough. One experience was bad, partly due to the office ignorance and my own. The other experience was devistating because I had multiple rabbits done all at once and the only blamed source we can find is the power outage, though besides drops in body temperatures nothing has really been conclusive.
Still, I have had many positive endings well worth it all in the end.
However, I will never, ever go back to the vet that made a mistake in medications. And on that note, I will never have multiple rabbits fixed at the same time. I think it's a little too stressful. Flukes (maybe in my case) can happen, but in all I think its important to do one-on-one care with a recovering rabbit, rather than trying to focus on several all at once.
Yes, I have lost some after making the decision to have them altered. This is one of the main reasons I opted not to post when it happened. I truely believe there are times events happen that you cannot fully control and I worry that the problems here would discourage others from having their bunnies done. Please don't take this as such. If you take anything from this thread, let it be:
My message to everyone is simple. Love, cherish and enjoy those you have now. Each day, each special (or frustrating) moment is precious and should be remembered as such.
No matter the decisions you make regarding your rabbits, do it with love, honesty, a level headand an open heart.
I will always be rescue oriented. I will always be pro-altering. I will always respect responsible breeding and those who make wise decisions and become mentors to others.
My household has been full of pain these last few months, but so rewarding and full of cherished memories as well.
So for now, as we come near the end of 2007 I want to formally say goodbye to my three stooges, the ones I'll always remember as my "Bananerds"
SkeetTapsBlue
Until now I've mulled over whether to post or not, but I think there is an important message to send out.
Our rabbits are the heartbeat and bonding thread between all of us here on the forum.
They depend on us, love us, bring us joy and, at times, pain.
Some here may remember when I brought my little fluffy crew home. They were given to me by a co-worker after both of her sons were killed in a car wreck while returning back to the county fair after taking an disqualified light-weight animal back to their farm.
I felt honored to take the rabbits in and promised to cherish them, care for them and love them, of course.
As "blue ribbon winners" withprizesbehind them, they were my pride and joy. Though I have never bred an animal in my life I considered doing so with these, as they were beauties and carried a wonderful pedigree behind them.
In the end, I decided I wasn't ready to take any such step and opted to have the three fixed, a final decision - a gratifying choice because I felt it was the right one.
In November I took four rabbits in to be altered.
I've had multiple rabbits fixed this year (jeez- Bumble Bee, Diamond, Genelle, Onion, Cricket, Skeet, Taps, Blue, Anseland my friends boys, Ben, Oscar and Coal).
The cost gets high very fast.
Risks are always there. One that I lost (Cricket, wbo has her own memorial here), I later learnd was given a medication that rabbits don't tolerate. The vet knew this. The new vet tech should have as well but made a "mistake" on a chart notation and I was unaware of the widely known *fact* that rabbits do not tolerate amoxicillan. I was actually unaware of this completely until I read of another fourm members loss in their thread, unfortunantly I read it a little too late.
The other three I've lost, the ones I post about now-I'm not positive what happened. It was with a different vet completely. All three were healthy, same breed (two related, one not). A fourth was spayed the same day - different breed, slightly older - same vet, absolutely no problems.
The ONLY possibility I can see is that the day they were fixed (all on the same day) we had a power outage when a truck hit a power pole and wiped out that side of town for just over 8 hours. All 4 were overnight stays when the outage occured.
So, my experiences have been rough. One experience was bad, partly due to the office ignorance and my own. The other experience was devistating because I had multiple rabbits done all at once and the only blamed source we can find is the power outage, though besides drops in body temperatures nothing has really been conclusive.
Still, I have had many positive endings well worth it all in the end.
However, I will never, ever go back to the vet that made a mistake in medications. And on that note, I will never have multiple rabbits fixed at the same time. I think it's a little too stressful. Flukes (maybe in my case) can happen, but in all I think its important to do one-on-one care with a recovering rabbit, rather than trying to focus on several all at once.
Yes, I have lost some after making the decision to have them altered. This is one of the main reasons I opted not to post when it happened. I truely believe there are times events happen that you cannot fully control and I worry that the problems here would discourage others from having their bunnies done. Please don't take this as such. If you take anything from this thread, let it be:
My message to everyone is simple. Love, cherish and enjoy those you have now. Each day, each special (or frustrating) moment is precious and should be remembered as such.
No matter the decisions you make regarding your rabbits, do it with love, honesty, a level headand an open heart.
I will always be rescue oriented. I will always be pro-altering. I will always respect responsible breeding and those who make wise decisions and become mentors to others.
My household has been full of pain these last few months, but so rewarding and full of cherished memories as well.
So for now, as we come near the end of 2007 I want to formally say goodbye to my three stooges, the ones I'll always remember as my "Bananerds"
SkeetTapsBlue
