Little Mary is a bit lost without Brie. They were the best of buds, even sticking together at free range time. I still find her head-sleeping alone in the cage while Acorn and Olive snuggle together nearby.
I wish I could tell you all what happened to Brie, but even the vet doesn't know. I brought her in weeks ago for an apparent choking episode. But there was nothing obstructing her airways. The vet didn't think it was a respiratory issue because she still had good color, and yet her breathing became more and more labored as the weeks went by, despite different courses and combinations of antibiotics. Eventually she stopped eating her fav foods and even bit me. She spent an overnight at the vet's and got three nebulizations and lasicks (spelling?) and still no change for the better. She lost weight each week. Her eyes started to bulge and she began to do a bizarre stretching thing with her hind legs, and she kept her fists in tight balls and tried to bite the vet techs. The vet and I decided it was time to let her go. The two vets in the practice agreed that it was probably something neurological fueling the breathing problem and other physical ailments, and 3 weeks is a long time to struggle to breath.
This weekend Steve and I are going to split an avacado with the ladies, in honor of Brie. It was her very favorite.