help needed

[hailiejade]

i lost my beloved bunny tyler yesterday evening , i noticed in the morning that he was looking off colour , his ears were cold and he felt stiff and was sat in the corner hunched up.

he would not eat but was drinking small amounts of water ,

the same thingalso happened about 11 months ago but he made a full recovery so i decided to wait rather than take him straight to vets,

as the day progressed his ears warmed up slightly and he came out of his cage so i assumed he was improving , my only concern was he had urine stains on his bottom and legs and the corner of his cage was soaked with urine and his stools had become soft and green coloured the day before today he had no bowel movements ,

i then started to worry when he went to have a drink and appeared to be sleeping in the bowel of water and when he went to move he stumbled slightly as though he had lost his balance , by now i decided he needed to see a vet , he went and curled up on my jumper and i cuddled and stroked him while my partner was about to call the vets when all of a sudden he cried out and lunged forward he then made a shrieking screaming sound bolted into the air , looked as though he was having a fit then collapsed on the floor with his eyes glazed and took his last gasp as his body gave a twitch.

i no you cannot give me an accuratecause of death , but does anyone have any idea what could have been wrong with him he was only 2 and a half , i listened to his stomach just before he passed and i couldnt hear any sounds and the time it happened before his stomach made a lot of gurgling noises,

he had started to lose fur on his bottom by his tail and on his front paws but when i asked my local pet shop they said if the skin was not red/itchy/inflamed he was probably just malting.

he had been looking a bit tired the last few weeks and his usually immaculate coat was appearing less shiny and more dull and less groomed (i was grooming him for him)

his eyes were slightly watery but his nose was normal.

when he had died i noticed his chin was slightly bald and the fur matted the fur on his chest and legs seemed wet but was dry to touch , he had a small amount of soft poo on his bottom and a very very small lump on his tummy if he was a girl i would have thought it was a nipple but he was definatly a boy .

any advice would be appreciated

 

[ra7751]

Hi,

Please accept our condolences on the passing of Tyler...may he binky free at the Bridge.

I would suspect he was suffering from a digestive system disorder. Stasis/ileus is likely. This is when the GI tract slows down significantly (stasis) or totally stops (ileus). This results in the die off of the beneficial bacteria that digests food. The dying bacteriabecome toxic and this allows harmful bacteria such as clostridium and e coli to grow...and both of those are toxic. The loss of appetite, the hunching and the cold ears are all symptoms of this GI issue.

Having said that, the fact is that stais/ileus is usually a symptom of another condition and that could be most anything. It could be an improper diet....basically too many pellets and/or treats and too little hay. Hay is vital in keeping the gut moving. He could have eaten something that he shouldn't have....carpet is a main culprit with some gut impactions. He could have eaten something toxic....we have already been dealing with mycotoxins in hay this year. Dental issues can cause this. An infection in another part of the body is possible. We have seen tumors restrict the intestinal tract. In reality, getting really stressed from something can cause this.

The green stuff you saw in the poop is a sign of a major gut issue. The mucus is produced in an effort to protect that very thin intestinal lining. In many cases of stasis/ileus, the pH is radically altered and the changes can result in gastric ulcers. That is what the mucus is trying to stop. As the pressure rises in a non-moving gut from the gases produced from the decaying bacteria (or the pressure from the severe contractions from the use of gut motility drugs....they are dangerous)...these ulcers can rupture. The results are usually a rabbit that will open their eyes very wide, they will arch their back almost in a loop, they will paw with their front feet and they will scream that horrible scream. The ulcer ruptured. There is only one solution to this situation....and you have experienced it.

Couple of things here....and not trying to be harsh here...this is meant more for everyone's education. As we all know, these gut issues are usually signs of something else. Pay close attention and know what your bun usually does. Here, we know how our buns react to things...especially food. If their response is not what it usually is, we are looking. Don't wait to get to a rabbit savvy vet. Remember that rabbits are naturally prey animals. They will do anything they can to disguise pain in order to not appear to be weak. When they display severe pain, it is very late in the event. And please....never listen to anyone at a pet store. No flaming meant to anyone that works at a pet store...but for the most part...while employees mean well and love animals, they are not experienced enough to be providing this type of infomation. And legally in most states, advising someone what to do with a sick animal is providing veterinary services without a license and that is illegal. I have lost many wildlife rescues due to inaccurate information given by pet stores.

Again, I hope I have not been overly graphic or upsetting in my response...that is not my intent.

Rest in peace Tyler.

Randy

 

[pamnock]

I'm so sorry you lost him

It's very difficult to speculate why he might have died. Bucks have teats, so that would have been a normal condition.

Cancer is a possibility, as well as inherited congenital conditions that could have cause a failure of body systems.

The age of 2 seems to be a common age of "sudden death" in linebred rabbits. I remember a geneticist speaking of it years ago at a program I was at. Heart ailments can be one cause.

Randy had already covered many other possibilities in the previous post.

Pam

 

[momofmany]

I am so very, very sorry for your loss.

 

[hailiejade]

tyler always had hay available and fresh fruit vegetables in small quantities in the evenings , he only had 1 bowel of dried rabbit food (beaphar ) a day , and the occasional nibble of dry toast.

I have laminated floors so he could not have eaten carpet

I first noticed a change in his bowel over a year ago when i had to get a different brand of bunny food as they were out of stock of his usual so had 2 get wagg bunny brunch after a couple of days of eating this his stools became soft sort of like mr whippy ice cream and quite stinky (he would have these rather than cecotropes) and then his usual hard round droppings , i stopped using the food immediatly and he improved but his cecotropes have never been quite right since , although he has appeared healthy and his usual self , could this have started gut damage which has graudually deterioated over time and eventually caused his death .

also over the last couple of wks he developed a liking to vitakraft yogurt drops for rabbits which he usually didnt care for he would only have the 1-3 daily as advised but the day before he passed the lil monkey had got hold of a new box of them which he had chewed through and got to the treats im not sure how many he had but could too many of these caused him problems , it did not state on the packaging to seek vetinary advice if too many are consumed so thought he would be ok so long as he didn t have any for a while.

obviously looking at what i have written it is obvious now i should have seen a vet rather than deciding things for myself , and i now no not to second guess things in future to prevent this happening with future rabbits , but as he appeared healthy and normal i really believed he was fine and i was just over worrying.

sorry for all the questions id just like to no where i could have gone wrong to prevent furthur incidents.

 

[hailiejade]

pam



i got him from a pet store , they told me he was 3-4 months old , i dont normally buy from pet stores but as he was getting old and couldnt imagine anyone buying him if he got much older i didnt want something bad happening to him and it was christmas and couldnt bear to leave him there alone , so took him home with me.

i did not ask where they got there rabbits from or how there bred as i just wanted to get him out of there , could he have been a linebred rabbit ?

 

[Bunny Mum]

Sorry for your loss:rainbow:i know how horrible it is to lose buns:bigtears:

 

[Haley]

Im so so very sorry for your loss. Pam and Randy covered a lot of what it could be. To me, it really sounds like a GI problem, maybe gas or stasis (or both). Rabbits' GI tracts are so very sensitive that even a few days without eating/pooping normallycan be fatal if not treated right away.

Those yogurt drops are really awful for rabbits as well- especially so many for one so young, those could have potentially thrown off his digestive system or at least complicated things. In the future I would avoid those with bunnies altogether- they are pure sugar.

Again, Im so sorry for your loss. We can never really know what happened when we lose one, only try to educate ourselves to be better prepared in the future. I really hope you'll consider bringing another bunny into your life when the time is right- you seem like a very caring and loving bunny mom.

*hugs*

Haley

PS., if youre interested heres some links on GI Stasis and Feeding Your Rabbit