Intestinal Rupture?

[AnnBunny]

Hi everyone,

I haven’t posted here since before the site was redone so I made a new user name, though I would frequently read things and shop!

I unfortunately just lost one of my bunnies. I’ve been upset for days and I’m finally starting to feel better. I had this bunny for two years and she was found outside by a friend and we think she was a couple years old but it’s not known for sure.

When I got her she was in great health, but after several months she started marking her territory around so the vet found some high levels of bacteria so we treated her for an infection and got her spayed. All was good for several more months.

Suddenly she’s peeing everywhere again and I take her to the vet and we treat her for infection again with the plan to do a sonogram and eventually surgery because now the vet is feeling a lump in her abdomen. So the antibiotics didn’t do anything this time, a week later she has diarrhea, was rushed to the vet, but unfortunately her temperature was too low and she could not get stabilized and she did not make it overnight at the vet’s. 

The vet did a necroscopy (spelling?) for me and found that her intestine was actually fused to her bladder. There was definite infection and she does not know how long this was going on for and when this happened. It could have been a rupture a while back and that is how it healed.

Has anyone heard of this?? She said it’s rare but she has seen it. I can’t even believe it, we were thinking a tumor or an abscess and she even tested her for cancer before going on the antibiotics (it came back negative). If it ruptured while I had her wouldn’t I have known? I’m amazed she acted normal, binkies and all, except for a few weeks overall. The poor thing, I feel terrible, I like to think I took care of her and gave her a good life for two years, she seemed happy even though at first she acted nervous and aggressive. I’m sad I put her through surgery to be spayed and she didn’t even get better fully.

Thank you for reading this and sharing any experiences if you have ever heard of such a thing!

[MimzMum]

I’m sorry to hear of your loss. It’s always hard to say goodbye to a beloved bun.
I have heard of intestinal adhesions that can rarely be a side effect of a spay surgery. It means one of these areas either bladder or intestine may have been accidentally damaged during surgery and then they “fuse” together as they heal. It’s not necessarily due to negligence on the vet’s part, sometimes when bunny is spayed it’s parts are either hard to locate or too small and some jostling of other internals results in damage that goes unnoticed. Or if bun was prone to infection or had something active going on this can also damage tissues near the spay area. Since the age of your bun was unknown, this could have been a factor. (Sometimes too cancer does not show up as easily in a blood panel as one would expect.)
This is sadly the risk involved in the invasiveness of the procedure on the female rabbit. It’s a harder surgery on them than the males.
It’s a very hard condition to diagnose once symptoms appear as they mimc other disorders. Plus bunnies are well known for hiding illness. There may have been nothing apparent in her behavior to send a warning.
I am sorry that this may be what happened to your bun. But even from the little you’ve written here I can see she was well loved.
It is still very important to spay female rabbits. The consequences of not doing so are documented and quite dire.

I hope you will be able to open your heart to another bunny in need eventually. There are so many needing homes and loving human companions. Was she bonded to your other bunny? If so, how is the the other one doing?
Hugs to you.

[AnnBunny]

Thank you for your message
I wondered if maybe it was due to the spay but there were some symptoms before. The vet felt a little hardening in that area, but as we said, the symptoms mimic other problems so its not something you diagnose right away. My fiancé is reassuring me that she did not appear to be in pain up until the last week, she was running around like usual.
I wonder if its even something that they can be born with?
My other bun is 9 years old! They were not bonded and he seems to be doing well. He never could be bothered with a girlfriend, he would sniff her and then walk away lol!
I would like to help another bun in need eventually. I always thought I’d have this one longer but I’m jut now starting to feel better. I wish they weren’t so fragile and I had better answers about the cause of this

[Sarita]

MM gave some great advice. I’m sorry you lost her – it hurts.

[tanlover14]

Just wanted to pop in and say I’m really really sorry for the loss of your bun but you quite obviously gave her a great home and the care she needed. Binky Free Baby Girl! <3

[AnnBunny]

Posted By tanlover14 on 12/19/2012 05:48 AM

Just wanted to pop in and say I’m really really sorry for the loss of your bun but you quite obviously gave her a great home and the care she needed. Binky Free Baby Girl! <3

YES it was great advice, and really makes me feel better! 

It does hurt… sometimes we can’t control everything and it hurts to get adjusted to not having them around.

Thank you all so much. 

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Awww I’m so sorry!! She obviously didn’t suffer if she was binkying and was lucky to have you.
Welcome back-we’re glad to see you again!

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