Bunny passed without notice

[sammk04]

my bunny last night seemed to be acting pretty tired. He had been eating and drinking normal up until last night. Although I had started to notice he had lost some weight the last month or so but not extreme.

He wasn’t interested in food or treats, didn’t want to be bothered and wouldn’t move much. My vet was not open late last night, So i was going to be taking him in first thing this morning. I was checking on him every hour last night.

Well first thing this morning I was getting ready to take him in, he started having I think it was a seizure, making some small noises and passed away within a few minutes. It was completely devistating and I am a mess. My heart is broken and I feel so bad.

Any idea What could have caused this?
He was acting completely normal up until last night. He had not gotten into anything, I hadn’t changed up his diet to anything out of the ordinary and had been stress free.

Thank you

 

[JBun]

I'm so sorry. There are so many things that can go wrong, there is really no way to say for sure without more specific symptoms to point to something. The only way to possibly get an answer would be to have a necropsy done, and sometimes those don't give you a definitive cause either.

It did sound like there might have been an underlying health problem because of the weight loss, but again, it's hard to know what as there are several things that could cause that in a rabbit.

Best wishes to you and again I'm very sorry for your loss.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Age is sometime the culprit, but we have had several go away from us that weren't even close to being old. Rabbits are good at hiding things too. So sorry for your loss.

 

[Imbrium]

As JBun said, it's often difficult if not impossible to pin down the cause of death in situations like this. While a necropsy (and possibly histo) can sometimes shed a little light, they're often inconclusive. Over the years, I've had a necropsy done on a finch, a sugar glider and a rabbit who all started showing signs of illness and died before they could be diagnosed. The glider was "liver failure" with no clue as to the cause, the finch was "enlarged organs" but no known cause and the rabbit, who died during a bout with GI stasis, had a blood clot in her intestines (I had a histopathology done on all but the bunny and still got no answers).

Your rabbit was displaying the classic signs of GI stasis, but unfortunately that's a symptom rather than a cause. When it kills, it typically leaves more questions than answers (since that basically means "the cause couldn't be found in time"). It hits swiftly and rabbits are so good at hiding signs of weakness, so you're really fighting the clock from the start and sometimes it's simply out of your hands even if you manage to get them to a vet. I've lost two rabbits to this now... the second just 11 days ago... and it's so heartbreaking. You'd give anything for it to all be a bad dream; to roll back the clock just a day or two and go back to loving on your precious bunny.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I'd like to share something that I once saw another forum member post for someone whose bunny had passed that really warmed my heart...

Before humans die they write their Last Will and Testament, give their home and all they have, to those they leave behind. If with my paws I can do the same, this is what I would ask.
To a poor and lowly stray I'd give
-my happy home
-my bowl and cozy bed, soft pillows and all my toys
-the lap which I loved so much
-the hand that stroked my fur and the sweet voice which spoke my name
I'd will to the sad, sacred shelter bunny, the place that I had in my human's living heart of which there seemed no bounds
So when I die, please don't say "I will never have a pet again for the loss and love is all that I can stand"
Instead, go find an unloved bunny, one whose life has held no joy or hope and give my place to him/her
This is the only thing I can give...
The love I left behind.