Undecided after death of bunny

[flopsy]

Hello everyone,

This is my first time on this forum. I have had my pair of bunnies for the last 5 years and one of them (the chocolate one in my avatar) died suddenly on Saturday. She was healthy, happy, and eating just fine. She had has stasis twice last year but I caught it in time and treated her. I am not sure if she had stasis or not as I didn’t catch it. She was eating her greens and pellets as normal. She did not like eating hay and I was in the process of trying out a new one. Never got the chance. She died in my arms. 🙁  She had been chewing on cardboard which was kept as a toy in her pen. Maybe, I let her have too much of it? Just trying to reason how she could have died when she was eating fine.

Now I have a widower and I am not ready to get another bunny. He is also 7 years old and I am reluctant to get a young bunny, have her spayed (we would get one from our neighbor who breeds bunnies), and start the whole process all over again. On the other hand, he would be lonely even if I did spend a lot more time with him. I definitely do not want to have any more bunnies after he passes away. So, am not sure what to do. I read through some responses on this topic and you are always stuck with one when one passes away and you get another to ease the loneliness of the surviving bun and it starts all over again. I have multiple pets and it is hard dividing oneself in every direction.

[DanaNM]

I’m very sorry for the loss of your bun. 🙁

It’s a hard decision for sure. Is your remaining bunny very social? And are you able to spend a lot of time with him? How is he doing? Some bunnies cope just fine, others get very depressed.

I’ve dealt with this a few times (sadly), and I’ve always re-bonded, but then I knew I wanted to keep having bunnies. Are there any rescues in your area? It could be really lovely to adopt a senior bun, as they often have a harder time getting adopted. You may also look for people privately re-homing their bunnies (such as through craigslist).

I doubt that she passed away from eating cardboard, unless she ate so much that it caused a blockage. If she was eating her other food normally I doubt that was it.  I have to ask, because it’s spreading and there have been a lot of sudden deaths recently on the forum, are you in an area with RHDV2? It’s spread throughout a large part of the USA and Mexico at this point. In any sudden death it should be suspected within the outbreak area (there is a pinned post on the topic).

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[flopsy]

Thank you for helping me reason it out. I just can’t get over her death because it was so sudden. No, we are not in the RHDV2 area. I sincerely hope it doesn’t spread here too.

She did nibble a lot of cardboard and I didn’t think to take it away because it entertained them.

Ben is a very laid back bunny. He likes human companionship but we cannot always give him as much time as his wife could. We have looked into rescue bunnies and will be going to “interview” one but am not sure she will be the right fit for him until we try her out. She had uterine cancer and was operated on last summer so not sure how her health history and vet visits/bills will affect our decision. I don’t know if he would like a new companion so soon but I cannot really ask him.

[DanaNM]

I’m glad you looked into a rescue. <3 Often with buns with medical histories like that, the rescue will consider them to be a “sanctuary” bunny with you, meaning they would cover medical costs related to known issues. That’s not always the case, but it’s something to mention. It’s really common for rabbits spayed late in life to already have uterine cancer though, and often they can remove it all and the bun does fine. I’m guessing it wasn’t very advanced since they deemed her suitable to be adopted out.

I’m glad you aren’t in an RHDV area, so you don’t have to worry about Ben. There really are so many things that can cause sudden death in bunnies 🙁

Also don’t feel you have to rush into the decision. As long as Ben is eating and pooping fine, he will be fine will you consider options. Some buns go into deep depression when they loose their mates, and the owner has to bring in another bun quickly so their original bun doesn’t go into stasis.

You might ask the rescue if they would allow you to foster a bun that you think might be a good match, and then only adopt if it’s working out.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[flopsy]

Panic mode: Ben stopped eating today. I have given him Critical care (about 15 ml). How often should I give him critical care and how much?

Thanks! Anything else I can do for him?

The shelter refused letting us adopt the senior female bunny because they want a huge pen. Ours is not big enough they say. Our bunnies are free range but the shelter has rules about bunny enclosures and ours doesn’t fit their standard. So we are back to square one and need a new bunny soon.

 

[DanaNM]

Oh I’m so sorry. 🙁 Can you get him to the vet just to be sure nothing else is going on? They can also give guidance on how much to syringe feed.

Usually my vet has had me feed 3-4 times a day for a bun that isn’t eating at all, about 15 mL per feeding sounds good.

That is so frustrating about the shelter! I also wonder if you could just get an x-pen and attach it to your current enclosure to show the shelter that their pen is “big enough”?

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[DanaNM]

Ah, I just saw your other post that Ben had just been to the vet.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

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