RIP Zippy

As I mentioned at the end of my last blog, we took Zippy to the vets for the last time last night. One of his eyes had turned a milky white colour and he clearly couldn't see out of it. At first she thought it was probably an ulcer and was going to prescribe antibiotic drops, but while we were there I noticed it looked as though his other eye was going the same way. She was also concerned that his stomach had become very bloated despite him not eating a great deal anymore and concluded there had to be something more serious going on that could cause the fat stomach, the cloudy eyes and the itchy skin, so she went to get a second opinion from one of the more senior vets who has seen Zippy many times before.

When she returned she said they'd discussed it and they both agreed it was almost certainly an enlarged liver, meaning liver disease. The problem with his eye would already be very painful for him, they said, and it would only get worse with the other eye going the same way. Plus he had the constant itchiness which he'd lived with for the past 6 months, and his stomach seemed sore to the touch as he would spin around to protect himself every time we tried to stroke his fur. They both agreed the kindest thing to do was simply put him to sleep and asked for our consent.

We knew it was the only option. He'd have not got better, keeping him alive any longer would not have been fair on him so we agreed, but it was a very hard thing to agree to. If he'd been hardly moving and clearly not got long left anyway then it would have been much easier, but he was still running around, admittedly in obvious discomfort but running around nevertheless, so it was hard not to feel like judge, jury and executioner.

They gave us five minutes with him to say goodbye during which I paid (I didn't want to hang around after they'd done the job) and then they took him into the back room. Because of health and safety we couldn't be with him when they finally put him under because the gas they use is also a human anaesthetic, so we went and sat in the car and they brought him back out to us after. We took him down to the allotment and buried him in the wasted land behind our allotment, next to Bungle and George. The last of the rainbow trio.

He was a brave little guy, he had a lot to put up with over the last 6 months with all the medicines and creams he had to have but he always remained a lovely, friendly little thing.

It's hard to believe all three of them have gone, it doesn't seem that long since we brought them back from the pet shop and put them in their cage, sat back and watched them explore their new home. All three of them were full of fun, we couldn't have asked for better pets. I can't even hope to describe here how great they were. We'll miss them all.