Hi there,
After spending the last couple of years lurking amongst these message boards whenever I had a bun-related issue, I've finally decided to register. Unfortunately my first ever post is in the Rainbow Bridge forum.
My girlfriend and I were given a baby male Lionhead at Xmas 2009. Not being a massive animal lover, I wasn't appreciative at first but certainly came round to love the guy. This little lad was named Chester.
After 12 months of upheaval and moving houses (work, Uni) we felt so guilty about Chester spending so much time alone by himself (initially he was an outdoor rabbit but soon became a fully-fledged indoor bun!). And so we bought Barney to keep him company. Bonding the pair was an absolute nightmare and we even contemplated having Barney re-homed. After 4months of hard work the pair finally managed to get on great!
Whilst Barney is an absolute gem, Chester grew into our little star (as I previously mentioned, I wasn't such of an animal lover beforehand). Everything we did we had to consider Chester, he lived in 6 different houses in 3years - the poor guy! But he was always fussed, loved his head rubs and even grew into the habit of having his head stroked with my foot whilst I was sat on the sofa. We spent March-August this year at my girlfriend's mother's house while we were waiting on our own house being ready. They lived outdoors again in a particularly large (and expensive) purpose built Wendy house with a run attached. Every night after work I'd give them 45-90mins running around the whole of the garden and they absolutely loved it, I don't believe I've seen either of them this happy as when they were running around the garden munching on grass.
We moved into our new house in August where they had acres of space indoors and a whole room to themselves. Unfortunately no grass outside for them to nibble and binky on.
My girlfriend had noticed that Chester had begun to lose weight. He never had been the biggest (1.7kg) so we assumed he just needed bulking up a little built. Extra hay, pellets and greens were offered. He'd also become a little more introvert and we began seeing less of him hopping into the front room. Again, we thought nothing of it and that with the amount of space they both had, they were quite content to dwell in their own 'wing' of the house.
We were away all day Friday and the majority of Saturday attending a wedding. In the evening when we got back I gave Chester alot of fuss, probably the most he'd had in weeks. He felt extremely thin. Sunday morning and we were beginning to worry. I'd recalled he'd been abit 'clumsy' lately and occasionally lost balance when grooming himself, although this wasn't constant. Though thinking back, due to them having their own room, we weren't spending as much time with them as we used.... thus not noticing these subtle changes and how often they occurred. Again, thinking back, we'd not seen him eating as much as he'd normally do. Although he never had the largest of appetites compared to Barney.
We went to the vets Monday. The poor guy had lost 500g! 1.2kg down from 1.7kg despite being a year older (he was only 3). The vet mentioned e.cuniculi but as he didn't have a head tilt and didn't appear to be having problems standing, he had a look at his teeth. He observed that some of his teeth were digging into his tongue. Massive sigh of relief, and we thought this was the reason for being put off his food, and consequently the weight loss.
The vet gave him some anti-inflams, anti-biotics and a jab to help him with his gut movements. He was also booked to come in at 8.30am the next morning to have some minor dental work done.
We got him home and fussed him. He lay next to me for over an hour again just having his head rubbed.
We'd noticed Barney had been trying to hump Chester in the previous days and in his weakened state, Chester seemed to struggle to fight him off (Barney weighs 3.8kg!).
Alas, we decided to bring Chester and his tray etc up to the bedroom with us and sleep in our room so we could keep an eye on him and he could get a decent nights sleep. At 10.30pm he seemed to be very dazed, we weren't sure whether this was the drugs taking effect. He also began to drool... again, we put this down to his teeth and the drugs.
At roughly 11.45pm we heard him try and jump out of the little try and stumbled. He certainly did not seem like himself now and we were getting worried. We made sure he had access to water, pellets, warmth, hay and grass (which he can normally chow down no problem) and gave him some more fuss.
1.50am and we woke suddenly to find him running around in the corner, very upsetting to watch and seemingly massively disorientated. I picked him up and place him back near his things..... and then his head just dropped. I thought we'd lost him. He just couldn't lift his head
It would keep dropping and as soon as we'd speak or stroke him he'd kind of lift it back up suddenly... only for it to fall again as slipping in and out of consciousness.
I tried to force feed him water, tempt him with treats, grass... anything to no avail.
I rolled a towel under his chin to keep his head up. At this point he couldn't stay upright and was leaning against/being support by the towel also. We tried to keep him warm, gave him some fuss and tried to let him sleep. I went back to bed praying, making deals with god, offering to donate money to Charity so long as the little man would pull through until morning. We both knew it wasn't going well.
2.40am We woke (although I suppose we weren't really asleep) to two squeals from Chester. Not a high pitched scream, small squeals. 3 years and I've never heard a peep from him... until this point.
Girlfriend tried to find the number for the emergency vet while I tried my utmost to comfort Chester. I tried to sit him up and his head kept moving from side-to-side, as if reading a book. I've read since that this most likely indicates that it did have something to do with EC. After a few minutes my girlfriend got through to the vet, £132 to come out at this hour. Fine, get her out, I couldn't bear to watch the little man suffer. He could only lie back down on his side, propped half up by the towel. For 3-4 minutes he looked in absolute agony. He was physically flinching and tensing every few seconds and it was heartbreaking and completely unbearable to witness. I believe it was only a matter of minutes, but it certainly felt like hours. Whilst the vet was still on the phone Chester's eyes suddenly widened and his body relaxed. He'd gone.
Mortified is not the word. Our first ever pet, a guy I'd spent nearly every day with for the past 3 years, who factored constantly into our daily plans movements (no holidays). He'd been with us ever since the day my girlfriend and I first moved in together and was an absolute character, a true gent too. A well travelled Rabbit, having lived in the majority of areas across the North-west (and even spent a Christmas down south with us one year!).
He used to give face licks out generously as a baby, then only seemed to reserve them for my girlfriend. However on Sunday evening, I finally got my first licks on the forehead from the boy! I should have known something was wrong... cry for help maybe!?
He was buried yesterday, at my girlfriend's mother's house, adjacent to their old Wendy house and in the garden he loved so much.
He leaves behind Barney, certainly more independent and not as sociable and his buddy was. But he is our priority now and we are pro-actively seeking a new mate for him - another reason for finally joining this board.
I cannot express how hard this has hit the both of us. The grief, the guilt(!) and the emptiness. Without a doubt we could have done more. Without a doubt he suffered in the closing stages. I'm glad I was there with him, but gutted it had to happen at all. It saddens me to think he could have been feeling ill for god knows how many weeks/months. The pain on his face is what hurts the most. The loss I could accept over time, the guilt and suffering I cannot. For it to happen at only 3 year old too... We feel cheated, he deteriorated so quickly we feel as though we've been robbed of a chance to make him better. Or perhaps we're to blame for missing the initial signs.
I apologise for the long winded and rambled message, I won't even bother to proof-read this as there are sections I simply don't want to read again. Chester was more than a rabbit, he was a little person and this has affected me more than the loss of some family members and long-term family pets. I've struggled at work, appetite disappeared and as a grown man, even shed a few tears!
Barney had time with the body, we hope he understands and seems to be fine. He's eating, he's active, though we're not sure if he's searching for him - Barney's always inquisitive and loves exploring!
We're in two minds whether to get another. From a selfish point of view, we don't see how another rabbit can take his place, nor would we want one too. However, selflessly, Barney needs company, we both work during the day and it's unfair for him to be alone. Barney's never spent more than a day by himself.
So, we're on the lookout for any 1-3 year old doe's (preferably neutered) in the Cheshire East/North Staffordshire area.
Again, apologies for the rambled message. I'll log back in later and upload some more pictures of the little guy. I just felt as though I needed to put this in writing while it's fresh. And I certainly feel better for doing so... Therefore, for those of you who have made it this far, your time is greatly appreciated.
R.I.P Chester Rabbit.
After spending the last couple of years lurking amongst these message boards whenever I had a bun-related issue, I've finally decided to register. Unfortunately my first ever post is in the Rainbow Bridge forum.
My girlfriend and I were given a baby male Lionhead at Xmas 2009. Not being a massive animal lover, I wasn't appreciative at first but certainly came round to love the guy. This little lad was named Chester.
After 12 months of upheaval and moving houses (work, Uni) we felt so guilty about Chester spending so much time alone by himself (initially he was an outdoor rabbit but soon became a fully-fledged indoor bun!). And so we bought Barney to keep him company. Bonding the pair was an absolute nightmare and we even contemplated having Barney re-homed. After 4months of hard work the pair finally managed to get on great!
Whilst Barney is an absolute gem, Chester grew into our little star (as I previously mentioned, I wasn't such of an animal lover beforehand). Everything we did we had to consider Chester, he lived in 6 different houses in 3years - the poor guy! But he was always fussed, loved his head rubs and even grew into the habit of having his head stroked with my foot whilst I was sat on the sofa. We spent March-August this year at my girlfriend's mother's house while we were waiting on our own house being ready. They lived outdoors again in a particularly large (and expensive) purpose built Wendy house with a run attached. Every night after work I'd give them 45-90mins running around the whole of the garden and they absolutely loved it, I don't believe I've seen either of them this happy as when they were running around the garden munching on grass.
We moved into our new house in August where they had acres of space indoors and a whole room to themselves. Unfortunately no grass outside for them to nibble and binky on.
My girlfriend had noticed that Chester had begun to lose weight. He never had been the biggest (1.7kg) so we assumed he just needed bulking up a little built. Extra hay, pellets and greens were offered. He'd also become a little more introvert and we began seeing less of him hopping into the front room. Again, we thought nothing of it and that with the amount of space they both had, they were quite content to dwell in their own 'wing' of the house.
We were away all day Friday and the majority of Saturday attending a wedding. In the evening when we got back I gave Chester alot of fuss, probably the most he'd had in weeks. He felt extremely thin. Sunday morning and we were beginning to worry. I'd recalled he'd been abit 'clumsy' lately and occasionally lost balance when grooming himself, although this wasn't constant. Though thinking back, due to them having their own room, we weren't spending as much time with them as we used.... thus not noticing these subtle changes and how often they occurred. Again, thinking back, we'd not seen him eating as much as he'd normally do. Although he never had the largest of appetites compared to Barney.
We went to the vets Monday. The poor guy had lost 500g! 1.2kg down from 1.7kg despite being a year older (he was only 3). The vet mentioned e.cuniculi but as he didn't have a head tilt and didn't appear to be having problems standing, he had a look at his teeth. He observed that some of his teeth were digging into his tongue. Massive sigh of relief, and we thought this was the reason for being put off his food, and consequently the weight loss.
The vet gave him some anti-inflams, anti-biotics and a jab to help him with his gut movements. He was also booked to come in at 8.30am the next morning to have some minor dental work done.
We got him home and fussed him. He lay next to me for over an hour again just having his head rubbed.
We'd noticed Barney had been trying to hump Chester in the previous days and in his weakened state, Chester seemed to struggle to fight him off (Barney weighs 3.8kg!).
Alas, we decided to bring Chester and his tray etc up to the bedroom with us and sleep in our room so we could keep an eye on him and he could get a decent nights sleep. At 10.30pm he seemed to be very dazed, we weren't sure whether this was the drugs taking effect. He also began to drool... again, we put this down to his teeth and the drugs.
At roughly 11.45pm we heard him try and jump out of the little try and stumbled. He certainly did not seem like himself now and we were getting worried. We made sure he had access to water, pellets, warmth, hay and grass (which he can normally chow down no problem) and gave him some more fuss.
1.50am and we woke suddenly to find him running around in the corner, very upsetting to watch and seemingly massively disorientated. I picked him up and place him back near his things..... and then his head just dropped. I thought we'd lost him. He just couldn't lift his head
It would keep dropping and as soon as we'd speak or stroke him he'd kind of lift it back up suddenly... only for it to fall again as slipping in and out of consciousness.I tried to force feed him water, tempt him with treats, grass... anything to no avail.
I rolled a towel under his chin to keep his head up. At this point he couldn't stay upright and was leaning against/being support by the towel also. We tried to keep him warm, gave him some fuss and tried to let him sleep. I went back to bed praying, making deals with god, offering to donate money to Charity so long as the little man would pull through until morning. We both knew it wasn't going well.
2.40am We woke (although I suppose we weren't really asleep) to two squeals from Chester. Not a high pitched scream, small squeals. 3 years and I've never heard a peep from him... until this point.
Girlfriend tried to find the number for the emergency vet while I tried my utmost to comfort Chester. I tried to sit him up and his head kept moving from side-to-side, as if reading a book. I've read since that this most likely indicates that it did have something to do with EC. After a few minutes my girlfriend got through to the vet, £132 to come out at this hour. Fine, get her out, I couldn't bear to watch the little man suffer. He could only lie back down on his side, propped half up by the towel. For 3-4 minutes he looked in absolute agony. He was physically flinching and tensing every few seconds and it was heartbreaking and completely unbearable to witness. I believe it was only a matter of minutes, but it certainly felt like hours. Whilst the vet was still on the phone Chester's eyes suddenly widened and his body relaxed. He'd gone.
Mortified is not the word. Our first ever pet, a guy I'd spent nearly every day with for the past 3 years, who factored constantly into our daily plans movements (no holidays). He'd been with us ever since the day my girlfriend and I first moved in together and was an absolute character, a true gent too. A well travelled Rabbit, having lived in the majority of areas across the North-west (and even spent a Christmas down south with us one year!).
He used to give face licks out generously as a baby, then only seemed to reserve them for my girlfriend. However on Sunday evening, I finally got my first licks on the forehead from the boy! I should have known something was wrong... cry for help maybe!?
He was buried yesterday, at my girlfriend's mother's house, adjacent to their old Wendy house and in the garden he loved so much.
He leaves behind Barney, certainly more independent and not as sociable and his buddy was. But he is our priority now and we are pro-actively seeking a new mate for him - another reason for finally joining this board.
I cannot express how hard this has hit the both of us. The grief, the guilt(!) and the emptiness. Without a doubt we could have done more. Without a doubt he suffered in the closing stages. I'm glad I was there with him, but gutted it had to happen at all. It saddens me to think he could have been feeling ill for god knows how many weeks/months. The pain on his face is what hurts the most. The loss I could accept over time, the guilt and suffering I cannot. For it to happen at only 3 year old too... We feel cheated, he deteriorated so quickly we feel as though we've been robbed of a chance to make him better. Or perhaps we're to blame for missing the initial signs.
I apologise for the long winded and rambled message, I won't even bother to proof-read this as there are sections I simply don't want to read again. Chester was more than a rabbit, he was a little person and this has affected me more than the loss of some family members and long-term family pets. I've struggled at work, appetite disappeared and as a grown man, even shed a few tears!
Barney had time with the body, we hope he understands and seems to be fine. He's eating, he's active, though we're not sure if he's searching for him - Barney's always inquisitive and loves exploring!
We're in two minds whether to get another. From a selfish point of view, we don't see how another rabbit can take his place, nor would we want one too. However, selflessly, Barney needs company, we both work during the day and it's unfair for him to be alone. Barney's never spent more than a day by himself.
So, we're on the lookout for any 1-3 year old doe's (preferably neutered) in the Cheshire East/North Staffordshire area.
Again, apologies for the rambled message. I'll log back in later and upload some more pictures of the little guy. I just felt as though I needed to put this in writing while it's fresh. And I certainly feel better for doing so... Therefore, for those of you who have made it this far, your time is greatly appreciated.
R.I.P Chester Rabbit.
