[Gpdd] RAINBOW BRIDGE: Ethan

[ME]

I didn't want to believe it when I read the subject line.  I'm sorry that Ethan didn't make it.  It's also been my experience when they refuse syringing, it's the end ... even when you do get to the vet.  Eddie got to go the way he wanted, in the quiet, warm love of his family.  I think that's best, as when they're in the hospital, there's nothing familiar around them.

I've personally been dreading I'd be writing one of these memorials this holiday ... but so far, my dear sweet Ebony, who I got around the same time as your Ethan, has been hanging in there.  In November, she had a bladder infection caused by the same bacteria that took Destiny and Acacia.  Then, after she battled through that infection, it must have left her so weak that she lost the use of her legs ... and the front right one was sprained or something ... and also couldn't hold her head straight.  That happened three weeks ago, so I've been hand feeding and watering her every two hours.

For several weeks (during her bladder infection and lameness), I couldn't get her above 700 grams in the mornings (at one point during the infection I couldn't get her over 650 by the evening).  The vet put her on senior equine pellets and Glucerna.  It's taken awhile, but she's eating some hay and veggies on her own now and this morning she was 836.  She's still not walking, but she's putting some weight on her legs ... her back ones work pretty well now, so hopefully the front ones will follow.  She's also invented this game where she pulls and tugs at the napkin I use to clean her up if she's left a bit of Glucerna on her face ... I was so happy when she first started doing that, letting me know she was getting control over her head muscles again.