I went to the shelter yesterday after work to discover that a new bunny had been dropped off. I went over to take a look and saw a little white Jersey Wooly with a swollen eye. I went back to the vet room and talked to one of the technicians and we decided that he needed to go to the clinic. The poor little guy had some green goop coming from his eye but we didn't see any nasal discharge that would indicate pasteurella. I presumed that our vet would just put him on some antibiotics and we'd call it a day.

The plan was that I would come in first thing in the morning and run him over to the clinic so he could get taken care of. Unfortunately, when I arrived, I found out that the little guy had passed during the night. Now, this is where it can sometimes be hard working with animals. You see, when we were initially checking him out, it was only five-fifteen or so. My vet closes at six. That mean that I could have taken him last night. It would have been close, but I could've made it. So, after I was given the news, I immediately went through all of the scenarios about how I should have known that the bunny was that sick. That I should have just taken him last night. That this is all my fault and I let the little guy down.

My wife and my friend, Chuck, tried explaining to me that if the bunny was so sick that he died within hours of coming to the shelter, that they doubted that there was much that the vet could've done. Though I mostly agree with them, I still feel guilty because there was the chance that the vet could've saved him.

I know that all of the good that we're doing for the shelter bunnies way outweighs the mistakes that we've made, but that still doesn't make accepting our mistakes any easier.