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Distraught over my rabbit

22 10:03:32

Question
QUESTION: I was told by the vet yesterday the best decision was to put down my rabbit. I feel i made a huge mistake and i am very very sad. He was a Holland Lop. I have had him for three years. He seemed to be depressed and his back leg seemed a little stiff. I thought i would hold him more and get him out of his cage even more and he would be better then after the holidays take him to the vet. Yesterday his head and eyes were doing a weird tick. The closest rabbit vet was an hour away I took him to a local vet because i was so upset. He told me he probably had a bad infection that traveled to his brain. He said I could take him home and do aggressive antibiotics but he said he only had a twenty percent chance of making it. He said if it was his pet he would put him down because it was in his brain. I am so distraught I feel like I let my best friend down. I love him very much and wish I had brought him home. I'm not sure if I made the best decision. I didn't want him to suffer so I agreed with the vet to put him down. Did I make the right choice? Do you think that is what he had? I feel I've made a horrible mistake I love him very much. I feel I should have fought for him.

ANSWER: Dear Melissa,

I'm terribly sorry about the loss of your friend.  Second-guessing and blaming yourself will not bring him back, but I can understand your feelings.  First, I must say that I could not examine your bunny in person, so can go only on what you have described.  If there were other things wrong with your bunny that you have not included here, then I'm unable to figure that into the equation.

You don't really tell me much about the "trick" his eyes and head were doing.  But if he was "scanning" and his head was moving from side to side, then this is known as nystagmus, and can be a sign of an inner ear infection, or sometimes a sign of infection by a parasite known as Encephalitozoon cuniculi.  Either condition is treatable.  Nystagmus (if that's the "trick" to which you are referring) is not necessarily a sign of brain infection.

Did the vet take your bunny's temperature? Did he do any diagnostic work?  These are things that a rabbit-expert vet would be expected to do.  One does not generally just look at a sign of illness (e.g., nystagmus) and make a diagnosis.  If that's what the vet did, then he was diagnosing on a hunch.

In my opinion, a vet who would give a 20% chance of survival rate by just looking at a bunny and seeing nystagmus may not know very much about rabbits.  The survival rates of inner ear infection or even E. cuniculi are MUCH higher than 20%, with proper treatment.  Very few rabbits die from this condition if they are given the right antibiotics.  All our experienced rabbit vets would at least *try* treating the problem.  In many cases, a fluoroquinolone (e.g., Baytril, ciprofloxacin, marbofloxacin) and/or injectable, long-acting penicillin will cure this problem, sometimes quite quickly.  Sometimes over the course of a few weeks.  Sometimes not at all.  But it's at least reasonable to try.

Some vets either don't know enough about rabbit medicine to treat a problem like this, or they don't value rabbits enough as patients to take a sick bunny seriously.  (Vets like this make me insane with rage.)

Bottom line:  DO NOT blame yourself for this.  You were following the advice of someone who advertised himself as an expert, and he told you that your bunny was suffering and had a low chance of survival.  We don't know that for certain.  More importantly, HE could not know that for certain.  Unless he was truly a rabbit expert, an ethical thing to do would be to refer you to a rabbit-savvy exotics vet with more knowledge about rabbit illnesses and their proper treatment.  Tragically, what's done is done.

I am so very sorry.  I wish I could tell you otherwise.

Dana



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you very much for your reply. I wish I would have known there was this kind of help out there beforehand I could have saved my friend. I know I can't undo what is now done which makes me sick to my stomach. To answer a few questions. The Doctor was not a rabbit expert. Butter (our rabbit) seemed to be depressed. His back leg seemed stiff. My mistaken notion was to get him out even more & give him more attention.On Friday his head was moving back and forth to one side along with his eyes as in a ticking motion. Then when he tried to walk he would fall down. I took him to the local vet(huge mistake) because I thought he needed to be seen immediately. The vet did not take his temp.or bloodwork. He looked at his eyes and felt his stomach. He went to look up his diagnosis and told me He probably had e-coli that spred to the brain. He said he could do bloodwork and give him an antibiotic. He said ear infections in rabbits is very rare and he took his orig. chance of servival from 40% before looking up his conditions to 20% and told me if it was his pet he would put it down so it didn't suffer as he felt he was certin it was an infection that spred to his brain. I felt like I was rushed to make a choice in a matter of min. I know now I should have went with my gut to save his life and not the doctors opinion. Im just truely heart broken it is too late for my friend he ment so incredibly much to me I wish I had understood there is more help out there. Thank you so much for your reply and understanding.
Thank You
Melissa

Answer
Dear Melissa,

I hope that vet doesn't treat many other rabbits.  How very sad and terrible.  He may have thought that your bunny had E. cuniculi (Encephalitozoon cuniculi), a protozoan parasite that can infect the brain and renal system.  But even that is treatable, and he should not be practicing medicine on rabbits if he is not up to speed on the latest medical information on them.  

I am so sorry.

If it's any consolation at all, treatment can be long and arduous, and the bunny might not always make a full recovery.  You don't know until you try.  But your bunny is not suffering or in pain, and he had a wonderful life full of love with you, even if it was too short.

Please accept my heartfelt condolences.

Dana