Hello. My name is Cory, and I love my bunny. His name is Moonpie.

(tldr; he's been in the hospital for two days with severe GI stasis and kidney failure. My mom and I cannot afford treatment on our own, and he might need surgery to save his life.)

I first met him when he was a tiny cotton ball of a creature, only a few months old. His whole body could fit in one hand! I've included one of his baby pictures in the gallery for your viewing pleasure. Mini lops are small even for rabbits, but their babies are absolutely tiny. He was living dandelion fluff, and he was mine.

Several months before him, I had another rabbit whose death had affected me severely. Having Moonpie in my life was like learning how to love again. He gave me a reason to get out of bed every day, a reason to smile and keep going even when everything else was awful. I would often lie on the floor with him and scratch his head right between his ears, and then he would kiss my face afterwards. He is truly the light of my life.

He just turned three this year. On January 9, I observed that he was rejecting food and lethargic. His belly was swollen and felt like an overfilled water balloon.

It was around 7PM, so we took him to a local 24-hour emergency animal hospital. We were told that he has GI stasis, a potentially life-threatening condition rabbits can get when something is blocking their gastrointestinal tract. We suspected that he may have swallowed a piece of Styrofoam from a plate I had neglected to keep out of reach.

They took x-rays to see if there was any visible blockage in his intestines; we didn't see any, but his tummy was bloated and full of stagnant fluid. They gave him some medicine injections and gave us medication for pain to take home with us (Meloxicam), which I gave him with some baby food when we got home. It cost $681.72.

The next day, January 10, his condition hadn't improved much; he was sitting rigid as a statue and still wouldn't eat. I had to go to work that day, so a family member came to monitor him while I was gone. Before I left at around 12PM, I gave him more Meloxicam. I also noticed that he was drinking water excessively, so much that the fur under his chin was getting soaked.

When my mom got home from work, she was worried about his deteriorating condition and took him back to the emergency care center while I was still at work, at around 6PM. I wouldn't be able to join her until I got off at 7.

We were told that he would need to stay overnight to be monitored and medicated. I don't currently have the receipt to know the exact amount we were charged, but it was somewhere around $1,500; we do have some coverage coming in from CareCredit that should give us $1,000 of that.

All night I stayed by the phone, receiving updates on his condition. He was going into kidney failure along with the stasis, very dehydrated with sky high cholesterol and blood sugar, complicating everything even more. I was too anxious to sleep, terrified that I would get the call saying that he had passed away despite best efforts.

Today, January 11, it was a frustrating slog of trying to get information through phone calls. We were told that our options are: keep him on an IV and give his body time to flush out the fluid build-up, attempt to surgically remove the blockage, or euthanasia.

I was told by a (admittedly not rabbit-savvy) doctor that continuing to do what we had been doing was not an ideal option because his condition was not improving quickly enough, and it seemed like surgery or euthanasia were our main options. Surgery is too risky and expensive to consider with our financial situation (my mom and I have $500 collectively after pouring everything into the medical expenses we had already covered, which isn't enough to cover the incoming bills we have just to live in our house, and not to mention grocery money). Things were looking incredibly grim.

Later in the evening I learned that his condition is slowly improving; the fluids in his stomach are going down, and his kidneys are improving too. On Tuesday, January 13 at 4PM, I have an appointment for him with his primary vet, who should hopefully be able to give us a second opinion. I also received an update call from one of the more rabbit-savvy vets working at the emergency center that surgery was not the preferable option, and that there's reasonable hope that he could recover if given enough time to drain out all the fluid in his belly; with the fluid gone, they can then try to give him oral medication to help clear the blockage. So, at present, our hope is that we can keep him stable until Tuesday, where we can then get him admitted into his primary vet care facility with knowledgeable, rabbit-savvy vets who can give us a second opinion. Surgery is still a very real possibility, it's still unknown what exactly it is that's causing the blockage, but hopefully we can find a way to avoid it.

We still don't know the exact cause of the GI stasis, or if his kidney failure is in conjunction with it, if it came first or later... It all sounds so complicated and scary, and I'm still doing my own research to try and understand everything.

Now, the other issue is, of course... The expensive medical bills. As I've mentioned, my mom and I are low on funds as it is. We're currently looking into having him stay overnight to be monitored and medicated both tonight and tomorrow night, plus any fees that our primary vet will charge us to see him as well. Even with payment plans, it's incredibly overwhelming and there's just no way I can see us being able to pay for continued treatment without putting ourselves in jeopardy.

Not without YOUR help, that is.

I will be transparent and say that I don't have a total estimate cost yet for all of this, which makes it hard to know exactly how much we'll need to be safe. This goal seemed like a good start, at the very least, for all of the medications they'll use while he's under observation, x-rays and lab tests, and hopefully can put a dent in any potential surgery costs if it comes to that. I’ve been told we’re at around $2,200 right now, but we still need to go to his primary vet as well and we aren’t sure what to expect. Of course, I'll update this post as I learn more about the situation. Any money that doesn't go directly towards medical bills will instead be used for rent, groceries and bunny supplies. I'm also looking into getting a grant from local pet emergency fund organizations in case I can't get enough traction with this.

Please. I know a lot of you don't know me personally, but Moonpie is my baby, and I love him more than anything in this world. I know I'm far from a perfect owner, and maybe I don't deserve him, but he's my everything. I would do anything to make sure he's okay. I refuse to give up on him before I've tried everything there is to try. Even the smallest donations would mean the world to us. Help me bring my baby home safe. Without exaggeration, I don't know how I can live without him. Even if you can't donate, thank you for reading this far, and consider sharing this with someone you know who might be able to help. I would be so grateful.

He's the sweetest bunny in the whole world. He doesn't deserve to die just because we couldn't afford treatment.

Feel free to ask me any questions you have, I will do my best to answer them. Thank you for your time <3