The Tails of Simon

[browneyed girl]

I love thestraw mats in Simon's cage. Where did you find them?

 

[Orchid]

browneyed girl wrote:

I love thestraw mats in Simon's cage. Where did you find them?

The large ones I got at our local bun vet. I have seen small crappy ones in the pet stores but I like these other ones. Though he doesn't care much about them at all...but that is Simon for ya.

 

[Orchid]

It has been quite some time since we were here.
Life for all of us has been strange.

Simon is still here with us but I think that is only by the grace of god.
I have remained out of work since Aug 2008. I have been looking and fighting a severe depression at the same time. Can't say I am winning or losing, but here I am.
My daughters father remains a missing piece of her life and I am happy to see she has begun bonding better with Simon. Maybe because she is getting older, maybe because Jay is not here....
She spends more time with him now. They sit together and he has stopped biting her for the most part. I think at times she makes him feel caged in and he gets scared and bites her. She is learning to love him on his terms

He still gives me worlds of problems with his nails and ever since the neuter he does not like to be picked up. Yet he is still a bit of a jumper. He likes to climb where he can and you can watch him looking for new and interesting ways to get new places
He had been doing better eating Orchard and Oat hays but after the vet mentioned the problems with his teeth I admit I went back to giving him the Alfalfa hay. His teeth got all better very fast lol.

We had a scare not that long ago. About a month ago we came home and noticed he had not eaten his pellets from the morning. We tried treats, pumpkin...and he wanted nothing. I noticed bits of blood on his fur by his pooper. I admit I thought that was it and he was going to die.
There is just simply not one dime to spend on the vet.
We watched. We fed him pumpkin as he would eat it. We got him out of his cage and moving and kept him moving.
By the next day he was eating some, pooping some and moving more and it kept on getting better.
I have no idea what caused the issue. Don't know if it is all part of Simon's system or maybe he had ingested some of the card board we leave laying around for him to destroy. That seems to be what he likes doing best....destroying card board...but since this we have removed all of it.

Well I have to go for now...Just wanted to try to update a little

 

[Malexis]

Sorry i have been skimming through your whole blog as this is the first time i've seen it and thought i'd post, so if i say or ask something that you've already answer just direct me to the right post! lol
So did simon get nutured? I think you said he did though. Im glad! Are you still planning on getting him a lady friend? one thing i want to mention is keep checking craigslist, dont just get a baby because its cute. A lot of the time, at least here, there are nutured or spayed rabbits avaliable. I got my girl Evie in the beggining of march for $50 with TONS of supplies and she is already fixed(with papers to prove) and the supplies cost way over $50. So maybe you can get a spayed girl off of CL, because that will save you tons of money, especially since you've probably spent so much on simon.
Look forward to more pictures though!

 

[Orchid]

I am not sure I ever posted about his neuter but when we had testie problems I was posting in the infirmary boards..
He changed after that in both good and bad ways.

No...no little miss for my little mr.
Money and things are bad now. As much as I would like for him to have a gf, it just can't be. Not at this time. Plus I think he is very used to being king of his castle. I don't think he would take well to any bun moving in.

 

[RexyRex]

Hey!! You're back! I was thinking about you and Simon just a couple of days ago, a girl I know just recently got a bunny that has those cute spotted ears like Simon's. I'm sorry things aren't going well for you at the moment, I hope things start to turn around for you.

 

[Orchid]

Thanks. It is always nice to know you have been thought of.

I will try to be around more. I have missed being here.

and thanks...I think things will start turning soon..they have to lol...

Hope all is well in your world

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Hey Orchid, I was wondering where you are! Sorry to hear things aren't so great right now, maybe they'll look up soon. What is Simon's personality like? He was always the cutest little guy. I got a baby girl bunny in September and one of her ears is spotted just like Simon's! The other ear is just orange though.

 

[Orchid]

I would have to say Simon is the same and yet not at all.
He has changed as he gets older.
He mellowed out after his neuter but it took awhile for him to stop peeing on everything. He still poops where and when he wishes, but I can live with that.
He hates being alone and will seek you out and even try to tear down whatever keeps him from you.
I wish all the time he wasn't such a chewy bun or I would probably let him have the run of the house.

We just did all our spring cleaning and for us that means moving and cleaning EVERYTHING. Including Simon's cage. He had one set up in the corner of the living room all winter and would come out when we could manage it.
Now we took that down and set up his summer house which is a small cage with a large run pen. It takes up all of the hallway by out bedrooms. So he pretty much can come and goes as he wants and should we need to have to lock him in we just turn the door part and all is well. Not sure if he likes it better or not yet.

As always he could care less about toys. Likes to dig up blankets and lick the carpet.
He really got into tearing up cardboard but we had that issue when I thought he just might die so we took all cardboards away. I was thinking perhaps he was actually ingesting too much of it and causing a block up.
Things seems to have cleared up and we seem ok...but I worry still. I always worry about my boy...but I think it is his lot in life to have a crappy system and mine to forever worry about him.
As soon as I can find a job we will be going to the vet for a check up.
I don't know if he could handle any other bun in "his" house at all. I wonder if we have not made him so spoiled with our attentions now that he would just turn into a p*ssy monster from hell if we dared try bring another bun in here.
I think though with money the way it is and how small our house is,...it is best all way round to keeping it just Simon.
My daughter and him have been bonding so much more lately as well and that is something I wish to continue to encourage. She has decided she doesn't want to talk to her dad anymore. Animals can soothe and heal the heart and soul.
They will sit together for quite some time now. He loves to curl up on her lap and let her pet him until she gets bored with it and that takes awhile now.
As always it is a blast to watch him play speedracer and binky though that does not happen near as much as it used to.
When he doesn't like hearing no...like shooing him off the couch...he will pee, on you, near you or the couch to tell you...
The king still wears his crown lol...

He is a good boy, sweet...just way spoiled and I know it...
The vet people even give me that look...That "oh I know that bun look"

 

[Orchid]

Well for some reason Photobucket will not allow me to get to any photo and edit it at all so this one is gonna be a big one. I took a few pics and uploaded them. Nothing fancy just a quick few shots while we were hanging out together.

Feel free to pop over and take a peek if you want to see the others...but here is one I liked well enough.

 

[Orchid]

 

[Orchid]

This is Simon's summer house. We take up the whole hallway in our house and make it like a big pen. He likes sleeping on his shelf but only after he moves his towel around the way he wants it to be. He seems rather happy with it. We use the NIC as a gates to the doorways so the bedrooms are not closed off all the time. I catch him at night here and there standing by the ones blocking my door. I so wish he wasn't a chewer...

 

[Becca]

This blog has been mentioned in Today on RO

 

[Orchid]

Thats pretty cool...thanks

 

[Orchid]

I think of you being gone and tears come.

I look to your cage to see you...but you are not there.

I can not believe you are gone. I feel blessed to have been able to love you, but hate I was unable to save you. It is not fair you lived such a short time on this earth.

There is no bun that could ever compare...

Our hearts our broken,..our spirts sad. This loss is too great....

We will miss you forever...but always will you be in our hearts...



Goodbye Simon....

 

[Orchid]

I keep trying to come back and read the things I have written here...I don't seem to ever get very far...
I keep seeing a pattern...all the things that ever went wrong and the continual problems we had worrying about what he would eat, his poop, attitude ...all of it.
Keep thinking we were bound to end how we did. I don't think I ever faced that. Just couldn't...

I think about him a hundred times a day. I look to his area and some how think he will be there. When I woke up this morning I went to feed him before I really woke up all the way and remembered he was gone.

My Simon...

I hate picturing him in his grave, wrapped in his blue blanket...
Angelina is worried people might walk on his grave. I told her we will plant flowers around it and I will wood burn a small headstone for him.

She came out of her room this morning and told me Simon said good morning. I stood there staring at her not knowing what to say. She said I told him good morning too mommy.
She can see his grave from her windows.
My heart broke and froze when she said that to me....

I went to the library yesterday and picked up some kid books that talk about death.
Lifetimes: A beautiful way to explain death to children
Goodbye Mousie
I'll Always Love You
The Tenth Good Thing About Barney
The Barenstain Bears: Lose A Friend

Through all my searching I could not locate a book for children that talked about a pet bunny passing on.

I found so many for cats and dogs though...

Been thinking I would like to try to write one for kids about bunnies. Dont know that I can, but I think I just might try and if I can...Dedicate it to Simon.
I think Angelina would like that...
He would live on forever then...and not just in our memories..

 

[Victoria]

Simon is in my memory too, even though I never met him in person. I was crying thinking about him for some reason because I saw many of his photos (with that silly fur on top) on this site just before when he went to the emergency vets.
I hope this is not a cruel question - I wanted to ask what happened to him why did he have this GI problem? It somehow makes a bit of a difference for me if I can understand why, but I dont know if this is the same with you?


I have lost a pet rat on 22 April 2009. It was the first animal I have lost - the other ones we gave away (a baby rabbit and a dog) - I wona baby rabbitas a 4 year old at a rabbit show. My parents decided not to keep the rabbit after few weeks of chewing on everything and no litter training - I had no choice. When we immigrated to Australia we left our 11 year old dog because we could not take him here, but the dog was not mine it was my dads - he chose and bought him and he primarily looked after him, I never really wanted a dog, he was violent to animals, so there was no shock. I never actually lost a pet that died before me.
When my rat died I was angry because we bought asick animalfrom the shop (we did not know it was sick)and he was ill from the first day we got him home.

His name was Morti.

Knowing that it was not my fault but the shop's (they seem to breed them as live food which is illegal in this country) make me feel that I have done all that I could.

We spent hundreds of$ during his short life going to vets and the specialist exotics vet to try to help him witha mycoplasmosis infection - but he was too weak, he must have been bred that way (may be inbred with too close relatives) or he was bred from sick parents, so we could not help him and he died at 10 months.

We have his brother Bear and he is also sick but he is stronger and he is still fighting, taking meds twice a day for the rest of his life.


I just wanted to write this for some reason so I am sorry if this is not the right place. I have only lost a pet 5 months ago and while I dont know how you feel I can emphathise with a loss of a pet.


I think I need a book like this for myself.

I dont have kids yet, andno one reallytaughtme, even as a child about losing pets. Some people don't understand and they say : so what dont worry it was just an animal.

Morti's grave is in the front yard of an appartment block where we live, no one really goes to the area where we buried him apart from the gardeners. We buried him and put a privet plant on top. Someone stole it or it just died may be, about 1 month ago. So it is unmarked grave now.

 

[Victoria]

I think my fiance should not have named him Morti - Im not superstitious usually but this time I am! I named my rat Bear and he is strong but Rob named his Morti and he is what his name says - dead. His name is Mortimer which means "dead sea" in Latin. Strangely Rob had another rat named Mortimer and another one (I dont know what his name was) - those two were eaten by a cat (he gave them to a friend with cancer and her kids accidentally let the cat in and she was too sick so did not notice). It is already a second unhappy ending to a Morti so I just got two more rats and their names are Socks and No Name.

 

[Orchid]

Victoria wrote:

Simon is in my memory too, even though I never met him in person. I was crying thinking about him for some reason because I saw many of his photos (with that silly fur on top) on this site just before when he went to the emergency vets.
I hope this is not a cruel question - I wanted to ask what happened to him why did he have this GI problem? It somehow makes a bit of a difference for me if I can understand why, but I dont know if this is the same with you?
I have lost a pet rat on 22 April 2009. It was the first animal I have lost - the other ones we gave away (a baby rabbit and a dog) - I wona baby rabbitas a 4 year old at a rabbit show. My parents decided not to keep the rabbit after few weeks of chewing on everything and no litter training - I had no choice. When we immigrated to Australia we left our 11 year old dog because we could not take him here, but the dog was not mine it was my dads - he chose and bought him and he primarily looked after him, I never really wanted a dog, he was violent to animals, so there was no shock. I never actually lost a pet that died before me.
When my rat died I was angry because we bought asick animalfrom the shop (we did not know it was sick)and he was ill from the first day we got him home.

His name was Morti.

Knowing that it was not my fault but the shop's (they seem to breed them as live food which is illegal in this country) make me feel that I have done all that I could.

We spent hundreds of$ during his short life going to vets and the specialist exotics vet to try to help him witha mycoplasmosis infection - but he was too weak, he must have been bred that way (may be inbred with too close relatives) or he was bred from sick parents, so we could not help him and he died at 10 months.

We have his brother Bear and he is also sick but he is stronger and he is stil fighting, taking meds twice a day for the rest of his life.


I just wanted to write this for some reason so I am sorry if this is not the right place. I have only lost a pet 5 months ago and while I dont know how you feel I can emphathise with a loss of a pet.
I think I need a book like this for myself.

I dont have kids yet, andno one reallytaughtme, even as a child about losing pets. Some people don't understand and they say : so what dont worry it was just an animal.

Morti's grave is in the front yard of an appartment block we were live, no one really goes to the area were we buried him apart from the gardeners. We buried him and put a privet plant on top. Someone stole it or it just died may be about 1 month ago. I think stole is more likely because there is no sign of a plant there at all and we passed it every day and one week it just was not there when I went to have a look up a small hill. So it is unmarked grave now.

Hello....



From the start everyone told me I would have a lifetime of issues with him because he was taken away from his mother too soon. He was maybe 6 weeks old when we got him. Where he came from is also very questionable...I have the impressionit was a sort of mill....who knows...

A lot of his issues are in this blog.... It started with the first week and finding he had coccidia. We treated it and moved on.

He would however go through days where he would stop eating, drinking, pooping. The first visit didn't yeild many answers as the tests they wanted to run were way beyond my means. So we force fed, pumpkin, juice in the water ect.. He snapped out of it and was ok. These kind of days kept happening but not often. Maybe a total of 5 times including this very last one.

One of those times we found blood around his anus, but no answer was forth coming and we moved on. He would start eating and drinking normally the next day and so when hehad days like that we did the juice, pumpkin, water soaked greens, infant gas drops, bene bac and he would come back the next day A OK.

His last normal visit to the vet was a check up and boarding. They had him for 4 days. Upon check out they said he was doing great but we needed to get himoff the alfalfa hay and he needed to gain a bit of weight, but was fine over all.

That visit was August 4 2009.

Now Simon was a pain in the rear. He didn't like toys, peed when and where he wanted, acted like king of the castle and wouldn't really eat any other hay but Alfalfa. He would act like a crack addict when you gave him the pellets for his breakfast. He even went as far as to jump his pen if you dared walk past without feeding him first. He was very loving though. He would seek you out, jump up on you and lay with you for hours as long as you rubbed his cheeks and scratched his ears...he loved having his ears scratched. It was like bunny heaven to him I think.

On September 12th we woke up and went to feed Simon. He was sitting in his litter pan. We put the bowl down and he didnt care. I knew then we were in for another crappy day. I opened the pen and let him spend the whole day outside of it. His legs and butt where wet and dirty and that was unlike Simon to tolerate.

He stayed in one corner of the living room and really didn't move much. He would kick out his back legs,...even did some flops and so I really didn't think we were in much trouble. He snacked on some pumpkin and ate one leaf of romain. Took his infant gas drops likea champ and we went on with the day though I watched him closely.

By the evening he wasn't pooping any more. He would not eat or drink anything. I started forcing water on him hoping...hoping that come morning we would wake up like we always have and he would be fine like he always was.

Morning came and he was in the bottom of his cage with his back pushed up in a corner. He wouldn't move...he looked like he was in pain. We rushed him to the ER vet.

She said his tummy felt full of "matter" but that it mostly felt normal except for a few spots where it felt like possible tumors or an obstrubtion. She said he had lost all his muscle mass, he couldn't keep his temp up. She was leaning towards cancer, though rare in one so young she said it did happen.

The treatment plan they offer ranged from 900 to 1300 and that wasn't even with surgery. She felt that no matter when route we took the end would be the same. My ex husband agreed to pay for the vet but there was only so much he could afford. Knowing he was in pain, seeing him unable to move, unable to support his own head broke my heart and I we agreed to put him to sleep.

It was one of the worst moments of my life.

They asked if they could do a quick necropsy because she wanted to understand his internal issues. I agreed so that should another bun come their way like him, maybe they could help, have a better handle on the situation. We waited and brought him home in a cardboard coffen.

Later when I was calm enough I called to ask what they found. All they would tell me is they saw no sign of cancer, no tumors and there was no obstruction the vet could find. I have no further answers then that.....

During the courseof his life, from when we brought him home on Feb 12th 2008, we had spent Somewhere around $900 on the vet alone. This includes our very last visit.

They said his birthday was Dec 25 2007....He came home with us on Feb 12... So he was alive for 1 year, 8 months and 19 days...of that we got to spend most of it with him. Minus two birthday trips to the ocean in Aug 08 and 09.

1 year..8 months...19 days....it was not long enough.



I have all the invoiced from all those visits....and I don't know what to do with them. They just sit in my kitchen...no need to keep them I guess..but I don't think I should throw them away.

I just don't understand and I wish I could....what would could take all his muscle mass away, and make this happen? Cancer sounded like a good explaination...but they didn't find that. From Aug 4 to Sept 13....HOW!?!?

He was eating, playing, drinking and being himself up until the morning of the 12th...



I am sorry to hear about Morti....I understand better now...then I ever wanted to...

I am afraid to get another bun now. What if the same thing happens? I couldn't deal with that again...at least not now....

I found a bun named dipper who needs a home...baby lionhead/netherland dwarf born on my daughters birthday.... Aug 2 this year...But I just cant do it.....

 

[Victoria]

I only got the rats a week ago so it took me 4 months to deal with the loss of Morti. I did not know I will lose him it came so suddenly because we also saw a vet 1 month beforethe ratsdeath and the vet did not notice anything wrong. I think with the animals like rats, rabbits, guineapigs etc they just dont knowenough like with dogs and cats, if it s not their specialty. But Morti was diagnosed by another vet with mycoplasmosis and since he did not have much resistance he was weak and may be it was not visible to the other vet at that point in time andMorti was going to end up like this regardless.

I also have two bunnies with some problems and what the vet wants to do is also beyond my means. I sometimes think if its so expensive may be we should not have gotten them, but my fiance says it is not true. We did a blood test on one of the rabbits and it cost us over $300 with the visit and the meds (we are in Australia). They stopped the head tilt and neurological problems but the vet wants him in hospital and wants more test which we cant afford right now. I hope it wont be too late when we do. I think that Simon looked like he had some imbalance in his gut, some problem with some bacteria, but I dont know enough about animals and rabbits to know what it could be. What tests did they want to do that were beyond your means?