Sudden death :(

[AstiBunners]

I'm not sure what happened, but I came home to an unresponsive bun today... She seemed fine yesterday, she was binkying and running around. But this morning before I left for work she didn't come out to greet me like usual and didn't rush to eat her breakfast. I came home and went to check on her but she was just laying there... She was sick a couple months ago and the vet said it was due to a large hairball caught in her system..after it had passed, she had gained a little bit of weight. Could this been related to her sudden passing? Any input guys?

RIP Asti Bunners

 

[JBun]

It's possible GI stasis(hairball) had something to do with it, though usually if a rabbit dies from stasis it doesn't happen suddenly like that, unless there is something else going on like bloat. It's really impossible to say what might have been the cause, as there are many health problems that can cause this to happen. A necropsy can sometimes determine that, but that may also come back inconclusive.

I'm really sorry you've lost your bun It's never easy, especially when you're not sure why it happened.

 

[Aubrisita]

I am so very sorry for the loss of your beautiful bun. Hugs.

 

[Imbrium]

I'm so sorry . It's utterly horrible to lose a pet unexpectedly and have no idea what happened - my beloved kitty passed abruptly and it drove me crazy that I never had any idea what happened to her. It's very difficult not to feel like maybe there was something you could've done differently or some sign you missed; it's natural to feel as though you let them down when something was wrong enough to kill them and you thought everything was fine.

The truth, though, is that animals (especially prey animals like bunnies) are hard-wired to hide weakness/sickness as much as possible... and even humans can (and often do) think that they're perfectly fine days, hours or even minutes before they suddenly die of natural causes. No amount of love you could possibly possess for a pet grants you omniscience, and even if you had known that something was wrong - heck, even if you had known exactly *what* was wrong - prior to her death, that doesn't actually mean you might also have had a chance to save her. Sadly, sometimes things are simply out of our hands - her death is tragic, but every thing that lives will eventually die and you can't possibly be to blame for that fact.

Remind yourself as often as you need to that you did NOT let her down by failing to prevent her death, or by not being able to understand why she died. This can be very hard at times, but it's the truth and it's important not to lose sight of that. What you *did* do is provide her with a wonderful life - you fed her a healthy diet every day, gave her clean water, took care of her/brought her to the vet/nursed her back to health when you knew she was sick, loved her, showed her affection, provided her companionship, gave her toys, gave her ample opportunity for exercise and the countless other things we bunny slaves do for our house rabbits. So many rabbits never know that kind of happiness, but you made sure she never had to worry about being one of them.

She died happy, and knowing she was truly loved - in the end, that's all anyone can really ask for.

:rainbow: Binky free, Asti Bunners!