Death in 7 month old Bunny during Neuter

[Caseyemma88]

Just wandering if anyone else has experienced a death in a young rabbit during an operation?

Is it very common? I am wandering if he may have had an underlying condition I didn’t know about??

I put my beloved little Hugo (see attached picture, he was absolutely gorgeous) into my vet centre on Friday morning at 8am. Dropped off my little man after him giving me millions of kisses as he always did, I felt a little uneasy as he was only 1kg but he was well and truly sexually mature and NEEDED to be fixed because his life was consumed by his urges and it wasn’t fair on the little fella.

As there is always the risk of complications with rabbits under anaesthetic, I was a bit nervous but thought no he will be fine, my other 2 have been fixed and there were no problems. Planning the night to go home and give plenty of cuddles and some banana for the lil man as this was his favourite. Then came the phone call, the surgery had been done, he was all stitched up and his tiny little heart stopped.

I started shaking and sobbing uncontrollably, this little baby was my prized possession, his personality was just so different to my other 2 rabbits, whom I also love dearly but this one,  he really demanded attention, which I would always give him, he would chase me up and down the kitchen, he’d hop in the fridge looking for banana when I opened the door (he peeled one once! little bugger) Don’t know how many times my boyfriend would just watch us playing and shake his head thinking I am some crazy woman kissing this little bunny!

The vet centre was great, they know me down there from my red heeler puppy and they see how much love my animals get, when I walked in to arrange his little cremation box, all staff members on duty were all in tears, it was super sad but also so special to me that these people had so much compassion for my baby Hugo.

Been 3 days and any little thing still makes me cry, he can never be replaced, so unique, funny how these tiny little babies are so special to us.

[lorree]

So sorry for your loss

As u said yourself there’s always a risk with anaesthetic.
And yes it is possible there could have been some other problem that may have made it harder for him. Though it sounds like he was healthy.
If your vet is rabbit savvy then they probably did all they could for him.
I have heard of rabbits dying during desexing before and I have always been so worried about this for my little girl and am super scared about getting that done soon.

It’s horrible that this has happened to u and Hugo
I hope you’ll be ok

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I’m so so sorry
In answer to your question, it’s not common, maybe once every couple of years I’ll read about a member going through this. With all the spay neuters, that’s a very small fraction. But it does happen. I’m so very sorry it happened to you. There may have been something wrong with his heart or system prior -I doubt it was anything your vet did or could have fixed once it happened, just something that sometimes happens to these very fragile little guys.
You sent him off with love and though you didn’t get to say goodbye knowing, you did say goodbye and he was in good hands and went peacefully with no pain or fear; and he had a happy life with you. *hugs* {{Binky Free Hugo}}

[vanessa]

I’m sorry, that sucks. I lost my little boy Merlin about 6 weeks ago. I could still cry thinking about him. What unexpected circumstances. I also have mine in a cremation box. I got a reddish brown stuffed bunny that looks like him, and placed it on his urn in my tv-room. I hope you feel better soon.

[BunsAndDolls]

So sorry for your loss…I lost one of my buns last year when she went under to have dental surgery, so I know it’s a hard thing to deal with. At least the little guy left you with lots of bunny hugs and kisses.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I’m so very sorry for the loss of your bunny. He was clearly very special and loved.

[Samara87]

This terrifies me My little guy needs to get done soon, and I’m just so scared of this happening to him.

[Author]

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