We had an unfortunate event occur to us. My poor bunny, Mr Bigglesworth(Biggles for short. We also gave him a middle name: Lilo) died on tuesday night/wednesday morning..
We still dont have a cause as to why he died. We are assuming he had a GI Tract infection. He was gonna be two years old in february. My wife and I are totally devestated as he was our first pet we ever had as a married couple. He was only 8 weeks old when we got him.
He was always sweet and affectionate. Very fun to play with(I would get my exercise by chasing him around the living room and then having him chase me). He Always gave me a lick on my nose every night before going to bed as well as rubbing my hand with his chin which was his way of telling us: "I own you. You are my people." Bunnies dont lick people that often, but when they do, its a sign of affection and so is rubbing you with their chin. And he had such a cute and funny personality. You wouldn't think so when you think of rabbits. But not true. Along with birds, Rabbits make the best pets in my opinion.
He was so good we always referred to him as the Gentlemen, or Beauty because he was so respectful towards the other pets. And he just loved licking the guinea pig. We never watch tv, we would just sit and watch them because they had a funny interaction to them. We also referred to him as Monk (After the tv show character) because he always had to adjust things a certain way in his cage. If we moved something, he would move it back. And he loved thumping, especially when it was night time. If we were up ever past midnight, he would thump to tell us to be quiet and goto sleep. If he was hungry, he would toss his bowl at the door to let us know. He was so smart and funny.
When I got home on tuesday from work, I saw him huddled behind the guinea pigs igloo (Yes, against all advice, I housed them together in the same cage). Normally he huddles down there when he is about to play with the pig and he just sits there in that position for a while.
I took Gilda to work, got home a couple of hours later and I found the poor guy still huddled in a corner, I went to see how he was doing. But when I moved him, he just collapsed on his side. He was still alive, but he was panting and breathing with a lot of effort. I tried to lift him up to hold him, but everytime I did he just kept coughing and making a crying noise. I called some vets, but all the rabbit vets went home for the day at the emergency centers. Finally I gave up because I could tell he wasn't going to make it, so I just sat there by his cage, rubbed his little back and tummy and forehead. I just spoke to him in a low voice just so he knew I was there and know that he didn't have to die alone. Finally he took two last breaths and then died.
It was a very sad night for my wife Gilda and I. In fact Gilda was so (Because she was also at work- She's a nurse in the ER) upset that a bunch of the nurses put some money together and bought her another bunny that we have to pick out when we are ready. I kind of wish they didn't do that because I really want to stop buying anymore pets because it is just too painful for when they die.
Anyway, It helps us feel better telling others about him. Helps keep him alive in our memories. Here are a few pictures of the little guy. We miss him so much.
Biggles at 9 weeks old. Look at that face and big feet:
(http://energon-plant.com/biggles1.jpg)
Biggles cuddling:
(http://energon-plant.com/biggles2.jpg)
(http://energon-plant.com/biggles3.jpg)
Biggles with the Guinea Pig:
(http://energon-plant.com/biggles4.jpg)
So now we are down to one rabbit, 5 budgie parakeets, 1 guinea pig and a fist. Our family is not the same. This year we lost a budgie (Frankie) Two beta fish (Fish I and Fishy II) and now Biggles. So sad....
I am sorry for your loss. I am an animal lover and I have had my cat for 16 years now (since he was a kitten).
This is how your pictures make me feel right now.
:'( :'( :'( :'(
Take Care,
Domino
I had to take my hamster buddy to be put to sleep (I may have related this story before), since he was pretty much on his last legs. He had a list of ailments, including the big C, and he didn't look like he was having much fun anymore. He was two and a half years old, which is a pretty good stretch for a hamster, apparently.
People don't release how attached you can become, even to an animal as small as a hamster.
RIP Biggles.
Sorry for your loss. Those pictures are so cute... :'( :'(
RIP Biggles.
Firstly Joseph my condolences for your loss. I remember the first family pet we had when I was growing up (when my mom married her second husband). He was a dog and his name was Buck. He was part German Shepard and part who knows what else so in short he was a mutt. By definition.
He was the family pet but Buck was my personal friend. I generally was the one who fed and watered him. I would talk to him and play with him...
Some years ago my mom and her (now ex-) husband were out in the yard at night and there was a raccoon. Buck fought the raccoon defending my parents and contracted some type of disease (not rabies; something else I don't remember what it's called). He was in a lot of pain and eventually my parents took him to the vet to put him out of his misery and end his slow and painful death.
I still miss him.
We also had a cat. That is my brother had a cat that was given to him by a lady at church. The cat gave birth, right here in our house, to a litter of kittens. Of those kittens we kept one. His name was Red (aren't we clever?). As a kitten he always used to climb up in my step-dad's lap when he would watch TV and then when he wanted to take a nap he'd go up in the window sill. He was about 10 or 12 years old when his life finally got the best of him. He was an outdoor cat and loved to fight. Any time we ever got another cat he would always chase it off.
He would come home with battle wounds from the neighborhood animals but he wore them proudly. He even survived several snake bites over the years.
Finally after all these years (this was some years ago as well) of fighting, his body was worn out. He was blinded in one of his eyes, he couldn't control his salivary glands properly...I cared about him...but he had become rather gross. :(
So finally we put him down as well.
I know how it feels to lose a pet. It's more than "some animal". It's a friend, it's a part of your life. It's something you care about that has meaning to you. And nobody else may get that but it wasn't their pet. It wasn't part of their family. So nobody can really say they know what you were going through...but I know how hard it can be to lose something that was such a big part of your life.
Fare thee well Mr. Bigglesworth.
Quote from: Joseph DiPerla on Fri 23/10/2009 18:34:26So now we are down to one rabbit, 5 budgie parakeets, 1 guinea pig and a fist.
I'm sorry, but you have only one fist? :-\
I meant a fish. Yes this is our third beta fish. He is a beautiful blue color. We call him Fishy III (How original).
Our other Dutch-belted Bunny is called Nance. The top half is white. Her bottom half is a greyish black. She has one black ear, one white ear.
We have several beautiful budgies too. I will post pictures of them as well. Thanks for your sympathy and compassion guys.
(http://energon-plant.com/biggles1.jpg)
This is the cutest picture ever!!!
I know. We had that picture framed as soon as we took it. He was so adorable!
I had a Rabbit when I was a kid. He wasn't very friendly and always tried to bite me when handling him.
We kept him in his cage most of the time, and our cats were always curious about him and sticking their paws in the cage.
We had to block off our family room because once we let him out, he would just run crazy around the room and my parents didn't want him running all over the house.
Time will heal your wounds Joseph. I fear the day that my cat passes away, and try not to think about it.
Shawn
I am sorry about your loss. I know how it feels; we rescued a little kitten, we named Bandito, a couple of years ago. He disappeared when he was about a year old and we were heartbroken. Also about 25 years ago my kitty Snowy passed away under similar circumstances to your bunny and I've always felt guilt for not getting him to the vet sooner.
My kitty Gordito hasn't been feeling well the last few days; he was just lying around and sleeping on the window sill for a couple of days. So I took him to the vet yesterday and after a little electrolyte injection, some antibiotics, and a $250 blood test for everything (which he passed), he seems to be doing much better now.
I always believed that the way someone treats animals is very revealing about that person's character. You and your wife seem to be very nice people. Your beloved will live on in your memories forever. Take comfort in knowing that you gave Biggles a wonderful life, a so much better life than if you and he never met. I hope your pain will soon pass.
Rick
Ive recently moved into my own place and got a cat with my girlfriend.
I dread the day little sookie dies.. more than I dread almost anything.
I think of this (http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=480)
Worst part about it is that now I am paranoid with the rest of my fury family, checking them every 10 minutes to see if there is something wrong.
If the loss of a pet is something that really affects you, I would heartily recommend looking for a pet with more staying power. Parrots, for example, can live up to 70 years when properly cared for. Rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, even when given the very best of treatment just don't have great life spans and are not something I'd ever get someone as a pet for that reason alone. Dogs and cats are a reasonable choice, though bigger dogs often suffer from a variety of ailments the smaller ones don't. When our last old dog finally died, my mom bought herself a parrot, reasoning that as long as she takes good care of it it will most likely outlive her.
Oh, and I had a guinea pig for 5 years when I was a kid. Great little fellow was Boris. Then he got distemper and died and I realized just how fragile these types of animals are.
Yeah, my wife and I realized that the lifespan wouldn't be very long. We just expected him to live out a full term of about 7 years, not two. Not only that, but we were hoping that the symptoms would have been visible enough so that we knew what to expect. He just seemed very healthy up until the last few hours of his life and it caught us off-guard, especially since he still had an expectancy of another 5 years or so...
Yeah, that's really the problem with more fragile pets. They can seem healthy when there's something wrong and, because they aren't human and can't communicate with us that they're ill, they just go downhill really fast :( .