Jacques is dead

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Maureen Las

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Jacques was diagnosed with nerve sheath cancer last April and had several malignant tumors removed . They were expected to reoccur but he was doing just wonderfully until about 3 days ago. The tumors had grown back and I had planned to have them removed again within the next several weeks as he didn't seem ill at all. Then 3 days ago everything changed ...I was on the phone Fri. nite and fed all my rabbits too much spring mix (they usuallynever get it) because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. The next day Jacques had mushy poops and too many of them which I attributed to too much of a new veggie. I also noticed over the weekend that his respirations seemed more rapid and also that he was loosing his footing (something that occurred before the first surgery). He was still eating hay and pellets and I held the veggies. Today I took him to the vet who x-rayed him and stated his stomach was slightly full and recommended bene-bac and to resume his normal veggies. I was to bring him back next Mon. When I left for the shelter today he had eaten his normal veggies and was lying down. When I got home tonight he was lying out on his back, totally helpless with rapid respirations . I know that he was dying. The vets were closed so I took him to the shelter and had him put down. I didn't even need a carrier he was totally limp. Now Joey is alone and I feel like terrible. I am wondering if I should get a necropsy done or even wondering how much it cost? This all happened so fast
 
Aww, Sweetie. I'm so sorry to hear that. You did everything you could, and you were there with him the whole time. Just know that you did the right thing, even if you feel you didn't. You kept him from a great deal of suffering.

:rainbow::bunnyangel: Binky free, little Jaques...

:group:grouphug And many hugs to you, angeluv. :)
 
Aww Angieluv,i'm so sorry,that must have been so horrible to have to come home to see your little boy like that:(

just remember i will be thinking about you,and i hope you are doing ok

n3k3.gif


Goodnight and Goodbye sweet little Jacques:sad:

all my love....



cheryl(who is now feeling very sad:tears2:)

 
I am so sorry for your loss. Sometimes the right thing to do is the hardest thing to do. You saved him from a great deal of suffering. Im sure he knew what a wonderful mommy you were and how much you loved him.

Sending lots of love to you and your little Joey. And Joey isnt alone, he has you.

You're in my prayers.:pray:

-Haley
 
You went beyond the call! More than most would.

Grieve now....wonder later. It may not be that important to know the "Why?" and even if you did, it was probably destined to be.

When we lost Copper....it wasn't in our power to do anything.

You know we are here for you...and we're sending good thoughts and prayers.

Give Joey a hug from all of us.

~Jim
 
I am:rainbow: sorry.

As with other procedures, necropsy costs vary. A vet teaching facility might do it for free. When Bear had to go my vet did it for free to reassure me because i was convinced i had caused his illness (which i had not).
 
Necropsy can be reassuring as well as simply a learning experience for the bun owner. I would think that free or low cost necropsy would be more available than they appear to be, because this procedure is a valuable learning tool for the vet. But possibly they don't have the time, & so charge as for any major procedure. It may often be unnecessary to do a complete necropsy because the condition may be known or surmised.
 
Maureen, I'm so sorry. You gave Jacques a great life and I'm sure it took a lot of guts to know when to end it. I bet he's thanking you for that right now.

I have no idea how much a necropsy costs. If you're interested you could call your vet and ask. I don't know if they all do it. Since you knew he had cancer, I think a necropsy would be mainly just to know how bad it really was and if that was the direct cause of his death. I would imagine that cancers of the nervous system would spread pretty badly, so that could be the only cause. In this case, I don't think a necropsy is needed to protect your other rabbits, as it would be if he had died unexpectedly or if you suspected a disease that they could catch.

If you need to talk, just pm me.

:hug2
 
I'm so sorry about your Jaques. I will echo everyone else and say, you did the right thing. About the necropsy- personally, I wouldn't bother, you pretty much know it was the cancer that did it. If you need the reassurance, though, by all means go ahead. It's pretty much down to if it will make you feel better at this point. I will be thinking about you, I know how hard it is not to feel guilty when you have to put a pet down, even when you know they were suffering.
 
Thanks everybody..but to be honest I feel that if I had not stupidly given him a bunch of greens( that he wasn't used to ) last Fri that he would still have cancer but still be alive. Everything went to hell after Fri nite. He has never had diarrhea and neverhad any kind of GI problem in his life. He was a eating machine and ate everything in sight including lots of greens. I think creating a GI problem with him already having cancer just speeded up his death.
 
I'm always curious myself, & sometimes results are unexpected. Bear was showing symptoms of stasis. The examination suspected this but he was too old to risk exploratory surgery or non-surgical treatment, which if it failed would leave him in a bad way. Necropsy revealed he had intestinal cancer & so nothing could be done. (I had put some wood in his cage to chew on a few days before & i was convinced he had ingested some, he'd never had any before. The necropsy revealed no wood in his digestive tract.)
 
If your bun never had a GI problem before , then that seems to argue against your causing it. That problem may have been coincidental, like Bear's stasis shortly after i gave him wood. What you describe - soft poops & then lying on the back - doesn't neccessarily seem like stasis to me. Anyway, the vet, rightly or wrongly, wanted him back on veggies, so the responsibility isn't entirely yours. Necropsies can often clear up such things.
 
The vet is supposed to call me today. I am going to ask her about the necropsy ...If it cost too much I won't be able to do it ..if it doesn't i will.
 
Sending thoughts and prayers your way, Angieluv...it is always such a horrible thing to go through, losing a dear heart-friend. May you be comforted with your memories of him, and the love that he brought to you. :rainbow:

Jacques....:rip
 
I hope nothing i said upset you - please, do what you need to do for yourself right now & don't worry about the rest.
 
You didn't upset me Bunman..don't even think it...its just that it was sudden. The vet didn't call yet. I decided not to do the necropsy. We buried him in the yard with a stuffed bunny in his front legs hugging him and then I wrote a card and buried it with him....." If love could build a stairway and memories a lane I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you back again" Binkie free little Jacquester
 
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