[Gpdd] [RAINBOW BRIDGE] Our beautiful Honey has left us

sherry bevins ssbjune9 at hotmail.com
Fri Aug 18 18:38:37 EDT 2006


Dear friends @ GPDD,

     Early this morning we said goodbye to our beautiful, much loved little 
"Honey-bunch", who had been ill for several weeks with a respiratory illness 
that just wouldn't clear up. This poor little girl just couldn't seem to 
stay well for long. Some of you might remember her from earlier posts when 
we announced the arrival of her babies, and from the "pigtures" on our 
website. She was pregnant when we brought her home, and sickly. We made at 
least three trips to the vet before the babies were born. Things seemed to 
be a little easier for her after the babies arrived, even though she lost a 
good quantity of her hair and developed a large raw-looking patch on her 
rump, which was very uncomfortable for her. Though we managed to keep the 
spot cleaned, it must have itched terribly because she very often chewed at 
the area until it bled. Her discomfort was such that she would often have 
very little to do with her babies. When they approached her, she would look 
very alarmed and run like mad, all around the cage, and over them if they 
happened to be in the way. We were so relieved when it finally healed! Her 
babies seem fine now, though we have had our moments with them as well. We 
had to begin giving them soft food through a syringe when they were about 
three weeks old. We're not sure why, but Honey didn't seem to want to nurse 
them as much after that.  About three weeks ago, Honey began to have labored 
breathing again. This was the only symptom, as she was still eating and 
drinking normally. At the vet's office, we were told that her breathing 
sounded raspy, but that the air was still moving in and out of her lungs as 
it should. We gave her SMZ-TMP suspension for about 8 days, with no 
improvement in her condition. By this time we could definitely hear the 
sounds of congestion as she breathed. We phoned the vet's office to let them 
know that the medicine was not working. They changed her antibiotic to 
Baytril, and her condition seemed to clear up a bit, but not for long. Back 
at the vet's office, she was given vitamin C, Lasix and Dexamethasone by 
injection and I was to keep her on the Baytril. She seemed so much better 
for about two days and then her labored breathing began again. Back to the 
vet's office we went. She received another shot of the steroid, and we took 
home a prescription for Lasix and Dexamethasone tablets to give along with 
the Baytril. The vet said that her lungs sounded much better than at the 
previous visits, but if her breathing didn't return to normal in about a 
week, an x-ray would need to be taken. I called the vet's office again two 
days later to report that Honey's breathing hadn't responded to the 
injection but very little. This was last Saturday. That night, she had a 
strange episode, which I thought was the end for her. She fell over on her 
side and lay there gasping, seemingly unconscious, as she didn't respond to 
us at all. We told her how much we loved her, and then left her to rest...we 
thought that she was dying.  About an hour later she was at her food dish, 
nibbling away. I just cried. I couldn't believe that she had recovered from 
what looked so much like certain death. We kept her on her medication, 
though slowly weaning her off of the Dexamethasone as the week went on. Even 
with the steroid, her appetite was not good, but without it she had nearly 
none at all. This morning, she had another of those strange episodes, but 
this time she didn't recover.
She was only with us for a few months, but in that time we had come to love 
and cherish her as a member of our family. She will be sadly missed.

Our condolences to all who have lost a precious piggie friend,
Sherry and 17 grieving Piggie Pals
www.piggiepals4u.blinkz.com

We will do a tribute to our little "Honey-bunch" on our website as soon as 
we can.






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