Hello everyone, this is Nick, Stephanie's BF. I wanted to take the time to tell everyone exactly what has happened, and what is going on.
As everyone can tell already, Coco has damaged herself somehow, and can not move her back legs.
Let me describe in detail all of the problems and visible effects.
There was some dried blood under her chin. The Vet found trauma in her mouth. This is why we feel there was a violent event that happened, not just a simple spinal break, but probably a violent one. There was a cage change the other day, and its possible she felt it was ok to get out of this one, Or tried to jump on her box, and once there, felt .."hmm, the outside is only a few feet away now"!
Coco is not a light girl! She has put on some pounds, and once we realized that, we switched her to a better diet. But This was only one week ago, and she is a little on the plump side. Wether this has any bearing or not, we dont know, but coco cannot pull herself around at all. She moved 6 inches all night. We have not noticed her drinking at all, and in fact, no water is gone from her bottle from yesterday. Other than craisins, she will not eat anything. and after two craisins, shes done with that too. She does not even look like herself according to steph, she has a definite change to her face. When the Vet put her legs up on the table, there was no movement at all. There is no sign of feeling AT ALL in her back area. Whatever happened, did not happen lightly. Including the evidence of trauma in her mouth, we do not feel this is something that is minor.
I am sure I do not need to explain to anyone the financial situation of our economy today.
Its very likely that taking xrays and steroids and such could have an effect down the road. In the meantime, coco is not eating, not drinking water, is showing visible signs of stress, and is just not herself at all.
This is not good for anyone.
Not for Stephanie who is a mess and had to leave work early yesterday, myself who took the whole day off from my business to care for coco, and certainly not for Coco.
We are going to go to one more vet, to get a second opinion.
If this vet feels the same way as the first (someone who has developed a good reputation as being very good with 'other than Dog/cat pets') we are probably going to put her to sleep, as humanly as possible.
I wanted coco to be as comfortable as possible. she was given Lettuce, Carrots, radishes, fresh fruit from Publix, craisins, and yogurt covered Timothy hay. She wanted none of it except a few craisins.
Im hoping she will have a few more yogurt covered Hay pellets for me, Ive really enjoyed feeding her those for the last few months Ive known her.
Something I posted earlier, I want to make sure that NO ONE takes anything I say and reflects it on Stephanie. I am my own person and have my own opinions. I do not/did not take any side in this matter, but let Steph make up her own mind. You dont have to worry that I was trying to force my side or coerce her into taking my side or seeing it my way. I dont work that way. But I want everyone to understand that my feelings and opinions are Mine, and that nothing I post under my name on here reflects in anyway on Stephanie, or the way she feels.
Ive never met anyone more truly loving and caring to animals. I plan to encourage her to rescue a couple more Bunnies in the near future, as she seems to like that idea when it was brought up before.
It was this fear of having someone misinterpret my feelings on the subject, or mistakenly put my words in Stephanies mouth, that I was afraid to post on here to begin with, being her BF and all. But everyone has been great, and I thank everyone.
I know there are all kinds of people out there. There are some who will understadn what we are doing, and there are going to be some who may even think I am a monster. That who am I to decide if a Rabbit is better off living or not. To that I ask, who is ANYONE to make that decision...except the Bunny itself.
Thank You everyone for your posts and emails.
We will update you later today. Its 6am right now EST.
