# Rabbit died suddenly



## Catlin Dryden (Jul 8, 2015)

I had my bunny for around seven weeks, she was around 13 weeks old when she died on Monday. I had taken her to the vet in the morning and got the all clear, besides receiving some flea treatment (called advantage I think). I put the treatment on at lunchtime. At 7:30 I found my little bunny lying on one side unable to stand and barley able to breath. I ran to the vets as it is up the road but they had locked the door and couldn't find a key, by the time someone came to help my little bunny was dead. She was very small and had barley grown in the weeks I had her, sometimes she did strange poops hence why I took her to the vets. Did the flea treatment kill my rabbit or was it something else? Something the vet should have picked up on? Photo of a poo she did on Friday attached


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## Kammie (Apr 4, 2009)

Had she been eating her food and plenty of hay? To me that looks like gut stasis, where the guts had shut down due to an underlying illness. Gut stasis can be caused by anything from stress, blockage such as hair from grooming, not eating, teeth problems etc. Did the vet check her teeth when you first took her? Was she weighed? Was she drinking normally? Was she active and happy or sluggish and sitting hunched in a corner a lot?

Can you go over her daily routine to see if we can pick anything out that seems abnormal?


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## Catlin Dryden (Jul 8, 2015)

Kammie said:


> Had she been eating her food and plenty of hay? To me that looks like gut stasis, where the guts had shut down due to an underlying illness. Gut stasis can be caused by anything from stress, blockage such as hair from grooming, not eating, teeth problems etc. Did the vet check her teeth when you first took her? Was she weighed? Was she drinking normally? Was she active and happy or sluggish and sitting hunched in a corner a lot?
> 
> Can you go over her daily routine to see if we can pick anything out that seems abnormal?


Hello, she had plenty of fresh hay and spent all day eating grass. We also fed her carrot leaves as we where told the leaves where good for her. She seemed to eat everything she was given but never gained weight. The vet had a quick look at her teeth and said she couldn't see anything. However we did notice that her eye responded where virtually non existent despite no cloudiness in her eyes? We concluded it must have been stress and I was given some flea treatment called advantage. As for her personality she was very happy, she would hop about the garden however she couldn't jump very much at all and when jumping of things it seemed to take her a while to decide to do it. her daily routine was she would wake up and go straight outside where she would eat leaves and grass, she'd stay out there for a few hours then she would come in and sit in the living room or on my lap, however when she say her back seemed a little hunched and she had bad balance, she seemed weak but very active, she always seemed happy. At night she would sit with the family and our other bunny then I'd put her to bed and give her extra hay (she had access to hay and water all day but rarely seemed to drink) then I would give her a little rabbit food. hankyou so much for your advice and support x


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## Kammie (Apr 4, 2009)

Her eye sight wouldn't affect her poo so that can be ruled out, although if she had problems with her eyes it would take her longer to judge jumps. Did she do any normal poos and this came on suddenly or was this an ongoing thing? Was she allowed to eat grass and veg from when you first got her or did you wean her onto it slowly? Was she given veg and grass where she came from before you got her? Did her tummy feel really full and bloated all the time or skinny and empty or normal compared to your other rabbit? 

Thing is with rabbits because they are prey animals they are very good at hiding illness till its too late and they've given up. Its looking for really subtle changes in their behaviour or routine that can give clues.


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## Catlin Dryden (Jul 8, 2015)

Catlin Dryden said:


> Hello, she had plenty of fresh hay and spent all day eating grass. We also fed her carrot leaves as we where told the leaves where good for her. She seemed to eat everything she was given but never gained weight. The vet had a quick look at her teeth and said she couldn't see anything. However we did notice that her eye responded where virtually non existent despite no cloudiness in her eyes? We concluded it must have been stress and I was given some flea treatment called advantage. As for her personality she was very happy, she would hop about the garden however she couldn't jump very much at all and when jumping of things it seemed to take her a while to decide to do it. Recently she started doing these poos (graphic image attached), thankyou so much for your advice and support x





Kammie said:


> Her eye sight wouldn't affect her poo so that can be ruled out, although if she had problems with her eyes it would take her longer to judge jumps. Did she do any normal poos and this came on suddenly or was this an ongoing thing? Was she allowed to eat grass and veg from when you first got her or did you wean her onto it slowly? Was she given veg and grass where she came from before you got her? Did her tummy feel really full and bloated all the time or skinny and empty or normal compared to your other rabbit?
> 
> Thing is with rabbits because they are prey animals they are very good at hiding illness till its too late and they've given up. Its looking for really subtle changes in their behaviour or routine that can give clues.


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## Catlin Dryden (Jul 8, 2015)

Kammie said:


> Her eye sight wouldn't affect her poo so that can be ruled out, although if she had problems with her eyes it would take her longer to judge jumps. Did she do any normal poos and this came on suddenly or was this an ongoing thing? Was she allowed to eat grass and veg from when you first got her or did you wean her onto it slowly? Was she given veg and grass where she came from before you got her? Did her tummy feel really full and bloated all the time or skinny and empty or normal compared to your other rabbit?
> 
> Thing is with rabbits because they are prey animals they are very good at hiding illness till its too late and they've given up. Its looking for really subtle changes in their behaviour or routine that can give clues.


Well when we first got her the pet shop had been feeding her just commercial rabbit food and then I'm guiding a few leaves every now and then, so when I got her I stuck to a little bit of commercial food, but took the corn out because I read English rabbits shouldn't eat corn, and hay, and the carrot leaves. At this point most poops where fine; some where attached together or had the tiniest little bit of mucus.then I started giving her little tiny bits of carrot every now and then. This carried on for about three weeks, then I have her tiny chunks of Apple, pear, strawberries OR blueberries. Just as treats every now and then, again most of her poops seemed fine but the some that weren't had more mucus than usual so I cut back the carrot and strawberries ect. However I am worried my sister may have fed her things while I was not there. At this point I could see she was getting fleas so I started brushing her, and picking the fleas out which was getting better. About a week and a half ago she had a very bad diarrhoea poo which got stuck to her I was worried about fly strike so I gave her a very shallow bath. The poos went back to normal until she did this poo that you have seen last Friday, then died on the Monday. I did however notice she didn't eat any of her ceacotropes (can't quite remember the name) first picture is her when we first got her, second is most recent. We've had her for seven weeks and as you can see she hasn't grown much. I have also attached the best picture I could find of her back/belly. It was hard to tell if her belly was bloated or normal because she was so skinny but if I had to guess I would say it felt fairly normal compared to our other rabbit (though he is huge).


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## Kammie (Apr 4, 2009)

You sound like a very good owner and done everything right. I would say she had health problems before you'd even got her, pet shops are notorious for not health checking their "stock" and selling sick animals. If its not too late I'd be tempted to ask your vet to do an autopsy and take the results to the pet shop she came from. If your little girl was poorly when you got her, then the rest of the rabbits in that shop and future ones could all be ill as well and possible come from quite a bad background. 

You done all you could for her. If you will be considering another rabbit (I'm guessing this one was intended as a friend for the one you already have) then go through a rescue centre or failing that a reputable breeder rather than a pet shop. Was it a local pet shop or Pets at Home? I ask because if its a local shop you can report this to the council as pet shops need to keep certain standards to keep their license to sell animals so it may prompt an inspection. If its pets at home contact bbc watchdog as they are doing a big investigation again into pets at home and looking for as much evidence as they can get.


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## Summersky (Aug 11, 2012)

She seems to have had a gut problem going on. Like Kammie said, rabbits hide their illness, because they are a prey species, so it is harder to tell, but the signs were there as she wasn't thriving. Maybe she had something else going on, and the treatment was too much for her.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it is best to avoid sugary foods such as carrots (tops are OK). Young rabbits' tummies are particularly fragile, so you need to make any changes very very slowly, and stop if there is any sign of stomach upset..


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## Catlin Dryden (Jul 8, 2015)

Kammie said:


> You sound like a very good owner and done everything right. I would say she had health problems before you'd even got her, pet shops are notorious for not health checking their "stock" and selling sick animals. If its not too late I'd be tempted to ask your vet to do an autopsy and take the results to the pet shop she came from. If your little girl was poorly when you got her, then the rest of the rabbits in that shop and future ones could all be ill as well and possible come from quite a bad background.
> 
> You done all you could for her. If you will be considering another rabbit (I'm guessing this one was intended as a friend for the one you already have) then go through a rescue centre or failing that a reputable breeder rather than a pet shop. Was it a local pet shop or Pets at Home? I ask because if its a local shop you can report this to the council as pet shops need to keep certain standards to keep their license to sell animals so it may prompt an inspection. If its pets at home contact bbc watchdog as they are doing a big investigation again into pets at home and looking for as much evidence as they can get.


Thank you, your support has made this whole ordeal a little clearer and your support has made me feel a lot happier. I will contact the pet shop asap. Unfortunately it is to late to have an autopsy, but she has been buried and we have planted flowers in her memory. I never buy from pets at home as I don't trust them after buying a rabbit with heriditory illnesses


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## Catlin Dryden (Jul 8, 2015)

Summersky said:


> She seems to have had a gut problem going on. Like Kammie said, rabbits hide their illness, because they are a prey species, so it is harder to tell, but the signs were there as she wasn't thriving. Maybe she had something else going on, and the treatment was too much for her.
> 
> Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it is best to avoid sugary foods such as carrots (tops are OK). Young rabbits' tummies are particularly fragile, so you need to make any changes very very slowly, and stop if there is any sign of stomach upset..


Hence why I took her to the vet, I saw the signs but I feel like there where too many underlying illnesses. We weaned her onto every food she had and even when we cut the bad things out she didn't grow or gain wait. Thank you for you advice though. I took her to the vet and I feel that it was a combination of her gut problems as you say and the flea treatment being too much.


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## Summersky (Aug 11, 2012)

I'm sure she had a happy life with you. What more can we do?


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## Catlin Dryden (Jul 8, 2015)

Summersky said:


> I'm sure she had a happy life with you. What more can we do?


All we can do is give them all our love. Maybe if I had hindsight she'd still be here; but it's not wise to think like that. She's gone but I hope one day I'll be with her again


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## Catlin Dryden (Jul 8, 2015)

Summersky said:


> I'm sure she had a happy life with you. What more can we do?


I found a little quote that said "how lucky I am to have had something that makes saying goodbye so hard"


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## MerlinsMum (Aug 2, 2009)

Summersky said:


> She seems to have had a gut problem going on.


There are lots of gut issues that can affect rabbits.... 
This may or may not be connected, but rabbits which have markings only on the nose/face/ears, can suffer from a congenital issue due to the lack of pigment cells reaching more important parts of the animal when developing in the embryo. Pigment cells (colour) are needed for quite a few normal physical systems to develop normally (Think white cats and deafness).

It has been shown that some rabbits with the Butterfly/Broken/English pattern gene (same gene) can have these issues if they don't have any colour along the spine (which is where the pigment cells are formed and migrate from).

Just a thought  I'm certain it wasn't your fault, regardless of cause.


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## Kammie (Apr 4, 2009)

MerlinsMum said:


> There are lots of gut issues that can affect rabbits....
> This may or may not be connected, but rabbits which have markings only on the nose/face/ears, can suffer from a congenital issue due to the lack of pigment cells reaching more important parts of the animal when developing in the embryo. Pigment cells (colour) are needed for quite a few normal physical systems to develop normally (Think white cats and deafness).
> 
> It has been shown that some rabbits with the Butterfly/Broken/English pattern gene (same gene) can have these issues if they don't have any colour along the spine (which is where the pigment cells are formed and migrate from).
> ...


I never knew this! Its something to remember when looking at new bunnies.


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## MerlinsMum (Aug 2, 2009)

Kammie said:


> I never knew this! Its something to remember when looking at new bunnies.


Don't look if you're squeamish as there are a couple of small pics of innards, but there have been studies done on it - 
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0093750


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## Kammie (Apr 4, 2009)

That was a really interesting read MerlinsMum.


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