Strongheart
Well-Known Member
I just wanted to take a moment today and post about a very special rabbit who died in my arms this morning.
Marley was a 14 year old dwarf Dutch, a foster rabbit of mine whom one of my favorite exotics vets, Dr. Lisa Carr of VCA North Rockville, called me about last August (when she was working somewhere else - SEAVS). Marley was brought in by a couple whose daughter was leaving for college, they had apparently bought Marley for her when she was, oh, about 4 years old. Through thick and thin, (probably mostly thin), Marley weathered the ups and downs of this young lady's life.
But as she was readying for college, apparently neither she nor her parents had a single bit of affection toward this little, geriatric rabbit. They brought him into the vet's office and said to euthanize him, that they were just "done with him."
So Dr. Carr called me and asked me to take him. Of course I did. I went in and got him, they gave him a bath, did a full workup on him and declared him perfectly healthy except for some mild arthritis and eyes obscured by cataracts. I was given Adequan (to inject) and metacam for arthritis.
We set up Marley in a 4' wide baby pool filled with litter since he did have trouble with his gait. He took a while to adjust to his new life but soon was attempting little binkies every day, just a short dash really, here and there, and his tail might wiggle a bit.
He had a friend, too, a little 4 year old dwarf fellow, Hidalgo, who was an empathetic bun and had just lost his elderly mate. Hidalgo would often go sit next to Marley and allow him to lean against him.
So it went for six months until yesterday when old man Marley, who had deteriorated in the past couple of days, motioned us to get him and laid in our laps while we stroked him and kissed him as he crossed the rainbow bridge. And he licked us back to let us know he appreciated having some friends around for him at that moment.
It is not often one has the honor of knowing such a very, very old rabbit. And it was such an honor to get to know the old codger, who was still thumping to his last day when something didn't go according to his pleasure (though it wasn't very loud).
So I just wanted to post about him so his passing didn't go unnoticed today. And to say, Marley! Run fast and free!
You can see a photo of him here at this link:
http://tinyurl.com/cnq87w
Marley was a 14 year old dwarf Dutch, a foster rabbit of mine whom one of my favorite exotics vets, Dr. Lisa Carr of VCA North Rockville, called me about last August (when she was working somewhere else - SEAVS). Marley was brought in by a couple whose daughter was leaving for college, they had apparently bought Marley for her when she was, oh, about 4 years old. Through thick and thin, (probably mostly thin), Marley weathered the ups and downs of this young lady's life.
But as she was readying for college, apparently neither she nor her parents had a single bit of affection toward this little, geriatric rabbit. They brought him into the vet's office and said to euthanize him, that they were just "done with him."
So Dr. Carr called me and asked me to take him. Of course I did. I went in and got him, they gave him a bath, did a full workup on him and declared him perfectly healthy except for some mild arthritis and eyes obscured by cataracts. I was given Adequan (to inject) and metacam for arthritis.
We set up Marley in a 4' wide baby pool filled with litter since he did have trouble with his gait. He took a while to adjust to his new life but soon was attempting little binkies every day, just a short dash really, here and there, and his tail might wiggle a bit.
He had a friend, too, a little 4 year old dwarf fellow, Hidalgo, who was an empathetic bun and had just lost his elderly mate. Hidalgo would often go sit next to Marley and allow him to lean against him.
So it went for six months until yesterday when old man Marley, who had deteriorated in the past couple of days, motioned us to get him and laid in our laps while we stroked him and kissed him as he crossed the rainbow bridge. And he licked us back to let us know he appreciated having some friends around for him at that moment.
It is not often one has the honor of knowing such a very, very old rabbit. And it was such an honor to get to know the old codger, who was still thumping to his last day when something didn't go according to his pleasure (though it wasn't very loud).
So I just wanted to post about him so his passing didn't go unnoticed today. And to say, Marley! Run fast and free!
You can see a photo of him here at this link:
http://tinyurl.com/cnq87w
ink iris:
