Did I cause my bunnies death?

[Bunpal]

Hi. My bunny died a few weeks ago and I really want to know if what I did may have caused it. 3 days before he passed, I saw that he had dry skin and I’m not sure if I did it that day or the day after, but I decided to get lotion and Vaseline and put it on his dry spots. I put a good amount, but made sure to rub it in well and comb it out. Then one day when I woke up I saw that he wasn’t doing well. He wasn’t eating, pooping, and he was hunched up. I gave him a bunch of belly rubs because he looked like his belly was in pain and I took him to the vet the day after I realized he wasn’t feeling well because where I live vets are closed on Sundays. After taking him to the vet I had to take him to an emergency vet because the vets couldn’t get any blood out of his veins and then he died an hour after getting to the emergency vet and they said that they think he might have just started to have bone cancer. Do y’all think it could have also been fur mites, me, or was it just cancer. Also sorry this is so long but I really feel bad because he was my best friend.

[Bam]

I’m very sorry you lost your bun. I don’t think you caused it. Vaseline wouldnt kill a rabbit. Neither would fur mites. I dont know what lotion you used, and while lotion isn’t something that should be used on a rabbit unless a vet prescribes it, I’m thinking your bun had already been ill for some time when you saw the dry skin. Fur mites are opportunistic, most rabbits have  fur mites in low numbers that just coexist with the rabbit without causing any trouble. If the bun gets ill and the immune defense thereby is weakened, the fur mites get the chance to multiply. This can happen fast.

If the vets suspected bone cancer, they must’ve had reason to. Its not a standard cause of death for rabbits. There would have been no cure for bone cancer.

I dont think you have any reason to blame yourself. I know how hard it is to lose a rabbit unexpectedly.

You loved your bun, and animals know when they’re loved.

[Bunpal]

Thank you. I posted this on another bunny page and one of the the members said that it was the lotion. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t because my bunny did get x-rayed and he wasn’t able to stand on all fours a day before he passed. Both of those things make me feel like I didn’t do it because I’m assuming that that would have been able to see some of the lotion in his body if that were the cause. Also if he wasn’t able to stand on all fours then that was probably the cause.

[Bunpal]

Oh it was the jergens soothing aloe lotion.

[LBJ10]

Since aloe gel is considered safe, I would assume a lotion containing aloe would be OK too. The amount of actual aloe would be very small. I agree with Bam. I don’t think you did anything. My guess is he was sick for a long time. Rabbits are good at hiding illness until they are very, very sick. The mites may simply have been taking advantage of his weakened state.

[Bunpal]

Yea I did realize that he didn’t seem as active a while before it happened, but I assumed it was because I was lazy and always on my bed doing something. Thank you. I feel a lot better.

[Author]

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