Cause of Death?

[Dani13563]

Hello everyone. My bunny recently passed and I was wondering if anybody had any idea why? He seemed a little off today but nothing to be too concerned about. Just didn’t beg to be let out of his pen. Maybe it is concerning and I was just to inexperienced to notice. Anyways, he seemed lethargic when I arrived home. And it took him a while to eat the timothy flower I offered him (his favorite thing in the whole world.) He was in the same position for a while then walked under his elevated bed. Then when I tried to pet him he walked further into his pen and faced away from me. I decided to pick him up and see if he was just mad I hadn’t let him out all day. I laid him down on my lap and he was suddenly completely limp and stretched out like a noodle. His stayed like that for a while then tried to climb off of me. He kinda just rolled off of me then couldn’t get up right again. That’s when I noticed he suddenly couldn’t move his front legs. He could move them very slightly but not enough to support himself. I laid him back in my lap. He continually tried to leave my lap but he couldn’t walk. Suddenly his back arched, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and his back legs started shaking. I’m assuming it was a seizure. Then he passed. I don’t know what I did wrong. He was walking lethargically in his pen and I feel so guilty that I did something to him when I picked him up. But I picked him up the way I always do. It was all so sudden and I’m so sad. Please help!

 

[JBun]

I'm very sorry for your loss If you're certain your rabbit had been eating well and behaving normally less than 24 hours previously, the types of things that can usually cause a sudden death like that are somewhat limited. Things like ingestion of a toxin, true bloat causing cardiac arrest, severe stress or shock causing cardiac arrest, systemic infection, RHDV, trauma.

What you saw in the end was the effects of heart failure. But whether that was the primary cause of death or there was some other underlying medical problem like bloat that caused the heart failure, that would take having a necropsy done to determine cause of death, and sometimes those results aren't always definitive.

Just know that it had nothing to do with the way you picked him up. His heart was already failing at that time, and even if you had immediately rushed him to the vet, they wouldn't have been able to save him. Again I'm very sorry for your loss. Binky free little bun

 

[Dani13563]

I'm very sorry for your loss If you're certain your rabbit had been eating well and behaving normally less than 24 hours previously, the types of things that can usually cause a sudden death like that are somewhat limited. Things like ingestion of a toxin, true bloat causing cardiac arrest, severe stress or shock causing cardiac arrest, systemic infection, RHDV, trauma.

What you saw in the end was the effects of heart failure. But whether that was the primary cause of death or there was some other underlying medical problem like bloat that caused the heart failure, that would take having a necropsy done to determine cause of death, and sometimes those results aren't always definitive.

Just know that it had nothing to do with the way you picked him up. His heart was already failing at that time, and even if you had immediately rushed him to the vet, they wouldn't have been able to save him. Again I'm very sorry for your loss. Binky free little bun

Thank you JBun! He was definitely a bit quieter the 24 hours before he died, but he was eating and drinking normally. He even ate a piece of hay I offered him about twenty minutes before he died. I did feel his belly before he passed and it felt normal. I few things that might be irrelevant are that he did start having eye boogers but not enough to concern me. He also seemed to have lost weight, but I thought I was being paranoid since he would basically just eat all day, seemed perfectly fine according to weight charts, and he was still as full of energy as always when I weighed him. I guess I should have put all these little things together and realized something was wrong. I’m just glad he didn’t seem to be in pain and that he passed quickly and not alone.