04/29/2026
Yesterday we had two very sad goodbyes for our little zoo.
Our panther chameleon Skittles came to us a year ago as an older boy with one working eye, and had a wonderful final year of basking in the sun in our yard with us. He had a steep decline over the past week, and we helped him pass yesterday. My heart hurts thinking of how long our daughter will point at “his” plant in the yard and shout “Skittles!” hoping that she’ll still spot him there.
Particularly difficult was the decision to help our single remaining (and shameless favorite) long-eared hedgehog pass. Cap had a mass on his foot that we and our vet had been monitoring anxiously, because Cap also had a heart condition that meant surgery would be especially risky. Despite the mass growing and becoming increasingly inconvenient for him, Cap kept his active, curious disposition. It isn’t easy to choose to help an animal pass when you can still envision good days ahead, but we knew his foot bothered him, and would only continue to get worse. Our vet helped ease our uncertainty when Cap didn’t do well under sedation before euthanasia - despite wishing we could attempt surgical removal, he likely would not have survived the procedure. I’m glad that we were able to make the tough call to say goodbye while he was still happy, rather than putting it off until his suffering was impossible to ignore.
This seems like a fair place to remind everyone that many small exotic pets hide their illnesses and pain very well, and it can be easy to miss (or dismiss) health concerns when they are otherwise acting normal. I wish every pet could pass peacefully at home, but realistically the kindest thing is often to bring them to your vet for a peaceful, painless passing. If in doubt, please don’t leave them waiting for their body to completely fail. Often the kindest decision we can make is to gently let them go. ❤️🩹