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Please Help, I Want To Know Why My Rabbit Died

S

sammy`s mom

New Kit
Hello,
it is a very hard time for me, a dear friend from a squirrel board i visit told me about this site, i had a beautiful 4 year old female rabbit named Caramel last week she seemed to not be eating for 1 day, i noticed a very small amount of what i know now was calcium and a little blood, she was due to have x rays yesterday, the vet that i saw, which was new to me as my vet does not see rabbits, gave me metacam along with baytril, the metacam was at .06 every 12 hours, she ate again no more calcium she then did not eat for a day the vet told me to put it up to 2ml per day of the metacam, she then suffered seizures, 7 hours later she had another seizure was paralyzed on all 4 paws trying to get up on her belly, it was terrible, while i held her in my arms i read all about metacam and seizures, www.metacamkills.com, any answers are welcome, i hope with my terrible experience i could help save another animal from this.
 
Last edited:
I couldn't get the link to work sorry - and have never had a rabbit suffer seizures. However, I wanted to post if only to send you my very sincere thoughts at such a sad time for you.:(

It must have been a horrific thing to witness indeed and I am so, so sorry you had to see little Caramel slip away in this manner.

TP:(
 
sammy`s mom said:
Hello,
it is a very hard time for me, a dear friend from a squirrel board i visit told me about this site, i had a beautiful 4 year old female rabbit named Caramel last week she seemed to not be eating for 1 day, i noticed a very small amount of what i know now was calcium and a little blood, she was due to have x rays yesterday, the vet that i saw, which was new to me as my vet does not see rabbits, gave me metacam along with baytril, the metacam was at .06 every 12 hours, she ate again no more calcium she then did not eat for a day the vet told me to put it up to 2ml per day of the metacam, she then suffered seizures, 7 hours later she had another seizure was paralyzed on all 4 paws trying to get up on her belly, it was terrible, while i held her in my arms i read all about metacam and seizures, www.metacamkills.com, any answers are welcome, i hope with my terrible experience i could help save another animal from this.
Click to expand...


I am so sorry to hear about your Rabbit. Can you confirm that the Vet told you to administer 2ml of Metacam a day. What strength was the Metacam and do you know the weight of poor Caramel ?

From what you have descibed it sounds as though Caramel may have had a bladder infection possibly caused by sludge/stones (excess calcium )
Was she spayed ?

Seizures are a common occurence as a Bun passes, but it would appear that Caramel's *might* have been the result of some major cerebal episode.
Did the Vet offer any explanation and did you consider having a PM done?

Sorry for all the questions ...........

Bink Free Caramel :cry::cry:

Janex
 
Was she pooping? Did she show any other symptoms at all like - muscle weakness, crouching hunched, swaying, staring into the distance, falling over, shaking her head, tilting her head to the side?

Lots of these are symptoms of a spore called E.c which causes brain and organ damage and is very common in rabbits and can be hard to spot if you don't know what you're looking for, especially if your vet is not rabbit savvy.

Other than that I'm afraid I don't know what to suggest. I've lost wild rescue rabbits to seizures and I know how sad it is. :cry:

I'm sorry for your loss. x
 
Jack's-Jane said:
I am so sorry to hear about your Rabbit. Can you confirm that the Vet told you to administer 2ml of Metacam a day. What strength was the Metacam and do you know the weight of poor Caramel ?

From what you have descibed it sounds as though Caramel may have had a bladder infection possibly caused by sludge/stones (excess calcium )
Was she spayed ?

Seizures are a common occurence as a Bun passes, but it would appear that Caramel's *might* have been the result of some major cerebal episode.
Did the Vet offer any explanation and did you consider having a PM done?

Sorry for all the questions ...........

Bink Free Caramel :cry::cry:

Janex
Click to expand...
thanks, ask me all that you want, i need some closure on this, she weighed 3.24kg, but if only a tiny bit of sludge came out one day and she was eating and passing smaller stools and urine, dont you think the metacam at 2ml a day was very high ?, do rabbits usually die this was seizures and being paralyzed, it seemed so neurological ?
 
Siona said:
Was she pooping? Did she show any other symptoms at all like - muscle weakness, crouching hunched, swaying, staring into the distance, falling over, shaking her head, tilting her head to the side?

Lots of these are symptoms of a spore called E.c which causes brain and organ damage and is very common in rabbits and can be hard to spot if you don't know what you're looking for, especially if your vet is not rabbit savvy.

Other than that I'm afraid I don't know what to suggest. I've lost wild rescue rabbits to seizures and I know how sad it is. :cry:

I'm sorry for your loss. x
Click to expand...

thank you for responding, just that she only had a little bit of sludge, tip of my pinky one day, i feel like i went to the vet to quick and the metacam killed her, she did pass urine the first few days back home with no sludge and her poop was small, but the wheat litter i use was dry the last day, i know i cant get her back now, but i really am sure it was the medication, www.metacamkills.com, under dianne`s story you can see Caramel with my dog Big Ben, older picture of her, by the way i was force feeding her a recipe from the vet, her x ray was to be done yesterday
 
I am currently administering Metacam to 4 of the bunnies who are boarding with me.

They are having different amounts but the lowest is 0.15ml and the highest is 0.3ml twice daily for an assortment of ailments.

I'd say that 2ml sounds too high if that is indeed what was prescribed - but I am no vet and of course the dosage could be quite unconnected with your rabbit passing away.

Sorry to hear your news.
 
Last edited:
The dose rate for Metacam is up to 0.6mg/kg/day

If you were using the Oral Metacam 1.5mg/ml then the maximum dose a
3.24kg Rabbit could have is 1.94mg a day which is approx 1.3ml a day.
So it would appear that Caramel was prescribed a very high dose. However I am not convinced that it was the primary cause of Caramel's demise. Whilst there may be side-effects from an overdose of Metacam I dont *think* they would present as neurological. More likely would be Liver/Kidney toxicity.

Poor Caramel appeared to have a lot of possible problems going on and whilst the very high dose of Metacam may not have helped I really dont think it was the only cause of her death.

Have you spoken with the prescribing Vet?

Janex
 
I am so sorry to hear about your bunny, she obviously had a very caring owner.

Please be aware that there are many 'scaremongering websites' out there. The truth is that ALL drugs and medications have side-effects and some animals (like humans) may have an allergic respose to them. If you looked up the how many people react to things like aspirin you would probably never take one of those again either! I'm not saying that the Metacam was not the cause, simply that some of these websites are very one-sided.
 
As Jane has said I do not think Metacam was the cause of your poor rabbits death but it may have been contributory....was your rabbit drinking or weeing more than normal? Had she lost weight? I ask because Metacam can add to existing renal problems which usually present with the above symptoms.

The fact that your rabbit fitted a few hours before she passed indicates that she may have had some neurological issues.....had she ever been wormed with Panacur? Sadly the convulsions/tremours that occured as she died are a normal part of the passing process and are very upsetting to witness.

Encephalitozoon Cuniculi is a nasty protozoa which is known to affect the brain and can cause these neurological symptoms. It can also cause liver failure.

It is likely that EC takes a stronger hold on its host when their immune system is already compromised.....such as when suffering from a urinary tract infection.
 
Hi I'm sorry I can't add anything to what may have caused your buns death.
I just wanted to say how sorry I am for your loss.
Binky free Caramel x x
 
Teepee said:
I couldn't get the link to work sorry - and have never had a rabbit suffer seizures. However, I wanted to post if only to send you my very sincere thoughts at such a sad time for you.:(

It must have been a horrific thing to witness indeed and I am so, so sorry you had to see little Caramel slip away in this manner.

TP:(
Click to expand...

thank you i appreciate that you took the time to reply and that u understand
 
im not knowledgeable on any diseases/illnesses etc but i just wanted to say how sorry i m about your lovely caramel, you clearly loved her dearly.

binky free caramel

xxxxx
 
I can't help you but just wanted to say sorry to hear about poor Caramel. Binky free little bun.....
 
metacam

I had a wonderful rex harlequin bunny who I loved very much.
I took him to the vet as I felt there was something not quite right with him.
The vet said he was a little weak on the hind quarters and although he was eating and pooing well thought he had had a trauma and she gave me matacam.He weighed 2.7 kilos and the dose was 10 drops per day as the vet printed on the label.
When I gave hime the metacam he became weak stopped eating and after a few hours collapsed.
I took hime back to the vets and he was so ill I had to have him put down.
I was so so upset thet I had lost my rabbit.
Later I looked on the internet and saw dose is only 2.5 drops for his weight.
After an initial dose of 5 drops.
I know that it may have been e.cuniculi that killed him but if she had diagnosed corectly he may have stood a chance.The metacam was too toxic for him and I gave it to him and hastened his death.
After all this all you seem to do pay the vets for what? I am losing faith in vets and feel I have let my bunny down.
Has anyone else had this problem.?Do you think it was the overdose that killed your rabbit too?
cedarex ,
 
sorry for your loss, your vet was quite standered in providing baytril and metacam both are routinely used for rabbits, (an antibiotic and a painkiller) however i do think your dosages sound quite high and i have heard that high dosages can contribute to kidney problems, never had a bun with seizures if you do decide in the future to get another rabbit(or even if you currently own one) i would really reccomend a rabbit savvy vet tho this wont help your little one who has now gone it would possibly help another.no one can say what caused the death without a post mortem but the siezures sound like ec from what iv read, if you need recommendations of vets near you ru members will happily give you their views sadly many many vets dont know enough about rabbit care while i do not know if this was the problem you obviously feel that it contributed in your case, i am sorry i dont know enough to help you but wish to express my sincere condolances at your loss, i hope that your bunny is happy and at peace now at the bridge xxbinky free caramel xx
 
cedarex said:
I had a wonderful rex harlequin bunny who I loved very much.
I took him to the vet as I felt there was something not quite right with him.
The vet said he was a little weak on the hind quarters and although he was eating and pooing well thought he had had a trauma and she gave me matacam.He weighed 2.7 kilos and the dose was 10 drops per day as the vet printed on the label.
When I gave hime the metacam he became weak stopped eating and after a few hours collapsed.
I took hime back to the vets and he was so ill I had to have him put down.
I was so so upset thet I had lost my rabbit.
Later I looked on the internet and saw dose is only 2.5 drops for his weight.
After an initial dose of 5 drops.
I know that it may have been e.cuniculi that killed him but if she had diagnosed corectly he may have stood a chance.The metacam was too toxic for him and I gave it to him and hastened his death.
After all this all you seem to do pay the vets for what? I am losing faith in vets and feel I have let my bunny down.
Has anyone else had this problem.?Do you think it was the overdose that killed your rabbit too?
cedarex ,
Click to expand...


Hi,

I am sorry to hear about your rabbit. Please do not blame yourself. I also want say that ten drops is not an overdose of metacam for your rabbits weight. Yes it is a high dosage, but not so much that it would cause your rabbit to die. It may be that your bunny had an adverse (rare) reaction to the metacam, or there was something else going on and it was purely coincidental that your bunny passed away shortly after being given metacam. Ten drops is a perfectly acceptable amount.

I think you may have seen the dosage requirements for dogs on the internet (being what metacam is intended for...it's not licensed for rabbits) and the dosage for dogs is not applicable for rabbits as they have completely different metabolisms.
 
Last edited:
cedarex said:
I took him to the vet as I felt there was something not quite right with him.
The vet said he was a little weak on the hind quarters and although he was eating and pooing well thought he had had a trauma and she gave me matacam.He weighed 2.7 kilos and the dose was 10 drops per day as the vet printed on the label.
When I gave hime the metacam he became weak stopped eating and after a few hours collapsed.
I took hime back to the vets and he was so ill I had to have him put down.
I was so so upset thet I had lost my rabbit.
Later I looked on the internet and saw dose is only 2.5 drops for his weight.
After an initial dose of 5 drops.
I know that it may have been e.cuniculi that killed him but if she had diagnosed corectly he may have stood a chance.The metacam was too toxic for him and I gave it to him and hastened his death.
After all this all you seem to do pay the vets for what? I am losing faith in vets and feel I have let my bunny down.
Has anyone else had this problem.?Do you think it was the overdose that killed your rabbit too?
cedarex ,
Click to expand...

Stripes weighed less than a kilo towards the end and she was on 12 drops every twelve hours.

So I don't think that Metacam had anything to do with loosing your poor bunny :(

Its more likely that there was already something going on inside, causing the collapse.

So sorry you lost your bunny, its always hard :(
 
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