Hello, sorry it's been a few days - I've been rather busy and today was not easy for me - to understand why, read this post that I put on the Raw Pleasure boards (see link on sidebar)earlier:
Today is a sad day in my life, and I feel the need to share with someone, so who better than this wonderful community of likeminded people?
Some of you may have read about, two weeks ago, my post regarding raw pets, in which I mentioned my beautiful rat, Spirit, who is nearly two and has been a vegan (though not raw) for her whole life. She was always in outstanding health and I really felt that she would far outlive the 'normal' predicted lifespan for domesticated rats, which ranges from 18 months to 2 1/2 years. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Since that post she has suffered possibly the most rapid and unexpected health decline I've every witnessed (and I've seen a lot of sick animals) and this morning, tragically, she was put to sleep. One day, with no warning, she began having difficulty walking and blancing, because she couldn't use the left side of her body properly. I suspected a stroke although she wasn't showing the other signs - the vet agreed that this was not the cause and gave two possible diagnoses - an inner ear infection (affecting her sense of balance, and thus causing the trouble with walking) or a tumour on the pituitary gland (which is in the brain, for anyone who doesn't know). This is quite a common problin domesticated rats - it sickens me that wild animals do not suffer these horrendous dis-eases yet we have now introduced them to our poor domesticated ones to the extent that they are 'common.' Spirit was put on three different medications for a week - I felt horrible giving them to her, like I was only making things worse (especially with everything I've been reading about natural hygiene lately) but I couldn't bear to see her suffering. I was feeding her about 80% raw and giving greens (like the best of us, she loves a good gs!) and hoped this would also help. She displayed some improvement, but it did not last. On tuesday I got more drugs for her, anti-inflammatories and anti-biotics (as we still didn't know whether it was an infection or tumour) but Thursday she looked quite bad and yesterday she was terrible. I took her to the vet this morning, not knowing if anything more could be done - the vet said we could hospitalise her and treat intensively but that may only buy a few days - when she was suffering, what on earth is the point? So, I made the heartbreaking decision to end the life of one of my very best friends. If you have never lived with a rat you may struggle to understand - most people probably don't understand the level on which I connect with animals, I find them so much easier to understand and deal with than people. Spirit was incredibly important to me and I will miss her so much but I do not feel hollow and lke she has left a void in my heart - instead, I am full of the beautiful memories of the times we have shared. I don't understand why this happened - I cared for her so well and she was always in perfect health - but it has happened and there is no point dwelling on the 'why' of something I will never know.
Now, to move on from such sad things to what I'm sure you really wanted to seem which is ... FOOD! For lunch today I had a totally scrummilicious salad which I found on the Raw Pleasure website (I just about live there! :-) and altered just a little - it contained chinese cabbage, carrot, celery, corn, cherry tomatoes, avocado, strawberries, and a squeeze of orange juice over the top. It was soooooo good, you should really try it. The strawberries were a really nice addition. Aren't the colours stunning?!
Dinner tonight was from Shazzie's 'Detox Delights,' it was Double Stuffed Tomatoes and came out really well. The proportions were a bit off, I fiddled around with amounts but used the basic ingredients, sans olives and with a few pumpkinn seeds replacing some of the sunflower seeds. Once I'd stuffed my big tomato and still had LOTS of filling mix leftover I added a little tahini too it, food processed up some more and then made a lovely stack with dehydrated eggplant 'chips,' and carrot and celery sticks for dipping, which was really delish (I had more celery and carrot, just didn't put it in the picture :-) Another successful Shazzie meal!
Have a good night everyone!
posted by Freedom @ 4:50 pm
10 Comments:
Freedom,
I'm so sorry to hear about Spirit. This online community is one which understands and respects the depth of human-animal connections very much, so know that there are MANY of us who empathize with you. Take good care of yourself during this time, okay?
-Jen
Oh Freedom...I am so sorry to hear about Spirit. Please know there are many people out here who care and are here for you if needed.
Thankyou Jen, it is amazing that people I have never met care about my feelings at this time, and especially wonderful that they so deeply understand my connection with animals.
Jennifer, thankyou also for your kind words. :-)
Freedom...sorry to hear about Sprit. Perhaps it's fitting that her name was Spirit...she can be with you in spirit much longer than in body.
BTW - your photos are lookin' good!
i think like Veg*Triathlete
take care of yourself! really sorry for your loss!
Hi, very sorry about your little friend, but at least he was loved when he was alive.
i really enjoyed reading ur blog. i'm a vegan tho not raw but pretty close to it. i luv ur creativity in creating so many different foods. just wondering, do u eat out much or is it only home made meals? (haha, that sounds like one of those stupid questions that a non-vego would ask, like ''what do u eat?!!?'')
I'm so sad for Spirit. My thoughts are with you. *HUGS* I'm glad he got to live with someone who loved him so much. He was lucky, for sure!
Thanks Johanna.
Thanks m, to answer your question, no I don't eat out much. I know there are number of raw restaurants in the US but there isn't a single one here in Aus! A raw couple I know was actually planning to start one - it was all looking really good but then the girl got pregnant! So the plans are on hold! I adore preparing food though so even if I had a raw vegan restaurant down the road I don't think I'd go often!
Thanks kleo, I felt very lucky to have Spirit too.
So very sorry to hear about Spirit. She lived a great life, thanks in huge part to the wonderful care and love you gave her.
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