|
| YOUR RABBIT AWAITS YOU AT THE BRIDGE |
|
|
| Click picture for the poem |
PET HOSPICE CARE AND VETERINARY HOUSE CALLS
Washington, DC Area
Pet Hospice Care: www.PetHospiceCare.org. Telephone: (301) 625-0723. JoAnne Carey, DVM
Deciding to Euthanize Your Rabbit: At Rabbit References click on Health and Medicine, then scroll down to "Euthanasia."
MAKING THE EUTHANASIA DECISION Euthanizing your rabbit involves injecting a drug that will "put him/her to sleep." Well ahead of time you should
discuss with your vet how this will be handled. Some vets will make a house call so that your rabbit doesn't have to be further
traumatized. Since you are the person that your rabbit is most attached to, it is important that you be with your rabbit
during this procedure to allay fears and support him/her. Saying goodbye is very difficult but ultimately you will feel better
about being there for your rabbit when it really counted.
You will have to decide if a necropsy (animal version of an autopsy) is to be done. Deciding to have a necropsy will
be important if you really need to be certain about the cause of death to relieve your own mental anguish and/or if the findings
in the necropsy would make a significant contribution to the rabbit medical literature that ultimately will help other rabbits.
You will also have to make a decision about whether or not you want your rabbit buried or cremated, where s/he should
be buried, and who is going to provide these services. If you decide to bury your rabbit where you are currently living (and
some jurisdictions prohibit this), consider how you will feel about this if sometime in the future you have to move.
If you have children, it is important to include them in saying goodbye and making plans for your rabbit's remains. You
will have to determine whether or not they can handle being present for the actual procedure. Facilitating the grief process
for the human and animal members of the family requires that the deceased member's body is seen and that everyone participates
in the rituals of permanently parting. Designing a family ritual is an important way to memorialize your rabbit's life
in a meaningful way and an important model for children about each family member's importance.
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you wake in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.
Do not stand on my grave and weep.
I am not there. I do not sleep.
-Anonymous
Final Care of Your Rabbit's Body
Rabbit Loss article
Ideas about how to memorialize your rabbit.
Quotes and poems.
Read more about your rabbit's death and the grief process.
Religous animal quotes.
EUTHANASIA SERVICES
Most
rabbit veterinarians offer euthanasia services to their patients.
Animal shelters who handle rabbits also offer euthanasia
services for rabbits.
FUNERAL SERVICES AND MEMORIALS
Honoring your rabbit's memory
Animal Clergy and Memorial Service info
Light a virtual candle at Gratefulness.org. Click on "Light A Candle."
Pet urns and markers at www.foreverpets.com
www.peturns.com
Grave Headstones
Mourning Lights
Sterling silver and gold wearable and other urns for your rabbit's ashes at www.whisperintheheart.com/with
VIDEO CLIP: Bright Eyes: The Black Rabbit Comes (Watership Down)
VIDEO CLIP: Bunny (Animated Short With Music by Tom Waits)
BOOKS ABOUT GRIEVING FOR YOUR COMPANION ANIMAL
Kowalski,
Gary. Goodbye Friend: Healing Wisdom For Anyone Who Has Ever Lost a Pet.
Nieburg, Herbert A. Pet Loss:
Thoughtful Guide for Adults and Children.
Sife, Wallace. The Loss of a Pet.
Shanahan, Niki Behrikis. There is Eternal Life for Animals: A Book Based on Bible Scripture.
To order go to www.eternalanimals.com
Shanahan, Niki Behrikis. Animal Prayer Guide: A Book Based on Bible Scripture. To order go
to www.eternalanimals.comWebb, Cheryl Renee. Do Pets and Other Animals Go to Heaven? How to Recover From the Loss of an Animal Friend.
Stuparyk, Emily, When Only Love Remains: The Pain of Pet Loss. Visit Emily's web site to purchase her book of poems about
the loss of her rabbit. The site has memorials and links to other pet loss sites.
OTHER RESOURCES FOR PET LOSS SUPPORT
The Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement offers chatroom discussions, helpful articles, and a large bibliography on pet
loss. Click here to peruse their web site.
The Montgomery County Humane Society (Maryland) offers free monthly seminars agout
grief for a pet. For more information, call (240) 773-5960 or (240) 773-5973.
PET CEMETERIES AND CREMATORIES Washington,
DC Area
Chesapeake Pet Crematory: 10771 Tucker Street, Beltsville, MD, (301) 937-3187
Colonial
Pet Rest: 1911 Forest Drive (located within Hillcrest Cemetery), Annapolis, MD, (410) 267- 7540
Heavenly Days Crematorium
(special rates for rabbits): 605 S. Stonestreet Avenue, Rockville, MD 20850, (301) 340-9748
Noah's Ark Pet Cemetery:
2762 Hollywood Road, Falls Church, VA. 22046, (703) 573-8800
Pet Cemetery of Montgomery County, MD, at Parklawn Memorial
Park: 12800 Viers Mill Road, Rockville, MD, (301) 881-2151
Valley Pet Cemetery & Crematory: 127 Britner Avenue, Williamsport, MD 21795; 1-800-962-1467
Sunset Pet Services: 5517 Vine Street, Alexandria, VA, (703) 971-4120
RabbitWise has no direct experience with these specific organizations or persons. Mention on this web site is intended for
information purposes only and does not represent the opinion of, counsel from, or recommendations by RabbitWise.
WORDS OF COMFORT
"If a Dog's (Rabbit's)
Prayers Were Answered, Bones (Carrots) Would
Rain from the Sky" by Suzanne Clothier.
There is a cycle of love and death that shapes the lives of those
who choose to travel in the company of animals. It is a cycle unlike any
other. To those who have never lived through its turnings or walked
its rocky path, our willingness to give our hearts with full knowledge
that they will be broken seems incomprehensible. Only we know how small a
price we pay for what we receive; our grief, no matter how
powerful it may be, is an insufficient measure of the joy we have been given.
Writing in his essay, "The Once Again Prince", animal lover and gifted
writer Irving Townsend summed it up: "We who choose to surround
ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a
fragile circle easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful
gaps, we still would live no other way. We cherish memory as the
only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan."
It is fragile circle. But it goes round and round without end.
The only comforting thing I've found about losing a pet, personally,
is
that it is a transition from "keeping a promise" (when you first bring
them home) to "promise kept".
I know this idea has comforted more than a few people, and it is the only way I found to deal with some of the losses
I've had. There's some satisfaction or general sense of "I done good" about "promise kept". May those of you needing comfort
find some in those words. -Dave Fisher
SORROW IS NOT FOREVER, LOVE IS.
RabbitWise Home Page
HELP US HELP THE RABBITS. Click on the Pay Pal button to make a donation. YOUR DONATION IS TAX DEDCTIBLE!
RESPONSIBLE CARE IS THE RIGHT OF ALL RABBITS
Copyright(C) 2008 RabbitWise(R). All content of this website, including written text,
design, and creative concepts are protected by copyright. No parts of this website may be reproduced by any means without
the expressed written permission by an authorized representative of RabbitWise.
Thank you for being respectful of
the law.
<!-- Start of StatCounter Code -->
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
var
sc_project=432256;
var sc_partition=2;
var sc_security="";
var sc_invisible=1;
</script>
|
