Tuck is gone

Just six weeks after Nip died our other bunny, Tuck, has died.

After Nip’s death Tuck appeared strong, active, and healthy. He ate, drank, and did all the things that healthy rabbits do, scolded me when I didn’t feed him on time, and showed considerable interest in and affection for us and the dogs. Late yesterday afternoon Tuck was unable to rise. He appeared to have sensation in his front and back legs. But he was too weak or was otherwise unable to move. He continued to eat hay but didn’t have any interest in his evening carrot (very unusual for Tuck). Later in the evening he voided his bowels. He didn’t appear to be in any pain.

Jenny, our alpha female, guarded Tuck tenaciously and stayed up with him through the night. My wife also slept downstairs with them, setting her alarm to rise every two hours to see if Tuck was dead, alive, or in distress.

I rarely dream. Last night I dreamt that Tuck had rallied and it was so realistic and so much with me that when I rose this morning I was convinced that it was true. But it was not to be. This morning my wife and I took Tuck to our vet’s to be euthanized. Our vet, Robbie Drell, concurred with our decision (she’s something of a rabbit specialist). My wife and I remained with Tuck, holding him and reassuring him to the end. It was very quick.

Jenny has been scolding me for not bringing Tuck back with me. Our little pack is smaller now and that’s not a good thing. Qila and Tuck have always been close. When we brought Qila home as a puppy more than 9 years ago, he refused to eat until we placed his bowl near the rabbits’ cage and fed him when we fed them. He’s always been very attuned to them and he’s looking first at me and then at the empty cage in some confusion.

If there are souls, Tuck has gone to join his friend and lifelong companion, Nip, and our dear friend Jelly-Belly. If there aren’t, a little light has gone out of the world and it’s just that much greyer and darker.

3 comments… add one
  • Damn you. I didn’t need that. I’ve too many greybeards in my herd.

  • So sorry to hear the loss—Qila’s devotion is lovely and touching. Nip and Tuck will be missed. love, ann & family.

  • Condolences.

    It’s so hard to observe other animals grieving because you can’t explain to them what’s happened — and you can’t explain to us, either. They correspond to the part of us that’s perfectly bewildered and doesn’t understand where the one we love has gone.

    Two poems in which grieving is evoked through animals, which I find almost unbearable to read, are Walt Whitman’s “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” and Wislawa Szymborska’s “Cat in an Empty Apartment.”

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