Dewy - Quality or Quantity of Life?

 

Collect Dewy’s ashes at Pets Sanctuary, 5 Mandai Road.

 

It is not how long you live but how fruitful your life that’s matter. Dewy, our family rabbit may not live a very long life. She lived with us since birth for six and a half years. But her life with our family is very meaningful indeed. Taking care of her for many years has thought me how to give and love without any expectations.

Her resilience in the face of pain and suffering was excellence and sheer perseverance. She went through a lot of suffering in her life. Yet, she pressed on and never give up. After her first year, we discovered that her teeth were bad and crooked. The vet suspect this could be a genetic issue, and she was still very young. She went through a severe pain of 2(?) teeth extraction, stayed in the vet hospital for a few days. This affected her appetite, and she gave up eating hay. Nevertheless, we fed her vegetables – watercress, Romania lettuce and Chye Sim. That was when, every morning, she would look for me for her meal. Gradually, I began to understand her needs and behaviours. Occasionally, when she was having problems, she would stay in the rattan cottage. My daughter would then gave her medication to help her recover. She grow closer to the family and would roam freely in the house. She displayed a lot of liking for us and affection by coming closer to us.

The saddest moment was I accidentally kicked her left leg as she ran into my path. This broke her left leg and we went through many weeks of sadness nursing her back after her surgery. She suffered greatly and had difficulty eating for weeks. Yet she persevered and determined to grow well. Through it all, she still grew closer to us, never once did she hide from us. We could feel her gratefulness for being part of the family.

Her teeth then grew worse, and she had to extract 7 teeth. This affect her appetite. Also, her face became asymmetrical and the vet told us that she had some internal health issue. Many times, she would sneeze profusely to spurt out the mucus inside her. We could see that she’s suffering greatly but still held on bravely, always coming to us for comfort and encouragement. During evening, she would come to me while I was cooking in the kitchen to get my attention. Often times, during dinner, she would lie down quietly hearing our conversation.

On the last week in July, she came to me quite often and ran around me. Sometime, she would gently tap on my foot. She showed a lot of gratitude. Perhaps, she knew… her time with us was coming to an end, and to say thank you and goodbye. Yet, she bravely bore her pain and suffering.

I believe she had a quality of life with us and the bond with the family gets stronger by the day. Our time given to care for her is not in vain. We learned to care and be grateful for unconditional love, like our Heavenly Father caring for us and we did to Dewy.

Good-bye Dewy. We are thankful that you came into our lives. Your memory will always linger on ...

 Agape :)