Sudden passing of my little man

[mylittleman]

Hi, I am a new member to this form. The day before last I came home to find my little man 'Thumper' had passed away. I am in complete shock, denial and completely heart broken by his passing.:cry1:

He was a healthy well looked after mini lop rabbit who was 1.5 years old. He was house trained, had a healthy diet, had plenty of exercise, had plenty of interaction with me on a daily basis and had his annual vaccinations with the vet.

I am completely heart broken and just can’t understand how or why this has happened so early in his life. My partner and I don’t use any chemicals in our backyard, it was a lovely day (weather wise, 19-20 degree day) and can’t work out what could have brought this on.

I was thinking about getting an autopsy done to help me come to terms with has happened, but was advised by my vet that most times it is difficult to determine an exact cause of death for rabbits, unless they had a terminal condition (like cancer); which I am confident is highly unlikely. After these discussions, i determined that it wasn’t right to put him through a procedure like that and have decided to cremate him and make a special little place for him in my garden.

I have done a lot of research and cannot find an explanation for how or why this could have happened so suddenly. My vet did a full physical examination but was not able to locate any signs of anything. They claimed he looked very fit and healthy.

I am turning to you....follow members for support and advice. Has anyone else experienced something similar? Does anyone have any explanations for why this could have happened?

 

[Channahs]

I can't begin to know why your baby passed so suddenly, but I can give you my support and some hugs. I wished that you had an answer so that you could have some closure. It sounds like you were doing a wonderful job and he had a great life. Did the vet look in his mouth to rule out any abscesses or infection? Was he eating and pooping properly up until the end?

I'm so sorry for your loss. Binky free dear Thumper.

 

[Azerane]

Were there any symptoms at all? Even anything minor in behaviour or eating habits etc. If he was outside at the time, perhaps he even got a fright that literally scared him to death? It can happen with rabbits.

 

[mylittleman]

I can't begin to know why your baby passed so suddenly, but I can give you my support and some hugs. I wished that you had an answer so that you could have some closure. It sounds like you were doing a wonderful job and he had a great life. Did the vet look in his mouth to rule out any abscesses or infection? Was he eating and pooping properly up until the end?

I'm so sorry for your loss. Binky free dear Thumper.

Thank you for your kind words. We had a brief look in his mouth but there was nothing distinctive that caught my vets attention.? He was acting a little funny during the day. He was really quiet, didn't really want to socialize which was not like him. He loved his morning run around the back yard followed by morning cuddles... But he was very stand-offish. He didn't really have much of an appetite now that I think about it. I cleaned his cage in the morning and he spent most of the morning in his cage and there was only a little wee in his litter box along with a few poppies.... Not as much as there would usually be. How old is ur little 1?

 

[mylittleman]

Were there any symptoms at all? Even anything minor in behaviour or eating habits etc. If he was outside at the time, perhaps he even got a fright that literally scared him to death? It can happen with rabbits.

No... Nothing... He wasn't himself in the morning.. Very quiet... Didn't really want to socialize or run around the back yard which is not like him. He didn't really have much of an appetite during the day either. It breaks my heart to think that something could have scared him to death. I don't know what could have done that to him. How common is it that rabbits could get frightened to death ?

 

[Azerane]

It is very tricky to diagnose a cause of death in cases like this, you can only speculate. I don't think being frightened to death happens a lot, but it's certainly happened enough for it to be a known cause of sudden death in rabbits, if that makes sense. However, having read that he was quiet and not eating much, I wouldn't think fear to be the cause. There was definitely something going on, perhaps GI stasis but that usually comes on as a symptom of something else. Even something as simple as a hair blockage can cause death in rabbits quite quickly, that's the tricky thing with them compared to cats or dogs, is that they deteriorate so fast.

I'm so very sorry for your loss. I'm sorry I can't be of more help in figuring it out.

 

[bilko]

Really sorry for your loss

 

[pani]

So sorry for your loss. Binky free Thumper.