I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been looking for a new job & DH was laid off from his job. I believe that my last post was to share that Jessica recovered from her head tilt. This was fantastic news and we all worked very hard to get her back to stasis. We also added a few more cats to our family, a new calico kitten named Zoey and a white boy w/ blk horns on his head, Liam. Liam was an 11th hr rescue from the hotshot….he was in the holding cage and was next on the list for euthanasia. We got him just in time. So everyone have been working on getting along….
About 2 wks ago, Jessica got out of her pen and was in a major battle w/ Chewbacca. We think the kitten shimmied the gate open while playing w/ Jessica. As usual Jessica got the bad end of the battle, about 6 major puncture wounds. She was shaved down on all those patches, so she was definately looking really sad. I’ve been interviewing across country, so last weekend, we had to board Jessica at the vet, her wounds required more intense care than what our pet sitter could provide. Everyone else, including Chewie stayed at home w/ Pet sitter visits scheduled 2 times day. We left on Friday (6am). On Tuesday, the pet sitter called to say that he found Chewbacca next to her food bin, dead. He found no obvious wounds on her and reported that she had been eating her pellets, veggies, & treats consistently. She also had been pottying just fine.
DH didn’t know what to do, so he asked the sitter to put her body in Jessica’s cage and that we will likely leave for Philly (from IL-driving) as soon as I returned from interviews. Needless to say I was not ready to spend 12 hours in a car to race home to her dead body left in the house. I made several phone calls and found a pet transporter, associated w/ our hospital, to pick up Chewbacca & bring her to the hospital for a necropsy & subsequent cremation. We then left IL the next day….We got the Necropsy results on our drive home. Vet found a severe case of pneumonia. Chewy showed NO symptoms at all! No coughing, drooling, sneezing, wheezing, poor appetite or lack of poop. The vet believes she likely had pneumonia for about 2-3 weeks. She just went to sleep & didn’t wake up. The vet reminded us that prey animals are incrediably good at covering up their illness & that there was NOTHING we could have done, etc.
It still doesn’t help…it’s still very sad & shocking. This year we have lost 2 rabbits & 1 cat. It just feels so overwhelming! I loved them all so much and miss them so much now. Extra hugs & bunny kisses to all your buns. I guess not everybunn is as tough as nails as my Jessica. She takes a lickiing & keeps on ticking. She’s been doing very well post -wounds.
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