We are so sorry to tell you that last week, we made the sad decision to lay Clarissa to rest.
When cleaning her stall in early February, we discovered blood coming from her vulva, a small drip that cleared up in less than 24 hours. Dr Lewis examined her and found no obvious source of the bleeding. She thought maybe to be a varicose vein close to the surface had become irritated and bled. Dr Lewis said to keep an eye on her and if it presented again, we would sedate and scope in hopes of finding the vein and cauterizing it.
More recently, while at foster, Clarissa began to bleed again. This time, there was more blood and it was getting worse. Dr Deward came to examine her and found evidence of a mass in her uterus. Uterine tumors are rare, but they can develop in any of the many different types of tissues in the uterus. And Clarissa’s right ovary was enlarged to the size of a grapefruit. Dr Deward also found an abnormally large volume of free peritoneal fluid in her abdominal cavity. All signs pointed toward one or more types of cancer in her reproductive organs. Dr DeWard told us that the masses were likely to continue to grow and eventually extend into the abdominal cavity. He also said he believed that the bleeding was likely to continue, and would probably increase in volume and frequency over time. Apart from the bleeding, Clarissa seemed unbothered and fairly comfortable as far as we could tell. But we could not risk her bleeding out, and Dr Deward thought it was just a matter of time before her condition deteriorated badly. So the decision was made to let her go before that could happen, surrounded with love.
