Chloe, our feisty bunny, needs surgery

This is Chloe. My rescue Flemish Giant. She was found wandering alone and had clearly been dumped by someone. She was skinny, neglected and so scared and timid when we got her. Now she is my gorgeous girl and I would do anything for her. She's the world to me.

She's such a sassy gal! And very opinionated as far as bunnies go. She'll thump loudly if she doesn't like something and that could be me not letting her out in the morning or something small like the wind blowing from the wrong direction. Thump! She'll also noseboop me if she wants pats and cuddles and if I ignore her too long, she'll bite me in my big toe to remind me that she needs pats now!

She's free roaming, and has the garden and the house to explore. She comes running towards me in the morning when I get up, and wants her treat. She'll sit by my feet when I'm on the computer. She loves blueberries and we often share a punnet together. She's also a keen digger, and she's created an amazing burrow in the old sandpit, with tunnels and all. From being dumped, I think we've managed to give her a wonderful home with so much love the last 1 1/2 years.

She's not alone though. She has a little brother called Max, who is a Netherland dwarf rabbit and only about 1/5th of her weight (Chloe is 5 kg and Max is 1 kg). She loves her little brother, but he can be a bit annoying, as little brothers can be, but she'll protect him from anything dangerous, like an airplane flying overhead or said wind blowing from the wrong direction. They're so cute together and Max is currently feeling totally lost without her, as am I.

You see, she suddenly became really ill on Monday. When I called her to come inside at night, as I do every night, instead of hopping her way inside to the yummy pellets, she was lying on the deck, pressing her tummy into the ground. It was so unusual for her not to come running, I knew something was up. I managed to nudge her to come inside, but once inside she hid in the corner and that's where she stayed. And that's my gobble-up-everything-as-quickly-as-possible piggy. She was really not well.

I took her to the vet the next morning and we've been at the various vets since then. She'd stopped eating, she's anaemic, and when her blood results came back, it showed that her liver and kidneys had started to shut down. Bunnies aren't like dogs or cats. If a dog or cat gets sick, all vets are equipped and experienced, and it's just a matter of trying to figure out what is wrong. But when bunnies get sick, a lot of the vets don't really have the experience with rabbits. They're even classed as exotic animals. When we got to the emergency practice, they didn't have all the medications they needed. The following day, the vet was trying to book an ultrasound, but they had so much trouble finding someone who could read rabbit ultrasounds. Everyone was wonderful, but it wasn't easy to get Chloe the diagnostics she needed so desperately. We nearly lost her so many times, but Chloe is a feisty girl and she has been fighting for her life!

Eventually we managed to get her ultrasound and it turns out that the cause of all this was a twisty liver (liver lobe torsion), and that was actually the best possible diagnosis we could have hoped for. The solution is a surgery, and although she's not in the best shape at the moment with her stasis and organ failures, she's been stable all day and she's getting a blood transfusion from her rabbit buddy (hero!) of one of my best friends, which will help her even more to be totally ready for surgery tomorrow! So we've got the best prognosis ever!

After surgery, Chloe will hopefully soon be back to her sassy ways, dishing out her opinions and digging her way through our garden!

And this is where I need your help. The costs have been piling up. And yes, some may say it's such an animal, but if you've had pets, you know how much you get attached to them. Chloe is still young, around 3 years we think. And she really does mean the world to me. Our whole family would be devastated if we lost her, but especially me, because she really does mean the world to me. I really want more time with her and I know Chloe is not ready to go, because she has been fighting so hard. She's my beautiful girl. <3

Please, help us with the costs. It would really mean so much to us!

The costs so far:

$247.04 - First day vet bill

$737.05 - Emergency overnight vet stay (this is when she got really bad)

$200.00 - Deposit for vet (so far the bill is at $783.53 without surgery and hospital stay)

$300.00 - Ultrasound

The surgery and after care is estimated to be around another $5000, because you know, bunny and not dog or cat. Is it worth it? It's like an appendicitis - she'll die without the surgery, but with it she'll be as good as new. To me Chloe is worth it every penny and more.