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My bunny died but from what

22 10:34:52

Question
I just lost my little Netherland bunny Smeg horribly, and I cannot move on because I do not know what she died so horribly from. I would really appreciate any information. I'll explain everything that happened to her in detail....
It was at night that I heard sharp squealing, and ran outside to see one of our seven cats with Smeg in its mouth, Smeg was pressed against the grass with the cat's teeth at the back of her neck - Smeg had squeezed through a small gap in her run connected to her hutch. I managed to get her free and amazingly enough she had only lost a chunk of fur, there were no bite wounds or injuries at all. She was terrified though, and I looked after her all night, she licked my hand and she was active and drank and ate a fair bit.
The next day she did fine, she was hopping around and eating and drinking it was great to see that she had recovered. Then I put her out back in the hutch she had escaped from that night, and I noticed she sat in one position and didn't move. The next morning I found that she easily let me pick her up - Smeg was never like that, she always ran away or growled. I took her to my room and cleaned the back of her neck where the cat's saliva had dried on her fur. She wasn't as active, she mostly sat there staring out into space. I patted her and talked to her, she didn't respond to her name and then it seemed like she would just snap out of her state and then hop around then sit down again. She sat hunched up and I could hear her grinding her teeth occasionally.
She drank a lot, but she wasn't eating anything, not even her favourite apples. She started sneezing when she drank her water, and clear liquid dribbled out from her nose. It dried to form white chunks. I wiped it away and carried her around, patting her and looking after her as she was in her vacant state. Her eyes hardly moved, they ticked side to side occasionally.
When she hopped I noticed that her movement was rigid and she hopped a small way and then sat down. I wanted to make sure she was seriously ill, I brought in our new baby mini lop, Bunny, and then put her in front of Smeg. Smeg had growled at Bunny a few days ago and we were going to put the  two of them together in the hutch.
I waited for Smeg to do something, but she just sat there, she didn't do a thing when Bunny hopped around her, licked her head and then bowed her head waiting for Smeg to lick hers.
By now I could tell there was something seriously wrong, I took her straight to the vets and he took her temperature and said she had none. Then he checked her heartbeat and said her breathing was slow. Then he went off and got some antibiotics and painkillers for her, I would need to use the syringe and give her 2.8ml of it once daily for 5 days. He said he had a feeling that she had a lung problem.
I took her home and by now she was so limp, she hardly moved and she was weak and trembling. I tried to feed her, and then gave her the 2.8ml of the drug.
She kept trying to hop away from me, so I put her in her hutch to get time alone, then noticed that her head dropped to the ground and she was breathing loudly. I took her back and then propped her chin up a bit.
I put her in a corner of my room, on a warm blanket with some pellets and a bowl of water. She drank a lot, and she was in her unresponsive state. I had to shake her a bit to get her to snap awake and then she would be active for a few seconds then fall back to her strange state.
She wouldn't eat, and the drugs didn't seem to be affecting her. She sat still, doing nothing but breathing and her eyes didn't even move. The vets were closed by now, and so I kept an eye on her all night. She moved by turning around in a circle and then sitting down. She started licking the blanket and I had to move the water bowl close to her so she could drink.
Sometimes she would hop away and then sit back down again. Late at night, I put her up on my bed and her head was starting to tilt to the side and she couldn't lift it up. She wouldn't respond at all to her name and so I kept her next to me all night, patting her. By now she wasn't drinking at all and she just sat there with her mouth open and her head drooping.
That morning I woke up and went to pat her. She sat up and then started hopping backwards, turning around and sitting still. I patted her and then she collapsed on the ground, she lay there and then started rolling around, sitting up and then rolling around painfully, tossing her head side to side.
It was so horrible to watch and it only lasted a few seconds, she thrashed around and then lay still and let out a horrible long squeal of agony, looking up at me as she tensed up and then part of her eye went white then she stopped breathing.
I picked her up but she was so stiff. I noticed that she had a dropping halfway out of her bum, blood around her mouth and nose. It was the worst thing to happen to my little Smeg, I couldn't believe that she had to die so painfully, but I was glad she had died with me, and that she wasn't alone. It seemed like she had chosen to die in the morning, she had forced herself to stay alive the whole night.
Now she's gone, I don't think it was a lung problem that the vet had guessed it was (he didn't seem professional to me), and I really want to find out why she died so painfully, why she had blood around her mouth and what could have caused it.
I have realised a few things that happened during the time Smeg was ill - I had put hay in her hutch, it was quite old and musty and I think it had some mould on it. She sat amongst that hay for a few hours in her hutch.
- She struggled out of my hands and hit her hip on the edge of the hutch then landed on the grass. She's had quite a few bad falls during her life.
I keep wondering what she had died from, starvation, dehydration, internal bleeding or something far worse.
This is quite a long email, and I'm sorry to take up your time, but it would mean a lot to me and my family if we had  some idea of what she had died from.

Thank you,

Regards,
Holly  

Answer
Dear Holly,

I am so sorry about the terrible, traumatic death your bunny suffered.  

Without a necropsy including histopathology of all major organs, there is no way to know for certain exactly what happened, but I can make a few guesses.

Any time a rabbit is in any type of scuffle with a cat, it is *vital* that the rabbit be put on fluoroquinolone antibiotics within 12 hours, *even if no evidence of injury exists*.  Even a tiny pinprick from a claw or tooth can be fatal:  cats have filthy claws and teeth, loaded with potentially deadly bacteria (Pasteurella and Bartonella).  Inoculation with these bacteria even via a tiny, unnoticeable wound can cause septicemia to develop within 24-48 hours.

When a bunny goes septicemic/toxic, this means the bacteria have entered the bloodstream, and have essentially "taken over."  The first sign will often be a very high fever, but when the infection is more advance, the bunny usually goes hypothermic.  If this is not reversed with heating pads, warmed subcutaneous fluids and other supportive care, death will follow son.

Did the vets try to warm her up when she had "no temperature"?  That's THE most important thing to do for a hypothermic rabbit, since medications will generally not work if the body temperature is abnormally low.

The fact that she had blood around her nose and mouth is troubling.  It could be that the bacteria invaded her lungs so badly that she hemorrhaged, but if you are in the UK or Europe, there is also the possibility of rabbit Viral Hemorrhagic Disease (VHD) if she was not vaccinated.

In short, a rabbit suffering from this serious an illness needs 'round the clock supportive care, including warming pads, injected antibiotics, subcutaneous fluid therapy, and all the supportive care one would give a human in such circumstances.  From the post you sent, I'm not sure the vets provided that.  It might not have saved her, but that's what needed to be done.

I am so very sorry about your loss.

Dana