[Gpdd] [RAINBOW BRIDGE] Patchouli

[Dr Kay Dudman]

My dear little princess Patchouli piggy had to be helped to the Bridge just
before Christmas.  I took her to the vet as she had lost some weight
although she was eating well; she seemed fine otherwise.  A couple of days
later she seemed to be making an effort when breathing, so I took her back
to the vet, and an X-ray showed some sort of shadow on her lung.  She was
given some medication (frusemide, a diuretic, to help remove any build up of
fluid), but it didn't seem to be helping, so we went back to the vet again;
another X-ray still showed a shadow, and this time she was given a steroid
injection to reduce inflammation.  The steroid helped a little, but a
further, more detailed X-ray showed that she had developed two tumours in
her lung, and that there was no treatment for this.  

It happened so quickly, all this was within one week.  I had moved her into
my bedroom so that I was there in case she was in difficulty during the
night; she was happy each night, and I could hear her coming out of her
bedroom to catch up on some eating, she was not in distress.  I was with my
little Princess Patchouli as she made her trip to the Rainbow Bridge; she
was very peaceful and comfortable, we were just having a cuddle and she
drifted away. I love her so much.  

Patchouli was seven and a half years old; she adopted me in June 2006.  Her
previous owner was a teenage girl who had "lost interest", and she in a
rabbit rescue.  She was six years old when she came to me, and needed some
extra loving care as she had lost one of her lower incisors and had some
trouble with ovarian cysts.  The lack of a tooth didn't trouble her; she ate
well, just sometimes she needed the upper tooth trimmed so it didn't
overgrow.  For a while the cysts were drained, but later she was spayed and
even though this was risky for a piggy of her age she went from strength to
strength after this, putting on weight and generally being a happy little
piggy.  I am so lucky she came to live with me.

Patchouli had some very endearing little ways; when I would have her
breakfast salad ready she would do a little dance, going round once in a
circle, and then look up to let me know she was ready.  When she had
finished her salad, if she felt like a bit more to eat later in the day, she
would go up to her bowl and put her dear little hands on the side and look
up at me to say "there's room for some more salad in here!".  She loved a
cuddle. My dear little Patchouli went over the Rainbow Bridge on 20th
December.  She was the fourth piggy I have lost this year.

Kay