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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Death of my pet bunny

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    • BunnyLady
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        I had a pet bunny who suffered from extremely delicate skin.  The first time I encountered this was after brushing him and I noticed something wet – his skin was torn.  Next time was after giving him sub-q fluids.  His mate licked the area and the skin tore from his back to his side and he required surgery.  He was being treated for an abrasion with laser treatments.  Finished his last one on Friday.

        He also began drinking lots of water the past couple of weeks which was strange for him.  I mentioned it to the vet.  She did blood work and everything was normal.  She did a urine culture and that was negative.  Last Tuesday, he began acting very strange – would sit in one place with his head up in the air.  I noticed he had some mucus in his nose.  The vet began him on Baytril; he had had an upper respiratory issue last month.  Then another skin tear so they resumed antibiotics.  He was off anti-biotics for about two days when the mucus reappeared.  He didn’t eat normally on Tuesday night  so I began oral Metacam and Metocloramide.  The next day the vet gave him sub-q fluids and a shot of Reglan.  He was on this regimen of treatment Tue, Wed, Thur.  Fri morning she did x-rays and confirmed a large area of gi stasis.  I went home with more fluids and injections to treat him over the weekend.  We went out to dinner and when I returned he was laying in the corner of his pen in distress.  I picked him up and he began thrashing and holding his head up to breathe.  I tried putting him back on the floor and he could not right himself up and was terribly upset not being able to right himself.  I put him on the couch and calmed him down but he would try and move and he could not balance and was very frightented by this.  He seemed to be in terrible shape and I brought him to an animal ER (meanwhile we were in the middle of a snowstorm).  The vet admitted they knew nothing about a rabbit and advised to take him to another ER about an hour away.  I put him on the exam table and once again he thrashed around and could not be comforted.  His breathing was much worse.  I didn’t think he would make it to the other ER.  Then wondering what could they do – he was having every treatment possible for stasis.  Did the area burst?  Did he break a bone while we were gone?  And he was facing a life in a zen cone because his skin issue was getting worse and worse as he aged.  The vet said we don’t know what is happening on the inside with this seemingly genetic defect of thinning skin.  My husband and I decided to let him go.  We felt something horrible happened internally and he still had this very serious stasis going on.  But not knowing what happened and was it the right decision to put him to sleep is haunting me.  

        He was bonded with a female and they loved eachother very much.  But she would nip him when he tried chasing her and his skin would tear.  We had to keep them separated.  They could lay next to eachother but she could not nip him.  

        I would just like to know from what I describe what could have possibly have gone wrong?  I have had rabbits in the past die in my arms and it seemed that death was coming and I didn’t want him to suffer any more.  But did I make the right call?  My gut said let him go, don’t prolong it till morning when I could get him to the regular vet.  But now I am filled with sadness, guilt, and no closure if I did the right thing.  Not to mention his mate is looking all over for him.  I worry about her as well.

        All very very sad – any ideas?


      • jerseygirl
        Moderator
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          I am so very sorry for your loss.  I know how impossibly difficult it is to make that decision for a rabbit. It’s at a time when you’re seeing the affliction affecting your rabbit the most and you are already emotionally distraught. It is entirely natural to question it afterward and go over everthing in your brain a million times. But at the end of the day, come back to what you and your husband decided in that moment. You were seeing him in distress with the likelihood of that worsening and no veterinary option to relieve it. So you made a tough decision based on your love for him. How can that be wrong?

          Without a necrospy, it would be hard to say what was happening. Even with that, people do not always come away with a definitive answer. 

          Im speculating, but i wonder if his respiratory infection moved deeper into his chest? (ETA: pneumonia can very much go under the radar with no outward symptoms)
          And everything compounded with the GI stasis. Or it was an over all systemic infection of some kind. It would be truly hard to know.  Stasis is strange and sometimes I wonder if it’s a rabbit way (being a prey species) of shutting down quickly… 

          His skin condition sounds very unusual.  I had a quick look online and found a brief mention of Connective Tissue Disease in the Textbook of Rabbit Medicine. It appears very little is known about it. 

           You did well to manage the skin condition through his lifetime! And even find a way for him to have companionship with his mate and remain protected.  I think this little rabbit had some wonderful humans looking out for him.

          Again, I am sorry for your loss. It can be an endless loop trying to figure out what happened, believe me. 

          Do try to focus on what you loved about his little bunny self and the happier memories. 

          Binky Free Little One!


        • BunnyLady
          Participant
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            Thank you for your kind words.
            He was in to see the vet Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri and she listed each day to his lungs and sad they sounded good (he was actually seen by another bunny vet on Thurs; both didn’t hear anything bad in the lungs). Bailey seemed to suffer from allergies for a long time. For a number of years he would kind of grunt when you carried him or if he bent backwards to clean himself. He would often sneeze too. The vet said as he aged, he may be more chronic with slipping in and out of upper respiratory problems.
            She suggested the next diagnostic step would have been to bring him to Chicago Exotics for an ultrasound. She had done all the diagnostics she could with complete blood work up, urine analysis/cultures and x-rays. I even had his teeth trimmed on Thursday thinking that was adding to his not eating and they did need to be trimmed again.
            Your right – we decided at the moment that his suffering was too much to allow him to go thru anymore. I knew if I went to BluePearl in Skokie that I had a 50/50 chance that they would have a vet on hand that knew rabbits. I have brought bunnies there in the past and they admitted they didn’t know much about rabbits even though they advertise they are an exotic emergency. They knew nothing about how to treat his skin tears. I just wanted someone to tell before I put him to sleep this was the right thing to do. But I just wonder if I had sat with him overnight and kept him calm, could I have made it to our vet hew knew him. Like you said you go over everything a hundred different ways. We did it because we loved him. Maybe in time I can accept it. Part of the problem is that I had to sign and initiate hospice for my Dad and that left me with the same overwhelming guilt. Logically, I know it is not the same and in my Dad’s case it was the right thing to do but I had the same bad feeling inside when I signed Bailey’s consent and the same questions afterwards. I just hope time heals my broken heart.
            Bailey was the sweetest little boy you could ever meet. Despite living in and out of a cone for so long and having to go to the vet so often for treatments, he never once nipped or anything – always a little trooper.
            I do know he is in heaven free from his cone and no more pain and one day I will be with him again.


          • meridiian
            Participant
            157 posts Send Private Message

              I’m really sorry to read about Bailey’s struggle and your loss.

              You clearly loved that special and brave little rabbit.

              You did everything you could and made the right decision for Bailey. Cant imagine how difficult that decision must be… but you wanted to end his suffering. He would love you for that.

              No doubt you will meet again. It is written.

              Take care. xx


            • Bam
              Moderator
              16836 posts Send Private Message

                I’m very sorry for your loss. To me it seems like you made the only good choice for Bailey.


              • tobyluv
                Participant
                3310 posts Send Private Message

                  I’m very sorry about the loss of your sweet Bailey. It sounds like you and the vet did everything that you could to help him throughout his illnesses, and that you made the right decision to help him cross the bridge.


                • sarahthegemini
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                  5584 posts Send Private Message

                    It’s so heartbreaking to hear your story but it is very obvious how much you loved and cared for your little sweetheart. You did what you felt was right and there is no denying that it was a tough decision, I’m sure many others in your position would have done the same thing. Do not feel guilty for ending his suffering. It will take time to come to terms with it but feel comfort in knowing he isn’t in any pain now, he’s probably binky-ing in rabbit heaven

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                Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Death of my pet bunny