How did you know it was time?

[Katy]

New here, I’ve been lurking recently because it seems like it might be nearing the time to put my 8 year old bun, Bebe, to sleep. Hope this is the right place to post, though it does feel a little morbid to post here while she’s still alive.

The situation is, Bebe has been having trouble breathing lately, she’s tilting her head back and you can see her chest rising and falling more than normal. She no longer lies down (or gets in that adorable poof) and does not move much because she gets out of breath… hopping maybe 3 or 4 yards she needs to stop for a break… but she was still poking around, curious, putting up a fight when we took her to the vet and they gave her her meds! We took her to two vets (holidays made it difficult to get in touch with the usual vet). One said that we should try to treat her first, the other was more hesitant about recommending x-rays because it could cause further distress that might kill her. Both said that they cannot determine if the problem is bacterial (perhaps pneumonia) or due to a tumor without the x-ray.

I’m just having a hard time with what to do now. Because one vet said we should try to treat her first, it makes me wonder if there’s still a chance for recovery. She’s only been on meds for 48 hours, so I wonder if I am jumping the gun and the medication just needs more time to take effect. On the other hand, I feel like maybe I am in denial about what’s coming; I noticed she was acting lethargic a couple weeks ago, but chalked it up to the colder weather or just her being moody which she can be. Now that it’s clearly a health issue, I don’t want my rejection of her condition to be the reason that she’s in pain for longer than she needs to be. 

My struggle is I wonder if I am subconsciously trying to take the easy way out. I don’t know if she is hurting badly, but I imagine that being constantly short of breath is not comfortable, and the lack of movement or ability to lie down both seem to take away from her quality of life too. But she’s still eating, drinking, pooping, and at times she seems normal, except for her posture and raggedy breathing. So I wonder if thinking so much about euthanasia is actually me trying to escape the stress and sadness of seeing her like this, even though it is not 100% that hope is lost. There are some treatment options (the x-ray, keeping her on oxygen at the vet), but I just can’t seem to stomach leaving her alone at the vet or the idea of putting her in more stress especially if the outcomes are basically cancer or an infection (which we are already trying to combat with the medication). I know that many buns have lived longer than 8 years, so maybe I am giving up hope too soon… but between today and yesterday she seems to be getting less interested in eating and didn’t put up as much of a fight when it was time for medication….

So in a long, roundabout way, my question is: has anyone else been in a similar situation? Did you decide to wait it out, or how did you make your decision? I know this a decision I have to make myself, but some new perspectives would be appreciated. Thank you all.

[Bunny House]

I’m sorry you’re going through this. Did the vets say her lungs sound good? An X-ray would be the best bet. They can do it without sedation( that’s what we did with my deathly ill bun and he took it well). Did they do blood tests too? The X-ray would be able to say exactly what is wrong with the lungs and if it’s treatable. I did everything I could for my bun I lost a couple of months ago. If you can financially do it, get the X-rays and see what’s wrong. If it’s cancer or just her time, you will know you did everything. You would feel better that way instead of just jumping the gun and putting her down and then having a necropsy done and seeing what was wrong with her, you could have fixed. But sometimes modern medicine and technology can’t tell us the whole truth.

I haven’t had the choice to put any of my buns down yet. Patches who passed in August had gi surgery to try and empty his compact cecum. I know the death rate was 90% but I wanted to do it no matter what. He was gonna die a painful death or die right after on painmeds and not feel a thing. His body made the choice for him to go, which was a relief on my part. You know it’s up to you to decide what to do. You can continue with treatment to say you did all you could or you can go ahead and take her out of the pain. When you look back, you’ll wish one of two things: I’m glad we did what we could or we should have let her go before we did so much to her. Either way it’s heart breaking and no answer is a good one but that’s what happens when we take these babies into our life’s to care for their wellbeing.
You know you’ll make the right decision. We are here for you❤️

[Author]

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