DelawareRunner
Well-Known Member
My rescue dwarf mix and avatar, Precious, died yesterday morning. She was six years old and I would expect a rabbit I have to live longer than six. My last bunny lived to be twelve. I adopted her over five years ago. No illnesses, injuries, or anything wrong until Friday afternoon. She ate and went bathroom normally and acted fine Thursday. I came back from my long run on Friday and she was hiding in the corner and no longer had her normal breathing sound, She wasn't labored, but she has a short dwarf face and could be a noisy breather and always has been. She snored too. Instead, she was a quiet breather on Friday. I let her run around the room and she explored but was not her usual energetic self. Her vet closed early that day and we only have one other vet within a two hour radius who will even see a rabbit. I checked on her three times Friday night and she had really gone downhill as of five a.m. Nearest vet opened at 8 a.m. and I just figured I'd show up and pray somebody would look at her. I popped up, they told me they don't treat rabbits (big surprise, that's all I ever hear) but I got them to give her some iv fluids to tide her over for the two hour trip to the nearest place that would see rabbits since it was Saturday and her vet was closed. She was on her side by then and I knew death was near. She passed away ten minutes away from the vet's office. It was awful--she screamed, thrashed about in her carrier and died as I was driving up the highway. I heard her scream a year ago at the vet's when the tech scruffed her neck and it haunted me. Now, this memory will haunt me as well. I am so sad that she passed in such a manner. She was the sweetest and smartest little bunny, and she didn't deserve for her life to end so tragically and suddenly. Not sure if her heart gave out or what, but as of Friday afternoon she wasn't eating, pooping, or doing her normal noisy breathing. She did an amazing job of healing my heart when my previous bunny (the twelve year old) passed away in 2017 and I adopted her. I called her my baby bunny because she stayed small, had that little face and still had quick little baby bunny movements. I am just heartbroken. I am 48 and losing a beloved bunny never gets any easier.