09/09/2026
Unfortunately, late Sunday night around 9:30pm we made the tough decision to help Mendel pass 😔.
We noticed he started to eat less and less towards the end of last week and on Saturday he didn’t eat at all. We were talking with our primary vet during all of this and we took him to the emergency vet clinic early afternoon Sunday to address his worsening decline. After consulting with the doctor and doing an ultrasound, we decided to do bloodwork and planned to go home with some medication and appetite stimulant to help get him eating again while we waited for our primary vet to come and fully diagnosis the underlying issue and work out a long term treatment plan.
However, after running his bloodwork we discovered that he was in late stage kidney failure which is why he was not eating and had no appetite. We talked through the options available and due to his age, other complicating factors, and the high likelihood that hospitalization would not ultimately reverse his organ failure, the tough decision was made to help him pass peacefully.
Mendel came to us via Beagle Freedom Project after he was released from medical testing around 2 years of age. He was 11 years old and we are so glad that he spent the final 9 of those years with us, bringing so much love, sweetness and joy to the sanctuary. This is the first pig we’ve had pass at the sanctuary and we’re going to miss his sweet little upward smile and watching him swagger around immensely. Thank you to all our volunteers, friends, family and visitors for giving him treats, love and cleaning up after him all these years ❤️RIP Rabbi Mendel, we love you so much❤️