PULLMAN, Wash. — A rabbit traveled from Seattle to Pullman Friday to receive life-saving treatment.
A 5-year-old, 18-pound rabbit named Chester traveled from Seattle to Washington State University’s Veterinary Teach Hospital to receive treatment for thymoma. Chester’s owners noticed something was wrong with him when he wasn’t eating or acting like himself.
“When he did that [acted different], I knew there was something wrong,” Chester’s owner, Julia Gibson said to WSU Insider. “Then I noticed he was having difficulty breathing, and he wouldn’t eat.”
A Seattle veterinarian diagnosed Chester with thymoma and recommended seeking treatment at WSU’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
Thymoma is a tumor in the thymus, an organ that is part of the immune system and found in the chest cavity. WSU’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital is one of the few facilities in the region that can offer radiation treatment for animals.
“When we found out that the thymoma he has is particularly treatable, we decided to go for it,” Gibson said.
During his treatment, Chester became very popular among the staff and is described by his owners as being on the “extreme end of friendly”.
“He seeks people out. He comes out and he lies next to you, and he licks you and asks for attention,” Gibson said. “He really likes us, like more than my cat. He’s almost like a dog in terms of how much he likes people.”
Dr. Marcie Logsdon said due to the WSU facility having one of the only linear accelerators in the Northwest, many people bring in animals to be treated by their facility.
“This type of tumor responds very well to radiation therapy, and they also tend to be benign, which means they don’t usually spread to other parts of the body,” Logsdon said. “We don’t get a definitive cure with this, but we can usually give about an extra year, which is pretty good when you look at the average life span of a bunny.”
Chester responded well to his treatment and returned home with his family in Seattle.
