Lost both bunnies today

Both my bunnies died under anesthetic today. All the blood sweat and tears hand raising them and then go out like that.

I'm so sorry.

That's awful. Really sorry.

How awful, so sorry

So sorry

So sorry

xox

Condolences. I understand the pain of losing a rabbit under anesthesia. - A rescue in December had pre-surgical blood work done prior to neuter appt. He came from a rough background at a backyard breeder's setup per his former guardian; and he was kept on baking-soda odor control bedding. Despite pre-surgery bloodwork to check for liver/kidney function, blood-clotting ability, hydration, this boy who I loved so much and had visions of caring for him for the next 10 years, died at the end of his neuter procedure. Cardiac arrest. Stress, imo, was also a factor in his cardiac arrest.

A necropsy showed he had less than 1/4th normal lung tissue.

How awful. I am so sorry for your loss. My heart goes out to you.

Heartbreaking. You have my condolences.

That's awful. So sorry for your loss.

Both? That’s doubly painful. I’m so sorry.

My bunny died right in front of me for no reason. She seemed healthy the day before and the day she died, I only had 20-30 minutes that I realized something seemed off, like she had trouble standing up, but I just kinda thought she was tired. Then the very last 2 minutes of her life, I saw she couldn't even stand up, like instead of standing on her two front paws, her body fell over, signifying she was about to die. Then her last moments, she like opened her mouth, I think a squeak came outta her, and her body was dead. Like her body couldn't function at all and it was like carrying a puppet around.

It was a pretty awkward moment to be at the shopping mall and your pet is suddenly dead. I recorded the dead body, but I haven't uploaded it to YouTube. It's not to be malicious, I want to it to be a heads up to other bunny owners to know what a dead bunny looks like. Because even though I knew she was dead, I wanted to be absolutely sure before I assumed she was dead, for the next few hours.

But I did show the other male bunny that she was dead though, he didn't really do anything different. But after some time, he started stomping and looking depressed because he didn't have a companion. So I was looked around the internet looking for a new bunny, but thankfully, I met someone at the beach who offered me their bunny. And by miracle, he was a brown Netherland Dwarf just like my previous female bunny. And he bonded right away to my tan bunny.

And actually, this male Netherland dwarf gets along much better. B/c the dead bunny was female, the male tan bunny kept wanting to hump her and she got very angry at him to the point I got scared they would fight. The tan bunny never attacked, but he did bite down on her neck when he went to hump her, tearing out fur. Some very kinky 50 shades of gray stuff going on, that tan bunny made that female like his sex slave. So I had to separate them sometimes and keep an eye on them.

So sorry for your loss.

Really sorry. I can’t think of a life without a bunny.

Bucktooth, did you inquire about necropsies on your buns?

I can hardly bear reading this. I'm so sorry.

TreasuredFriend said:

Bucktooth, did you inquire about necropsies on your buns?

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No I didn't do a post mortem for a couple of reasons. Generally they're sent to the university for that and it was a Sunday which meant no courier and we would have to freeze them. Freezing them can destroy the tissues and depending on the cause of death make it harder/impossible to verify. Also you have to wait for them to thaw out, which also prolongs the necropsy. Alternatively we could have done it in house, but I was crying, and the vet was crying and I really just wanted to take my beautiful little bunnies and get the f out of there. I didn't want them to get cut open. I sent them for cremation and they are returned today in an urn. I work there. I'm a RVT and perform anesthesia on many surgeries and many species (dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, pigs, sugar glider to name a few!). The clinic was closed on Sunday.
How ridiculous to suggest that I had aunts uncles etc there. That's not what I meant,my entire family (significant other and our daughter ) were with me, the bunnies belonged to them too. We drove to the clinic together and brought the bunnies inside. We were waiting for them there and my daughter would help recover them after surgery. i.e sit there and hold them in blankets with rewarming bed and help the RVT take heart rates etc until they are sternal and hopping around at which point we would take them and go home. I'm not sure what you meant by asking for more details about double and triple checking everything? I set up the Bain circuit on the anesthetic machine and made sure it had a full tank of O2 and the isoflurane was filled up. I made sure my rebreathing bag was the appropriate size and my scavenger was hooked up and on, soda lime was not out of date and performed a leak test. I opened my pop off valve. We gave our premedication IM. I used the mg/kg the dr instructed and my math was checked by the dr and other RVT by my request. We used butorphanol and midazolam. I injected the first rabbit, and the vet did my second rabbit. All the drugs were drawn up my myself and verified prior to injecting. Then I went back to the anesthetic machine, looked it over again and verified everything was correct. Then I had the other RVT check it again. This is what I do for ALL the animals I anesthetize not just my own. Then we used a ket/Val induction for Erin, given IV and isoflurane gas for maintenance, shaved and prepped and he died. Cpr and emergency drugs were administered.
For Curly the same thing except I decided not to give ket/Val as that was the only thing different from every other rabbit I've done. I usually just induce with iso which isn't the nicest for the rabbit. So we skipped that and it went down the same way. I've done at least 5 surgeries off the top of my head since they died probably more. 3 yesterday alone. No one even came close to dying. It sucks big time. We really miss our little friends.

Bucktooth, I agree that losing both Erin and Curly was a heartbreaking episode. Unexplainable (and definitely a cause for WhyThe? did Curly and Erin die in the routine operations?)

I relate to not having your "baby" or loved ones cut apart...

When our Flemish sibling at 7 m.o. died at the end of neuter surgery in December, my anger immediately turned to the DVM. However she's neutered/spayed Hundreds of rabbits before. I had to silently ponder if stress was in the picture.

It sucks big time is absolutely right.
Every drug drawn up by you, and checked by the DVM. No bun parent wants a routine procedure to turn fatal.

Marietta our stray/captured/middle-aged gal in her 3rd ISO-induced surgery for abdominal mass/previous to surgeries for mammary gland tumors, died at the end.
Fluid-filled chest on necropsy.
Jackson had less than 1/4 normal lung tissue per necropsy in December. Shimmer had a liver tumor that ruptured, unbeknowst to me when the vet asst. propped her up to have her teeth inspected.
We've heard two of our buns scream when the ISO is induced. In one instance a careless Certified Vet Technician didn't turn down the right valve at the right time; and bun didn't recover or awaken to leave with his bun parents. That didn't happen with Curly and Erin.

I've also talked with rabbit owners who mention the impact of stress, ultimately causing death. Compassionate humans always miss their pets, taken/gone too soon. Never enough time.
Thank you for explaining what occurred. No cruelty caused them to perish. It sucks big time is right.

I’m so sorry for your loss. I lost my 2 in the same day 14 weeks ago so I totally understand your heartbreak