Jack's-Jane
Wise Old Thumper
My dear little friend, my 7th loss in less than two weeks...............
Dermot came from Animal Lifeline Rescue in 2005, he was about a year old and he had been overlooked as he was supposed to be aggressive. Knowing Rexes very well, I felt that this perceived aggression was likely to be fear/stress related. This must have been the case because Dermot settled very quickly into a home environment and not once in ten years did he show aggression to me or to any other Rabbit. Far from it, he was actually a big softie.
First Dermot was bonded with another Animal Lifeline Rescue, Lara. They were a devoted couple
We lost Lara in December 2010 at the age of 10. Dermot was devastated. After a long time he let me know he was ready to meet another friend and so I introduced him to a few other Rabbits. But Dermot had become a very 'humpy' Rabbit and this always caused huge problems with bonding. The other Rabbit always attacking him in the end because he just would not leave them alone. At that time I was not aware of the possibility of Dermot having a problem with his adrenal gland which was causing his hyper-sexual behaviour. Had I known I would have looked at the option of Dermot having hormone implants. However, I did eventually manage to bond him with a Doe called Aisling. The bonding took place slowly over a period of about 3 months.
We lost Aisling in January 2013. From then on Dermot lived in his own enclosure next to other Rabbits but not actually bonded with them.
As well as Dermot's adrenal gland issues he also had a chronic gut problem which caused him episodes of acute onset and severe abdominal pain, but not typical gut stasis. Numerous diagnostics failed to establish a definitive diagnosis. My Vet consulted a Specialist Vet who suggested a combination of medications and also a removal of all pelleted feed from his diet. Over the next year or so Dermot's pain episodes became less and less frequent and less severe. In fact in his last year of life he only had 2 mild episodes. At the outset of his problems he was having pain 2-3 times a week. We will never know for sure what the primary cause was, maybe the developing adrenal gland tumour played a part. But thanks to the persistence of my wonderful Vet and friend Christabel and also to the Specialist Mark Rowlands, Dermot was able to have many more years of good quality life.
At the end of last year Dermot developed arthritis. Over time he began to need higher and higher doses of pain relief, he also developed secondary sore hocks. Also, his symptoms related to his adrenal gland tumour escalated dramatically. It got to the point where he was getting so frustrated and every time he did an 'entire buck dance and thump' he hurt his arthritic hips and sometimes made his sore hocks bleed. Despite the fact that he was not actually 'depressed' and he was eating really well it was obvious his quality of life was deteriorating and we knew there was no more we could do to make it better. C came over to observe him in his home environment, we gave him a few more days to see if things would calm down again. They didn't. We discussed giving him a hormone implant, but as his arthritic pain was now not controlled by maximum doses of Metacam and Tramadol and his sore hocks were getting worse we felt the only humane option was to allow him a dignified passing. At 1700hrs yesterday C helped Dermot pass peacefully away.
Dermot, you were a treasured family member and I will always love you. I hope our souls will meet again soon xx
Dermot came from Animal Lifeline Rescue in 2005, he was about a year old and he had been overlooked as he was supposed to be aggressive. Knowing Rexes very well, I felt that this perceived aggression was likely to be fear/stress related. This must have been the case because Dermot settled very quickly into a home environment and not once in ten years did he show aggression to me or to any other Rabbit. Far from it, he was actually a big softie.
First Dermot was bonded with another Animal Lifeline Rescue, Lara. They were a devoted couple
We lost Lara in December 2010 at the age of 10. Dermot was devastated. After a long time he let me know he was ready to meet another friend and so I introduced him to a few other Rabbits. But Dermot had become a very 'humpy' Rabbit and this always caused huge problems with bonding. The other Rabbit always attacking him in the end because he just would not leave them alone. At that time I was not aware of the possibility of Dermot having a problem with his adrenal gland which was causing his hyper-sexual behaviour. Had I known I would have looked at the option of Dermot having hormone implants. However, I did eventually manage to bond him with a Doe called Aisling. The bonding took place slowly over a period of about 3 months.
We lost Aisling in January 2013. From then on Dermot lived in his own enclosure next to other Rabbits but not actually bonded with them.
As well as Dermot's adrenal gland issues he also had a chronic gut problem which caused him episodes of acute onset and severe abdominal pain, but not typical gut stasis. Numerous diagnostics failed to establish a definitive diagnosis. My Vet consulted a Specialist Vet who suggested a combination of medications and also a removal of all pelleted feed from his diet. Over the next year or so Dermot's pain episodes became less and less frequent and less severe. In fact in his last year of life he only had 2 mild episodes. At the outset of his problems he was having pain 2-3 times a week. We will never know for sure what the primary cause was, maybe the developing adrenal gland tumour played a part. But thanks to the persistence of my wonderful Vet and friend Christabel and also to the Specialist Mark Rowlands, Dermot was able to have many more years of good quality life.
At the end of last year Dermot developed arthritis. Over time he began to need higher and higher doses of pain relief, he also developed secondary sore hocks. Also, his symptoms related to his adrenal gland tumour escalated dramatically. It got to the point where he was getting so frustrated and every time he did an 'entire buck dance and thump' he hurt his arthritic hips and sometimes made his sore hocks bleed. Despite the fact that he was not actually 'depressed' and he was eating really well it was obvious his quality of life was deteriorating and we knew there was no more we could do to make it better. C came over to observe him in his home environment, we gave him a few more days to see if things would calm down again. They didn't. We discussed giving him a hormone implant, but as his arthritic pain was now not controlled by maximum doses of Metacam and Tramadol and his sore hocks were getting worse we felt the only humane option was to allow him a dignified passing. At 1700hrs yesterday C helped Dermot pass peacefully away.
Dermot, you were a treasured family member and I will always love you. I hope our souls will meet again soon xx
