Rabbit suddenly died

Hi. I am quite upset. Beauty our rabbit died yesterday afternoon while at the vets. We had only had her for 3 months as we took her in after my sister's friend could no longer look after her and we had a spare hutch as back in January my sister's rabbit died after a 6 month unknown illness (the vets could not work out what it was whenever we took him). Anyway she was fine very lively and seemed to love being with us. She was not spayed and she had not had a phantom pregnancy since she arrived and when our other female non-spayed rabbit Foxxy (seperate hutch) started her phantom (she hadn't done one since the end of last year) i thought she had started hers last week. Nothing was out of the ordinary as she kept eating except like Foxxy she ate less of her pellets. She drank like she normally did too. It was only monday when we noticed she was limping in her run, yet still active. We got her to the vet the next day, she had not eaten much from monday evening until the vet appointment.

The vet said her leg wasn't broken (as we had thought) but that she was dehydrated (we had been syringing water and she had been eating greens the night before). She said she'd have to stay overnight while they got her eating and drinking normally before doing x-rays, molar tooth checking etc. Then a few hours later we get a phone call saying she wasn't responding to the drugs and that it looks like she won't recover. While the vet was on the phone Beauty died. We went to the vets to see her and questioned the vet nurse about what was done to help her and they said they couldn't get a drip into her ear and she was paralyzed down one side. All the vets could say was that she had a brain parasite and it had been inside her for a while as rabbits hide things.

I am just in shock as she was completely fine when she came to us, she had her myxi injection shortly after as my sister found out her friend did not take Beauty to the vet for a few years, the vet checked her over and said she was a very healthy rabbit. I just can't understand what went wrong. It genuinely did look like she was doing a phantom pregnancy and then just a few days later she's died? I didn't notice anything strange. The vet did ask if she had been over drinking and weeing quite a lot but she was drinking the same except for the night before we went to the vets. I just wonder if there was anything that could have been done sooner? I can't believe we had her for three months and then she's just gone.

I'm really sorry for your loss

I've never experienced the symptoms described, but just wanted to say I'm sure Beauty is at peace.

A brain parasite? Do you know what kind? So sorry for your loss x

Sorry for your loss Scrufox, was Beauty vaccinated against myxi and VHD? I'm not a rabbit health expert but I know that VHD in particular can kill pet rabbits very quickly indeed.

I'm just wondering if the vet was describing EC?

So very sorry for your loss, it must have been a shock for you.

Sorry to hear about your loss, it would be worth checking back with your vet to find out what sort of parasite she was talking about. My assumption would be that they meant EC. If it is this it is really important that you protect and treat your remaining rabbit and its surroundings to either prevent them becoming infected or to prevent further spread if in the future you get any more rabbbits.

http://wildlife1.wildlifeinformation.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Encephalitozoonosis.htm

jpp said:

I'm just wondering if the vet was describing EC?

So very sorry for your loss, it must have been a shock for you.

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I think EC was what they thought my sister's rabbit had but they couldn't find out what it was and we had to take him back to the vet quite a lot last year and each time (and despite seeing a few different vets) they didn't know what he had wrong.

The vet never said anything about it being EC just that it was a parasite that must have been in the brain as she became paralyzed and that she deteriated quite quickly and didn't respond to anything they tried to help her.

The vets advised us to move the rabbit runs from where they had been so that our other rabbits don't pick up anything if there is anything lingering. We have done that and are keeping an eye on them to see if anything changes. Beauty had been on her own but we were going to eventually have her spayed and paired up with another spayed female (while with my sisters friend Beauty had been in with a neutered male before he died). The vet did ask if her food bowl was shared with any of the other rabbits but she had her own food bowl.

I have read a little about EC but i am finding it all confusing. Is there any way to know the signs of it? What also confused me is the vet said that 50% of rabbits have it but it is inactive until something triggers it. I'm not sure if they meant just EC or any parasite though.

So sorry for your sudden loss.

It does sound a lot like the vet was describing EC sadly. I'd definitely ask if there is anything you should do to protect your other rabbit.

For some reason my brain blanked over the brain parasite bit. I wonder what made the vet think it was that.

I know this wont help you now but it is fairly easy to test for EC, my Barney was tested recently. Not sure of cost as it was part of the full blood test he had. it is very common though sorry for your loss.

Crunchie said:

For some reason my brain blanked over the brain parasite bit. I wonder what made the vet think it was that.

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EC is a parasite that either affects the Kidneys or the Brain (sometimes both). If it affects the Brain then you see the loss of mobility (my bunny lost both his back legs) like you saw in your bunny.

There is a requirement to deep clean the hutch that they live in to get ris of the parasite, I can't remember the exact details but someone will be along who can advise the correct way to do this (I will have a search to and post a link if I can find the right information!).

Very sorry for your loss! I love bunnies and having them as part of the family, but it's too heartbreaking when we lose them! Really hope your other bunny is ok.

if you use the search function for EC you should get quite a few things up. I believe you should get your other bunny wormed, you put it in their water over the course of a few weeks, plus the deep cleaning as mentioned and moving the run if its on grass.

Sorry for your loss


eta http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=290492&highlight=ec+treatment

If it was ec then do a 28day course of pannacur to make sure they are covered.then bleaxxh clean.all the hutches on day 1day21 and day 28 also any areas they have been obviously grass is impossible but move the runa for 3months and u shoukd be ok also I recommmend spayin your bunnys as sadly 85%get utwrine cancer and its difficult to catch early enough to treat x

Well we had to go to the vets with two of my rabbits yesterday. We have two that have tooth problems. While there we asked about the E.cuniculi and the vet said as we have 8 rabbits that treating them all while they are showing no signs of e.cuniculi might not be effective as it is possible it may actually increase the chance they will get it. At least that is what i understood from what the vet said. She said it is difficult with rabbits as they hide pain very well and although treating all of the rabbits could be alright for now they may all get treated (and as far as we know may not even have e.cuniculi) and then get it a week after the treatment.

The vet told us to keep checking the rabbits we have for any signs of change especially if they are drinking more as it may be a sign of e.cuniculi. She said to then bring them into the vets if it occurs.

I'm not sure what to do. I've read up about e.cuniculi on so many different websites as well and they all give different advice. It's all very confusing. Most of them i found said to only treat rabbits who show signs of the disease. Also many rabbits have the parasite but never get ill from it? I am confused, does that mean they don't show any signs but are ill with the disease or they are like carriers of it but it doesn't infect them?

Scrufox86 said:

Most of them i found said to only treat rabbits who show signs of the disease. Also many rabbits have the parasite but never get ill from it? I am confused, does that mean they don't show any signs but are ill with the disease or they are like carriers of it but it doesn't infect them?

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Im not sure what type of rabbit you have, but a friend of mine whose rabbit passed away in January (little dwarf, aged 10) had a brain parasite when he was a bit younger. The vet told her then that dwarf rabbits are all born with brain parasites but they dont effect all of them, much like cancer genes in people. Its just a chance thing...

nitza said:

Im not sure what type of rabbit you have, but a friend of mine whose rabbit passed away in January (little dwarf, aged 10) had a brain parasite when he was a bit younger. The vet told her then that dwarf rabbits are all born with brain parasites but they dont effect all of them, much like cancer genes in people. Its just a chance thing...

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Referring to my first post.
My sister's rabbit was a dwarf lop(at least i think that's the name of his breed). We took him to the vets so many times in 3 months from June last year and thee vets just said "it is most likely a brain parasite" and gave him a few injections. But then he kept shaking his head whenever we took him so the vets advised us to keep him at home and suggested some medicines for us to give to him (as they were still unsure what the illness was). It was difficult but he managed to last from June last year until mid-way through January this year. He died at home, we had him inside in our inside cage the moment we noticed he was unwell and my mum checked on him one morning and found him on his side. I know you can ask for post mortem things but we didn't want to as they may still have never found out what the problem was. He did breathe funny, to us he always breathed like it but whenever we took him to the vets they mentioned about his breathing so we think there may have been a problem there too. We will never know what it really was but he is resting in peace now. He was only 4 years old but had a lovely life here with us.

Our most recent rabbit loss
Apparently rabbits can either get the brain parasites through the environment OR from the mother (who could be carrying the disease herself but not showing signs of it). We know the mother of our rabbit who died recently had a cataract and that is a sign that the rabbit could've been a carrier of the parasite according to a website i found so it is likely that she passed it on to her and for some reason it only started to show as she got older. We don't know for sure but the more i read up about the parasites the more it leans toward it being genetically passed onto her.

The vets did say to us to keep checking for any abnormal behaviour from our remaining rabbits and if we notice anything out of the ordinary to get them to the vet. They said it is best not to treat a healthy rabbit as it could lead to the rabbit actually getting the parasite (i don't know how but anyway...) so we are making sure they are alright.

Scrufox86 said:

Referring to my first post.
My sister's rabbit was a dwarf lop(at least i think that's the name of his breed). We took him to the vets so many times in 3 months from June last year and thee vets just said "it is most likely a brain parasite" and gave him a few injections. But then he kept shaking his head whenever we took him so the vets advised us to keep him at home and suggested some medicines for us to give to him (as they were still unsure what the illness was). It was difficult but he managed to last from June last year until mid-way through January this year. He died at home, we had him inside in our inside cage the moment we noticed he was unwell and my mum checked on him one morning and found him on his side. I know you can ask for post mortem things but we didn't want to as they may still have never found out what the problem was. He did breathe funny, to us he always breathed like it but whenever we took him to the vets they mentioned about his breathing so we think there may have been a problem there too. We will never know what it really was but he is resting in peace now. He was only 4 years old but had a lovely life here with us.

Our most recent rabbit loss
Apparently rabbits can either get the brain parasites through the environment OR from the mother (who could be carrying the disease herself but not showing signs of it). We know the mother of our rabbit who died recently had a cataract and that is a sign that the rabbit could've been a carrier of the parasite according to a website i found so it is likely that she passed it on to her and for some reason it only started to show as she got older. We don't know for sure but the more i read up about the parasites the more it leans toward it being genetically passed onto her.

The vets did say to us to keep checking for any abnormal behaviour from our remaining rabbits and if we notice anything out of the ordinary to get them to the vet. They said it is best not to treat a healthy rabbit as it could lead to the rabbit actually getting the parasite (i don't know how but anyway...) so we are making sure they are alright.

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Sorry, didn't see that, but im sorry for your loss

nitza said:

Sorry, didn't see that, but im sorry for your loss

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I was just trying to keep the two rabbits seperate but when you mentioned dwarf rabbit i thought if my sisters rabbit but then i thought you were talking about our most recent rabbit to pass. So to try to avoid confusion my sisters rabbit was a dwarf lop and the other was a lionhead rabbit.