Floppy Syndrome

Question
Dear Dana,

My rabbit Smokey passed away on Dec 8,2006.  We've lived together for 1.5 years.  We felt down in the dumps.  I want to know more about the death of my pet.  We found that he was unable to stand with his legs and unwilling to eat in the evening starting from Dec 1.  We've taken him to see a vet and the vet said Smokey had Floppy Rabbit Syndrome.  We hoped that after being treated with a 2 week treatment, he would get better.  The vet gave him Fenbendazole for treatment and suggested that we should feed him grass powder mixed with water by syringe for keeping his digestive system moving.  Besides, we tried to give him some of his favorite foods.  We were happy that he was willing to eat fresh vegetable and drink water.  Also, he tried with effort to stand with hind limb many times.  Five days later, he didn't eat fresh vegetable anymore and fail to stand with his hind limbs.  He began to make sounds Uoo..Uoo... I placed him gently on my lap and kept on feeding him by syringe.  I felt that he was happy and satisfied at that moment, and he lapped around my palm, too.  The next evening, we fed him on the sofa as usual.  He moved his body and it seemed that he wanted to go somewhere.  We placed him on the floor and let him go.  We thought that he was doing exercise.  When we left him alone for a moment, he had hidden himself under the sofa and died.  It seemed that he didn't want us to watch him leaving.

Dana, please help and answer the following questions so as to prevent it from happening again in the future.

Q1:  Is "Floppy Rabbit Syndrome" popular for rabbits?
Q2:  Can Floppy Syndrome be recovered? How high is the   
    survival chance?
Q3:  What did the sounds "Uoo..Uoo.."mean? Was he painful?
Q4:  Why didn't he accompany us when he was getting ready
    to die? Were the other rabbits same as my rabbit?

Your prompt reply would be very much appreciated.
Thank you so much.

Priscilla

Answer
hi priscilla-floppy rabbit syndrome is basically when a rabbit has a stroke and its chances of survival are not very good.
the sound meant it was distressed and being on his own was what he wished ,lots of animals goand hideprior to dying.
youlooked after him as best as you could so dont be sad, think of all the good times you had together.
dave.