So, I’ve been having guilt about Norbert.  He was diagnosed with the big “C” in January of this year.  The cancer is located in his shoulder area around his left front leg, and has become a rather large lump.  When he was diagnosed, after 4 days of talking with the rabbit Vet I decided to not amputate his front leg.  Since Norbert is so small, only 2.5 pounds, he felt the cancer was probably already in his chest cavity, and amputating his leg would not gain him any time, but probably cause him a lot of pain and time recuperating, when he could be living the good life eating his veggies and being spoiled until the end.  The vet and I decided to put him on pain meds (which helped) and evaluate and change his pain meds as time went on.  We honestly didn’t think Norbert would live that long.

Well, it’s been 3 months, Lilly has passed on, and Norbert is now living free in my home office.  He is slower than he used to be, but he’s also 8 years old, which is senior for a bunny, and has one front leg he doesn’t use.  He is still eating good, and can get his move on quickly when I come in with his meals.  So now I’m beginning to have guilt.  I feel like I should have had his leg amputated.  It’s been three months and he’s still doing as well as he was in January.  Which is pretty good for an old bunny.  If I’d had it done, he would be recovered and and his fur would be growing in.

I talked to JH yesterday to get his thoughts since he tends to be my sounding board for things like this.  He doesn’t judge me about spending lots of money on what most people feel is “just a bunny”, but is honest if he thinks I should move forward or not based on the quality of life the animal in question will have.  I think I have decided to take Norbert to the vet when I get back from my business trip, and talk to the vet again and make a decision.  Right now, I’m leaning towards having the amputation done.  I think it will give him more room to move around, get rid of what is basically a useles leg, and get rid of that lump growing on his side.  Then, once the vet is in there, we can tell what the status of his cancer actually is, and get a better idea of time frames.

However, I’m still hesitating because am I doing this for him, or because I just lost Lilly, and thought of losing him so close behind her is terrifying?  Am I contemplating throwing all this medicine at him hoping for some kind of miracle, when really I should leave him in peace?  My biggest fear when I make these types of decisions for any of my animals, is am I doing it for them, or am I doing it because I’m a selfish human and can’t bear to let them go?

Thoughts?  Comments?

UPDATE:

The Vet agrees with the decision I made three months ago to not ampute Norberts front leg.  So we are going to leave him be.  On another note, since he has been so sneezy, and then got snotty while I was in Peru, we did a culture and started him on some antibiotics which seems to be helping.