Sudden bunny death

[Buster&dave]

Hi everyone, I’m new here!

I’m hoping with all your experience that you may be able to help me understand a little why my bun suddenly died.
I was going to have a necropsy but couldn’t bring myself to remove him from the ground.
Sunday the 5th of August I fed my buns around 8 am and dave ate his food and all was well, I gave him a small amount of parsley at 12 noon and still his usual self. At around 2 pm I went to let them out and dave was sat in the loaf position with eyes half closed, he wasn’t fussed that I was there. In the time I have had him he has had days when he has looked unwell and I have rushed to a vet to be told he’s fine and maybe just had a bit of gas that passed through, so I didn’t panic when I saw him I just thought keep an eye on him. The night before I cleaned him out and from then he had plenty of poos in his tray, just a couple were strung together. I kept going and checking on him and he was no worse, but then at around 6 as I stroked him his front paw slid to the side like he didn’t have the energy to move it back so I called my vet and she said to bring him in. When I went to put him in the carrier he had moved to his litter tray and was resting his head on the side maybe like he couldn’t breathe, I could see there was nothing in his eyes and knew I wouldn’t make the vet in time. I put him in my car and I’m sure I heard a gurgling noise, then a heart-wrenching scream followed, he twitched a bit when he was gone. Has anyone ever had a similar experience or have any idea what this could have been.
This has made me ill, I feel that going on past experience this has cost him his life. I miss him so much.

[Nutmeg]

Oh Buster&Dave I am So SO SOoo Sorry to hear that! It is always horrible to lose a part of our family like that.
The bunny scream is the worst sound in the world and I am also sorry you had to hear that.

I don’t know what was wrong with your little man, but please try not to blame yourself. Bunny’s are really good at hiding whats going on until its too late, and I would have done the same as you – thinking it was gas if he had gas issues in the past and the symptoms looked the same. No one knows your pet like you do, so its logical to follow routine. You had no way of knowing this was different.

I am not an expert and so I can’t hazard a guess as to what happened, but there a lot of life long bunny owners on here who may have a thought or guess.

But I wanted to post on here and just give you my condolences and to send you virtual hugs.
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[Buster&dave]

Thank you nutmeg for your reply.
He was fine 6 hours before, I keep going round in my head what it could have possibly been.
He was eating, drinking, peeing and pooping fine, but went downhill so fast.
I must have looked at every bunny site these last few days for some sort of explanation xx

[Nutmeg]

I’m sorry you haven’t gotten any more thoughts on this yet, but I can say that when I was first reading your post my first thought was Gas, or a blockage from fur as his poo’s the night before were strung together… but for him to go from eating and acting normal at 12pm to passing at 6pm it is definitely something more.

He could have had something going on inside that you would have no way of knowing about – a bad heart perhaps with it being a heart attack… maybe a small one at first, which is why he seemed a little off and then a second one when you heard the scream?

Only a vet could tell you for sure, but again I’m so sorry for your loss

[Buster&dave]

Thanks for your reply.
I took them both from my sister 12 months ago as they were just in a hutch all the time.
I had daves molars trimmed about 8 weeks ago because of a small tongue ulcer and it healed lovely, he was in the best health I’ve ever seen him and the vet even commented on how well he was after.
They had free run from around 2 pm till midnight and I was just waiting to get my own place so they could be house bunnies. I’m still learning so this is something I won’t let happen again, the 1 time I should have panicked when it mattered and I didn’t and I will always feel guilty. Thank you for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it x

[Sirius&Luna]

I’m sorry for your loss.

As Nutmeg said, rabbits can go downhill very quickly, and sometimes it’s hard to know what happened. It does sound like maybe he had a heart attack, but it’s impossible to know. It could also possibly have been bloat.

Try not to fixate on his death though- it sounds like you did everything you could and the important thing is that he had a happy life with you. I doubt there was anything a vet could have done since he went downhill so quickly. I hope in time you can remember the happy times, and not just the sad circumstances of his death.

Do keep a close eye on his bonded partner, rabbits will often grieve when their friend dies.

[Gordo and Janice]

Buster&dave, so sorry for the loss. It’s always, always the most terrible thing. You shouldn’t blame yourself. We had learned the same sort of programming with our rabbit. Early on in our relationship with her, she loafed in that tight bunny ball of uncomfortableness with eyes squinting and no interest in carrots or treats right in front of her mouth looking awful and we feared the worst. So we rushed her to the 24 hour emergency clinic across town at 2:00 in the morning. We were in the room at the clinic when she began passing gas and immediately got better before the doctor even came in. But after that when she loafed we rubbed her belly or just let her be and watched her and she always got over the episode. So we never took her to the vet in an emergency after that because over and over again she did her thing and was perfectly fine. Seriously, too many times to count. So you become accustomed to those sort of things. In the end she died of something else. We were and are at a loss. No one could figure out what was happening. She just began to quit eating things one at a time until she had nothing left.

It could be also, in this circumstance, even with the necropsy, there are no definitive answers. It’s hard to accept the not knowing. But we’ve had to come to terms with it. Nonetheless it is frustrating and adds to the grief. Again don’t blame yourself. You were very loving and you were as watchful as anyone. You rescued the both of them from a poor quality of life and gave them so much more. You took him to the vet many times in the past for him to be just fine after all. It’s not like you were neglectful in your care. Again even if you did the things you wish you would have, it’s still very possible and even probable it may not have mattered. Because like Sirius&Luna stated, he went downhill so quickly. And again, so sorry for your loss. My sincere condolences.

Binky free little {{{{{Dave}}}}}

[simbabunny]

Hi, I’m so so sorry about your bunny. The first thing that pops to my mind when I read that you rabbit suddenly died, is GI Stasis. It is an illness that can be fatal, and happens very suddenly. I’m not positive that it is GI stasis, but it is just an idea. I hope that this helped, but like others said, it sound like you did your best and that you took very good care of him!

[Buster&dave]

Thank you so much for your replies.
I am so glad I found this forum, not happy about the circumstances that led me to it but I can now learn towards giving buster the best life I can.
Never even heard of critical care and some other things but they are now on my shopping list ☺. Thank you all once again. X

[Nutmeg]

Buster&Dave – The best things to have on your shopping list is

1) Baby gas Drops (the unflavored stuff as you don’t want the added sugar in it) Give the dose as soon as you see that uncomfortableness. Then another one every hour for 3 hours.
** Also learn to give Buster belly rubes/messages so he gets used to it and wont run from it if you ever need to give it.

Here is an awesome youtube video on how to give them… (all of their videos are great)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbyC6CWbm5M

Those two things have saved me countless trips to the vet when my bunny’s have gotten gas.

2) Critical care can be bought from a vet. I have never found it in stores but did buy it from Amazon – it usually has a one year shelf life.
The apple/banna one was the most popular.
** Now NO bunny likes to be force fed – but what I’ve started to do is once a week I treat it like a TREAT when they are healthy and have them licking it off the spoon. It helped a lot after their spay and neuter.

Here is what it looks like:
(You figure out the dosage based on their weight)

https://www.amazon.com/Oxbow-Critical-Apple-Banana-Supplement/dp/B001FKACXO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1534191284&sr=8-3&keywords=critical+care

** You can also just add some warm water to their pellets and mash it up as well.

3) Oh and for cutting their nails – I found out the human toe nail clippers (the bigger / thicker ones) work better than the pet nail clippers for cutting their nails.
I need the help of my hubby to hold them for me to do this, as they don’t like it, and need to use a flash light to see the quick through the few black nails they have.
My vet offers to do it for $15 each, but they hate going there so much I can’t bring myself to be selfish enough to do that just because I get a few scratches trying to do it.

I know the above wasn’t related to Dave, but thought it would help add to your shopping list!
Hugs again!

[Buster&dave]

Thanks nutmeg all that info is really helpful.

Dave was so laid back he would let me do anything and buster is the opposite, since Dave passed away buster seems to be coming out of his shell more, he never really liked Dave but neither did my sister bond them properly.
Dave got the cuddles from my sister and buster not so much.
Buster was the first rabbit then my sister moved Dave in without them really getting to know each other.

I actually think buster is enjoying himself because he has changed so much and doesn’t seem bothered at all.

[Nichole]

I’m so sorry for your loss. I have lost three rabbits, all suddenly, and it feels terrible. I have felt responsible for all three deaths. Is your vet rabbit savvy? If not, my number one advice for you is to find one that is. Even still, sometimes things just happen.

[Buster&dave]

Hi, thank you. Sorry about your bunnies. Yes, my vet is great but she doesn’t work weekends, so If I had managed to the get there in time I don’t think I would have had much hope.
I miss him so much, just happy I got to have him and give him what he never had before.

[Author]

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