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Postmortem?

Sandra

Warren Scout
Hi, how long after death can you do a postmortem? One of our rescue bunnies died Saturday morning and we left her at the vets for a postmortem. Today the vet called and said that they didn't want to do a postmortem because it was too late (it was a long weekend, vets was closed Monday)... I am slightly disappointed because we really needed the results:( and I think the vet could have foreseen the long weekend...
 
I think they can do a basic one that would show obvious physical things like an enlarged heart but possibly not tests like blood work.

Tam
 
i think it is quite off if you left her there after death for a post mortem and now they say they cant do it. i would do a written complaint explaining that you should have been told at the time that it would not have been possible to do and therefore you could have sought out another vet. what reasons did you want the pm for? if it is to prevent disease in another rabbit i would take them in to be checked over just to be sure.
 
Hi, how long after death can you do a postmortem? One of our rescue bunnies died Saturday morning and we left her at the vets for a postmortem. Today the vet called and said that they didn't want to do a postmortem because it was too late (it was a long weekend, vets was closed Monday)... I am slightly disappointed because we really needed the results:( and I think the vet could have foreseen the long weekend...

A PM needs to be done as soon as possible after death. Generally within 4 hours, especially if a Gut problem was involved in the Rabbits death. Autolysis ( sort of 'self destruction' of living cells ) occurs very quickly after death so a PM after 4 days would be pointless.

To slow down autolysis the body needs to be refrigerated ( not frozen ). That can buy a bit more time.

I am very sorry the Bunny did not make it :cry: Sometimes even a full PM does not give a definative cause of death

Janex
 
Thanks!

A gut problem was involved, we think. But we are not sure and we believe that there could have been some other underlying cause, infection or something. Another bunny has been sick but has been taken to the vet for a check. That bunny is still a bit sick but getting better.

The main reason was that the bunny that died had been in contact with wild rabbits at its former owner, had a really messy butt and very dirty scent glands when we got her but seemed fine for the first day, then everything went down hill. There are no vaccinations here in Iceland for rabbits so it would have been very interesting and important to find out if there are some rabbit diseases that we don't know about so that we can protect out bunnies...

Will send a letter to the vet. They could have told me already Saturday morning that they wouldn't have time to do a postmortem, seems like they never had any intention to do it:(

Thanks everyone!
 
sounds like it could be coccidia - it's common in animals under stress from moving home and change of diet etc. - if it is coccidia you need to take very stringent cleaning measures, such as steam cleaning, and keep other rabbits away from the area she was in, as it's very contagious but many rabbits don't show symptoms till stressed again. This article explains that there are 2 forms, a liver one and a gut one - but treatment for both is sulfaquinoxaline - for a month with the liver type, and for 2 periods of 7 days for the intestinal type. Also quarantine for a month regards animals going in or out of the area. http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/171332.htm&word=coccidia,rabbits
 
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