Sadly, Bentley's Penicillin Treatment Had No Effect, And His Condition Worsened Dramatically This Morning.

Sadly, Bentley's penicillin treatment had no effect, and his condition worsened dramatically this morning. The decision was made to end his suffering. Baxter will continue to stay at the ranch to monitor his ability to cope with the loss of his lifetime friend. Goodbye Bentley. It was wonderful to know you.

this big guy just showed up out of the blue in my yard yesterday. says he lives here now.

As some of you know, I have been fostering two bonded male rabbits, Baxter (black and white) and Bentley (small, brown and white), since September 3rd, by far the longest stay for guests at Rancho Relaxo™. Baxter and Bentley came from a bad situation. I don't know the details, never asked. Bentley had bad cecal dysbiosis, and both of them were losing weight. I managed to get their diets in order and cleaned them up, but putting weight on them continued to be a struggle. Eventually, Baxter came around. But sadly, Bentley continued to lose weight, no matter what I tried, and started to lose hair on his face. Vets were consulted and tests were done. It was finally surmised this week that Bentley most likely has lymphoma, and will not survive. The vet did say there was a hail-Mary chance that penicillin could work (they aren't 100% sure it is lymphoma), but honestly speaking, it most likely won't. But we're going to try that regardless. I mean, why not. So, the head of the foster team at the CAHS will be stopping by in the afternoon for the next 5 days to administer a shot. It's an intramuscular shot, not sub-c, and I can't do that myself, as I haven't the experience. If, after 5 days, his condition fails to improve, he will be put to rest. Tomorrow I will be moving the rabbit pen outside for a little while. I doubt these rabbits have ever seen real grass, and I want Bentley to experience that before he leaves this universe. I would have done it today while it was warm but they would have been blown away. Anyway rabbits prefer cooler temperatures.

I don't know what will happen to Baxter if we have to put Bentley down. Since these two have been together literally their entire lives, it is possible that Baxter will begin to fail when Bentley passes away. But Baxter will be there when it is done so he can see that his partner is gone. That may break the deep bond that rabbits develop with each other, and he may be able to move on. Impossible to say for sure.

I knew when I agreed to do fostering that there would be situations like this. I've been through it before. But I always seem to forget just how damn hard it is until it happens. And who knows, maybe the penicillin will work.

Baxter is starting to adjust to life without Bentley. Hopefully soon he will be able to go back to the CAHS to find his forever home (and another rabbit friend maybe).

As promised, I took Baxter and Bentley outside today, most likely for the first time in their lives. Bentley probably doesn't have much longer to live, so I wanted him to have the experience before he goes.

it’s true. he is.