I have a quick question. I have so much anxiety over this process of watching Radar every day and trying to assess her health state and happiness and knowing that I may have to make the decision to euthanize her if I see that her pain/discomfort outweigh her desire to live. It’s been so difficult as she has up and down days – days when I look at her and think I need to stop her discomfort – then the next day she’s seemingly slightly recovered and I hold off. She’s in a terrible state… she wheezes very slightly, she has sebaceous adenitis and her fur is just in terrible condition/falling out. She has no fur left on her feet and has many sores, coupled with muscle weakness in her back end… she “bucks” like a rodeo horse when she moves, and will only stand high up on her toes.
Aside of all these physical problems, she’s eating like a pig still, and still LOVES her food… she CAN still get around and still wanders and nibbles her apple branches and comes hobbling enthusiastically for her treats/medications and for love. It’s so hard to know what is right…. she is so sick, but she still seems to be enjoying the attention and love and food still…. so I push on and wait for a change. (fyi, she is on antibiotics daily to stave off infection and respiratory issues and also gets Metacam daily for inflammation/pain).
Here’s my question for anyone who has had a chronically ill bunny. I have been watching Radar a lot, I do NOT notice her grinding her teeth at all. However, I DO observe her tooth purr whenever I lay down with her at night for her head and body massages, and she gives everyone kisses still. She is loving all the attention. If she is tooth purring – is this is sign that she is not in that bad a pain to really experience happiness still? I’m wondering if rabbits will still tooth purr even if in bad pain, simply because they love you and are acknowledging your attention. She is just in such a terrible state – but I’m so confused as I’m not getting a lot of signs that she is in pain. Anyone have any insight or advice? Thank you for your help……. This is SO hard!
If anyone is curious about Radar’s condition and wants to read—————————————————————————————–
For anyone who hasn’t read about her, my almost 10 year sweet Rex girl Radar is chronically ill with Cancer. Her symptoms first appeared end of December where I noticed she had a tiny spot of scaling near her eye. I took her to the vet thinking she had either a fungal infection or some sort of parasite/mites. Doc did tests, couldn’t pinpoint cause. We treated her with fungal remedies and anti-biotic for a couple weeks. Her condition worsened very quickly during this – so, I requested an xray which showed significant masses in her upper chest cavity, slightly displacing her heart. I had chosen to not put her through cancer treatments as I did not believe she would survive them in her current health state and that it would only buy her short time that I feel would not be quality time for her.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————–