trying to cope

Question
I lost my beloved bun of six years Wednesday.  Last week I thought she seemed exceptionally thin, so I moved her away from the window.  I also saw her sit up partially and strain, like she was trying to go to the bathroom.  She has been somewhat incontinent for at least a year.  She seemed to get better, after I moved her but we were gone most of the day on Saturday.  When we came home she didn't seem to be feeling well, but she still had use of her legs.  Sunday she spent most of the time in her house.  Monday morning she was on her side, struggling to stand.  She had been unusually clumsy for about a week, and I had noticed for several weeks that she was nipping my fingers when I gave her treats (highly unusual for her).  I helped her up, then noticed her funny stance.  I got her out and sat on the couch with her, and she hopped down and fell over.  She could only hop twice without falling over, but she was still trying.  Her hip was obviously out of place, and her knee was under her tummy, almost beside the opposite knee.  She was alert and not in any obvious pain, but I knew something had to be done.  My husband and I are very poor, so we had limited options.  I didn't want to put her down because she seemed to alert and she was trying so hard, so finally the idea occurred to me to take her to the shelter.  Sometimes they will do the surgery and take donations to pay for it until someone adopts the pet.  On our way, she was eating her favorite treats, but she didn't finish.  One employee basically told me they would put her down, so she would take her home and care for her until we could raise the money to take her to a vet.  Tuesday the shelter was closed, so Wednesday was the first time I could check up on my bunny.  The lady told me she was not doing well at all, that she had quit eating the night before, and I came as soon as I could.  She didn't look like herself, she was so thin.  She had runny eyes and she looked like she was having a seizure or something - the whites of her eyes were exposed, she was laying full on her side, and she didn't respond to my voice.  I held her and talked to her, and she came around.  I tried to help her stand, and she sorta folded in the middle, like she couldn't hold her head and shoulders upright.  So she laid on her side on me for about 5 minutes, moving all her legs as if she was running in slow motion, then she started trying to scream - only little sounds came out, but her mouth was open so wide.  I was trying to wait for my husband to get there to say goodbye, but I couldn't.  I got up with her to sign the form to turn her over to the state so they could end her pain.  I barely finished the form, and told her what a good bunny she is, and she died in my arms.  I just keep thinking it was wrong of me to send her home with someone else, that maybe she was hurt by someone inexperienced or that she gave up because I wasn't there.  We've nursed her through GI stasis, she's just not the type to give up.  Please, can you tell me if her symptoms follow the logical progression of an illness or injury?  It would help so much if I knew what happened.  I love her so much.  She had taken several big spills in the months before, just clumsy...  She never seemed hurt, and would always run around like mad afterwards, and play...  She had also been getting into the cat food, a piece here and there, five pieces tops over a span of two months, and she was passing the kibble fine.  Her poops were so tiny Monday, though...  I feel so terrible.  I don't feel fit to have another bunny.  Please, tell me anything you think it could have been that made her so unwell.  Thanks for your time.

Answer
Hi Laura,

I am sorry to hear about your beloved bunny passing away.

Anytmie a rabbit begins to get thin and you notice problems going to the bathroom, it's a serious problem.  

I'm not a vet and I haven't seen your gal so I'm an armchair speculator here.  The hard knocks a few months ago may have contributed to it.  She may have not felt like eating as much as normal, and if she was going through a shed during this time, she didn't eat enough hay to push the ingested fur through her gi tract.  It sounds like she had a partial blockage that was getting worse. Eating the cat food, by itself, in the quantities you say, probably wouldn't hurt in a healthy rabbit; it certainly at the least would not help an unhealthy one.  It did appear from what you are describing, that at the end, because of her already ill health, it allowed a sinus infection to take advantage of her weakened immune system and take a footing.

But the huge warning signs this was an extremely serious, life threatening problem was her getting thinner, her not taking favorite treats, not eating as much as normal, the hard bumps she took before this began, her output problems you noticed.  Anytime any one of these things is present the normal course is to the vet right away.  Problems dealing with the gi tract are life-threatening because of their cecum organ, their little fermentation vat of bacterias.  If it's not working regularly and normally all sorts of life-threatening problems occur - an unlike people, dogs and cats, they can die within 24 hours of you noticing a problem.  

Part of your sadness stems from the fact you have limited means to take care of her the way you'd want to.  It is very important to know you can provide the level of care that you want to provide them when it comes to emergencies.  A rule of thumb for any animal is being able to pay for one annual exam (wellness exam) - generally around $45-50 depending where you are, and enough money for a moderate emergency - $3-400 dollars.  That and perhaps finding a rabbit vet that you can spread payments across, there are many vets that do this because they do not want to deny care to animals that really need it.  

There is one pet insurance company that covers rabbits in the case of emergencies - vpi pet insurance (www.petinsurance.com) for either $12/month (144 yearly) or $120 a year if you pay the entire bill at once.  They have a long list of procedures that are covered when your rabbit gets sick, that are covered at a certain amount.

I can tell you that to deal with blockages forming, petromalt cannot be beat.  Petroleum jelly with malt flavoring.  Really lubes the gi tract to help to prevent them forming.  That and papaya tablets or pieces, to help break down fur in the gut.  Blockages can't be dealt with the same as gi stasis problems, because its a flow problem not a bacterial imbalance issue.  You can't force fluids through the mouth because they have no place to go and thus, they can't do what they need to.

My mom's rabbit developed a fur blockage rather quickly and she noticed she wasn't eating/drinking much and I said get to the vet right away.  She wound up having surgery and they removed a 1-inch fur blockage between the stomach and small intestine.  Nothing at that point would have helped except surgery.  She had gotten a male rabbit as a buddy a few months prior and had been ingesting a lot of extra hair from him, and both had been shedding lately and this was the cause of the problem.  So it can happen very fast.

The one good thing is that you were there with her at the end.  She didn't die alone, at least she had you.  I would guess she was holding on, until you or your husband were there.  There isn't any other place better than with a friend there with you, or mum or dad, if that's how you felt.  You were with her, she didn't have to leave without you there holding her.  It's hard to go through, but I think you'd agree you'd rather have been there for her, rather than not.

She knows you guys loved her.  She would not have acted the way she did if that was not true.  And it's clear you loved her.  

Lee