My rabbit died... help me figure out how

[Angelina Romero]

Hi everyone, I’m new here um so I joined because my rabbit died today. He was around 6 years old. So last night my mom gave him a bath which is something we normally do when she cleans his cage and so I needed to hold him while he was drying and she was cleaning his cage but then I noticed something weird. So his right eye had some type of pinkish flesh covering the inner corner which we later found out was cherry eye but that wasn’t the only problem, his eye was bulging as well which we just assumed they were related. Well this morning as I was ready to head out I checked on him again and his eye had gotten worse, it was bulging more and the cherry eye was covering more of his eye. Now living where I live there aren’t a lot of vets that do rabbit medical care so I had to call around but by the time I was able to find a place that could take him in I couldn’t make the appointment until tomorrow at the earliest of 10:30. So the day goes by but I had also gone to petsmart to buy an eye gel that is for eye infections in rabbits to see if that might help but it didn’t really do much and I kept checking on him, he hadn’t gone poop, had barely eaten or drank water and he just looked really depressed. He would stay in one spot and have his head hanging low and would barely move around like normal. Then after my mom had gotten home from work I go and check on him again and he’s laying on his side which worried me a lot because even though he would normally do that when he was really comfortable I highly doubt he would’ve done that when he was uncomfortable or in pain unless he was dying but my mom just insisted I leave him alone because there was nothing we could really do at this point so late at night and then about 10 mins later she comes to me and says she thinks he’s dying and then she comes back 2 mins later and said that he had passed. Sorry for the long story but anyways I would just like to know what could’ve have possibly happened in less than 24hrs that could’ve caused this? Was there anything me or my mom could’ve done? Please any information would help. Thank you.

 

[Catlyn]

I'm sorry for your loss. But here's a question: was he really so dirty that you had to give him a bath each time your mom cleaned his cage? Even if he had gotten used to it, rabbits should never be bathed. Having said that, A lot of things can go wrong with rabbits in 24 hrs. If he had bulging cherry eye and wasn't eating or drinking, pheraps it could've been a dental problem. Were you checking his teeth often? If it was a dental problem, it caused him pain which made him unable to eat or drink anything, it caused GI stasis and a shutdown in his digestive system. That could most likely be the end of it. At least that's what i was initially thinking.
If that could've been the case, maybe checking his overall health, face and teeth often would've helped, also syringe feeding him crit care and water. Anything except sweets, really. Maybe gas drops or a belly rub would've made him feel better.

But i'm sure someone else knows better to explain. Also, you might want to call the vet you made appointments with to see what they think.

Also, how come that you have to book atime for emergency visits?

 

[Angelina Romero]

I'm sorry for your loss. But here's a question: was he really so dirty that you had to give him a bath each time your mom cleaned his cage? Even if he had gotten used to it, rabbits should never be bathed. Having said that, A lot of things can go wrong with rabbits in 24 hrs. If he had bulging cherry eye and wasn't eating or drinking, pheraps it could've been a dental problem. Were you checking his teeth often? If it was a dental problem, it caused him pain which made him unable to eat or drink anything, it caused GI stasis and a shutdown in his digestive system. That could most likely be the end of it. At least that's what i was initially thinking.
If that could've been the case, maybe checking his overall health, face and teeth often would've helped, also syringe feeding him crit care and water. Anything except sweets, really. Maybe gas drops or a belly rub would've made him feel better.

But i'm sure someone else knows better to explain. Also, you might want to call the vet you made appointments with to see what they think.

Also, how come that you have to book atime for emergency visits?

well he wasn’t dirty enough to where he needed a bath I think it was just something we did out of habit and we had also never had a bunny before but we for sure should’ve done more research when we got him. For the teeth thing I don’t want to keep making excuses about how we didn’t really know much about rabbits but I guess we didn’t know that we were supposed to be checking teeth, the last time we had taken him to the vet his overall health was fine so I think we just assumed that what we were doing by not checking him often was ok and thank you for the suggestions on how it happened. I think because everything we kept looking up was saying that cherry eye wasn’t lethal and also I didn’t figure out that the bulging wasn’t related to the cherry eye until late at night my mom had just assumed that he would be fine until the appointment which I don’t really want to paint her as the bad guy because to her knowledge she ultimately didn’t know what would happen waiting so long and because we had been seeing that it wasn’t lethal (except in the case of thymoma) she didn’t think it was an emergency until ultimately it was too late.

 

[Catlyn]

Well, when was the last time you showed him to a vet? Did he have all his vaccines and stuff made on time, yearly?
Just a side note though, if you called the vet to tell them what was wrong with your rabbit, didn't they suggest bringing him there asap?

Whenever you're having serious doubts about your rabbit's health, show them /call to the vet is a must.

 

[Augustus&HazelGrace]

@Catlyn Just some friendly advice, rabbits don't need vaccines in America.

 

[Watermelons]

A rabbit should NEVER be bathed.
That likely put him over the tipping point, caused the eye issue, threw him into GI stasis which if he wasnt force fed and given medications would be fatal and it sounds like it was.

 

[Catlyn]

Okay, @Hermelin , i had no idea that rabbits need no vaccine shots over there. In Estonia, rabbits need a myxo-a-something vaccine in order to avoid rotting pimples spread by mosquito bites or something.

 

[Angelina Romero]

Well, when was the last time you showed him to a vet? Did he have all his vaccines and stuff made on time, yearly?
Just a side note though, if you called the vet to tell them what was wrong with your rabbit, didn't they suggest bringing him there asap?

Whenever you're having serious doubts about your rabbit's health, show them /call to the vet is a must.

I don’t exactly remember but we only ever took him if something was wrong with him and he was an indoor rabbit so he never needed vaccines. For the vet I really did want to take him then and there and they did say if I was worried that I should take him in but the only available appointment was the next day in the morning. The woman who answered said she couldn’t give medical advice because ultimately she was just a receptionist so I can’t really blame her too.

 

[Angelina Romero]

A rabbit should NEVER be bathed.
That likely put him over the tipping point, caused the eye issue, threw him into GI stasis which if he wasnt force fed and given medications would be fatal and it sounds like it was.

thank you for sharing. I think because there are products for bathing rabbits we just assumed it was ok but thank you for the clarification, I am definitely learning a lot here and although we may have made some mistakes with him throughout his life it was definitely a learning experience. I am just thankful that he lived a pretty peaceful 6 1/2 years.

 

[JBun]

If his eye was bulging, I would suspect that something like cancer/tumor and/or sudden bleeding behind the eye was the cause of death because of how quickly it progressed. The cherry eye was just an additional symptom, but the bulging eye was the primary indicator as it means there is a build up of pressure from behind pushing on the eye.

I'm very sorry for your loss.

 

[Bambigirl]

A rabbit should NEVER be bathed.
That likely put him over the tipping point, caused the eye issue, threw him into GI stasis which if he wasnt force fed and given medications would be fatal and it sounds like it was.

I bathe mine every couple months when she gets a sticky bottom. I just hold her bottom in about 2-3 inches warm water in the tub. I hold her up and do not bathe her body. She likes it . Licks my face while I do it. It also gives me chance to clear her scent glands which get crusty.

 

[Blue eyes]

I bathe mine every couple months when she gets a sticky bottom. I just hold her bottom in about 2-3 inches warm water in the tub. I hold her up and do not bathe her body. She likes it . Licks my face while I do it. It also gives me chance to clear her scent glands which get crusty.

A butt bath is different than a whole body bath. Cleaning just the bum is fine to do when needed. A full bath should never be given.

As for regularly doing a butt bath, that shouldn't be necessary except with those rabbits that have a medical condition or are too old to clean themselves. If your rabbit is not elderly or infirm, then a sticky bottom is an indication of something else wrong -- it could be something as simple as needing a diet adjustment.