Sorry about the username, this is SnowyShiloh. I got a new laptop several days ago and apparently my password for my regular account was changed from what it had been for years and years, don't remember what it was changed to and I don't have access to the e-mail address I used when I created the SnowyShiloh account! I created this account a few years ago so I could make a few posts from the point of view of my bunny, Rory. Anyhoo, explanation aside...
Helen, thanks so much for making this thread. I really appreciate it.
My little Mabel girl died on Halloween morning. I knew something was wrong the day before because she did not eat or drink properly, but was acting normal. I had a list of things to do on Halloween and put "Call vet!" as the very first thing. Unfortunately, my husband woke me up at 5 am with the chilling words, "Mabel's wheezing, come quick!" I of course ran to her and found her in great distress, lying stretched out with her mouth open and doing the most terrible sounding gurgly, watery wheezing as she breathed. It was awful. She had lots of discharge from her nose. I immediately started petting her and talking to her soothingly, and gently took her out of her cage and lay her on my lap. It was then that I saw her mouth was gray
It was very obvious that she was dying. She had just started breathing like that less than a minute before my husband got me, he heard it right away because it was so awful and he was only a few feet away on the computer. She lay on my lap for a couple of minutes while I petted her and tried to decide what to do- wait for her to die on her own, or take her to the emergency vet and have her euthanized? She looked to be in agonizing condition and we agreed it would be worth the stress of a car ride if it meant she would die quicker
My husband called the emergency vet to confirm they had experience with euthanizing rabbits and that it would be painless, then we ran out to the car with her. Mabel died in my arms as I was putting on my seat belt
The entire wheezing episode from start to finish was less than 10 minutes. I really hope she didn't suffer too much as she died. It was such a shock...
My precious Kerensa passed away in September, and then Mabel in October. Kerensa was 3 1/2 years old, Mabel was 2 1/2- they actually shared a birthday. Their cages were right next to each other. We did not have a necropsy done on Kerensa, who also died very suddenly. I couldn't bare the thought of her body being cut into. When Mabel died, we immediately decided to have a necropsy done though since she was the second bunny in two months. Their deaths were different in both symptoms as they were dying and the symptoms before, but of course it was alarming.
Unfortunately, the vet did not find out why Mabel died. She said her body looked perfect. No issues. She even had food in her belly. The nasal discharge was because she was breathing so heavily, the vet found no sign of pneumonia or a URI or anything. We don't know why she died
The good thing at least is the vet does NOT think it was contagious or that she died from the same thing as Kerensa.
Losing 2 bunnies in 2 months is devastating. I loved them so much and can't believe my 2 healthy, young girls are gone. Hopefully they will be the last deaths for a while, but my Ned seems to suffer from chronic ear infections and we're just taking it day by day with him, and I just found a lump on Nash's belly earlier tonight... Rory will be 7 years old in a couple of months and Phoebe is almost as old as he is
I feel really dizzy and like the room is spinning as I type this.
Mabel was a super sweet girl. We came upon her and her brother, Maximus, by pure chance. We were at Petco to get something (can't remember what it was), and there was a cage with teeny 6 week old baby bunnies in it. The babies were an accidental litter and the owners had dumped the babies at the store that morning. Petco has an adoption program and they were adopting the babies out (NOT the same as selling them- I think they have an agreement with the animal shelter, we had to fill out the exact same paperwork when we adopted their mom Nomi through the animal shelter/Petco alliance 6 months later). They were so young and so tiny and we were afraid they wouldn't be cared for properly and would die, so we decided to adopt two of them. There were 3 blue eyed broken castor boys and one little broken black girl. I immediately chose the baby girl (Mabel!) and then chose a little boy (Maximus).
Mabel and Max were so sweet together. They loved each other a ton and were the sweetest, cutest little babies! They were literally the size of hamsters when we got them, my husband took a picture of Mabel inside my shirt pocket when she was 8 weeks old- so teeny tiny! The first few weeks I was on pins and needles with worry about them getting sick since they were so young (maybe even younger than 6 weeks?), and other than a little bit of tummy trouble, they were great! Both grew up to be healthy and strong and sweet. Mabel was especially sweet. Very active and curious and smart, but she loved to cuddle with her mama and would stop whatever she was doing when I petted her. Such a sweet girl.
As mentioned above, about 6 months later we were startled to find their mother, Nomi. We adopted her immediately and brought her home. She was a wonderful, one of a kind rabbit. It was so funny- I tried to bond mom and babies (I never stopped calling Max and Mabel "the babies" though I suppose I will have to stop now!) and they did wonderfully together (Max and Mabel had of course been fixed). No issues at all. But after Nomi died, Max and Mabel hated each other and did NOT get along- I mean, even car rides and shaking the carrier didn't deter them from fighting. It was awful
But they sure were sweet as babies!
I also can't access my Photobucket account right now, but believe me when I say Mabel was an adorable bunny. She was a small girl, only about 2 1/2 pounds. White with lots of black spots. She had spots on her belly that I thought were SO adorable, and 4 perfectly placed spots on her shoulder like on a domino. Her ears were solid black and she had warm brown eyes. Such a darling girl! I will add some photos when I can get into Photobucket again.
So, that's what happened
So sad I lost my Mabel girl so young, it still hasn't completely registered- neither has Kerensa's death. I only have one girl left
So far in my life I've owned and loved 12 wonderful rabbits. 6 are dead and 6 are alive. Through some stroke of luck, all 6 that are deceased passed away in my arms and were not alone... One small comfort. In Mabel's case, I also feel extremely lucky to have her brother. They kind of hated each other, but it's nice having a living connection to both her and Nomi.
