Did I cause my bunnies death?

[Syd&Coke]

Hi. My bunny died a few weeks ago and I really want to know if what I did may have caused it. 3 days before he passed, I saw that he had dry skin and I’m not sure if I did it that day or the day after, but I decided to get lotion and Vaseline and put it on his dry spots. I put a good amount, but made sure to rub it in well and comb it out. Then one day when I woke up I saw that he wasn’t doing well. He wasn’t eating, pooping, and he was hunched up. I gave him a bunch of belly rubs because he looked like his belly was in pain and I took him to the vet the day after I realized he wasn’t feeling well because where I live vets are closed on Sundays. After taking him to the vet I had to take him to an emergency vet because the vets couldn’t get any blood out of his veins and then he died an hour after getting to the emergency vet and they said that they think he might have just started to have bone cancer. This is what his dry skin looked like. Do y’all think it could have also been fur mites or was it just cancer. Also sorry this is so long but I really feel bad because he was my best friend.

 

[Blue eyes]

From your prior posts, it seems more likely it was GI stasis. The stasis could have been brought on by him ingesting (licking while grooming) the lotion that was applied just a couple days before symptoms began. Stress and other factors like diet are also possible causes of GI stasis. But just based on your description, the lotion seems like a possible contributing factor.

Since he wasn't eating, he would have become dehydrated which could explain why blood couldn't be drawn (veins shrink). Not pooping is also a sign of stasis.

The fur mites would have been uncomfortable for him, but not enough to cause death. Again the description given would lead me to believe it was GI stasis that caused his death.

 

[Syd&Coke]

From your prior posts, it seems more likely it was GI stasis. The stasis could have been brought on by him ingesting (licking while grooming) the lotion that was applied just a couple days before symptoms began. Stress and other factors like diet are also possible causes of GI stasis. But just based on your description, the lotion seems like a possible contributing factor.

Since he wasn't eating, he would have become dehydrated which could explain why blood couldn't be drawn (veins shrink). Not pooping is also a sign of stasis.

The fur mites would have been uncomfortable for him, but not enough to cause death. Again the description given would lead me to believe it was GI stasis that caused his death.

They could find the veins, when they lifted him up to try to take the blood he was hyperventilating so they put him down so he could relax. They also did an X-ray. Do you think they would have been able to see the lotion since they did it because they said everything looked fine. Plus he did start to have trouble staying on all fours and only layed down the night before.