Making ‘that’ decision

Today my OH and I have come to the decision to make an appointment for Sora to be PTS. She is 13(!), she has survived a liver lobe torsion 10 years ago, she has been on a slow decline for the last 2 years or so. Recently she has shown signs that she is ready to go, but her body keeps hanging on and won’t let her go. She is incontinent and her back legs are giving up, the combination of which means that husbandry to keep her back end clean has become impossible and I believe she is now suffering, so convincing my OH today with ‘the talk’ was not that difficult.

My issue is of course that she is part of a bonded pair, and I want to minimise the impact on her partner Smudge (who is 10.5 himself). They have been strongly bonded together for 10 years and I know that the recommended thing is to let him sniff her afterwards and when he moves away from her then he’s ‘accepted’ it, but he has already begun distancing himself from her so I am not sure how beneficial it would be to bring Sora back from the vets? She will likely smell of ‘the vets’ and not herself which I am not sure would be helpful. My heart says it would be kinder for him as he has already started to distance himself but as I’ve never been in this situation before then I’m not sure whether to trust myself or if I’m making a mistake?

Trust yourself, 100%. I believe rabbits "know" about their partners health & my experience of showing a bunny his / her deceased pal hasn't been wholly positive.

Massive hugs. You've done so well to have Sora lead such a long & happy life. I'm sorry her time has come xx

I’m so sorry you are in this situation I don’t have any experience of this so I can’t advise but you know your rabbits best imo.

Thinking of you and sending hugs xx

Personally I let the bereaved Bunny make their own decision as to whether they want/need to spend time with their partner once he/she has passed. Is there any way you could request a Home Visit from the Vet ? It is what I try to do, especially for very frail and elderly Bunnies

I am very sorry that it is Sora's time to move on

I'm very sorry Sending loads of hugs to you all.

So sorry to hear this sad news, I'm sure you'll find the best solution for both you and your bunnies. Big hugs xxx

Sorry decision time is upon you but as far as bringing her home I don't think it makes an awful lot of difference to the remaining rabbit. I have had quite a lot of bereaved bunnies, they mostly just carry on as usual. Of course there are the exceptions.

Thank you all, I have made the appointment for Saturday at 11:30am. My OH is taking her and I am not able to go with her, I don’t want my 3yo to see and we have nobody to look after her while we go to the vets as my only local friend has impetigo and hand foot and mouth right now which are highly infectious so can’t take her while we go to the vet. For the same reason, I can’t ask the vet to do a home visit because I don’t want my 3yo to see and it would be difficult to keep her away as she has a huge fascination when other people come to the house etc. It breaks my heart that I won’t be with her and I’ll have to say goodbye at the front door but it is what it is, and Sora was always a ‘daddy’s girl’ with my husband anyway so it’s not like she is going without someone who dearly loves her.

After thinking overnight and this morning we have decided not to bring her home afterwards and not to take Smudge with her. Sora appears to be quite ‘out of it’ and I don’t think she will notice a lot outside of her own little world now. Smudge has been alone before, when Sora had the liver lobe torsion she had to stay at the vets and as far as Smudge knew she just disappeared. He spent 3-4 days being quiet and didn’t eat much but he did pick up after that. That was when he spent his days glued to her side though, these days he sits apart from her for the majority of the day because Sora is so immobile compared to how she used to be. I think he will also find it quite stressful to be taken to the vets with her (they share a single carry case) and then not come home with her, so we hope we are choosing the lesser of the two evils. We will be taking a break from bunnies for a few years so sadly he will be an only bunny until his time comes, but I am only out of the house 3 days a week and my OH begins a work-from-home job next month so he will have plenty of continued attention from his 3 humans.

Even though I know it’s the right thing to do, now we’ve decided it and made the appointment my eyes won’t stop leaking luckily nobody is sat next to me at work today.

I hope all goes smoothly for her on Saturday. X

Best wishes for you all. When Aboleth was fatally ill, it was very quick: she went from being apparently normal to spaced out and sleepy all the time overnight. Lopsy didn't go near her really, but a couple of other times they'd both been a bit off they'd sought each other out. I brought her body back but Lopsy didn't need to know, he wasn't interested and ignored her, though I gave him a few hours just in case. He wasn't traumatised by it, but I don't think him not seeing it would have made any difference, as I think he knew despite the fact we don't give him any intelligence credits!

Big hugs xx

Thinking of you and sending hugs xx

I'm sorry to hear about your poorly bun,You will be doing a final act of kindness for your friend,despite your heartache,sending hugs.x

Wishing Sora a peaceful passing

Sending hugs xxx

I will be thinking of you tomorrow, and wishing a peaceful passing for your bunny xxx

Pets mum said:

I will be thinking of you tomorrow, and wishing a peaceful passing for your bunny xxx

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Me too Sending lots of hugs.

I'm so sorry to hear about this, it's awful. My Plumpkin was PTS around this time last year. You are doing the kindest thing for Sora by helping her to pass when she is suffering. I'll be thinking of you xxx

Wishing Sora a peaceful passing and thinking of you and your family.

My heart and thoughts go out to you for making this decision. Deep down you know it's the kindest thing to do.
I wish Sora a peaceful passing when the time comes. I will be thinking of you both. xx

Sending hugs and comforting thoughts your way. No harder decision is there to make and one that displays the deepest form of love and compassion to your beloved Sora in her time of need. Keeping you in my prayers at this very difficult time. xxxx