Help Buttercup's Family Recover From Emergency Vet Bill Debt

Hi, friends. This is Maddie writing this- on behalf of our little family. Our sweet bunny, Buttercup, passed away on Aug 16th & we're asking for your help through fundraising to recover from the emergency medical bill debt. We want to make sure we can still afford future veterinary visits for the rest of our rescued animal fam. If we are able to fundraise enough to pay off our existing veterinary bill debt, we'll be creating a legacy fund to honor Buttercup's memory & to help other families be able to afford unexpected emergencies when they would otherwise be forced to choose economic euthanasia.

Buttercup was a really beautiful & special bunny. She was affectionate, trusting, playful, & a loyal member of our furry family. Her passing marks the end of an era. We've had bunnies as members of our family for the past 14 years. Buttercup outlived her fellow bunny companions, Tony & Briar, by two and a half years. Briar passed away in the fall of 2021 after a 6 month battle with cancer. Tony (Anthony Hopkins was his full name) passed away in the late winter of 2022 shortly after an intense exploratory surgery to address GI stasis in which we discovered he also had cancer, & tumors were pressing into his intestines, causing his life-threatening digestive issues. As a trio, they fought like siblings in their younger years, but were inseparable as they grew older together. Buttercup was the quieter lovebug of the bunch, only wanting occasional treats & endless snuggles from her bunny companions & humans alike. You could lie on the floor & pet her for hours, as she "chittered" (as Andrew calls it)- a soft chewing motion that is known to be a bunny's version of purring. As the last bunny of her clan, she bonded more with her human parents over the last couple years. She became a night owl, often hopping out of her own big room to munch on kale & parsley while we ate dinner on the couch & watched movies together. Like clockwork, she would start doing zoomies around the apartment at 11pm, leaping into the air & exploring other rooms she didn't have much interest in during the daylight hours. Sometimes, we would catch her perched up on her wooden chew toy tunnel late at night, wondering what secret adventure she was creating for herself. On the weekends, we would dismantle the couch cushions & make a floor fort so she could hop up in between us & snuggle while we watched football or old episodes of The West Wing. She was just as much a member of the family as anyone's favorite dog, & there simply aren't words to express how much we will miss her.

It is both weird & heartbreaking to imagine a future without Buttercup as part of our family, & we are dreading this next part in our mourning process as we solemnly take steps to move forward. Her room is still clean & set up for her, as we were hoping to bring her home from the hospital after she recovered from her surgery. We are resisting this next chapter- figuring out what to do with all of her things, locating places to donate left over hay & senior bunny pellets, putting away her toys & blankets & stuffed animals, & deciding what to do with the space in our home that was her room as we also figure out what to do with the empty space in our hearts where we are grieving & beginning to honor her memory.

Buttercup came into our lives way back in 2012. On a whim, I decided to scroll through Craiglist looking for a bunny to adopt. I scrolled past her photo & clicked on the listing. Her previous "owner" was trying to rehome Buttercup ASAP since she was moving to a new apartment that had a "no pet" policy. When I went to visit her in person, I fell in love immediately. I adopted her & took her home. Our first few weeks together were tough. She didn't totally trust me at first, & I had to apply a special ointment to the bottom of her feet- which she didn't like. She had been left locked in her cage for the entire summer while her previous owner was traveling, & a roommate was supposed to be taking care of her. Her cage was never cleaned. The acid from her urine that accumulated over months ate away at the skin & fur on the bottom of her feet, leaving them bloody, raw, infected, & painful. Buttercup came to me as a survivor of abuse, but I earned her trust over our first few weeks together through patient, loving, & gentle care. We soon created a daily ritual, where I would lay on my stomach on the floor by the door of my room, & she would hop over to me & we would touch noses & I'd kiss her fuzzy forehead before I left for work every day. Over the years, when I would need to go out of town for rescue work or the very rare vacation, her bunnysitters would tell me she would toss her litter box around in a tantrum & often showed signs of separation anxiety. I tried to never leave her for long. During the pandemic, I started a small online business from home doing tarot readings, & she would often snuggle by my feet while I was at the desk creating content or pulling cards for folks. We were close, & she only ever wanted snuggles, love, & treats. Her favorite treats were bananas & juicy fuji apples. She would sprint out of her fave napping spots when I called her name, & stand up on her hind legs with anticipation, knowing it was treat time. Even as she grew older, she kept her youthful spirit. During her annual vet check up this past April, we discovered signs of aging. She was starting to develop some arthritis in her spine, some cloudiness in her eyes, & we started monitoring her for possible signs of dental disease. Her primary vet remarked how youthful she seemed for being over 13 years old. She was obviously deeply loved & well cared for. Two nights before her tragic trip to the hospital, she was doing zoomies around the living room, like usual. Even as an elder bunny, she was happy, healthy, & her silly & playful self right up until the end...

On the morning of August 10th, Andrew & I woke up a little earlier than normal for a Saturday morning & started doing our regular routine of taking care of our rescued animal fam. We got up early because we were supposed to drive down to Portland, OR for my nephew, Jack's, second birthday party at my sister's house. We noticed that Buttercup still hadn't eaten her dinner or treats from the night before. She was still sleeping underneath her favorite cardboard box, in her fave lounging spot. When I picked her up, she felt weak & didn't tuck her legs up under her like she usually does. I felt a rush of anxiety start in the pit of my stomach & immediately knew something was very wrong. We rushed Buttercup to our emergency exotics vet north of Seattle, and I cried as I texted my sister to let her know we wouldn't be able to make it to Jack's birthday celebration. Buttercup immediately received triage care. Her body temperature was low, so she was nestled into blankets with heating pads, & several diagnostics were done throughout the day. It was quickly discovered that Buttercup was experiencing GI stasis, & as her stomach continued to enlarge, her doctors decided to do an extraction procedure to remove a large amount of gas, fluid, & ingesta that was unable to pass through her digestive system. The procedure was successful, but they weren't able to completely remove everything in her stomach or clearly identify if the main source of the blockage was removed. By 3am the next morning, her stomach began inflating again & it became clear that an exploratory surgery would be necessary to find & remove whatever was obstructing her digestive tract. We weren't sure if she would survive the surgery, since Buttercup was already feeling weak & as a 13 year old bun- she could have a tougher time undergoing anesthesia. She did make it through the surgery, though. The obstruction was located & removed (it was a hairball). Over the next few days, Buttercup slowly recovered & stabilized after her major abdominal surgery. Her progress was very slow, but moving in the right direction. We went to visit her in the hospital every day, bringing her her favorite treats & petting her for over an hour each visit before heading home again. She went through several rounds of bloodwork & radiographs as her medical team monitored her progress & tried to address new & ongoing concerns slowing her recovery. She was kept on an IV drip of antibiotics, pain meds, & fluids 24/7. Oddly, her hind legs started splaying after her surgery, so she began receiving physical therapy & laser therapy to help her regain her strength & mobility. She was slowly starting to regain her appetite & energy, nibbling on hay & kale, & taking her critical care syringe feedings well. Every day, Buttercup's energy & spirits improved. Her vets told us she was so sweet & such a fighter, & so we were determined to stay strong for her & keep her hospitalized for as long as she needed. Her surgery cost over $4,000, & each subsequent day she was in the ICU, we needed to pay another deposit that was around $1200-$1400. We started fundraising on Facebook to stay on top of her medical costs, & eventually we were able to access a line of credit in order to put each day's deposit on a Care Credit card. We kept waiting & hoping for her digestive system to start functioning properly again, before we could take her home. Her doctors gave her reglan, cisapride, & vibration therapy to encourage her intestinal muscles to start contracting & pushing food through her digestive system, but Buttercup's body was struggling & hadn't produced much stool by five days after her surgery. Her medical team prepared us for the possibility of needing to make a very hard quality of life decision in the near future. We braced ourselves for the worst, but never gave up hope. As long as Buttercup had a fighting spirit & was remaining stable while making slow improvements, we would keep fighting for her, too.

Just after 4am on August 16th, we received a phone call from the emergency hospital. We answered it on the third ring. They were calling to let us know a nurse had just gone in to check on Buttercup. As they approached her enclosure, she went limp, started seizuring, & went into cardiac arrest. They were performing CPR on her, but she had an incredibly poor prognosis. I cried as I told them it was okay to let her go. I knew Buttercup felt it was her time to pass on. It felt unethical to attempt to keep her alive when she would have such a long, painful, & unlikely road to recovering after that point. Andrew & I tried to get some sleep. We spent the next day resting & grieving. On Sunday August 17th, we went to see Buttercup one last time to say goodbye. I had tested positive for Covid half way through the week & hadn't been able to visit Buttercup while she was still in the ICU for the last couple days of her life. Andrew had been FaceTiming me while he was visiting her. When we arrived at the hospital, one of the vet techs brought her body out to the car, wrapped in a baby blanket. She told us how much the whole team had been rooting for Buttercup, & how they'd fallen in love with her because of her sweet personality & determination to recover. Andrew & I took turns cradling her in our arms. We cried & said our goodbyes, & we kissed her perfect forehead for the last time. I told Buttercup to say hello to Tony & Briar up in bunny heaven, & to please tell them I miss them so much. I told her I hope I get to see her again when it's my own time to transition out of this world. We arranged for a private cremation & picked out a pretty box for her ashes. We paid the final balance on our account, bringing our total hospital bill to just over $10,000. We retrieved some things we had left with her for comfort- a few stuffed animals & one of Andrew's flannel shirts that the vets said would smell like us & make her feel more at home while in the hospital. We still haven't been able to start packing up the blankets, boxes, & toys in her room which is at the foot of our bed. Every morning, I wake up & look down past my feet, instinctively expecting to see her still perched up on her hind legs, waiting for breakfast & pets. We are taking time to grieve & rest, & we feel overwhelmed by this sudden & massive increase in medical debt. Someone told Andrew during Buttercup's early days of recovery after her surgery that it was "stupid" to spend so much money on "just a bunny," & that hurt our hearts so deeply. Of course, we will always do everything we can to provide our rescued animal fam with everything they need to get through any emergency situation. We took this crisis step by step, & day by day, never willing to give up on a member of our family just because of money. We worked closely with Buttercup's medical team, & were in constant contact with them- approving ongoing diagnostics & new treatments to try our best to help her body recover from surgery & begin to function properly again. We followed the advice of her doctors & trusted their expertise every step of the way, & while we were dreading the possibility of needing to make a quality of life decision eventually- we hadn't yet reached that point when Buttercup passed away on her own.

We are asking for your help in supporting us now during our time of mourning. We are raising funds to pay down this new $10,000 Care Credit card bill, so we can continue to be able to provide care for the rest of our animal fam while still paying our regular bills. If we exceed our $10K fundraising goal, we will use additional funds to pay down some of our pre-existing veterinary bills we had before this emergency occurred. If we are able to fundraise enough to cover all of our current & pre-exisiting vet bills, then the rest will go towards a legacy fund to honor Buttercup's memory. We feel so lucky that we were able to find a way to afford a $10K hospital bill that we weren't expecting or prepared for. We know many families aren't as lucky as us, & are faced with the unfathomable decision to choose economic euthanasia when they can't afford to pay sudden emergency bills for their beloved companion animals who would otherwise be able to have a fighting chance at making a full recovery. Thank you so, so much for helping us recover from our loss. Nothing will ever be able to fill the hole in our hearts that now exists in the wake of Buttercup's death. But having some financial support to ease our anxiety over how to make enough money to pay off our medical debt will make our healing journey less stressful, & allow us to focus our attention towards taking care of each other while in mourning, & taking care of June- our rescued house chicken who is continuing to infuse our days with hope & humor & love.

Thank you so much, to all of our supporters & donors, from the bottom of our hearts. We could never get through this tragedy without your compassion & generosity. We look forward to future days when we're able to expand our rescue family once again, & hope to rescue, foster, & care for more bunnies & other animal friends in the future.

If you would like to support us, please consider making a donation. We're so grateful to receive any amount you can offer. The average donation has been around $50, but we feel loved & supported by everyone who has been able to make a donation in any amount. We know some folks are happy to give more, & others are going through tough financial times, just like us. Whether you are able to make a donation or not, please help us allow Buttercup's memory to live on by sharing this campaign & her story with your family, friends, & community. We would be so delighted & thrilled if we could surpass our goal & raise enough to create a legacy fund in Buttercup's honor, in order to help save the lives of other animal friends in need. Thank you, again, for all of your support, & heartfelt messages of encouragement & love. It truly means the world to us.

With love, strength, & gratitude,

Maddie & Andrew <3