Over the past year Peppy slowly started to loose his eye sight due to cateracts. He was 11 years old, but despite his age and sight issues, he was still a happy little bunny, and loved his daily yoghurt drops, veggies, and cuddles. In September he had some issues with his eyes tearing up too much, but that was quickly alleviated with an eye lubricant prescribed by the vet. He seemed to be doing great otherwise after that.
But last week things took a turn for the worse - we'd noticed Pep had been favouring not lifting his back legs sometimes, but we chalked it up to old age. However on Monday night of last week Peppy started stumbling, falling over, and his sense of balance was off. We made a vet appointment for Thursday evening when he didn't seem to be getting better, and good thing, because as the days went on he didn't want to get up at all anymore, and by Wednesday night he stopped eating and drinking.
Every night when we got home from work, hubs made dinner, so I could have time to cuddle and spend time with Peppy. I guess we both knew his time was drawing to an end. I cuddled him, watched TV with him, fed him his favourite foods while he still ate, and gave him a bath since he could no longer clean himself.
On Thursday night we came home after work, ate a sandwich all the while holding Peppy, and then made our way to the vet's office. Something told me this would be the last time I'd get to see the little guy, and sadly, I was right.
After examining Peppy, the vet told us that he either had a really bad internal infection which had slim chances of being cured, or it was a tumour. Either diagnosis had a very bleek outlook, and long, invasive and expensive treatments were involved. Due to Peppy's old age they were not likely to buy him much more time either, and would prolong his suffering, so I once again had to make one of the hardest decisions. I decided that Peppy had suffered enough, and I couldn't stand seeing him in pain any longer.
So while I stayed in the exam room, cuddling my baby bunny, and saying my goodbyes while bawling into his fur, my dear hubby took care of all the arrangements and the bill, so I didn't have to deal with any of that (what a sweetheart!).
And after some tearful minutes and final goodbyes, I handed the little guy over to the vet, who took him into the back room to do the procedure which relieved my bunny from all of his pain.
She then brought him back to me, wrapped in his towel in a box, with just his little head poking out - he looked like he was sleeping. We'd requested this so that we could burry him in my parents backyard.
Mom and dad were waiting for us (hubs had called ahead), and I gave Pep one last kiss before we closed his box, and dad took him out to the garden and buried him, while hubs drove home to take Peppy's cage out and clean any reminders of him away, so that I would only have fond memories of him. He kept his food bowl and water bottle as I'd asked - but packed it away in a box for now, since I can't look at it yet without crying. Meanwhile my mom kept me company and distracted me with knitting stuff and baby clothes, and I really appreciate her efforts - she even had me smiling again at one point.
Thank god for my amazing family - Peppy's passing was not easy for me at all, but they did everything they could to soften the blow. Eventhough I still get tears when I think about him, I also know he's in a better place, and no longer in pain, and that is a very comforting thought.
So here are a few pics of him - all taken after a bath - hence why he looks so fuzzy and unkempt...lol!
Can you tell he liked to chew wires? He was so lucky he never got a shock!!! We always had to keep a close eye on him when he was walking around.
Hi Pep! :-)
Rest in peace little guy, I miss you!
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