I first came to this forum because I found her, back in 2008 after I caught her at a park. I was scared, she was scared, and she was also pregnant. After she miscarried, I spayed her and she got to live a comfortable life. Not a perfect life, and there were certainly some learning curves on my part, but I can only imagine a much better life than what she had before I found her or would have if I hadn’t caught her. She even got to go with me to college, against the rules both times. Because of the circumstances of how she came into my life, I had no clue how old she might have been. What I did know though, is that her quality of life was deteriorating. I graduated in May, and for the last two years, and particularily this last one, I noticed her getting slower. She didn’t hop up as quickly to eat dinner. She stopped hopping into the litter box all the time. She grunted and struggled a little more when she ate her cecals. Her spunk just wasn’t there. The tipping point was when she not only stopped using the litterbox, but just sat where she went, not bothering to move, She started to get urine stains. It wouldn’t touch her skin, so I simply trimmed the stained fur away at first. I knew what would happen next though. Nova didn’t like to be held. Heck, she hardly liked to be pet unless it was that perfect spot, right between her big, adorable eyes. Twice or more daily butt baths were not going to work for either of us. I talked with the vet. She said that she had seen all too often the horrors of urine scald. She said I could wait until it got worse, but it was going to to worse. I was afraid that with moving, trying to start a career, battling anxiety and depression, and learning how to keep a house I would not be able to keep her quality of life as high as she deserved. Instead, I chose to end our journey together while she still had her dignity. I know that might not be the choice that some would have made, and I miss my little fluffy parter in crime (literally, see college experience!) so very much, but I know that she is not neglected and is at peace now. This happened back in June, but I just could not bring myself to share it until now.
Someone might remember that I also had a rabbit named Eclipse. She lives with my mother, as she has for the last 2-3 years. They are quite happy together. I do not plan on bringing another rabbit into my life anytime soon. Finances are a bit tighter than I would want if I was going to keep another rabbit, with me being jobless (hopefully temporary) and the boyfriend going to graduate school. Plus we are literally living in the middle of nowhere right now, and I can only imagine the difficulty of finding a good rabbit vet. Additionally, I was surprised with a puppy in July as a fifth year anniversary gift (long story short: my mom rescued a mangy pregnant dog, dog had mangy puppies, boyfriend said I could have one), that is still being financially supported by my mother until his mange clears, but is still a HUGE time drain because he is a sick puppy. So I thank you all for the wonderful advice and support you have given me over the years, I, and I am sure Nova, truly appreciated it. I hope that she can binky, free of pain forever more.