We will miss you, Lulu..

I have been putting this off for the past 2 weeks hoping by the time I'd have write this it will be a happy news, but, alas!

Let me start at the beginning..

As you know, our bunnies, Marbles and Lulu do not get along. At all. On a couple of occasions, Marbles chased Lulu around the house and once managed to corner her and was pounding on her until she ran off. The second time this happened, they were both outside the house and hubz interfered and rescued Lulu from Marbles' snarls! I was a bit worried that Lulu might have gotten hurt but hubz checked her for bite marks or bleeding but there were none, so we left it at that.

Two weeks later we noticed she was getting less and less active and was slowing down on her food. We also noticed her left eye was swollen, so we took her to the vet. The vet turned her upside down, pushed her head up and asked us, "Did you notice this?" pointing at a patch of raw skin with puss oozing out of it when he pressed. Imagine our horror??! We obviously didn't. Hubz who grooms her so often has missed it because underneath her chin is not an area he brushes, and bunnies don't usually allow you to touch their face that way.

Apparently there were two nasty bites on her face, one on her neck underneath her chin and another at the side of her face, which has become septic. The one on her neck has become worst causing the hair to fall off as the puss built up underneath her skin. The vet said he'd need to surgically remove the affected skin & tissue and explained we'd have to dilligently clean her wound morning and night if we want to keep her. He also explained in length the limited medications and antibiotic available to treat bunnies, making us realise, how fragile these little creatures really are. (Which also explains why they breed as they do, doesn't it?) He gave us antibiotic to be administered daily and asked us to clean her twice a day with salt water.

I must say that hubz was the one who really took care of her, waking up so early in the morning to clean her before we go to work and cleaning her once more the moment he gets home.

Here's Lulu, healing nicely..

Last Saturday we took her to the vet again to get more antibiotics and get them to clean her wound. We came out of there beaming as the vet said she seem to be holding well, her raw skin does not look so raw anymore, her appetite is insatiable, she eats so much daily! Just like any 6 mth old bunny would, I guess. The vet said since she's a fighter, we should do all we could to help her. We were delighted.

By Monday evening however, we noticed she has not eaten much, so we took her to the vet again to get her cleaned, and this time the vet noticed one of her forelegs was red, apparently septasimia. Yesterday I got home early to take her to the vet again to get them to clean her up and I noticed both her legs were covered in red spots. The vet said to me, "You should just let her go". She has not been eating since Monday and although her neck is getting better the septasimia seems to be spreading. I called hubz asking him to call the vet to make a decision. I can't bring myself to tell the vet to put her to, you know.

So, today is the day Lulu is going.

I do not want to go to the vet to face this, at the same time, I can't let hubz go through this on his own. Me knees go weak when I think about it. But I guess, it's better for her than to continue to suffer.

I hold it true, whate'er befall;

I feel it, when I sorrow most;

'Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all

From Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem In Memoriam:27, 1850

Goodbye Lulu.