Well, it seems I fell off the edge of cyberspace and got lost again. I can't believe that the last time I posted here was a year and a half ago!! Where does the time go?
Actually, I received a notification in my e-mail this morning (or maybe it was yesterday and I only noticed it today
); a gentle reminder from RO that I'd gone AWOL. After seeing this I thought I'd come back and see if Yofi's blog still existed, and if so, to provide a bit of an update about my boy and his partner-in-crime, Anna.
The two are still with me. Anna, now 9 years old (or perhaps older...her age was a downsized guesstimate when I'd adopted her 8 years ago) is still going strong. In her senior years she's become one very lazy, laid-back rabbit, opting to spend her days lounging in the bunny room, her only expectations in life to be waited on hand and paw by her servitude-bound human. It seems that lately this lifestyle of Anna's has been reflecting outwardly, as her diva-esque bunny form has taken on a slightly rotund-ish appearance. Normally this would have me concerned, but in the past few months Anna had lost a fair bit of weight - almost as though she were intent on becoming The Incredible Shrinking Bunny - which DID have me concerned. So to see her gaining, even getting a wee bit "plumpy", has been a good thing. It does now mean, though, that extra calorie-laden treats will need to be restricted...and so long as I don't tell Her Royal Hareness this, it should be okay.
And now we come to Yofi. The Boy - who's reputation has always preceded him in terms of scaring his human - is still keeping said reputation intact. Over the course of the past year the arthritis in his limbs (all four, diagnosed a few years ago) has slowly been taking its toll. Several months ago I noticed that his right hind leg would bother him, sometimes - esp. if he was turning or pivoting in a certain direction - simply giving out, and he would stumble. Yet The Boy carried on, unperturbed, barely noticing that one part of him was sometimes resisting commands.
However, over the course of the past two months or so, the arthritis in Yofi's legs was determined to derail him. In September, I think, he was stumbling more often, and was opting to lie down more and more, only getting up and being his usual assertive Yofi-self whenever favourite FUD was involved. But then October came to pass, and Yofi, once a vibrant, in-your-face-and-bouncing-off-of-everything rabbit, suddenly became more subdued. And at some point in that cold fall month, his legs finally gave out. Yofi officially became disabled.
The first few weeks of The Boy's "disabledness" were rather difficult for me. It was a period of adjustment, of trying to make sure he was comfortable - and at the same time - clean. This latter point was a particular challenge, especially with Anna around. While she was quick to rally behind her best bud - grooming the places he couldn't reach, cleaning his eyes for him - she had also taken to soiling his blankets and other assorted bedding. So reluctantly I had to concede that Yofi would be better off placed away from Anna, and I set him up in a small crate (more specifically, my dog Izzy's puppy crate). The first time I did this Yofi wanted no part of it, struggling and pushing until he'd worked his way out of the crate and back into his and Anna's shared home (a crate designed for large-breed dogs). This broke my heart, and for a day I let him remain there, but ultimately he did have to be moved, as Anna, even with her best of intentions, was not helping. She would sometimes inadvertently step on the Yofster's body, which caused him pain, and her soiling of his bedding was just hard on everyone. So...back to the smaller crate Yofi went...and within a day or so he adjusted.
During this transitional time - the time between Yofi's lessened mobility and his complete inability to walk - I was struggling myself. Keeping Yofi (who has never been known for being a "tidy" bunny) clean became a full-time effort. He transitioned with ease to diapers - so he wasn't constantly soiling his profuse hind end - but inevitably said hind end would become soiled will all matter of fecal and urethra residue, which meant The Boy had to be bathed. As luck would have it, a quick trip to a local Value Village scored me a wonderful bath time tool...a (human) newborn's portable bathtub, which looks like a carseat, but can be filled with water for bathing. It became invaluable to me and Yof, as I could now wash his soiled hind end whilst he lay comfortably on the inclined part of the tub. The challenge, however, came in keeping him clean and dry - the time in between the actual bath and applying a clean diaper. For anyone who has ever dealt with a disabled rabbit, one of the things that seems to ultimately occur is that of urinary incontinence. As the rabbit loses mobility, so too follows the loss of muscles in the hind end. And for Yofi, late last week he did wind up losing that most valuable resource - that of being able to control his bladder. Urinary incontinence meant that he could no longer control when he wanted to whizz (for wont of a better word)...so I'd spend 20 minutes or so bathing him, then transfer him to towels and begin the drying process (which, for a rabbit, can take FOREVER), only to have him pee on himself - and on me - six or seven times in a row. So just as I'd get him clean, he'd inevitably wind up re-soiling himself...a frustration that became a daily challenge.
However (again), there was a bit of a blessing in disguise. Because Yofi's muscles in his hind end were atrophying, he eventually wound up losing total control of them, which meant that - as of last week - he could no longer urinate on his own...voluntarily or involuntarily. Because of my experience in the past with a disabled rabbit (my beautiful boy, Raph) I had learned through the school of bunny-owner hard knocks how to express a rabbit's bladder. And because of this, Yofi stopped soiling himself whenever his body chose to do so. Instead, we now have a set schedule...a routine of feeding, expressing bladder, and muscle massage time...and that brief period of not being able to keep ahead of random soilings appears to now be in the past.
Which brings me to present time. Yesterday, believe it or not, I had scheduled Yofi to be euthanized at the vet's. I'd come home from work Thursday evening, taken Yof out of his cage, and his frailty just struck me so hard...I felt that he was giving up, and the most humane thing for me to do would be to end his suffering. So, after cleaning him and putting him back in his crate, I called the vet's office and got an appointment for Friday at 1:30 to have My Boy put to sleep.
Then...an hour later. I brought food to Yofi, expecting him to turn his nose up at it. He'd been eating much, much less than usual in the past week or so, no longer eating either hay or pellets, only consuming a smidgeon of greens, and was even turning his nose up at some coveted treats. So I brought him his food offerings - a few small slices of orange, something I hadn't had in the house for years - and Yofi devoured greedily. Wait...did I say devoured?? Actually I meant, he
inhaled them. The orange slices disappeared within seconds, so I brought him some more...and these met their fate just as quickly as the first. So then I presented Yof with a small dish of pellets - something he hadn't touched in some time - and he managed to suck them back with equal zeal. So I brought him another dish of pellets...and these too were gone in no time. Then a bundle of parsley. A follow-up of apple juice-infused water, and a kicker of hay...and that's when I realized...My Boy was back. I was going to call the vet's office and cancel the scheduled euthanasia, but decided instead to keep it, as I wanted a professional assessment on Yofi's body condition. Plus, his eyes were becoming a bit of a challenge...I'd been bathing them, but a bacteria had seemed to take hold and he was getting a gummy residue in the corners. So, early Friday afternoon I left work, and we were off to the vets.
After Dr. Johnson looked at Yofi he spoke to me. First, he told me he was impressed with how clean I was keeping him (which totally surprised me, as I thought I'd been doing a terrible job), and then he began to talk about other pet owners who had brought disabled animals in to be assessed. He said that many opted to have their pets euthanized at the moment they 'went down', in order to avoid any ultimate suffering the animal might be enduring; then he said that with some owners, he's had to gently let them know that the animal
was suffering, and the kindest thing would be to let them go. But after inspecting the Yofster he looked at me and said, "You know, his heart and lungs are good and strong...from the waist up, he appears to be in perfect heath. If you are willing to pursue it, there's still life left in this guy". And that is what I'd wanted - and expected - to hear. Yofi, I think, opted to tell me this moments after I'd called to schedule his euthanasia. And quite honestly, after calling the vets office to make the appointment I said a silent prayer, asking for a sign to see if I was doing the right thing - what Yofi wanted. That sign became abundantly clear when Yofi dove into his evening meal, with a gusto I hadn't seen in quite some time. So for me...I do believe that Yofi (in his infinite rabbit wisdom) was telling me what to do.
How long will My Boy last? I have no idea. Perhaps just a few more days. Perhaps many, many months. All I do know now is that both he and I are taking it one day at a time...and when the time does finally come, when he no longer wishes to be here...he will let me know, in his own way.
*I was going to update with a couple of photos of Yofi that I took this morning, but iPhoto is being extraordinarily resistant at the moment. So...whenever I am able...I will post a picture or two of Yofi, and Anna too if I can get her to pose. But in the meantime, for those who know of Yofi from days gone by, at least you now know that he's still here, just where he wants to be.
