daughters pet rabbit was sick and died

Question
QUESTION: my daughter's prince started having crackly breathing something like a stuffy nose. the vet took an Xray of his chest/lungs, it looked ok. he suspected snuffles and sent me home with injectable antibiotics. a week later no relief. he then swabbed his nose and found e coli. gave us oral antibiotics. after one more day the rabbit died. he was otherwise acting mostly normal. coming out, eating, etc. he was slightly lethargic and has some soft stools which he would get from time to time anyway.

any thoughts to why he did not respond to treatment. he was 6 years old and treated like royalty.

thank you so much

ANSWER: Dear Kathy,

I am very sorry about the loss of your bunny.

If the radiograph didn't reveal lung congestion, it's curious that he died, unless the bacteria essentially overcame his immune defenses and cause septicemia (systemic infection that has entered the bloodstream).  This would mean that the antibiotics that were given were not killing the bacteria he had.

What was the name of the antibiotic he was getting?  If it was an oral medication ending in "cillin," then this could have caused his death.  But if not, please tell me the name.

As for "snuffles," this is a non-specific term often used to describe an upper respiratory infection.  For complete information on the causes and treatments, please see:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sneezing.html

Did he show any other signs before he died?  Inappetence?  Runny stools?  Was his temperature ever taken, to see if his infection was getting out of hand?  This article can help with other clues:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sickbun.html

Without a necropsy including histopathology on major organ tissues, there is no way to confidently ascertain an exact cause of death. But it sounds as if the infection wasn't responding to treatment, and/or that your bunny had a somehow compromised immune system.  (This is more common in purebreds.)

I am so sorry.

Dana



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

QUESTION: The first antibiotic, the injectable was Flocillin 1cc every 3 days five shots total starting on 9/29/09. the oral antibiotic was chloropalmitate but was only given for one day. he died very late last night.

he was still eating and running around almost normal, a little sluggish. but he did have sticky poop, not diarreah but not well formed.

thank you

Answer
Dear Kathy,

Flocillin (injectable) and chlorpalmitate are both safe for rabbits, and given the circumstances, very good choices for the symptoms your bunny was showing.  It may be that he did have lung involvement that didn't show up on the radiograph (rabbit lungs are a cryptic mystery), and once there's pneumonia, things get very bad quickly if the bacteria causing the problem are not sensitive to the antibiotics.

I'm very sorry about the bunny's death.  It is possible that he had something even more serious going on with his liver and/or kidneys, but this would be difficult to determine without a necropsy.

I am sorry.

Dana