Rabbit Bladder Cancer

Question
Dear Dr. Krempels,

I had to put my bunny Tia down today, now I am wondering if I made the right decision.  I am very knowledgable about health and biology as I am going for a PhD in science, however I just need to set my mind at ease.

She was about 2 years old and prefectly healthy.  Yesterday she stopped eating, drinking, urinating, and passing pellets.  The next morning, she was bleeding from her vulva and passing these brown/red clot like stuff.  I took her to the vet immediately, he thought that it was sludge or stones.  He did a physical and said that he felt a very hard mass in her bladder and wanted to do x-rays.  The x-ray showed that she had a mass in her bladder, that was not stones or sludge, he said he knew this as it did not show crystals????  He said it was a tumor.  He said I could do an ultrasound, bloodwork, and biopsy, which if it did show cancer there is not much we can do.  He said surgery would be very tough on her even if it was not malignant and chemotherapy can be fatal to rabbits.  He then said to take her home give antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs or euthanize.  She was in so much pain and could not sit or pass urine, so I decided to let her go.

Im wondering now if this was the correct diagnosis and if it was really just sludge and we cant see it on x-ray.

Thanks, Candice

Answer
Dear Candice,

I am very sorry for the loss of your friend.

It's very possible that your poor bunny had a bladder tumor, and if this is truly the case, then euthanasia was probably the kindest decision if she was already unable to pass urine and was in great pain.

Without a necropsy, it is not possible to know for sure whether this was a tumor, but if it was not mobile, it is not likely that it was sludge.    Sludge is fairly uncommon in young bunnies, though not impossible.

But the vet was right about all the things above:  If it was a tumor, then it probably was not operable, and chemotherapy is not really an option in rabbits.  It usually just makes the bunny very sick, and the remaining time miserable.  I don't know of any rabbits who have undergone chemotherapy for cancer and had good results.

I am sorry about your loss.

Dana