25/06/2025
Black Beauty's husbun, Daley, passed away today.
He had been fighting extreme weight loss for several weeks despite great appetite. We took him to the vet with Black Beauty on the 7th of June where he was given a steroid shot and a antibiotic shot to try to reverse the weight loss. He was skinny and had quit grooming himself then and I was highly concerned but I knew it likely wasn't fixable. I've been doing this too long. We (with vet approval) chose not to put him down in order to ease Black Beauty, who he was bonded to, into his loss. This was all on the basis that he wasn't actually hurting/suffering. With her age, it was an extreme concern that she may pass away as well if he was just gone.
I have very good reason to believe Daley had a genetic condition that did not help this issue. I don't know if this was Cancer or something else, but I do know he had genetic issues.
Daley was born 4-12-2020 to a pair of Holland Lops I had. I had so many black torts/broken black torts in that litter that I honestly can't look at pictures and determine which one he was.
We had him sold to a lady and so we began calling him by the name we knew them by. Daley. Unfortunately, they backed out.
So when we lost his father, we made the decision to keep him. We figured his father (who we loved dearly) had earned Daley a permanent spot in the herd, since he couldn't take his.
At about a year of age, Daley developed cataracts and started going blind. My vet believed that he had just scratched his eyes and prescribed eye drops. I began treatment for EC.
In fall 2023, after Black Beauty was spayed, we attempted to bond her to several female rabbits. She stressed them out so much I lost them before I even realized what had happened.
So we decided to give her one more chance with the male that she had always lifted tail to through wire (they were never allowed together). At this point, he was completely blind and mostly deaf. We had him neutered and started the bonding process.
It was a success! He couldn't see or hear her so he wouldn't be stressed out! He actually stressed her out because he took a while to calm down from the neuter.
But with time, Daley and Black Beauty became bonded and would sit with one another grooming.
They came to spend many hours together on Black Beauty's dog beds.
They both loved their cookies and goodies.
Until this morning, Daley never turned down food or water. He never stopped eating. Yesterday I had to start carrying him to the water bowl several times a day and he no longer moved during the day. I knew we were close. But he was still happy to eat and drink. This morning, he turned his cookie and water down.
I knew it was the end. So I loaded him up on Meloxicam to encourage his pain free passing and encourage him to quit fighting. By the time I got back from work today, he had passed. I have reason to believe he passed within an hour or 2 of the medication.
We will be burying him next to his father today once it cools down.
Maybe I should have done things differently. But Black Beauty has always been my biggest concern and so far tonight, she doesn't seem to be hurting too bad because she had the time to seperate from him and understand that he was dying.
Daley did not show signs of suffering.
I wish we would have had more than 5 years but sometimes that's not how life works.
Fly free my little rabbit.
*I don't have very many pictures of him since we didn't use him for breeding or showing. And I can't find many more than the few I've posted here due to the thousands I have.
