I adopted Cassidy, a black and white Mini Rex (broken) about 3 weeks ago from a local family who runs a 4H. She was 8 weeks at the time of adoption. She fit into our family perfectly. She was super active, loved young children (I have 2), and had no problem with my 2 cats (they could care less about her LOL). So we adopted her July 30 and she was doing fantastic. I had a cage for her upstairs which is where she was kept mostly at night or at the times when I wasn’t home. Otherwise my husband and I built a large corral for her to run around in that we kept in the living room. We could not let her have free range because she was a carpet chewer. To prevent our carpet from being peed on and chewed I put a large pee pee pad (washable) down. This is where she spent most of her time. The corral was 45″ x 45″. She had all kinds of things to chew on (her preference was the paper towel rolls), there was always fresh water and she always had a supply of Timothy Hay. I would clean the corral at least 6 times a day because she pooped so much and the pad was washed every other day. I cleaned her cage (the one upstairs) once a day and always had fresh water and hay in it. She had a place to hide, a litter box, and even a hammock that she loved sleeping in (always cute to see her curled up in it). Friday (8/23/13) I got up in the morning and cleaned her cage. Normally I would take her to the living room with me to play in the corral but I had s bunch of errands to run (getting my oldest ready for school). But my boys and I played with her for a few minutes before we had to get going. She was all over us and kept licking everyone. She was a ball of energy. I left for my errands around 11:15 to meet my mom for lunch. We didn’t return until after 4. My oldest when he gets home always has to run to her cage and let her out. He was in love with her. My husband had only been home from work for a half hour by the time we had gotten home and he was cleaning a few things up that I hadn’t gotten done before leaving earlier. We had decided to just go out for dinner so instead of getting her out my oldest just played with her for a bit upstairs. Then we went to dinner and decided to roam the mall. So we didn’t get home until about 9. I told my oldest son to go ahead and get her out of the cage. He went upstairs to do so and came down in a panic saying there was something wrong with her that she was laying on her side not moving. I went up to check and she was in bad shape. She had poop stuck to her leg, she had peed all over herself. She was limp, unresponsive and I thought she was dead until I picked her up and felt a heartbeat. We called the vet and they directed us to the emergency office. When we got there they were ready for her. They rushed her back to the exam area and we were escorted to a room. When the vet came in she wanted some information. I told her how Cassidy was in the morning which was the last time I had seen her active but that my son had played with her around 4:30 or so. I told her what time we found her laying in the cage. I also gave her the brand of food we feed her and how much. She was given predominantly Timothy Hay and Oxbow pellets. I never gave her anything other than that and we know she didn’t eat anything other than that because she was never given free range of any room. I told her how often the cage and corral were cleaned, how much excercise she got, ect. The vet said that we were doing everything right. She made a call to an exotic vet to find out what drugs were safe to give the bunny. She also took a sample of the poop that was stuck to her and it was infested with Coccidia. They wanted to keep her over night but it would have been close to a $400 vet bill and we didn’t have the money. We asked about monthly payments and they said it was not an option. They gave her some Reglan, Pennicillian (injectable), pain meds, SubQ warm fluids (her temp was low) and fed her Critical Care. We chose to take her home with us but they sent us with Critical Care to get through the night. My husband and I kept her warm all night wrapped in a thick towel with warm water bottles. We took turns feeding her the Critical Care every 1-2 hours. Neither of us slept. At 4 in the morning she was literally craning her neck when she would see the syringe of Critical Care. She was all about it and didn’t like when it was gone. She had her eyes open and seemed a tiny bit alert but she had no energy. We got her to our vet first thing in the morning. I put her in har carrier wrapped in a towel with a warm water bottle. The vet took a look at the report that was given to us at the clinic and then she put her on Metronidazole for an antibiotic (.5ml) to be given every 12 hrs, Metroclopromide to help keep her GI Tract moving, and Nutri-Cal (which is similar to Critical Care) gel. The vet said we could put a heating pad over her set on low to help with her temp (it was 99). She told us to call her Monday (today) with an update. We fed her ever 2-3 hrs, even gave her warm water in a syringe because she was not taking any water on her own, and we kept her warm and comfortable. She made it through the night and Sunday morning she was trying to hold herself in a sitting position and even tried to eat some hay on her own. She was peeing normally and her poop were fully formed pellets (she had a lot of it too). We saw this as improvement. As the afternoon wore on though she was no longer sitting up. She had her ears straight up and her head up but she wasn’t moving much. She tried to crawl to the hay and was struggling with that. I made sure to keep the hay close to her so she didn’t have to strain to get to it. Same with the water dish. She eventually stopped lifting her head up, her ears were laying flat, and she was becoming more lethargic. We started to feel that she was going downhill. Around 7 she just wasn’t looking good so we sat down with our oldest (he’s 5) and told him that maybe he should get some snuggles with her. He layed in the chair with the blanket over her and had her on his chest. We told him that she was very sick and not looking good. We were very honest and told him that there was a chance that she would not make it through the night. So when it was his bedtime we said that it might be better to not just say good night but to say goodbye. He was telling her how much he loved her and she lifted her head to look at him. He gave her many kisses and when we laid her down he told her good bye. We never lost hope but we stayed realistic too. Around 9:00 when we were giving her her meds I noticed she was grinding her teeth to suggest pain. Around 9:30 I noticed that she was breathing heavily in her cage so my husband counted her resps and figured around 120 per minute. We started talking about what we wanted to do if she was to pass in the night after we all we in bed. I looked in on her around 10:15 (the cage she was resting in was right next to my chair) and she wasn’t moving, her head was at a strange angle and her feet were splayed out (I apologize if it’s too graphic). I felt for a hearbeat and couldn’t feel one. My husband picked her up and thought he felt a faint beat. She was barely breathing and her lips were turning blue. My husband started to attempt chest compressions and we even attempted mouth to mouth. We knew that our efforts were futile but we felt we had to try. We told her she was fine, we loved her, and we just held her until her last breath was taken. We waited a few minutes checking for a heartbeat then went and got our son. We had told him if she passed we would get him. We chose to bury her alongside the garden.
I wish I had been told I had done something wrong to cause this because at least then there would be an answer. Instead I was told that I was taking excellent care of her and that unfortunately these things happen. I have done some research on Coccidia and from what I have read it’s contracted through their poop. She was an only rabbit and we’d had her about 3 weeks so I don’t think she got this from another rabbit. I’m guessing she must have been a carrier for it. Upon more research I have discovered that a drug called Altron (I hope that’s spelled correctly) is normally used. She was put on metronidazlole which I have learned is used more for C-Diff. I am wondering if she was not on the proper medicine. Could her death have been avoided? Is there anyone here who might be able to tell me if there was something that the vet missed? Or should have given her?
This whole weeked has just been heart breaking. The rabbit was a pet for my kids and I had to watch my 5 year old sob at the loss of his beloved pet. I loved her very much too. I was making sure that she always had clean water, hay, living quarters, plenty of excercise, and love. I know that I did not cause the Coccidia but I have no idea where she would have picked it up from. We will get another bunny for our kids in the future but right now the hurt is to fresh to know when that will be.
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That description made me cry a little. Maybe you could plant a tree with your son where you buried her? That’s often a nice idea when a child has to deal with the loss of a pet.
