Lost our bunny, trying to make a decision

[selkie]

We lost our Dutch bunny unexpectedly this week. She often had stomachaches and once had a hairball that required medical treatment. We found her one morning ill with the same symptoms she’d had before…it seemed like another stomachache. We got her immediate medical attention and fully expected to have her back home that night or the next morning. Instead, she died while on her way to emergency surgery the next day. 

It was a huge shock. We assumed it was another hairball–she’d been shedding, her brother is shedding, and we’d been brushing them both every day. The vet gave us the option of doing a necropsy to find out.

I was for it…until we found a chewed appliance cord. There’s nothing that says it was the cord. The chew marks could be old…it’s a vacuum cleaner we don’t use much, and we have chased both rabbits away from it. It hasn’t been out in a while. We’ve rabbit-proofed everything else. But now I’m afraid to have the necropsy done. What if it turns out our bunny DID chew on something, and consumed some of it, and it caused a blockage? We would know we had caused her death. I can accept a hairball, because we were doing everything we could to prevent those and if she did have one, then that was just fated to be.  So I’m grieving because we lost her so suddenly, and I’m terrified it might have been our fault, and I don’t know whether to have the necropsy done or not. I’m already tormenting myself over it so I don’t know how much worse it would be anyway, and I think all this “what-iffing” is going to keep me from moving on at all.

[Bam]

I’m very sorry for your loss.

Rabbits often eat pieces of electrical cords if they get the chance. My vacuum cord has bite marks. It’s always unplugged when I’m not using it, so there was never any risk of a bun getting electrocuted, but there are bite marks. Stuff like that as a rule doesn’t cause blockages. Rabbits tend to chew plastic very carefully. Hair is a much more likely culprit. Hair can really block a bunny gut up, we’ve had examples here. Also during shedding many buns seem to get gas and other stomach issues, so it could be a combination of ingesting hair + having an extra sensitive tummy.

Nobody in the whole wide world can stop a bunny from eating sth it shouldn’t unless the bunny is kept in a naked cage 24/7 (the possibility of ingesting fur would still be there of course). Sitting in a cage and never be let out to roam and play would be a terrible life for a bunny. So please don’t blame yourself in any way. Buns will have a nibble on things.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Sorry to hear about your loss I understand that the thought haunts you, but I expect that it was a hair ball. All rabbits have started to shed again, and many are experiencing stomach issues at the moment.

It’s true what bam says: there’s no way you can prevent a rabbit from chewing things. You could rabbit-proof the house as well as you can, and they’d still find a way to get past and explore blocked places. They’re a bit like fluffy curious babies: putting everything in their mouth and wanting to explore and discover everything around them.

Our Breintje sometimes eats the weirdest things: half a sandwich bag and once a 15×15 cm piece of curtain overnight. Those never gave him a blockage, because he bit them into small pieces. That’s why I think that hair is the most likely suspect: it’s not chewed but licked and swallowed in whole strands.

Please don’t beat yourself up over it, I highly doubt that there was anything you could have done. You even paid attention to brushing them, which is an amazing help for a shedding rabbit. I hope this all helps with the horrible feeling that her death was caused by something you did or didn’t do. Wishing you and your bun all the best in these difficult times!

[Dee]

I’m so sorry, and can very much relate to your story. I just lost a bunny to an obstruction too. Same situation as yours- a bunny with frequent bellyaches, no reason to think it would be any different. The only thing different is that you got your bunny prompt medical treatment- I waited and treated her at home as I did every other time, rather than taking her to the emergency vet, and by the time my regular vet opened, she hadnt pooped for well over 12 hours and died the next morning. I chose to have a necropsy done, and I was also very afraid that I would blame myself even more if she had eaten any rug fibers. She was a big fabric chewer and while she didn’t usually swallow anything, I was still worried. Turns out the report said the blockage was fur and “ingesta”, which means food.

In your rabbit’s case, I REALLY doubt that she had a blockage due to the electrical cord. It was probably fur, and her gut slowed down a bit which can happen for many reasons, causing the fur to get stuck. Ellie makes a good point- rabbits chew plastics and other solid objects really well. They don’t gulp things down like dogs do. My rabbits have chewed on lots of cords and various plastics and been fine. I hope you can accept that you did not cause your rabbit to die. You did everything you could to save her and I’m sure she had a wonderful life with you ?

[selkie]

Thank y’all so, so much. You can’t imagine how much this helps. Thank you.

[selkie]

I’m so sorry about your bun too, Dee.

[selkie]

Just wanted to let y’all know you were right. We did the necropsy. It was a hairball, and not even much of one; it was just in the least typical spot and the intestine had twisted around it. Apparently our bunny had some kind of a genetic predisposition that had probably been there since birth. So it wasn’t us after all, and there wasn’t anything more we–or anybody–could have done.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Thank you for the update, I think it was a good decision. It shows that it was nothing you could have done anything about. I hope the news will help you and your family with your grief. How is her brother doing? Rabbits can have great difficulty with grief and the loss of a bonded friend.

[Bam]

Thank you for the update. I’m glad you now know for certain you were not to blame in any way for her demise. It’s so very sad to lose a beloved bunny and feelings of guilt makes it all the more difficult.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I want to offer my condolences on the loss of your little friend. It is obvious she was very loved.

((((((Binky Free))))))

[Author]

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