Care for a dying bunny

Question
I have a 10 year old male rabbit who recently lost his bonded mate of 7 years.
With lots of extra love and affection, he seemed to take it well. We know 10
years is long for a bunny, but vets have always remarked about his internal
signs being more like that of a bunny many years younger. But we noticed
that his eyes were tearing up and took him in for a checkup. This resulted in
a prescription for some salves to place in his eyes. That didn't resolve the
issue and we moved on to having an antibiotic administered. We knew the
consequences on his digestive system and were able to overcome that
temporary upset. But now he has a huge growth on his shoulders where he
used to just have one of those free-floating sacks. It's as if the antibiotic
caused the sack to swell many times over and harden. Early on the vet said it
was a cyst and that surgery was too dangerous; just live with it. But now our
bunny is very lethargic, and down in the dumps. It appears to us that he is
dying. He doesn't want to eat most of the time, so we do as we've alway done
in such cases and feed him Critical Care for Herbivores via syringe. He loves
this food and it sometimes seems to jumpstart his interest in eating once
again, but alas, he is not his old self. He lapses into a very deep sleep often
and sometimes rolls onto his side and then has difficulty righting himself
without our help. After 10 years of being part of our family, of course we
want him to finish out his days peacefully, but knowing what he needs is not
something we're familiar with. Other rabbits we've cared for have always died
overnight and without much in the way of warning signs for us to heed. But
this time death seems to be coming gradually, as if due to old age, not some
internal malady. There only seems to be this one large cyst, or tumor, not
multiple sites. Could this be the cause of our bunny's distress and worth
risking surgery to make him healthy again?

Perhaps the best advice I can hope for is to hear from others in regards to
how to know an old bunny is dying and how to care for him -- perhaps even
how to help him pass away. I see no reason whatsoever for euthanizing him
while he still has a spark of life in him. He'll lie in bed with us and grooms us,
showing us that he is still very much amongst the living.

Thank you for any insight into how best to care for a dying, aged, bunny that
means everything to us.

Ray & Gwen

Answer
Dear Ray and Gwen,

Before you assume he's dying from old age and related problems, I would certainly have him checked over by a different vet.  It is quite possible that he's a reasonable surgical risk, even at his age, and could have the lump removed.  Our vets have operated on rabbits ten years and even older with good results.  It all depends on the overall health of the bunny.  Bloodwork will help the vet determine your boy's status as a surgical risk, and though no surgery is 100% risk free, if the lump is causing him enough pain to make him have a poor appetite and become lethargic, then it should be removed.

If the lump occurred at the site of injection of antibiotic (particularly if it was Baytril), it could be a sterile abscess--or even a bacterial abscess.  And those are painful.  This alone could be the reason for his lethargy, but I see no reason why this could not be treated, even if you can find a good rabbit vet willing to remove the lesion under *local* anesthesia (with a gentle sedative, such as diazepam/Valium) instead of full anesthesia.  We've actually done things like this with excellent results.  But of course it will depend on the nature of the lump.

Is the lump freely moving with the skin, or is it firmly attached to the tissues below? The former has a far better prognosis, and would be much simpler to remove with just local anesthesia.  An attached lump could not be removed this way.

Please check the vet listings here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

to see if you can find another experienced rabbit vet for a second opinion.  Even if the lump is not operable, there are analgesics that can help him regain his energy, and if the pain is causing his GI tract to slow down (a very common side effect of stress/pain/illness), then the protocols here will help immensely:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

(here's one for the vet, if s/he isn't already familiar with ileus in rabbits:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.pdf  )

If he's grooming you and eating fairly well, and showing signs of interest in life, then I don't believe he's a candidate for the E word.  He will let you know if/when he's had enough.

But from where I'm sitting (which is where I can't see or examine the bunny!), it seems as if what he needs is more medical care and a vet willing to try something "outside the box", and not hospice care.

I hope this helps!

Dana