{"id":3826,"date":"2020-12-10T11:05:26","date_gmt":"2020-12-10T19:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/?p=3826"},"modified":"2025-01-22T07:40:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T15:40:10","slug":"giving-zsa-zsa-a-little-more-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/2020\/12\/10\/giving-zsa-zsa-a-little-more-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Giving Zsa Zsa a little more life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winter 2021 Issue<\/a><\/p>\n

by Josh Babcock<\/p>\n

Paula Buchert is confident that radiation treatment at Washington State University\u2019s Veterinary Teaching Hospital<\/a> extended the life of one of her best friends\u2014an Angora rabbit, named Zsa Zsa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got her back after that last treatment, that was probably the happiest moment in my life,\u201d Buchert said. \u201cShe had her cancer survivor scarf; it was this great feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zsa Zsa was diagnosed with a thymoma, a tumor in the chest cavity. Without radiation treatment, the red-eyed, white rabbit would not likely have lived more than a few weeks.<\/p>\n

Following six radiation treatments using WSU\u2019s linear accelerator, Zsa Zsa lived another 14 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was hoping for longer, but the tumor kept filling with fluid,\u201d Buchert said. \u201cShe could have had surgery, but she would have very likely not survived. As hard as it was to let her go, I would be heartbroken to do a surgery and it not be effective; I had to make peace. I had an extra 14 months, which was a huge gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zsa Zsa was Buchert\u2019s first rabbit, but not her last.<\/p>\n

She is now a volunteer at Rabbit Advocates in Portland, Ore. She\u2019s adopted four rabbits from the nonprofit rabbit rescue\u2014Tilly, Dahlia, Max, who is part Angora like Zsa Zsa, and Natasha.<\/p>\n

Buchert also volunteers at Rose City Rabbit Rescue.<\/p>\n

She hasn\u2019t found a rabbit quite like Zsa Zsa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you haven\u2019t owned a rabbit, they are magical. I think rabbits respond to your energy. You kind of learn you have to be careful around them. If you are really reactive, they will react, and they can be destructive. She was incredibly in tune with my emotions,\u201d Buchert said. \u201cWe were so deeply bonded; it was like losing my best friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zsa Zsa died in October 2018.<\/p>\n

\n

You can help animals like Zsa Zsa and give hope to those who love their animals when you support cancer care<\/a> at the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paula Buchert is confident that radiation treatment at Washington State University\u2019s Veterinary Teaching Hospital extended the life of one of her best friends\u2014an Angora rabbit, named Zsa Zsa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1015,"featured_media":3830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wsuwp_accessibility_report":null},"categories":[511,542],"tags":[619,614,591],"wsuwp_university_location":[332],"wsuwp_university_org":[425],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1015"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3826"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3913,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826\/revisions\/3913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3826"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=3826"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=3826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}