Bunny died out of nowhere?

[Emilykatelyn]

I want to apologize ahead of time because this is a long story. Please do read it all though, for it all coincides and goes together to understand Lily’s life/illnesses.

When I got Lily it was over a year ago from a pet store at the local mall. Initially when I got her she was free because the bunny I got there two weeks prior had died from a seizure, which it ended up having coccidia. So I went back to the pet store and complained, they gave me a new bunnny and a refund. Lily ended up also having coccidia and she was very sickly. Extremely under weight. The pet store would only take her back, but I refused to do that because I knew they wouldn’t do anything for her. So i kept her. I brought lily to the vet, treated her for coccidia. Lily was still underweight and also had chronic mushy stool. The vet couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her so she prescribed me Metachlopramide; twice a day, Metronidazole; twice a day, benebac probiotic; twice a day, and critical care every day.

As time went on throughout Lily’s life she started to gain weight. She actually started to look healthier. Her chronic mushy stool was never cured though, so she did continue to struggle with it. But as far as everything else she was fine. She was eating, she was active. She was probably the sweetest bunny in the world. She would lay with me for hours.

Around two months ago her sister (they came from the same pet store, a few months apart and were raised together but in seperate cages so unbonded.) started showing signs of upper respiratory problems. Throughout the month of October I took her to many vets and nobody could tell me what happened to her. They weren’t sure if it was her teeth or something stuck or cancer, ect. She ended up dying on November 1st.

Two weeks ago two things happened; I got a new bunny from a bunny shelter that’s two years old, and I took Lily to the vet because the night Lucy died she had somehow sprained her paw and refused to walk on it for a few days. My new bunny is extremely healthy with so much energy. Lily was prescribed metacam for her sprain as X-rays were taken and there was no break. When I went to the vet she told me lily had also lost a half a pound since her last visit. Lily is always eating. She eats tons of hay, she eats her pellets when I give them to her and she eats a small bowl of leafy greens from time to time. The vet by this time had unprescribed me to give her the probiotic and the critical care, so she wanted to put lily back on those things and she told me to give her more pellets to try to get her to put some weight on.

For the past two weeks, and really since Lucy died, Lily had been extremely fatigued, which I honestly thought could be partly because of her medicine and partly because her paw was sprained. She was constantly sleeping, like dead bunny flop style in her cage. Her activity did decrease, but I honestly hadn’t been letting her out as much anyway because she was still favoring her paw. She was eating a ton. As much hay and pellets I would give her is as much as she would eat. There were no extreme signs of sickness other than her weight drop. Lily had been prescribed metacam before because she dislocated a disk in her spine, so she experience with it and her other medicines.

Last night I was in my living room and I heard this loud banging and rustling come from my bunnies room. I had heard that noise before with the bunny I had who died who I got my refund and got to pick a new bunny due to (aka lily). I ran to my boyfriend and asked him to go check on the bunnies. I honestly thought it was my new bunny because a few hours prior he was acting extremely different, like he just looked sad. He wasn’t being his crazy wild self. Normally he would run up to the cage but when we came in the room he just sat in the corner. And we offered him his favorite treat and he wouldn’t take it from either of us. He was esting and pooping normally. So we figured we would keep an eye on him. So when we heard the noises and went to check the new bunny he was fine. Lily was laying in her cage as usually dead bunny flop style. But this time when we went up to her she could not get up. She was still breathing but it was almost as if she was paralyzed. My boyfriend carefully brought her out of the cage and tried to help her to stand up but she physically couldn’t. That’s when her legs started flailing around and I’m guessing she was having another seizure, and what j heard before must of been a first one. Then she made s really loud squeeking sound, I held her and prayed. But she stopped breathing, and passed away.

This exact same death happened with the other bunny I had a year ago, but she ended up having cococcida. So did Lily, but it was cured. Lily was over a year old. I don’t understand what happened to her. I know she was on borrowed time due to her chronic mushy stool and everything but I feel like this was something unrelated. And it was two weeks after my other bunny passed away. I’m not sure how my other bunny died, but there was noises from her cage too and when we went in she was just laying there lifeless.

What is killing my bunnies? And what can I do about my new bunny? Is my new bunny at risk now of dying however these two innocent babies died too?

[Rhian]

Honestly to me it sounds like wherever your pet store was getting their animals, they had something genetically wrong with them. Most animals in pet stores come from animal mills where they just have tons and tons of cages of animals that they breed constantly without care for health or longevity. Or from local ‘breeders’ that just put two animals together without knowing their background or genetics. You can get perfectly healthy animals from these sources, but chances are there will be something wrong with them (whether minor or major is always a gamble).

Just to be sure I would make sure you clean everything extremely well in the room you keep your rabbits, move the existing rabbit out and whatever can be bleached should be (make sure to rinse everything really well, you don’t want anything to smell bleach-y and if ever in question, just keep rinsing). Throw out anything that can’t be cleaned (like wood toys). Make sure to keep an eye on your rabbit’s weight, eating habits and activity level and if anything seems off make sure to get him to the vet.

If you’re really worried, and have the spare cash lying around, you can have an autopsy done on your recently passed rabbit. This should give a better idea of what happened and if it’s contagious or environmental. It can be costly, but if you’re interested in doing it I would store the body in the fridge until you can get to a vet.

[Emilykatelyn]

Yeah I read online seizures can be genetic. I hope it was genetics and not something serious. I will disinfect the room ect ect and keep an eye on my new bunny. Thank you for your response

[MoxieMeadows]

Rhian ha some good advice. Clean EVERYTHING. Including walls.

I am so deeply sorry for your loss. (((Hugs)))

[Bam]

I’m so sorry for your loss.

It’s good advice to clean everything. There is a bunny-safe disinfectant called Virkon-S that is used in horse-stables, it kills virtually every pathogen but it’s non-toxic to people and rabbits (and horses of course).

The only other thing I can think of is e cuniculi, a common parasite in bunnies, that can cause neurological problems and often leads to the death of the bunny if it’s not treated. I “hope” the seizures were a hereditary issue, it’s still really sad but it would mean your new bun is safe.

[Emilykatelyn]

Where can you buy that? Thanks for your advice.

[Bam]

You can buy it online or in places where they sell stuff for horses. It’s available in small sachets of 50 grams, enough for 5 liters of cleaning-fluid. You wipe everything down with the powder + water mix, and let it dry on its own. It has no smell. Don’t mix more than you’ll need because once mixed with water it degrades in a few days, it has a red colour that gradually goes away and when the fluid isn’t red anymore, the active ingredients are nolonger active.

Here’s a list over distributors in many countries, you’ll have to e-mail the distributor for lists of retailers: https://www.chemours.com/Virkon_S/en_GB/products/buy.html

But if you google it, you’ll find it in online stores. You don’t want the huge bucket of 10 kilos, just the 50 gram sachet.

[Mimsy]

I’m very sorry for your loss. There is a lot of very helpful, kind and knowledgeable folks here and I’m glad you found them.

Coccidia can sometimes be a pain to get rid of in the environment so cleaning everything is a smart idea, as well as watching for signs of it showing up in your other buns. The other thing is, if she had a really bad case of it and was dealing with it prior to you having her and treating it, it’s possible that it caused damage to her intestinal tract. This can make a life long irritable bowel syndrome. If this pet store had coccidia running rampant with it’s animals it would not be surprising if it had other things as well. If you suspect it was e. cuniculi I believe a blood test can be ran on your surviving bunny to make sure she doesn’t have it.

I wish you the best, it must be very scary for you right now.

[Bam]

You can treat e cuniculi with 28 days of Panacur as a precaution. The parasite is common in rabbits and most carry it all their lives without getting sick of it. But your bunnies’ symptoms sound more like something else. Coccidia or damage done by coccidia in early childhood like Mimsy says or a congenital heart-problem. Heart problems often manifest themselves as respiratory problems, since the heart and the lungs work together so closely.

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