Hi everyone,
Please excuse the length of this message and thank you in advance for taking the time to read this... My rabbit suddenly died on Thursday afternoon, we are immensely grief stricken and so confused.
My husband and I got Niblet from an animal shelter, we were told a building landlord had brought him in, as his previous owners had moved and abandoned him in their apt. My husband and I fell completely in love with him and adopted him. Niblet was a Netherland Dwarf, and he had a few issues. He had digestive issues and issues with his left eye getting inflamed and crusty with no known cause. We took him to a rabbit savvy vet after we adopted him, and worked on those issues. His digestive issues completely resolved after about a year, but he continued to have issues with his left eye.
He was such a sweet, affectionate, and gentle bunny, and we felt so lucky be his parents.
When Niblet got to be 4 years old, he had a bad bout with EC which left him with paralysis of both hind legs and head tilt. They also found a heart murmur. The vet cardiologist we were referred to said that the murmur seemed to be caused by the EC. Niblet was put on a round of fenbendazole. After a few months, we managed to nurse him back to regaining mobility in his legs, though they were still not at full strength. His head tilt never resolved. However, Niblet seemed happy, ate very well, and we felt so grateful that he had recovered in some ways from the EC. His heart murmur also went away several weeks afterward. His hind legs never went back to how they were, but Niblet could use them enough to get around and not rely solely on his front legs.
2 years went by after the EC. In the last several weeks, we noticed that the mobility his hind legs seemed to get worse. He seemed more tired at times when we played with him, and seemed to want to hop around less and rest instead. He also seemed to want to raise his head highly upright often when resting, which I hadn't seen him do before. He was well otherwise (eating well, and very affectionate as usual). We had booked an appointment to see the vet for next Saturday.
Before the appt, on Tuesday of this week, I gave Niblet some water from a syringe because my building had to do some maintenance work in our unit, and he was moved from his pen to another room in our place. The box where I put him in temporarily for the day was smaller than his sizeable pen. He couldn't maneuver as well in this box and kept dunking his body into the water repeatedly and spilling it everywhere, hence the syringe water. He got back to his pen late in the afternoon.
Wednesday went by as normal. Actually, Wednesday night Niblet was especially active and playful when we played with him. As of Wednesday evening, Niblet was eating.
Thursday morning, I noticed that Niblet wasn't himself at all. He wasn't resting in a comfortable position (he didn't seem to be able to sit or lay down, but kept standing up as much as he could), and was standing over his water bowl, just hanging his head over the dish. I pet him and moved him to a more comfortable spot, but he would go slowly go back to that same spot. I tempted him with his favourite foods, but he was also not eating. I called the vet right away and we brought him to the clinic for an emerg visit at 11:30am that day. While we were waiting for vet, Niblet started to breathe audibly, in a raspy way, for a few minutes before the vet came to the room.
The vet said his decreased hind leg mobility may be due to an EC flare up and suggested a round of fenbendazole (he'd been to the vet regularly, but had only ever received one round 2 years ago). She examined him and said there were no signs of abdominal pain or bloating. Because he was breathing loudly for a few minutes, I was really scared that perhaps he had aspirated some of the syringe water I had given him somehow, though he had not coughed, gagged, etc. when I had given the water on Tues. I told the vet about this, just in case, and she vet listened to both lungs and his throat and said there was no evidence of aspiration. What then alarmed me though is that she said his heartbeat was slower and his body temperature was on the low end (about 98.78 fahrenheit/37.1C). Despite this, she didn't seem overly concerned, gave him subQ fluids with Vit B, and sent us home with some meds (pain killer, cisapride), and asked us to syringe feed him till he regained his appetite.
Right on the drive home, all of a sudden, Niblet started to roll around quite forcefully in his carrier. He did this for a bit, while I tried to calm him but he was jerking about quite strongly. It seemed as though he was having a seizure. After that stopped and he fell to his side and his front and hind legs started to move in a back and forth motion. He left out a few breaths with his mouth open. Then our beautiful, precious Niblet was gone.
When we took him to get cremated on Saturday, we noticed that there was some blood coming from the corner of his left eye, the one he had always had issues with.
We are absolutely torn apart and heartbroken, and are so confused.
Can anybody shed absolutely any light at all into what might have caused or contributed to his death? Did he die from having a seizure? Did he seem to have a heart attack? Do signs point to EC re-infection or something else? We are so shocked that he died so suddenly on Thursday, when on Wed night, he was especially active and well. We've been crying daily and have hardly been able to sleep these past few days because of all these unknowns. We miss him so, so very much. I have lost other pets in the past, all whom were dearly loved, but there was something about little Niblet and how loving and pure he was, that is making this loss even more difficult for me.
Any and all input would be so appreciated. Thank you again for reading all of this.
Please excuse the length of this message and thank you in advance for taking the time to read this... My rabbit suddenly died on Thursday afternoon, we are immensely grief stricken and so confused.
My husband and I got Niblet from an animal shelter, we were told a building landlord had brought him in, as his previous owners had moved and abandoned him in their apt. My husband and I fell completely in love with him and adopted him. Niblet was a Netherland Dwarf, and he had a few issues. He had digestive issues and issues with his left eye getting inflamed and crusty with no known cause. We took him to a rabbit savvy vet after we adopted him, and worked on those issues. His digestive issues completely resolved after about a year, but he continued to have issues with his left eye.
He was such a sweet, affectionate, and gentle bunny, and we felt so lucky be his parents.
When Niblet got to be 4 years old, he had a bad bout with EC which left him with paralysis of both hind legs and head tilt. They also found a heart murmur. The vet cardiologist we were referred to said that the murmur seemed to be caused by the EC. Niblet was put on a round of fenbendazole. After a few months, we managed to nurse him back to regaining mobility in his legs, though they were still not at full strength. His head tilt never resolved. However, Niblet seemed happy, ate very well, and we felt so grateful that he had recovered in some ways from the EC. His heart murmur also went away several weeks afterward. His hind legs never went back to how they were, but Niblet could use them enough to get around and not rely solely on his front legs.
2 years went by after the EC. In the last several weeks, we noticed that the mobility his hind legs seemed to get worse. He seemed more tired at times when we played with him, and seemed to want to hop around less and rest instead. He also seemed to want to raise his head highly upright often when resting, which I hadn't seen him do before. He was well otherwise (eating well, and very affectionate as usual). We had booked an appointment to see the vet for next Saturday.
Before the appt, on Tuesday of this week, I gave Niblet some water from a syringe because my building had to do some maintenance work in our unit, and he was moved from his pen to another room in our place. The box where I put him in temporarily for the day was smaller than his sizeable pen. He couldn't maneuver as well in this box and kept dunking his body into the water repeatedly and spilling it everywhere, hence the syringe water. He got back to his pen late in the afternoon.
Wednesday went by as normal. Actually, Wednesday night Niblet was especially active and playful when we played with him. As of Wednesday evening, Niblet was eating.
Thursday morning, I noticed that Niblet wasn't himself at all. He wasn't resting in a comfortable position (he didn't seem to be able to sit or lay down, but kept standing up as much as he could), and was standing over his water bowl, just hanging his head over the dish. I pet him and moved him to a more comfortable spot, but he would go slowly go back to that same spot. I tempted him with his favourite foods, but he was also not eating. I called the vet right away and we brought him to the clinic for an emerg visit at 11:30am that day. While we were waiting for vet, Niblet started to breathe audibly, in a raspy way, for a few minutes before the vet came to the room.
The vet said his decreased hind leg mobility may be due to an EC flare up and suggested a round of fenbendazole (he'd been to the vet regularly, but had only ever received one round 2 years ago). She examined him and said there were no signs of abdominal pain or bloating. Because he was breathing loudly for a few minutes, I was really scared that perhaps he had aspirated some of the syringe water I had given him somehow, though he had not coughed, gagged, etc. when I had given the water on Tues. I told the vet about this, just in case, and she vet listened to both lungs and his throat and said there was no evidence of aspiration. What then alarmed me though is that she said his heartbeat was slower and his body temperature was on the low end (about 98.78 fahrenheit/37.1C). Despite this, she didn't seem overly concerned, gave him subQ fluids with Vit B, and sent us home with some meds (pain killer, cisapride), and asked us to syringe feed him till he regained his appetite.
Right on the drive home, all of a sudden, Niblet started to roll around quite forcefully in his carrier. He did this for a bit, while I tried to calm him but he was jerking about quite strongly. It seemed as though he was having a seizure. After that stopped and he fell to his side and his front and hind legs started to move in a back and forth motion. He left out a few breaths with his mouth open. Then our beautiful, precious Niblet was gone.
When we took him to get cremated on Saturday, we noticed that there was some blood coming from the corner of his left eye, the one he had always had issues with.
We are absolutely torn apart and heartbroken, and are so confused.
Can anybody shed absolutely any light at all into what might have caused or contributed to his death? Did he die from having a seizure? Did he seem to have a heart attack? Do signs point to EC re-infection or something else? We are so shocked that he died so suddenly on Thursday, when on Wed night, he was especially active and well. We've been crying daily and have hardly been able to sleep these past few days because of all these unknowns. We miss him so, so very much. I have lost other pets in the past, all whom were dearly loved, but there was something about little Niblet and how loving and pure he was, that is making this loss even more difficult for me.
Any and all input would be so appreciated. Thank you again for reading all of this.
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