Your Pet Loss Diaries

'Sharran & Thumper'

Australia

About Thumper

Thumper..Thumpie Boi.. affectionately called him "Baby Boi" cos we was our Baby. A beautiful tan coloured mini lop Rabbit.

When did you lose Thumper?

We lost Thumper suddenly at 12.33pm 27th August 2009.

At which stage of pet loss grief do you feel you are currently at?

Guilt.. Anger... Depression..

Sharran and Thumper's Story so far

My Daughter decided to bring a pet rabbit home one day. He was 6 weeks old and oh so cute. I read up a lot on the internet on how to care for him. We named him Thumper cos when Tasha was growing up.. I'd tell her what was said in the movie, Bambi. Thumper's Mum asked him.. "Thumper.. what did your Father say?" Thumper answers.. "If you can't say anything nice.. then don't say nothing at all."

Thumper was God sent. I know my Daughter brought him home but I know that he was meant for me. I called him my "Therapy" and my "Angel" cos he helped me through everything. I forgot all my worries & depression. He was my "Bright Light". Whenever we moved house, we'd pick a house where Thumper would have his own bedroom. We finally bought a house and we chose this house not only for us, but for Thumper too. Once again, Thumper had his very own bedroom. He loved running up and down the stairs and the very last few steps, he'd do a superbunny jump. We'd have the heater on for him on cold nights and leave the fan on warm days.

We only bought him his special mixed salad from the supermarket shelves. We always noticed what and when he ate. He wasn't eating one Saturday and we took him to the vet (specialized rabbit clinic) and they said that it was because of a mild spur on his tooth which would need to be burred back. So we booked him in for surgery for that Tuesday. Everything went fine, we picked him up in the evening.. spoilt him cos we missed him so much just for that day.

The following Tuesday, when we returned from work, we noticed he had not eaten at all. We also noticed some sort of a cut & swelling on his left upper lip. We rushed him to the Emergency Animal Centre (AEC) and they admitted him so that they could give him critical care (force feeding by syringe). We would keep calling to find out how he was doing every few hours. So the next afternoon, he had started eating by himself. We were so relieved that we could bring him home after work.

He was still not eating very well, so the next day we called again to say he was not eating and they said to bring him back. The rabbit clinic could not see him cos they were heavily booked out doing surgeries all day. So they said, to bring him in anyway and they would liaise with the AEC to see how to treat him. We waited for 2 hours before someone was able to grab hold of a vet going in for a surgery to ask about Thumper. She noticed his top left lip and said that, "Oh, that was from the surgery as the laser light was broken and they had to use the AEC laser light for the surgery and a few bunnies had come back with that." It was caused by a burn from the laser light which was apparently too strong for rabbits. That was what was causing Thumper not to eat as it was too painful to even touch.

On Saturday, we took him in to the Rabbit clinic to try and get to the bottom of this. The vet said, she didn't know anything about it and would find out from the vet who did the surgery. Anyway, she checked on Thumper and said he was healthy although he was not 100% recovered yet. And that the scab will fall off. She asked to see us the following Saturday to check on the scab. Tuesday when we returned from work, we noticed that Thumper had not eaten again, at this point we were getting a bit angry and fed up and I told Thumper.. What's wrong with you. You can't keep doing this.. I'm going to Hawaii on Thursday, please get better.

We waited till Wednesday morning and he still hadn't touched anything. We took him to the AEC again and admitted him. Although he hadn't eaten, he was still bright & active. They took him in and when we called to check, they kept saying he's bright and they're giving him IV thru his ears. They also said that the Rabbit Clinic would be taking over all charges as this is a post surgery problem. We went in on Wednesday night to take him his blanket and his stuffed toy, Thumperlina (a pink stuffed bunny) and we also went to kiss him bye as I would be leaving the next day. We felt low and he didn't look happy. We could see it in his eyes... probably all drugged up. He seemed angry with us. We kissed him bye and that was the last we saw him alive.

As my Daughter was driving me to the airport the next morning, we called to ask about Thumper. They said, he was bright and ok. So we were happy that he was in good hands.. or so we thought. By the time I reached Sydney, I got the news.. Thumper is dead!!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!! How can that be? How did he die? How did he die? How did he die? I wanted to turn back. I didn't know what to do. I was meeting my Husband in SFO and we were going to Hawaii.. everything has been paid for. I didn't know what to do? Tasha was all by herself.. I'm so sorry, baby.. I want to come back. What should I do? I didnt have much choice but to continue my journey to SFO. It was the hardest and loneliest(sp) trip ever. I was numb & in shock. My precious baby boi is dead. HOW?? It was for a simple thing.. How did it get to this? WHY?

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