Cardiomyopathy in Flemish Giants?

[Baileybun]

Hello-

I've just found this forum, and although I've been owned by many bunnies over the years, I am stumped by what has occurred with two of our rabbits.

We have had two Flemish Giants in the past three years. Brubeck lived almost two years, and Alexander just a year. Both exhibited similar symptoms just prior to passing, but it was only Alexander we had a necropsy done on.

Behaviours were: depression, lack of energy, lack of passing stool, not eating. Came on quite suddenly. We had a very inexperienced vet with Brubeck (we'd just moved and had a h*ll of a time finding a rabbit vet) who suggested Pasturella and treated with Baytril. Within 24 hours Bru died, seizing in front of my husband at the vet's. Luckily we have now found a great vet for our rabbits, and when Alex presented with the same symptoms, she was on it immediately. She thought stasis at first and we began treating; then his level of discomfort increased, so she did x-rays and blood work. His results showed significant anemia. This time the rabbit died in the car on the way home from the vet's.

Our vet was very upset, and she asked us for permission to do a necropsy. We agreed; and she also asked if one of us wanted to be present; I said yes. Upon examination, his bowels were moving (had he lived, he would have been ready to poop pretty quick), his lungs were fine, his stomach was fine. The only thing was an enlarged artery in his heart. Further lab results determined it was cardiiomyopathy.

I'm wondering if anyone out there knows if this is a fluke with this breed? Or were we just unlucky? Both rabbits came from the same breeder, but were not related in any way. She has not had any trouble with any of her other rabbits. I know for us it's been heartbreaking. Of all the rabbits we've owned, the FGs were the best, almost dog-like in their behaviours and affection.

Thanks for your time and any replies are appreciated.

-Kelly

 

[andreabaylon]

We just recently lost our flemish giant after only a short 7 months with him. He was perfectly fine one day, then feet up in his pen the next day. We have no idea what happened. I;ve heard that becausse it is a large breed they sometimes have heart issues. I'm sorry for your loss...

 

[Maureen Las]

I don't know the answer to this ; I tried to look it up but really couldn't find any info

We have some breeders on this forum and hopefully you can a get an answer from them ; if we don't get replies in the Infirmary I'll transfer this thread over to the Rabbitry section
I'm even wondering if people know because most owners do not get necropsies.

We wiill do what we can to find out....

 

[Baileybun]

Thank you so much for your replies. Yes, it's been very upsetting to lose such loving, vibrant boys so young. My husband was devastated, he was super attached to both of them. Brubeck, our first, was particularly attached to my husband; sometimes at night Keith would play his guitar and Bru would lie on a sleeping bag beside him, feet splayed out behind him, his eyes half shut. It was simply adorable.

To our vet's credit, she was so mad at herself for not catching this, and is wanting to find out more as well. I am hopeful we can all find out more, just to add to our bunny libraries for future reference. In the long run I don't know if anything could have been done differently, but at least we would have had an idea of what we were dealing with.

Thanks again.

-Kelly

 

[Momto3boys]

I'm going to be watching this topic closely as I just took in an 11 mth old Flemmie.

I'm so sorry you lost your boys :cry2
It's so heartbreaking.

 

[naturestee]

I have heard of heart issues in Flemish before, but also other breeds as well. I have heard that larger breeds like Flemies and Frenchies are more prone to heart issues, but I have not seen any numbers collected to show whether or not that is true. Flemish in general are supposed to have somewhat shorter lifespans than an average-sized rabbit, similar to how large dog breeds like Great Danes have shorter lifespans.

I am really sorry for your losses. It's hard to loose them so young.

 

[tonyshuman]

It is more of a generalization that we make with the breed rather than a proven fact, I think. Larger animals have more strain on their hearts simply because the blood has farther to travel and there's more of it. There may be some research out there looking at the prevalence of CM in flemmies, but I couldn't find it in a quick search of pubmed.gov . Pamnock may know more about that, though.

 

[pamnock]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your rabbit Cardiomyopathy is just a general term for "heart muscle disease", and doesn't really give any indication of exactly what was wrong. Rabbits can suffer from many types of cardiovascular diseases, and unfortunately, many of the illnesses are hereditary.



Pam