Bunners123
New Member
As the thread name suggests, my Holland Lop died a few hours ago. I've only had him for about 3 days. He was 6 weeks and a few days old.
This morning he woke me up with baby-like crying which made me hop out of bed immediately since I've read how this happens only in serious distress. I found him on his side in his cage, barely responding to my presence, food, water and only cracking his teeth and crying out occasionally. By the time I called the breeder for help (since I was yet to find a vet for him due to how short he was with me and how early in the morning it was), which was about 10-15 minutes after I woke up, he had already passed.
I had also woken up randomly a bit earlier and saw him laying on his stomach from my bed, which was uncharacteristic of him since the only other time he did it was during transport due to being hot and rarely when being petted. I had brushed it off as him finally getting accustomed to his surroundings, but looking back it was probably a sign of something being wrong(sun was up, so it could not have been more than 1-2hours before he died)
The last time I know for certain he ate was about 5 hours before and had water in his last 8 hours. The breeder warned me that he might have stomach issues for a few days and to watch out for those and call him if needed, but he had absolutely none and has pooped a lot in his last 6-8 hours(cleaned his cage less than 12 hours before he died and even saw him poop after) and he also passed urine because the side he was laying on is covered in it. About 10 hours before he passed he was running around the room happily and was keen on being petted and even cuddling and clicking with his teeth like a happy bunny all throughout. He was even letting me pick him up almost at will, offering little resistance apart from his first day around. And he was active around the cage getting on his hind legs and running towards me for petting and pellets right before I went to bed.
He also seemed not to have any leg or spinal injuries after I checked him post-mortem(a med student here, so I know the basics of how joints and bones would behave if broken/sprained). Stomach also seemed mostly like usual, though it was hard to tell with no muscle tone. Apart from the urine smear which he had to have gotten while I was asleep(less than 5 hours before he died), there were no other bodily fluids around. He was also kept in an air-conditioned room which was about 20-25 degrees in temperature at the time with the ACU off, so a heat stroke is out of question. He also did not seemed scared one bit, just in a lot of pain and he was also not really too scared generally apart from his first few hours.
The only negative sign I can remember seeing is him seemingly shivering at times, but I brushed it off since a lot of the times I checked on him, this was coupled with him munching on hay or cleaning himself so I just thought nothing of it and his paws were yellow around the nails since the day I got him which I was not really sure if it were natural or urine soaked(nothing came off during cleaning). Another thing is that the breeder said that he was the first generation of babies to have survived birth/childhood from the particular doe (said that 5 or so litters before failed to live in some way). Other than that things that could have contributed to him dying:
Too hot during transport(even jumped in his water bowl to cool down towards the end)
Licked a skin care product-long after it had dried on the skin(he was surprisingly friendly even from day one)
I used wet wipes to clean his cage in the two corners he liked to urinate in so he might have licked some chemical off the bottom of the cage maybe
Had a minor drop(20-30cm) when I tried to pick him up during his first day over and he got himself free
Eating something off the floor while he was roaming around(he chewed nothing surprisingly and I don't recall seeing him do anything but chin everything in his path)
Being blown at by the ACU while being petted/roaming
Also I could feel some poo-sized clumps in his upper abdomen post-mortem(right under his rib cage) if that is relevent
The breeder suggested that it was probably a freak accident and offered me a replacement bunny since he had a few more babies left. Now I'm wondering if I should take another bunny in or not, and what could have gone so wrong for him to go from active to dead in a matter of hours only a few days in my care
This morning he woke me up with baby-like crying which made me hop out of bed immediately since I've read how this happens only in serious distress. I found him on his side in his cage, barely responding to my presence, food, water and only cracking his teeth and crying out occasionally. By the time I called the breeder for help (since I was yet to find a vet for him due to how short he was with me and how early in the morning it was), which was about 10-15 minutes after I woke up, he had already passed.
I had also woken up randomly a bit earlier and saw him laying on his stomach from my bed, which was uncharacteristic of him since the only other time he did it was during transport due to being hot and rarely when being petted. I had brushed it off as him finally getting accustomed to his surroundings, but looking back it was probably a sign of something being wrong(sun was up, so it could not have been more than 1-2hours before he died)
The last time I know for certain he ate was about 5 hours before and had water in his last 8 hours. The breeder warned me that he might have stomach issues for a few days and to watch out for those and call him if needed, but he had absolutely none and has pooped a lot in his last 6-8 hours(cleaned his cage less than 12 hours before he died and even saw him poop after) and he also passed urine because the side he was laying on is covered in it. About 10 hours before he passed he was running around the room happily and was keen on being petted and even cuddling and clicking with his teeth like a happy bunny all throughout. He was even letting me pick him up almost at will, offering little resistance apart from his first day around. And he was active around the cage getting on his hind legs and running towards me for petting and pellets right before I went to bed.
He also seemed not to have any leg or spinal injuries after I checked him post-mortem(a med student here, so I know the basics of how joints and bones would behave if broken/sprained). Stomach also seemed mostly like usual, though it was hard to tell with no muscle tone. Apart from the urine smear which he had to have gotten while I was asleep(less than 5 hours before he died), there were no other bodily fluids around. He was also kept in an air-conditioned room which was about 20-25 degrees in temperature at the time with the ACU off, so a heat stroke is out of question. He also did not seemed scared one bit, just in a lot of pain and he was also not really too scared generally apart from his first few hours.
The only negative sign I can remember seeing is him seemingly shivering at times, but I brushed it off since a lot of the times I checked on him, this was coupled with him munching on hay or cleaning himself so I just thought nothing of it and his paws were yellow around the nails since the day I got him which I was not really sure if it were natural or urine soaked(nothing came off during cleaning). Another thing is that the breeder said that he was the first generation of babies to have survived birth/childhood from the particular doe (said that 5 or so litters before failed to live in some way). Other than that things that could have contributed to him dying:
Too hot during transport(even jumped in his water bowl to cool down towards the end)
Licked a skin care product-long after it had dried on the skin(he was surprisingly friendly even from day one)
I used wet wipes to clean his cage in the two corners he liked to urinate in so he might have licked some chemical off the bottom of the cage maybe
Had a minor drop(20-30cm) when I tried to pick him up during his first day over and he got himself free
Eating something off the floor while he was roaming around(he chewed nothing surprisingly and I don't recall seeing him do anything but chin everything in his path)
Being blown at by the ACU while being petted/roaming
Also I could feel some poo-sized clumps in his upper abdomen post-mortem(right under his rib cage) if that is relevent
The breeder suggested that it was probably a freak accident and offered me a replacement bunny since he had a few more babies left. Now I'm wondering if I should take another bunny in or not, and what could have gone so wrong for him to go from active to dead in a matter of hours only a few days in my care
and I just wanted to let you know that you´ll be in my thoughts and prayers!!!!!!!!!
