Caplin on Dec. 31, 2010

Sometimes things happen that there is just no way to prepare yourself for. Sometimes it seems like your world has fallen apart. That is how I feel now. Caplin Rous was the glue that held my life together. You might think you can see that from his presence on the web and on TV but that doesn’t capture it. The first thing I heard every morning when I got up was his cute little happy Geiger counter noise and it was the last sound I heard at night, at least until he eeped to wake me  for a midnight snack.

I’m going to let this blog speak for Caplin’s life, what a wonderful, cute and unique animal he was, his tremendous personality and his gentle nature. I can’t add significantly to that in a single post.

I’d like to thank everyone who has sent notes on Facebook or twitter or posted comments on this blog or any of his accounts or sent me personal emails. I have literally received  thousands of messages of condolence and it makes me cry to think how many people’s lives he touched and how many people will miss him. Thank you. It helps to know this. I wish I could respond to all of you individually but, to be honest, I haven’t responded to anyone because I just don’t feel up to it.

We still don’t know what happened to Caplin. He had been irritable for a couple of days but nothing serious. When I left for work Monday morning, he seemed fine. By the time I got home, he could hardly walk. I got his harness on him and was able to lead him to the car but I had to help him get in. I rushed him to Texas A&M University small animal hospital because they were the only ones I thought might have the expertise to help. It was the longest 140 miles of my life. By the time we got there, Caplin could hardly move.

An hour or so after we arrived at A&M, Caplin had a seizure and the vet had to give him a sedative to bring him out of it. After that, he was never really conscious again. He died the next afternoon from another seizure right after completing a head MRI. A full necropsy is being done but preliminary findings indicate chronic liver disease that at the end manifested as encephalopathy. Apparently Caplin had been sick for a long time but never shown any outward signs of it.

I will write a new post when we have the final results of the necropsy.

If you would like to help with Caplin’s medical expenses, please consider purchasing a Capycoppy plush animal from www.CaplinRous.com. We expect to set up a charity in his name and will use excess funds to seed that. When we have that in place, I will post about it on this blog.

Rolling in a dry Capybara Creek 12/11/2010