my rabbit dies

Question
Hi, I had a 3 year old female Lionhead lop eared rabbit called lulu. I decided to get her spayed as the vet said i should because he said it gives rabbits a better quality of life. So i had her spayed on friday last, and she made it through the operation ok and i collected her that evening. She wouldnt eat anything that night so when i brought her back on Saturday for her post op, the vet gave me "critical care" to syringe feed her with every couple of hours and "baytril" which was an antibiotic for her.  i di as told but I noticed over the weekend she seemed groggy and she kept grinding her teeth. I brought her back to the vet monday(yesterday) because i was concerned as she wouldnt eat on her own even treats like apples and lettuce, which she usually loves. the vet said that if she wasnt eating by today they would put her on a drip. her temp was perfect yesterday and she gave her an injection for her pain because she said rabbits grind their teeth when in pain. she wasnt any better last night ans every so often her head kind of trembled, but i kept her indoors always and she was lying in her blanket so she didnt seem cold. This morning i checked to see if she had eaten but she had'nt so i rang the vet at 830 am to see if i could bring her straight down to them so they could put her on a drip. When i got there the vet checked her, her temp was normal by feeling her stomach her bowel didnt feel enlarged and her stomach felt normal too. He said to keep syringe feeding her and she should be fine as it appeared that she might just be in pain and needs pain kilers. He gave her an injection of pain relief and gave me drops of pain relief for me to give her at home. He said that they wont need to put her on a drip as long as i do that. I had to rush home because i was already late for work because i just expected for them to take her and keep her on a drip like i was told would happen yesterday. So I didnt get to stay with her and monitior her. When i went home at 2 with my boyfriend to feed her she was dead. I couldnt touch her but my boyfriend said she eas a little bit warm but stiff so he thought she must have died hours ago. Im completely in bits and I just was wondering if you have any reason why this happened?

Answer
Hi Jacqueline,

I am very sorry to hear about your bunny gal passing away.  

I can only guess, but it does have to do with the surgery.  You and the vet are correct that such spays do make quality of life better for rabbits, as it enables them to be indoor house rabbits a lot easier, and basically gies you back your bunny before it hit sexual maturity.  It allows their personality to override their hormonal impulse.  So you were doing this for the right and correct reasons.

The key is finding a good rabbit vet.  Not all vets are, and I'm not even saying your vet wasn't.  But it is clear she was in pain after the spay.  You mention he gave her injections for the pain.  Generally injectable painkillers do not last as long as other kinds that are given orally for a few days after a surgery.  This does surprise me that he did not prescribe metacam to you for at least 3-4 days to keep her pain down so she'd keep eating.  When my mini-rex went in for a neuter (less invasive) I received 3-4 days' worth of metacam to give him 2x a day to make sure he wasn't in pain.

I believe this is the problem.  And I suggest asking him why pain meds such as metacam were not given along with the post-op antibiotics.  This probably could have been avoided if this was done (but again, it's just my amateur opinion).  The National House Rabbit Society, which has links to rabbit vets they recommend, only recommend vets that have a strong pain management philosophy regarding rabbits, because being good rabbit vets they understand just how critical it is to keep rabbits pain down so that they continue to eat.  When rabbits are in pain, they don't move and don't eat.  This shuts down the gut, and bad bacteria start increasing and releasing enterotoxins, which can poison and kill the rabbit quickly.  As their gi tract is more like a cow or horse's, as opposed to a person/dog/cat, they can't just not eat for a day and get over it like we can.

I would definitely find another rabbit vet if you eventually adopt another rabbit.  They need to understand pain management for rabbits properly and not be afraid to prescribe pain meds for you to give them.

If you want to look at the House Rabbit Society web site for vets go here:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

and they have both US and International links there.

Again, I am sorry your gal died.  I know she knows you loved her and were doing the best thing for her.  It's not your fault.

Lee