What Could Have caused my last rabbit to die?

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 12sd replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 1 month ago by Scarlet.

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- 02/01/2017 at 11:05 PM
  Scarlet
  Participant
  92 posts
  Last November my rabbit died, she didn’t make it to her fourth year of life and died a few months before what I estimated to be her birthday(January). She was fine, healthy, and she had no signs of weight loss during the week before her death.
  She was not fixed -we were saving up the money and finding a vet who’d fix her. She lived off pellets for a good two years before we found a place that sold hay and I read up on diets and got her on nothing but hay, with a small amount of pellets. She ate like a starved animal, and got as much hay as she desired. So much we had two bags left unopened when she passed on.
  The day before she died she was perfectly fine, drank a lot, ate a lot.
  
  I sat down to watch a show with my friend when I heard a thump, the third one my rabbit had made, the thumps were not her smacking her foot against the cage floor, she was slamming herself face first into the wall of the cage, I turned my head to look at her just as she fell onto her side and laid there. Scared witless, I tossed my food aside and opened the cage. My baby was limp, still alive, but limp. My attempts to rouse her and get her to eat only got her to lung forward and fall onto her side, if her head was against my chest or a pillow she’d try to slam it into things. She didn’t react to food, even bit my thumb very hard instead of accepting the treat.
  
  When nothing worked I ran for the car to take her to the vet, hoping against odds time wouldn’t run out. She died in my arms and I didn’t even make it to the vet. Defeated, I didn’t have a necropsy done and grieved against her limp body for the next few hours before my friend took her out to be buried. I regret not getting her body checked over, but I was wondering if anyone here might have any idea what it could have been.
- 02/01/2017 at 11:46 PM
  Mikey
  Participant
  3186 posts
  It sounds like it couldve been seizures since her body wasnt reacting well. Im not a professional, though. Im sorry for your loss (((((Binky Free)))))
- 02/02/2017 at 2:16 PM
  radiatorbunny12
  Participant
  56 posts
  As Mikey says, not a professional, but I agree it does sound like a seizure. SO sorry for your loss! If it was this it means you gave your bunny a fabulous life while you could and her death was not your fault.
- 02/02/2017 at 3:00 PM
  Scarlet
  Participant
  92 posts
  I was not aware seizures could take the life of a rabbit. She was thin as could be, almost flattened in on herself when I picked her up, despite having eaten a lot the previous days. I have never seen seizures in a rabbit, she was my first one.
- 02/02/2017 at 4:25 PM
  Krista
  Participant
  59 posts
  It doesn’t exactly sound like a seizure to me…I had a lab that had severe seizures and actually ended up dying during a final seizure. Something neurologically was wrong with her though. If it were a seizure, something would have had to of happened to cause it. Whatever was making her ram into the wall, it was something wrong with her brain I think. I’m no professional although I did take small animal nursing. Banging her head into the wall could have caused the seizure, but when my dog had his seizures he dropped to the ground and shook and drooled. It was awful. We think he had a tumor in his brain. Here is a link that may help you discover the cause of your poor bun’s passing. I am sorry for your loss. http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/Neurology_main.htm
  
  Toxoplasmosis and EC come to mind. Do you have cats? They spread toxoplasmosis in their feces. Thats the reason pregnant people can’t be near cats. EC is a common rabbit disease from what I’ve seen on here. Both cause severe neurological issues and death.
- 02/02/2017 at 4:43 PM
  Scarlet
  Participant
  92 posts
  She was unnaturally thin when she died, a few days prior she was fine, a healthy weight and one of my first suspicions was some kind of sudden anemia or anorexia because she ate the same as every day, yet when I lifted her up it was as though she’d withered and shed weight suddenly.
  
  I have no cats, never had a cat. I do have dogs, and she did get into the dog food and eat in excess a few days before death but I removed her from the food. She had eaten dog food on separate occurrences with no ill or adverse effects on her stool or appetite though. The dogs have never harmed her, they were taught not to.
  
  I’m not sure what EC is or what it would look like in a dying rabbit.
- 02/02/2017 at 5:02 PM
  Krista
  Participant
  59 posts
  In the link I posted if you click E. Curunali (something like that) and the clinical signs it will give you a list of symptoms. Although I don’t think it kills /quickly/. I think it goes over months from what I’ve read. It could have been a brain tumor, though I am leaning more towards a brain parasite.
  
  EC Symptoms: head tilt, paralysis, lethargy, cataracts, convulsions, and shuddering. They also can lose weight and lose muscle mass.
  
  On a website called CanIGiveMyRabbit— it says dog food and cat food is very dangerous and that it can cause severe intestinal distress and death. That wouldn’t really explain the banging into the wall though :/
- 02/02/2017 at 5:10 PM
  Krista
  Participant
  59 posts
  On here it says head pressing can be caused by a metabolic issues http://www.i-heart-pets.com/head-pressing-medical-emergency/ perhaps the dog food did mess with her digestive system and caused her to do head pressing and seize? :/ I’m sorry if this isn’t useful. I’m not a vet and don’t know tons of things about rabbits yet. Not diseases anyway
- 02/02/2017 at 5:25 PM
  LittlePuffyTail
  Moderator
  18092 posts
  I’m so sorry. That must have been so horrible to see. But at least she was with you when she died. Unfortunately, when a bun passes suddenly, the only way to know for sure what the cause was, is to have a vet perform a necropsy.
- 02/02/2017 at 5:53 PM
  Scarlet
  Participant
  92 posts
  My main concern is if it could be anything contagious at this point, I brought a young male spotted rex into my home, new cage, new water container just in case, I got him new everything because I am a worryier and don’t want whatever happened to happen again.
  
  It was horrible mainly because she cried out in a loud meowing noise after pressing her head against my hand one final time and then died and the noise was so unlike any she’d made, that it’s engraved in my memory.
- 02/02/2017 at 10:22 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17232 posts
  There are different types of seizures. This sounds like a partial seizure, which means she was aware of her surroundings. Sometimes rabbits having this type of seizure will seem to slam into a wall or other object. Sometimes they will even run around frantically and run into things. Considering how suddenly this occurred, my guess is also a parasite. There are several parasites that can cause seizures, EC is probably the most common.
  
  Did you clean everything thoroughly before you brought your new bunny home? You could give him Panacur as a preventative if you suspect he has been exposed.
- 02/03/2017 at 6:04 AM
  Aaron
  Participant
  184 posts
  Did you notice her having any of a tilted head? Encephalitozoon Cuniculi sounds the most reasonable, but I am no vet.
- 02/03/2017 at 1:37 PM
  Scarlet
  Participant
  92 posts
  Tilting of head started after she fell over, before that she had her head on straight. It was when I tried to lift her up and stand her and check her over that she’d shake and lunge her head to smash against things and it would become more tilted.
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