This is a very sad story but I'd appreciate any feedback and advice!
Late last night, my boyfriend and I were driving home from a party. We narrowly missed hitting a small rabbit which was sitting in the middle of the road. The rabbit didn't move, so I got out of the car to try to shoo him to the side of the road but he still didn't move. There was another car coming, so I scooped him up and took him to the side of the road. He looked absolutely terrible - all skin and bones, really laboured breathing and sticky eyes.
I didn't know what to do, so we called the emergency vet number. They told us that they'd speak to a vet and get back to us. 15 mins later we still hadn't heard anything so I decided (probably wrongly, i realise now) to take the bunny home and it sat, hardly moving, on my lap for the 20 minute journey home.
We tried calling the vet again, but the person on the other end of the line said they were sorry, they weren't able to get through to the vet. We tried another vet in the area, and this time we got straight through to a vet who asked us to describe the symptoms, then responded with "Is this what you've got me out of bed at 1am for? The rabbit's got myxomatosis" and instructed us to break his neck. In the end, we had to take the rabbit out to the road and ran him over with the car to end his suffering.
I'm still really upset about this, and angry with the vet. I'd happily have paid for her to put the bunny to sleep humanely, but she wouldn't come. What would anyone else have done in this situation?
The other thing is, I have two bunnies of my own. I put all the clothes I was wearing straight into the wash and had a really long shower, but I'm terrified of passing on the virus. My bunnies are vaccinated, but I know this isn't always effective. I haven't been out to feed them yet because I don't know if there's any risk of me infecting them. I'd really really appreciate words of wisdom on this!
Late last night, my boyfriend and I were driving home from a party. We narrowly missed hitting a small rabbit which was sitting in the middle of the road. The rabbit didn't move, so I got out of the car to try to shoo him to the side of the road but he still didn't move. There was another car coming, so I scooped him up and took him to the side of the road. He looked absolutely terrible - all skin and bones, really laboured breathing and sticky eyes.
I didn't know what to do, so we called the emergency vet number. They told us that they'd speak to a vet and get back to us. 15 mins later we still hadn't heard anything so I decided (probably wrongly, i realise now) to take the bunny home and it sat, hardly moving, on my lap for the 20 minute journey home.
We tried calling the vet again, but the person on the other end of the line said they were sorry, they weren't able to get through to the vet. We tried another vet in the area, and this time we got straight through to a vet who asked us to describe the symptoms, then responded with "Is this what you've got me out of bed at 1am for? The rabbit's got myxomatosis" and instructed us to break his neck. In the end, we had to take the rabbit out to the road and ran him over with the car to end his suffering.
I'm still really upset about this, and angry with the vet. I'd happily have paid for her to put the bunny to sleep humanely, but she wouldn't come. What would anyone else have done in this situation?
The other thing is, I have two bunnies of my own. I put all the clothes I was wearing straight into the wash and had a really long shower, but I'm terrified of passing on the virus. My bunnies are vaccinated, but I know this isn't always effective. I haven't been out to feed them yet because I don't know if there's any risk of me infecting them. I'd really really appreciate words of wisdom on this!