Unknown Cause of Death

[BrunosMama]

Hi everyone! I hope you are all well!

We sadly lost one of our little floofs this past Monday. But, the cause of death is a bit of a mystery, so I was wondering if anyone else had a bunny with similar symptoms.

A bit of back story on the bun. His name was Cinnabon (Bon for short). He was approximately 3 years old, an adopted Holland lop (or mini, I’m not sure.) He lived with his best bunny buddy, Churro.

Both buns had just been to the vet less than 2 weeks ago for ear mites. Bon was the less severe of the two, and both were treated and seemed to be feeling much better. Saturday night, Bon was energetic and ate his dinner as normal.

On Sunday afternoon, we noticed Bon was sleeping and was kind of leaned to one side, like a bit of head tilt. We assumed he was deep asleep and just relaxed, because the buns get this way during a good nap sometimes. He seemed less active that evening and didn’t wake up for dinner. I also noticed the head tilt was more noticeable, even when he was just sitting normally. Upon inspection, I found one of his eyes was squinted shut, with a bit of wetness and white discharge. He was also holding his ear on that side a bit oddly.

I was able to get him to eat some lettuce and wiped his eye clean (there was no sign of injury). In the morning, he seemed to be doing a bit better, a bit less tilt, his ear back to normal position, and his eye was less watery. However, he was still very lethargic. I tried a banana, and he seemed to want to eat, but didn’t seem able to actually bite into it. I started a syringe feeding/watering and called the vet. Unfortunateky, they couldn’t see him for a couple days.

At this point, he didn’t seem to be in distress or pain. But I noticed he was leaning against things for support and seemed to be getting sleepier/less responsive. We had to leave the house for a couple of hours, and when we came home, we found he had passed away. Oddly, he passed away upright, almost in a loaf position as if he had fallen asleep and that was that. I have never seen a bun pass away like this.

His passing was a total shock, because he did not seem like he was so close to death. I realize buns hide things well and I have dealt with several bun illnesses/deaths over the years, but he did not exhibit any behavior that seemed like he was near death.

Sorry for the long post, but has anyone else had a similar situation? I had wondered about an E. Cununculi infection, but I’m not sure if it was that. I’m happy to say that Churro seems to be adjusting to the single life alright and has been healthy.

Thanks in advance for any insight! 🙂
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BM

[Bam]

Hi BrunosMama 💚!

I’m very sorry you lost Bon.

Was Bon a lop? I’m asking because ear infections are very common in lops and these infections can go undetected for a very long time, even with regular vet health checks. Did you ever notice if he had a hearing problem? An undetected ear infection can sometimes heal spontaneously after having caused damage to structures within the ear. The eardrum can perforate from pressure from wax and debris that has collected in the outer ear, or from pus that have formed inside the ear and so on.

(It’s of course possible for non-lops to get ear infections, but its a lot less common).

The wet eye with white discharge is not consistent with e c, as you know, although ec does suppress the immune defense so an ec cun is more likely to be susceptible to any kind of infection.

Great to hear from you, although I of course wish the circumstances were happier 🧡

[BrunosMama]

Hi Bam 🧡!

Thanks for the information! Yes, Bon was a lop, but I never noticed any hearing problems. I had wondered about an ear infection, too, but didn’t realize they could be so easy to miss. I suppose that might also explain the leaning and head tilt. And holding his ear in a weird position. Is it possible for lops (or any bunny really) to die from an ear infection?

[LBJ10]

Do you know what the vet used to treat for the ear mites?

[Bam]

🧡

An ear infection in the outer ear can penetrate into the middle ear via the tympanic membrane. The middle ear is very close to the inner ear, which is basically the brain. If infection reaches the brain it is not good, to say the least.

You, as a bun caretaker,  would not notice symptoms, which is what’s so insidious about this. You can basically not detect it without skull x rays, and thats not part of a routine yearly check up. Its extremely difficult for a vet to get a good look into a lop’s “inner outer’ ear, because the outer ear canal is so very narrow in lops.

 

 

 

[BrunosMama]

@LBJ I believe it was Selarid (selamectin). He has prescribed that for other buns in the past and it has worked well. It seems to have helped Churro quite a bit. They were treated at the same time, about 2 weeks before Bon passed away.

 

@Bam oh ok, that makes sense, thank you for explaining. 🙂

[LBJ10]

OK, I was just curious since some bunnies can have an adverse reaction to ivermectin. I didn’t know what coloring these bunnies have/had though.

I’m sorry this happened. Something was obviously going on. As Bam explained, it is possible for a bunny to have an internal ear infection that isn’t easily detected.

[Author]

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