Dearest Rosie,
Well, where do I start?
I donât actually know. There is a semi history prior to what I feel I should write about, but Iâm going to leave that as just that, history.
Sometime at the RSPCA Centre you got injured. They injured your spine (although at that point we didnât know it was your spine, we thought it was your leg) and ignored my warnings that you were seriously ill, losing weight, not walking right, etc. I put in a complaint about the neglect you suffered and it broke my heart.
You first came to me as a foster when your soon-to-be adopter wanted you out of the Centre but was not yet able to have you at home. You came here and I expected you to die that first night. You had lost nearly 20% of your body weight in 2 weeks, you struggled to walk, were covered in urine. You, poor lady, were a complete mess. We broke all the bunny diet rules and just gave you a massive buffet and all the food you could eat. With the pain meds kicking in, you tucked in. You fought on.
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Over the following week I could see that you were struggling more than we thought, and took you to see my vet. I mentioned about your left leg being very weak and floppy, and your right leg similar, but not as bad. I mentioned that you couldnât lift your tail. I asked about the spine and he felt down your spine and found the problem. Finally we knew what was wrong. We carried on the pain meds (and the antibiotics because the suspected a UTI) and you came back with us. We carried on feeding you. You fought on.
You went to your new home about 9 days after coming to me. We talked in huge detail about your problems and I laid it on the line. They took you home and found that they couldnât cope with you. After having you for a short amount of time I was put into a quandary. The RSPCA would put you to sleep. Under your new owner my vet would have put you to sleep. The potential adopter told me that if I couldnât take you, you would be put to sleep. I was emotionally blackmailed into having you because I knew that you didnât deserve to be put to sleep. They described to me a load of symptoms that you had with them, but that I never, not once, saw from you.
I needed to give you that chance. If I took you on and you needed to be put to sleep then I would let you go, but I couldnât shake the feeling that you wanted to fight. I shed so many tears about being trapped into having a bunny who I didnât think I could look after properly. You caused me so much anguish and pain, but you know what lady? It was all worth it. I am so glad you came back to me.
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When you went to the vets under my care the vet agreed that you were doing ok and improving. Your weight kept going up, you looked alive!
You carried on improving and soon I stopped confining you to a tiny cage, and started to give you short burst of running time and BOY did you LOVE it!
It was like watching baby rabbits because you gained a new skill every day, be it a little binky, a dead bunny flop, stretching your legs right out, even just plain lying down. You were completely fascinating.
I spent hours recording you, and spending time and sitting with you. It soon became clear that you werenât shy of people, you were scared. If I didnât move, you ran around like no one was there, but when I moved, you cowered. I couldnât touch you without you flinching- especially your ears. I suspect you had been lifted by your ears at some point in the past.
You were harder to win round that Wildie Roger. I think that mainly that was because you were smart, and you had learnt that people cause you pain, and for the first few weeks of your life with me, I added to that by forcing meds into you.
I knew you couldnât stay in your tiny hutch in the porch, and that I needed to bond you with someone. I looked at the 3 boys in my room and decided Sky was the best option because out of the three, he needed a friend more. I have absolutely no idea why, but I had a âletâs try thisâ moment and brought you Badger to date. Oh it worked beautifully. You started grooming fairly quickly and you were very pleased to have a friend. Because of your health you and he couldnât move in together as quick as I would have liked because you still needed confinement after your exercise, but you and he spent all day together; all day every day.
Rosie, you became so happy. Iâve never seen binkies as high as those you did- not from any bunny, let alone a bunny with spinal damage! Rosie, you were amazing. He gave you a reason to fight. You fought on.
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Shortly after you and Badger started bonding, he got ill, and that was the start of all his problems. Now you have gone, I have this suspicion that maybe you came into our lives for Badger, to see him through his illness, to stay with him during GAs and long trips to the specialist and anything and everything. Badger probably wonât need any of those again, so you saw him straight through the illness, until we got to a place where he wouldnât be going anywhere else.
You blessed us in that respect, but I know that life with Badger was hard for you. In the early days before we knew how ill he was, whenever he slept, you would get up and make him wake up. Every time. We thought that you had lived with an ill or dead rabbit and repeatedly tried to make them wake up, but you couldnât. It scared you when he slept on his side. Were you acting that way because of your past? I donât know, very possibly. Or were you acting that way because you knew something wasnât right? I donât know, very possibly, although, the longer you were with him, the less you did it.
When you moved in together it was so easy and you were both so happy. I used to sit downstairs and hear Badger thundering up and down the landing and you would be going âdoof, doof, doofâ because of your back.
You guys were very happy for a few months, then I started to notice that you werenât as sparky, so I watched. You still came running for food, but the rest of the time you were doing a lot of sitting. So off to the vets we went. I wondered if your teeth were giving you gip, and the vet thought maybe so too, so you had a dental. When you were under, you also had a spinal x-ray because we wanted to know what was really going on for you. That showed up a calcified kidney. Your blood levels were awful, and we knew you were failing. We tried. Oh Rosie, we tried so hard to keep you boosted with Sub Q fluids, but we just couldnât. You started to fight me again because I was doing âcruelâ things to you (being the Sub Qs, butt cleans, etc). You didnât know it was because I loved you that I was doing it. Still you fought on though.
You stopped moving when I was around. You could sit and hide and not eat if I was there. I didnât know you anymore. I only saw your shell. You would still eat and move in front of others and I had to try and rely on what they said to tell me how you were.
I woke up in the middle of the night and you were really bad. You were falling over, you didnât want to eat. I felt it was time, so I set my alarm, made you comfy, and went back to sleep. When I woke up you were tilted and had nystagmus, and I was happy, because even though head tilt isnât wonderful, it meant that it was something we could fight, and yet again we did. You were on antibiotics and made a huge improvement. You fought on.
Your head was straight and you had no nystagmus anymore, but I knew you were fading. I wanted to get it right, so on the Wednesday I took you for your Convenia and we discussed discussed when to let you go. The next day you told me it was right. I think the Convenia sped it up because your poor body couldnât take anymore, but we couldnât not give it to you. That last day you we out in the sun, but you didnât move, didnât really eat much. You just werenât happy. You also had horrific diarrhoea.
I decided that it was time for you to go.
Rosie, Iâm so sorry. Out of all the bunnies that Iâve taken on, I wanted to fix you the most, and I couldnât. I couldnât fix your spine, although I could take some of the pain away. I couldnât fix your kidney. I couldnât make your body ok enough for you to keep fighting because I know thatâs what you wanted. Whilst I couldnât fix you, I do hope I made you happy in your last months.
Rosie, until you got here, every single other person in your world failed you. Whoever had you prior to the centre clearly failed you, the RSPCA Centre failed you because they didnât get you appropriate treatment, your potential adopter failed you too. It was only me and my family who fought with you. My mum especially fought with you because she decided you would be a family rabbit as opposed to my rabbit. In the end though, in my heart, you were my rabbit. Iâm so glad you had this happy time, and you had a boyfriend who loved you so much, who shared bad habits with you, who taught you people could be trusted.
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Rosie. You were an absolute legend, and Iâm just so very proud of your and your want and battle to fight. You were such a strong rabbit. So determined. So full of fight.
It was a complete honour and pleasure to have you here.
I will make you your video, and you, by far, have the easiest song choice because its just perfect.
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[align=center]Binky Free my Rosie Posie Dosie Po[/align][align=center] [/align][align=center]âIf itâs worth having, its worth fighting forâ.[/align]
[align=center]You were worth it, every single battle we did with you. You were worth them all, and more. Its just a shame your body gave up when you still wanted to live.[/align]
[align=center]Arrived 9[sup]th[/sup] November 2009- Died 24[sup]th[/sup] June 2010[/align]
Well, where do I start?
I donât actually know. There is a semi history prior to what I feel I should write about, but Iâm going to leave that as just that, history.
Sometime at the RSPCA Centre you got injured. They injured your spine (although at that point we didnât know it was your spine, we thought it was your leg) and ignored my warnings that you were seriously ill, losing weight, not walking right, etc. I put in a complaint about the neglect you suffered and it broke my heart.
You first came to me as a foster when your soon-to-be adopter wanted you out of the Centre but was not yet able to have you at home. You came here and I expected you to die that first night. You had lost nearly 20% of your body weight in 2 weeks, you struggled to walk, were covered in urine. You, poor lady, were a complete mess. We broke all the bunny diet rules and just gave you a massive buffet and all the food you could eat. With the pain meds kicking in, you tucked in. You fought on.
[align=center]
[/align]
Over the following week I could see that you were struggling more than we thought, and took you to see my vet. I mentioned about your left leg being very weak and floppy, and your right leg similar, but not as bad. I mentioned that you couldnât lift your tail. I asked about the spine and he felt down your spine and found the problem. Finally we knew what was wrong. We carried on the pain meds (and the antibiotics because the suspected a UTI) and you came back with us. We carried on feeding you. You fought on.
You went to your new home about 9 days after coming to me. We talked in huge detail about your problems and I laid it on the line. They took you home and found that they couldnât cope with you. After having you for a short amount of time I was put into a quandary. The RSPCA would put you to sleep. Under your new owner my vet would have put you to sleep. The potential adopter told me that if I couldnât take you, you would be put to sleep. I was emotionally blackmailed into having you because I knew that you didnât deserve to be put to sleep. They described to me a load of symptoms that you had with them, but that I never, not once, saw from you.
I needed to give you that chance. If I took you on and you needed to be put to sleep then I would let you go, but I couldnât shake the feeling that you wanted to fight. I shed so many tears about being trapped into having a bunny who I didnât think I could look after properly. You caused me so much anguish and pain, but you know what lady? It was all worth it. I am so glad you came back to me.
[align=center]
[/align]
When you went to the vets under my care the vet agreed that you were doing ok and improving. Your weight kept going up, you looked alive!
You carried on improving and soon I stopped confining you to a tiny cage, and started to give you short burst of running time and BOY did you LOVE it!
It was like watching baby rabbits because you gained a new skill every day, be it a little binky, a dead bunny flop, stretching your legs right out, even just plain lying down. You were completely fascinating.
I spent hours recording you, and spending time and sitting with you. It soon became clear that you werenât shy of people, you were scared. If I didnât move, you ran around like no one was there, but when I moved, you cowered. I couldnât touch you without you flinching- especially your ears. I suspect you had been lifted by your ears at some point in the past.
You were harder to win round that Wildie Roger. I think that mainly that was because you were smart, and you had learnt that people cause you pain, and for the first few weeks of your life with me, I added to that by forcing meds into you.
I knew you couldnât stay in your tiny hutch in the porch, and that I needed to bond you with someone. I looked at the 3 boys in my room and decided Sky was the best option because out of the three, he needed a friend more. I have absolutely no idea why, but I had a âletâs try thisâ moment and brought you Badger to date. Oh it worked beautifully. You started grooming fairly quickly and you were very pleased to have a friend. Because of your health you and he couldnât move in together as quick as I would have liked because you still needed confinement after your exercise, but you and he spent all day together; all day every day.
Rosie, you became so happy. Iâve never seen binkies as high as those you did- not from any bunny, let alone a bunny with spinal damage! Rosie, you were amazing. He gave you a reason to fight. You fought on.
[align=center]
[/align]
Shortly after you and Badger started bonding, he got ill, and that was the start of all his problems. Now you have gone, I have this suspicion that maybe you came into our lives for Badger, to see him through his illness, to stay with him during GAs and long trips to the specialist and anything and everything. Badger probably wonât need any of those again, so you saw him straight through the illness, until we got to a place where he wouldnât be going anywhere else.
You blessed us in that respect, but I know that life with Badger was hard for you. In the early days before we knew how ill he was, whenever he slept, you would get up and make him wake up. Every time. We thought that you had lived with an ill or dead rabbit and repeatedly tried to make them wake up, but you couldnât. It scared you when he slept on his side. Were you acting that way because of your past? I donât know, very possibly. Or were you acting that way because you knew something wasnât right? I donât know, very possibly, although, the longer you were with him, the less you did it.
When you moved in together it was so easy and you were both so happy. I used to sit downstairs and hear Badger thundering up and down the landing and you would be going âdoof, doof, doofâ because of your back.
You guys were very happy for a few months, then I started to notice that you werenât as sparky, so I watched. You still came running for food, but the rest of the time you were doing a lot of sitting. So off to the vets we went. I wondered if your teeth were giving you gip, and the vet thought maybe so too, so you had a dental. When you were under, you also had a spinal x-ray because we wanted to know what was really going on for you. That showed up a calcified kidney. Your blood levels were awful, and we knew you were failing. We tried. Oh Rosie, we tried so hard to keep you boosted with Sub Q fluids, but we just couldnât. You started to fight me again because I was doing âcruelâ things to you (being the Sub Qs, butt cleans, etc). You didnât know it was because I loved you that I was doing it. Still you fought on though.
You stopped moving when I was around. You could sit and hide and not eat if I was there. I didnât know you anymore. I only saw your shell. You would still eat and move in front of others and I had to try and rely on what they said to tell me how you were.
I woke up in the middle of the night and you were really bad. You were falling over, you didnât want to eat. I felt it was time, so I set my alarm, made you comfy, and went back to sleep. When I woke up you were tilted and had nystagmus, and I was happy, because even though head tilt isnât wonderful, it meant that it was something we could fight, and yet again we did. You were on antibiotics and made a huge improvement. You fought on.
Your head was straight and you had no nystagmus anymore, but I knew you were fading. I wanted to get it right, so on the Wednesday I took you for your Convenia and we discussed discussed when to let you go. The next day you told me it was right. I think the Convenia sped it up because your poor body couldnât take anymore, but we couldnât not give it to you. That last day you we out in the sun, but you didnât move, didnât really eat much. You just werenât happy. You also had horrific diarrhoea.
I decided that it was time for you to go.
Rosie, Iâm so sorry. Out of all the bunnies that Iâve taken on, I wanted to fix you the most, and I couldnât. I couldnât fix your spine, although I could take some of the pain away. I couldnât fix your kidney. I couldnât make your body ok enough for you to keep fighting because I know thatâs what you wanted. Whilst I couldnât fix you, I do hope I made you happy in your last months.
Rosie, until you got here, every single other person in your world failed you. Whoever had you prior to the centre clearly failed you, the RSPCA Centre failed you because they didnât get you appropriate treatment, your potential adopter failed you too. It was only me and my family who fought with you. My mum especially fought with you because she decided you would be a family rabbit as opposed to my rabbit. In the end though, in my heart, you were my rabbit. Iâm so glad you had this happy time, and you had a boyfriend who loved you so much, who shared bad habits with you, who taught you people could be trusted.
[align=center]
[/align]
Rosie. You were an absolute legend, and Iâm just so very proud of your and your want and battle to fight. You were such a strong rabbit. So determined. So full of fight.
It was a complete honour and pleasure to have you here.
I will make you your video, and you, by far, have the easiest song choice because its just perfect.
[align=center]
[align=center]Binky Free my Rosie Posie Dosie Po[/align][align=center] [/align][align=center]âIf itâs worth having, its worth fighting forâ.[/align]
[align=center]You were worth it, every single battle we did with you. You were worth them all, and more. Its just a shame your body gave up when you still wanted to live.[/align]
[align=center]Arrived 9[sup]th[/sup] November 2009- Died 24[sup]th[/sup] June 2010[/align]
Rosie was an exceptionally cute bunny and sounded like a very special girl. I'm terribly sorry, losing bunnies is so hard. Binky free, Rosie!
