I’m so so sorry you lost Adi. He seems like the most wonddrful of companions ❤️❤️❤️ I’m glad you still have his partner.
Where I am, a vet can’t release a suffering animal back to the owner, that’s the law. The vet must have considered him beyond all chances of meaningful recovery. How a vet decides that varies between vets, vet clinics and aso countries, because there is no exact template, it’s a judgement call. Maybe the big vet hospitals where I am would’ve tried supportive care (fluids, painkillers etc), becsuse their business model is to make as much money as possible from each patient. This is obviously not always ethical, a good, conscientious vet never wants to prolong an animal’s suffering. (Vet care at the big animal hospitals and their vet bills are currently very much discussed and debated in my country.)
When a beloved animal leaves us, there are always so so many “what ifs”. What could I have done differently? If only I had done this or that… I don’t think you need to think so much about those things, because it’s clear you took excellent care of Adi and he got a very long and very happy life. Even if the urine problem was indeed related to EC (but we can’t know that!) and not about male sex hormones, getting him neutered made it possible for him to get a bun partner. Rabbits really benefit from having a same species partner.
You pushed for the EC test, so he did get medicine for it. One week probably didn’t make much of a difference. Fenbendazole is a slow acting medicine, it’s not like antibiotics (which can turn a patient around completely in 48-72 hours).
EC is unfortunately a difficult and condition, and how a bun’s body is affected by it is highly individual. The parasite often causes internal damage before there are any symptoms at all. Many, many buns carry the EC parasite all their lives, they can even get it from their mother in the womb. Then, when the bun gets old and naturally weaker, the parasite grabs the opportunity to start to multiply, and the bun becomes symptomatic. I doubt the EC came from poorly rinsed vegetables, it’s more likely he got it while he was with his breeder or in the pet store.
Again I’m so sorry you lost him. His life was long and happy and full of love, and it warms my heart to think about a little pet store bun getting such a wonderful human and such a good life ❤️ I hope you can feel that too before long.
(Tl answer your last question, I have been in the room with the pets I’ve had put to sleep. I don’t know why you weren’t asked if you wanted to be there. Maybe it’s standard practice at that clinic?)
Thank you for writing so beautifully about him here.
Binky free, sweet Adi 🐇❤️
