My sweet Prince passed away

[Jordsteins_mom]

I posted this on my other account but found my log in creds!!!

my prince’s name is Jordstein (the spinach slayer) 

I rescued him from an abusive home in april of 2016. he was about 6 weeks old. He was very timid when i first met him, but over time he was very trusting of me. I would take him to the park in the summer (when it was cool out) and he would frolic and run enjoying the grass. 

i spoiled him.

he would have lettuce everyday and had his own room. i would regularly take him on my bed and he would burrow under the pillows. as he got older, he would look for pets and grooming from me and at times spend over an hour at a time getting pets from me. his bunny dad (my fiance) would visit once a week to the house, upon hearing his voice, jordstein would run around. he knew it was play time when daddy came home. 

his personality came out when he got used to me. he would wink at me and was full of sass. he loved it when i chased him, so he would chew on things to get my attention. 

over time, i noticed he got fat. so he went on a diet November 8th 2017. he was sluggish and wouldn’t want to play.  I found out i’ve been feeding him too much lettuce (never iceberg) his diet was all “good” foods for him, i just gave him too much. 

i was told to give him just hay for two weeks.I also moved his cage to the living room and bought an ex pen to give him running space in the living room and bunny proof it. he loved it. now i could spend more time with him and give him more pets! just yesterday he was running around, his poops looked better, and his was all spunky again like when he was a baby.  he already lost some of the hanging belly too!

last night, around 4 am November 16th, I heard a very loud noise and woke up out of bed. im not sure what the noise was but i went around the house very cautiously.i check his caged area in the living room. he was softly kicking on his side on the floor near his litter box. his breathing was very very heavy and fast. i stroked him gently and he let me. when he is spooked he usually runs from me or jumps, but he just let me pet him. 

i knew this was  a bad sign. i gently pick him up, his body was like a wet noodle, i held him close to me and watched the light fade in his eyes. with his last breathe he tried blinking at me, trying to focus on my face.  i couldn’t stop crying. i still can’t stop crying.

i need to find out what happened. i think it was a heart attack. 

he’s my first baby. i was expecting to have my own children meet him some day. he had so much longer to live. 

please if anyone can help me figure out what to do next. i live alone. my fiance cant get out of work. 

should i get an autopsy done? what should i do with his remains? i want to hold a small funeral for him. 

i’m not sure how much it will cost, is there a range of what it could be? 

please any help would be appreciated. 

[Jordsteins_mom]

This was the first day I received my little prince. he was such a good boy. i didn’t have anything for him at the time, i rescued him very quickly, the same day i found out he needed a home i scooped him up from the house he was at. there were two rabbits, but i could only take one. the second i saw him, i knew he was my baby. 

[Jordsteins_mom]

he had so much fun

[Jordsteins_mom]

and he had friends!! he loved cuddling his stuffed girlfriend and grooming her, i made it myself!

the guin boys (my cousins fur babies) he wasn’t too fond of, but he enjoyed running with them. 

i wanted him to be the happiest rabbit there was, and a lot of people thought it was ridiculous. but i have no regrets giving him as much love as i did. 

[Bam]

I’m very sorry you lost your sweet boy. He’s beautiful! Sadly, it’s not too uncommon for buns to pass at a way too young age.out they are often inconclusive. Buns hide illness well, so there’s often no warning. I’ve one bun when he was too young, and it hurts really bad not to know what took him. I considered a necropsy back then, but found they are often inconclusive. And of course it wouldn’t benefit him or make him come back, so I decided I’d better save the money for my living pets.

If a bun comes from an abusive home and has been taken from the mother too soon, that can affect the longterm health of the bun. WE don’t know how well his mother was cared for when she was expecting him – and that’s important, because if the mother starves or is subject to high levels of stress, it has a pretty profound impact on the babies, epigenetic studies on mice and humans have shown in later years.

It sounds like he did have a heart attack. It also sounds like he had a really, really great life with you. It’s never ridiculous to want maximum happiness for your bun, but non-bunny people can’t always understand that.

Binky free, ****Jordstein****

[Jordsteins_mom]

Bam, Thank you for such a quick reply.

He was my first fur baby that i took care of on my own. your incite is very informative, thank you.
i live near a non profit clinic and they are offering to cremate him for around 50 dollars, the vet is not in yet but they are going to ask for the price of the necropsy.
if it is fairly cheap, i will go for it.

my fiance really wants to know what went wrong, so he is pretty adamant of getting it.

[Jordsteins_mom]

this was the last photo i took of him, i sent it to my fiance because he looked super cute, but also fat. 

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

I’m very sorry for your loss, losing a rabbit without any warning and at such a young age… it’s a nightmare. It sounds like a heart attack indeed, sadly rabbits are prone to them. They can be startled by anything beyond our control: a loud bang somewhere in the neighbourhood, a neighbour’s curious cat, a dog suddenly barking nearby. As mentioned, rabbits are great at masking illness so they don’t stand out as weak prey.

If it gives you closure and isn’t overly expensive I’d go for the necropsy too. But I have to warn you beforehand: sometimes there’s just no conclusion to be found. Best discuss it with a vet you trust, and I hope it’ll help you both with your grief. It must be immense

Your pictures are a beautiful tribute, he looked so gorgeous. A bit chunky perhaps, but still gorgeous All that I see is an intensely happy rabbit who lived his life like a prince. Just about the right treatment for a rabbit, would be the concensus on the forum here. I think you’ve been splendid rabbit parents, and it’s very sad that you lost him at such a young age. Not many rabbits can look back on such a happy life, and it makes me very happy to know that more and more people see rabbits for what they really are: wonderful!

[Jordsteins_mom]

Thank you so much ellie for your kind words.
I went to the clinic and paid 44 us dollars for the cremation and will have a necropsy done for 75.
I am honestly so thankful to have a forum like this. There are so many people out there who just dont understand.

[Bam]

I hope the necropsy will give you the answers you need. A necropsy here was quoted at around 450 dollars, so that was why I opted out.

I had my Yohio-bun cremated though, and his ashes now sit in a bookshelf next to my bridge dog’s ashes. It’s oddly comforting to have them home.

Jordstein is a lovely name. Very Norwegian.

[Jordsteins_mom]

The necropsy was done and the vet said although the cause of death was inconclusive, she noticed he didn’t have much food in his lower bowels. I honestly think the drastic change of diet i gave him (recommended by vets) made his dietary tract go on the fritz. the vet i spoke to agreed that was the likely cause but could not give a definite answer. He went from having lettuce hay pellets and water to just having hay and water.

I would like to say i also asked her if i weened him off the lettuce instead that he would be alive today. she did not want to go against other vets but mentioned the recommended diet for weight loss that i did was very common, and told me that if i feel more comfortable weening off instead next time to do that. she apparently looked for hours for me on exclusive rabbit vet sites and could not find an exact answer for me.

I was also told that whenever rabbits have odd looking droppings to use critical care. but make sure you use the directions very carefully and be sure not to harm the rabbit.

The vet also said she could tell he lived a very healthy and happy lifestyle, she was absolutely amazing.

I would like to thank everyone on here for giving me the support and courage to face my little prince’s death.

I am planning to spread his ashes in an open field, as he loved to run around and binky in the open.

Bam, jordstein’s name was given by his dad. I told him I wanted our prince to have a viking warrior name haha

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