One of the "geniuses" here at UMich in technical support upgraded my cpu and I haven't been able to get on in a couple of weeks! Whew, it's good to be back!
At any rate, my loving Noah bunny died last Friday afternoon. He had pnemonia for a while and it was only getting worse despite all the big gun medications he was given by the rabbit vet. I'm not quite sure where my head was at the time.....
When the vet first told me his prognosis was not good I must have decided to overlook that remark. After all the meds appeared to be working...he had perked up a lot, didn't have a lot of rattles in his breathing, was eating well and pretty active. Then he started to fail and we went back to see Miss Vet and when the she suggested the "E" word, I was so shook up that they gave him another dose of the big guns. Again he perked right back up, ate well, etc........ But when he started to fail again I made him an appt for the big "E".....but he died in my arms this past Friday afternoon on the way there.....
In the past when I've lost a bunny like this I usually tell myself that I gave him a good life, that he was spoiled and loved and he knew it. But it just didn't work this time......this time the loss really, really hurt..... So I've been feeling really lousey.... And then started wondering if I had done right by Noah or did I prolong his suffering.....
To make matters worse his partner Gracie has gone almost psycho on me. I haven't been able to get close to him, pick him up or make a move in his direction without Gracie running away and hiding. Then on Monday evening I really wanted a bunny to cuddle, Gracie wasn't buying that, so I brought Maple in to the living room where we sat on the sofa and had a nice long talk and a bunny massage. Up comes Gracie, peeks over the edge of the sofa and jumps up and I'm thrilled...Oh great! They are going to be friends! Wrong!!! Gracie started this terrible growling and then lunged at both me and Maple (who is deaf and had his back to Gracie) and then tried to bite us both. I gently pushed Gracie to the floor but he jumped right back up and did it again. When
Gracie....sounding really scary now with the growling and lunging did it a third time I took Maple back to his living area...with Gracie chasing and trying to bite my ankles all the way there.
I've had rabbbits 9 years, been a volunteer at the rabbit sanctuary for 5 and I have never seen a rabbit display this kind of grief before...... Surely it has to be grief, what else could it be?
I am not about to add to Gracie's grief by confining him to his cage or giving him up...... Does it sound logical to let him work through this anger, or am I applying human emotions to a animal and wwwaaayyyy out in space somewhere? Any advice on handling this kind of situation would be greatly appreciated.
(and my apologies for the long novel!)
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