Compass
Warren Scout
One of my rescue rabbits Mr Pickle was recently diagnosed with several tumours attached to his intestine and the decision was made to keep comfortable rather than aggressive surgery which was unlikely to benefit him. Initially when we took him in he was quite lively still and would occasionally need pain relief to perk him up. He is now on regular pain relief and we've noticed a deterioration in him over the past few weeks. We only expected him to live a couple of days as the vet reported the x-ray and ultrasound showed a significant accumulation of fluid around his peritoneal cavities. She advised regular metacam and metachlopramide and said we would know when the time was right to say goodbye. She said his breathing may become more laboured and to keep an eye out for this.
So the trip to the vets was almost 3 weeks ago and he's not showing any breathing problems but we are noticing he's far less active and often sits in the sun stretching his belly out. He looks uncomfortable and initially I didn't think he was in pain but now i'm not so sure. He is struggling to pass poops and so passes very small poops and does little wees all the time. As a result he is kind of incontinent. We've been grooming him and washing him gently with wet wipes to stop him smelling like an old peoples home (he doesn't mind me having a joke about it
). He is still eating but in the past couple of days he's eating a little less. He loves dandelions and basil but has gone off his parsley and carrot initially we were giving him more carrot as we had always restricted this but as he was palliative the vet agreed to give him whatever he likes. His partner Biscuit is trying to comfort him and he's currently nudging her to get her to groom him. He is such a sweetie he even takes his meds straight from the syringe tip and licks them as I push the syringe.
I don't know what to do, I haven't seen him binky for weeks but then he still wants to eat. He's not grinding his teeth or having trouble breathing but then at the same time I'm not sure whether he is really enjoying life anymore. His partner biscuit is also more quiet and eating less as she always copies him, although she is eating plenty of hay.
When is it the right time? or perhaps there isn't aright time. I was hoping he'd pass away in his sleep peacefully but sadly I know those occurrences are few and far between
So the trip to the vets was almost 3 weeks ago and he's not showing any breathing problems but we are noticing he's far less active and often sits in the sun stretching his belly out. He looks uncomfortable and initially I didn't think he was in pain but now i'm not so sure. He is struggling to pass poops and so passes very small poops and does little wees all the time. As a result he is kind of incontinent. We've been grooming him and washing him gently with wet wipes to stop him smelling like an old peoples home (he doesn't mind me having a joke about it
). He is still eating but in the past couple of days he's eating a little less. He loves dandelions and basil but has gone off his parsley and carrot initially we were giving him more carrot as we had always restricted this but as he was palliative the vet agreed to give him whatever he likes. His partner Biscuit is trying to comfort him and he's currently nudging her to get her to groom him. He is such a sweetie he even takes his meds straight from the syringe tip and licks them as I push the syringe. I don't know what to do, I haven't seen him binky for weeks but then he still wants to eat. He's not grinding his teeth or having trouble breathing but then at the same time I'm not sure whether he is really enjoying life anymore. His partner biscuit is also more quiet and eating less as she always copies him, although she is eating plenty of hay.
When is it the right time? or perhaps there isn't aright time. I was hoping he'd pass away in his sleep peacefully but sadly I know those occurrences are few and far between
Last edited:
xxx
