Why did my bunny die?

[littlepinkheartsandstars]

My house bunny has previously had a problem where he ate his breakfast but didn’t poo all day. When I got in from work when it happened, he wasn’t interested in tea so took him straight to out of hours vet, who said he couldn’t feel a blockage but gave him an injection to get his gut moving. He also gave me some medication (Emeprid) in case of the problem persisting. It then resolved – bunny did a (horrible, smelly) poo and carried on eating, so never gave him the further medication (as told not to if fine again). He was then back to normal. That was about a month ago.

Yesterday, I went to work, bunny ate his breakfast all fine in morning beforehand. I got home from work, he’d been for lots of poos during the day (although had been for a bit of a slightly runny poo also – he had done that from time to time before with no further issue). When I got home and said hi to him and let him out, he did a bit of a smelly fart (sorry)… then I fed him his tea at about 5.30pm, which he ate as normal, leaving a couple of pellets, which is normal for him as he usually just eats those a little later on.

He then starting behaving a bit strangely – he is normally very chilled (he is our only pet and he lives with two adults so had a life of luxury!), but he was more chilled than normal, just laying there stretched out in his favourite spot (he normally changes his position more or goes for a hop about). I thought perhaps he was just a bit tired and left him to lay. He did no poo all evening. When it got to about 9.30pm, he hadn’t eaten the last couple of pellets, which he normally would have, so I put him on my lap to feel his tummy. It maybe did feel a little bloated, but I’m not an expert and the vet said it wasn’t last time when I thought it was, so I really couldn’t say. He laid on me like he normally would and I stroked the sides of his tummy to try to encourage movement in case of an issue, which he seemed fine to let me do. I then turned him on his back and tried to gently stroke his tummy like that, but he turned himself back the right way so I didn’t persist in case it was tender. We then decided to try the medicine the vet gave us previously, which we gave him in the recommended dose.

My husband stayed up with him until about 10.45 to keep an eye on him, but he just sat in his cage, which he normally would at that time of night, so we went to bed. I had looked up GI stasis, and the recommendation I could see is if a bunny hasn’t eaten for 12-24 hours to take to the vet, so i decided if he hadn’t eaten or poo’ed by time we got up at 5.30am, I would take him straight to the vet (as he ate at 5.30pm night before so would be 12 hours). However my husband got up at 4am to check on him, and found him laid dead in his cage. Not meaning to be graphic but he was already stiff so had clearly been dead a few hours, meaning he must have died shortly after we left him.

I understand that bunnies can hide things illnesses, and it won’t bring him back now, but it’s really bothering me what could have killed him. We took good care of him, he lived indoors, ate the recommended amount of pellets for his weight by the vet, had plenty of fresh hay and water, and ate cucumber (he loved it) for a treat in the evenings (he wasn’t interested in it the night he died). He had apple tree sticks to nibble on which he’d always enjoyed, as well as a knawing rock that was carrot flavour that he liked. Can anyone shed any light on what may have been wrong? I’ve tried googling things, but nothing seems to fit – he seemed fine when gobbling his tea as normal at 5.30pm, how could he be dead by midnight?? Could it be that GI stasis thing – I thought that was caused by a bunny being poisoned from the gas – how could that be the case so quickly?

[VivaLaBunz]

So sorry to hear about the sudden loss of your bun =( I’m not a vet or any sort of expert, but it does sound like he could have perished from a blockage or GI Stasis. This kills rather silently and quickly. If a bunny has gas there must be something causing it. This is usually a blockage in the intestines, but from researching I’ve also heard that some rabbits just have, for lack of a better term, “defective” guts. It’s like why some people get irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) while others don’t. Only IBS in a rabbit is much more likely to be fatal compared to a human. It may be that your bunny has had a blockage since his last incident with gas, but there would be know way of knowing without an x-ray or surgery. A blockage could be anything from fur to foreign objects like pieces of carpet.

I’ve read a little about cucumbers and it says they may cause digestive issues when fed in more than just small amounts. I also think that cucumbers are usually covered in a layer of wax to keep them from spoiling, though I don’t know how true this is or whether or not it would be cause for concern. 

Whether or not his illness was caused by you is hard to tell unless you were feeding him something he shouldn’t have (maybe the runny poop is a symptom).  I think you did all you could have possibly done and shouldn’t place too much blame on yourself. You said yourself you took great care of him, and he’s had an amazing bunny life. He got to spend quality time with the two who loved him the most before he left, so you should be happy about that!

[Mikey]

I saw you mentioned that he would have runny poop on and off; that is always cause for an emergency. Rabbits can easily dehydrate and runny poop doesnt ‘just happen’ for rabbits, it is usually caused by something they ate, something their body cant handle. Farting is also not normal and often a sign of emergency

What is the tea you were giving him? How many pellets per day were you giving him? Did he have unlimited fresh grass hay?

[littlepinkheartsandstars]

Thank you for your kind words, he was such a lovely bunny. Please don’t think I ignored these things I am describing – I took him to the vets many times for advice on this (I’m sure some people would even say too many times but I’m an extra cautious kind of person). I asked the vets opinion on his eating habits, and checked I was feeding him right. They checked him over many times and said he seemed healthy and they said the amount of pellets was right. I said to vet it seemed weird he didn’t like veggies I had tried like previous bunnies had, or on the couple of occasions I tried something and his poo had got funny – pretty much the only thing that he liked AND seemed to agree with him aside from hay and pellets was cucumber. I only gave him each day about 3 normal slices worth of it, cut up, and the vet said that was fine. He was just under a year old too, so really sad his life was cut short.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Sorry for your loss LPHAS. It’s so sad and it sounds as if there was nothing more that you could have done at the time.
I dont think at 10.30pm I would have called the OOH vet either unless i suspected a real emergency… especially as bun had eaten his pellets at teatime…

You mention unlimited hay & water which is vital to the digestive system.

Unfortunately, without an xray you won’t know if there was a blockage or not. And that won’t bring him back.
He had a good life and was loved right up until the end.

((( Binky free bunny )))

[littlepinkheartsandstars]

Oh and the pellet things were the ones recommended by the vet (they were long Excel things). The vet told me in weight in total for the day, said I could feed them in one go or half morning and half evening – I can’t remember how much this was now, as we had a little egg cup that was exactly half of the weight so used that a a measure for ages now, so we’d give him that measure in morning and for tea. Then unlimited hay the rest of the time – he had a hay feeder and gnawing thing we filled constantly. The only other thing was the little bit of cucumber (again, checked this with vets to make sure ok – 2 different people said was fine). He always had water too and drank that no problem. So really struggling to see what could have caused it.

[littlepinkheartsandstars]

Aww thank you. This is what I thought – I know you can do a post mortem on animals, but although it would be nice to know why we had to lose him so soon on in his life, it seems pointless doing one as it won’t bring him back.

[tobyluv]

I’m very sorry about the loss of your bunny.

[Mikey]

The measuring of the pellets sound right and as long as he always had fresh hay available, then. From what i see on google about cucumber is that it is good for a treat, but not good for a food or snack. Too much can cause runny poops, gas, blockages, and over all stomach discomfort or pain. It could be that although he really enjoyed it as a snack, his tummy didnt like it nearly as much as he did. The vets telling you its ok to feed it to him and the vets ignoring his runny poop is very negligent on their part. Are you sure they were certified to work on rabbits, and have a good reputation with exotic animals? It also depends on what you mean by “tea”. Green tea and black tea are fine in very small amounts, but other teas can be considered toxic. Any tea with caffine can also be treated as toxic. Hay tea is the only 100 percent safe bunny tea i know of. Nonetheless, i am very sorry for your loss. I lost a bun to stasis several years ago. It is a hard thing to go through

(((((Binky free little bunny)))))

[Vienna Blue in France]

I think she meant “tea” as in tea-time = supper = evening meal. Not a cup of tea.

(I’m presuming she’s a fellow Brit)

[Bam]

I’m very sorry that you lost your bunny. As to what took him, there can only be speculation. Gut stasis means the intestines stop moving, the bunny starts to live off its body fat, that in turn poisons the lever (hepatic lipidosis). There can also be a blockage consisting of food and hair or f ex cardboard if the bun is a cardboard-eater.

Bunnies can die very suddenly from kidney failure, there are often, but not always, signs of tummy trouble before the kidneys shut down completely. A bun can have a congenital kidney problem or could have been infected with a parasite that harms the kidneys (this parasite, e cuniculi, is very common in rabbits, most never get sick from it but stay unsymptomatic carriers all their lives).

It’s very hard to loose a bun unexpectedly and suddenly like that, it fills your head with questions that you’ll never get any answers to. You can have a necropsy performed, but from what I’ve heard and read, the result is often inconclusive.

The only thing to do is imo to try and concentrate on how much love you gave him during his life. You also know he didn’t have to suffer long, that’s at least something.

Binky free, little bunny.

[Mikey]

Ah ok! Thank you Vienna, that would make a lot more sense

[littlepinkheartsandstars]

Oh my god Bam, I think you have hit the nail on the head with the kidney failure, I hadn’t thought of that. I took him to vets a couple months ago as he had been weeping outside his tray which was unusual and drinking loads. They gave medication and pain relief and said likely a water infection. They did say that if he didn’t seem any better that they could do tests but after the medication, he seemed to be fine. So I wonder if it never really went but he was just very good at hiding it. The last few days our working pattern has changed so I thought he was tired as we were seeing him earlier in the morning but it seems now he was lethargic due to that. Poor bun, I wish I could change it.

And yes by “tea” I just mean the pellets I gave him for evening meal, not the drink kind. I only gave him water to drink.

[littlepinkheartsandstars]

And that should have said “weeing” not weeping!

[LittlePuffyTail]

I’m so very sorry about the loss of your bunny. A sudden loss is especially hard. While I don’t have anything to add specifically, I just want to say that it sounds like your bunny was very loved and lucky to have you. Unfortunately, as prey animals bunnies are experts at hiding their illness, often until it’s too late. We hear about this a lot here on BB and most of the time, they are well loved and cared for bunnies. It’s probably the biggest down side to having and loving a pet bunny.

((((((Binky Free Little Bunny))))))

Feel free to make a memorial post in the Rainbow Bridge for your bun.

[littlepinkheartsandstars]

Aww thank you that’s so kind. He really was very loved, and I miss him loads

[Author]

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