Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

3rd October 2008, Friday

Rane noticed that my bunny sister, Tehxi (pronounced as Tei-See, which means milk tea) hasn't been eating for a day. This was very unlike her, as eating was her favourite past time. She can never resist the temptation of food and that probably explained her size.

Feeling worried, Rane sent her to our family doctor (veterinarian) even though Rane herself was sick that day.

The doctor felt around Tehxi's stomach and did not detect any lumps., which may be signs of accumulated furball. Unlike dogs and cats, bunnies/rabbits aren't able to vomit, thus furball tends to accumulate in their digestive system. If it isn't passed out, it may lead to an extremely dangerous condition known as GI stasis.

Rane has accepted the veterinarian's suggestion of force feeding Tehxi with semi solid food, in hope that it will

The veterinarian did not encourage x-ray as there is a low chance of deteching any signs of obstructions in Tehxi's digestive system, since furball will probably not show up on the x-ray. Moreover, Tehxi has to undergo anaesethesia in order to have an x-ray taken. This will further aggravate her condition.

As surgery was invasive, the veterinarian will only proceed with it when Tehxi's condition further worsens, when she still hasn't eaten by her own initiative from the 3rd or 4th day onwards.

Tehxi returned home and Rane nursed her the entire day. Tehxi even had the privileged of sleeping on my mattress. Afraid that the mattress will be permenantly given to Tehxi, I squeezed myself into the teeny tiny available space.

Me staring hard at Tehxi.

I tried to pretend that I was falling asleep, just so that Rane will not chase me away for 'disturbing' Tehxi's rest.

I was clearly looking unhappy, and Tehxi turned around to comfort me by saying that she just needed to rest for a little while as she wasn't feeling well.

I felt a little embarass by my previous act, thus I decided to give up my mattress for Tehxi, who needed it more than more.


However, little did I expect that the very first time Tehxi and I shared a mattress, would be the very last time too.

Tehxi didn't make it through the night. She passed away in the wee hours of 4th October 2008 at 1.36am. Even though Rane and her sisters were full of tears, I believe Mage was the saddest of them all. Tehxi actually passed away on Mage's birthday.

Even though everyone in the family was really upset over the Tehxi's death, she was thankful that Tehxi died a natural death; (we were glad that) we did not come to a point whereby we have to decide between allowing Tehxi to suffer immense pain or to euthanise her.

May we meet again Tehxi, wherever death will bring us to.

Tehxi died peacefully in Mage's arms.
He carried her for 2 whole hours, while waiting for the person from the crematorium to pick Tehxi up.

A video (dated August 2008) of Tehxi eating her favourite vegetables.

Rane's Words

Initially, I prayed and hoped that Tehxi will survive through this episode with some miracles. As time passes by and her condition got more serious, I only prayed that she will hang on long enough to see Mage for the very last time.

Even though Tehxi spent most of her time with me, she has this special bond with Mage as she was Mage's chosen bunny. When Mage first gotten Tehxi, he had some commitments and wasn't able to care for her. I agreed to put her up at my place for 3 months. What was supposed to be a short term stay resulted in a long term stay as I've grown attached to Tehxi; too attached to let her leave.

In the end, she stayed in my house for good. Despite that, Tehxi always got that extra bit of attention from Mage each time he visited and Tehxi really enjoyed that, right up till that very day she was about to leave.

Mage took 20 odd minutes to travel to my place from the very moment I rang him up. During which, we carried Tehxi out from her cage and let her rest on the floor. Within minutes, she flipped to her side. That was a very bad sign. Based on past experiences, rabbits only lay on their side when in deep sleep, or awaiting death.

I quickly held her up and carried her in my arms. By then, Tehxi's breathings were no longer heavy. Instead, she took slow and light breaths. There were many times I had to stare at her hard to see that her nose twitched slightly with every breath she took. I kept encouraging her to hold on for a little longer as Mage is on his way to see her. I assured our love for her, each time family and I patted her head.

As I continued to whisper sweet nothings into her ears, I could sense that she was losing warmth, even though she was still alive. I knew that it was time for her to leave, but she just hung on. Even as I continued to rub her ears, they felt really cold as I kissed them.

In between all these, Tehxi kicked hard a few times, as if she was struggling to keep herself alive for the very while more. Each time she kicked, she lost control of her bladder and she seemed to feel apologetic about it. There were many times I was tempted to ask her to leave peacefully and not worry about us but I decided against it, as I felt that she really wanted to take a good look at Mage for the very last time. I couldn't stop telling her how much brave a girl she was for putting up such a fierce fight. The emotional roller coast I went through at that time wasy beyond words.

After what seemed like eternal, I heard the doorbell rang. Mage has finally arrived. I handed Tehxi over to Mage. After a very short while, Tehxi seems to lose any signs of life. She has passed away peacefully in the arms of Mage, just as she was waiting for.

A picture of Tehxi when we first gotten her. She was so small, she could barely fit into the butter container.


See how much she has grown over the years? From a puny underweight baby, to a chubby overweight bunny.


Side Note

As Tehxi started struggling after she flipped to her side, Sugar was staring at the window with fear in her eyes. She started backing backwards with her eyes still fixed on the window, or rather the space outside the window. My father wondered what happened and urged Sugar to walk towards the window, but she stubbornly refused to, even as my father dragged her there. The moment my father let go of her, she ran off immediately and hid under the chair, still looking scared.

It was only a long while after Tehxi passed away (approximately 15 minutes to half an hour), did Sugar started behaving normally.

We (my family and I) believe that Sugar could see what we couldn't; that someone or something was here to bring Tehxi away from us.