Celestino's Story: His Battle

Celestino was one of the most amazing house rabbits I have ever had. When I first got him, he was very nervous, and scared of people, but after years of rehabilitation, he had so much trust in humans. He was the sweetest boy, loved being picked up, loved being cuddled, and would actually get upset if I didn’t cuddle him when he wanted it. He was always happy to see me, when I would walk into his room, he would jump in circles waiting for me to pet him. He did this every single day, which is how I knew he was sick, when one day he didn’t jump around when I walked in. He stayed in his corner, curled up as tight as he could be. This told me that he was in pain, and needed to see a vet, immediately. I called Avian and Exotic Animal Care, and they got him an appointment within a few hours. When we got there, they brought him right in. This was right during the heart of COVID-19, so I was not permitted to go into the vet with him. Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck sitting in my car. The vet, Dr. Dan Johnson called me with every single update he could give me, just to keep me in the loop, and settle my nerves a bit. His initial diagnosis was gastrointestinal stasis, which essentially means his digestive tract stopped moving. This is extremely painful for them, and can be fatal if not caught in time. He was prescribed pain medication, as well as a motility drug to try and get his system moving again. He was on these medications for about a week, paired with force feeding him critical care every three hours. This was not working, and he was not improving, so I brought him back to the vet for another look. They did blood work, and x-rays, to show a decent size blockage in his gut, and because of this, he was going into kidney failure. Hearing this news just about broke me, because in the back of my mind, I knew there was nothing I could do, other than keep him comfortable until he crossed the rainbow bridge. I continued with his medications, and added subcutaneous fluids every day. This was basically just to make sure he was getting enough water in his system to try and clear the blockage. I was up with him all day and night, I would sleep for about two hours a day while my mom kept an eye on him. Every hour or so I would try and get him to exercise and move around, but he was just so tired, he didn’t want to do anything. Eventually, when he woke up on the morning of May 4th, 2020, I could just tell that he was done. He fought so hard, and his body just couldn't come back. I made the difficult decision to put him down. I drove him up to the vet, and they brought him in, and allowed me all of the time that I needed to say my goodbyes, and assured me that I was making the right decision. He tried for two weeks to get better, but his body was tired. He climbed up into my bed with me and kissed me a bunch of times, and I think this was him saying goodbye to me. This was one of the most aggressive forms of stasis that I have ever seen in rabbits, and it motivated me to learn more about it, so no other rabbits have to go through this again. It taught me to pay closer attention to the little things that they do every day. I am very on top of what my current rabbit eats every day, and how much exercise she gets. These little things can mean life or death for these sensitive pets. I think about Celestino every single day, and I wish there was more I could have done, and I use that to continue learning about the best ways to care for my pets. A huge shoutout to everyone at Avian and Exotic Animal Care, in Raleigh, North Carolina, for doing everything they possibly could to help me bring my boy home. A specific shoutout to Dr. Dan Johnson, Dr. Christine Eckermann-Ross, and the vet techs, Justin, and Cole, for everything they did. They comforted me during the hard times, they were hopeful, they were helpful, and at the very end, they were understanding, they were sad with me, and they didn’t treat that day as just another day. They were hurt, too. While I’m not happy that they were hurting, it made me feel less alone, and told me that they genuinely cared for him as well. After he passed away, the staff at the vet all signed a card, sending their condolences, and made me a ceramic heart with his name and paw prints in it. I will never take my exotic pets to any other vet. Another huge thank you, to everyone over at Avian and Exotic Animal Care.