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Kane & Sparkle sudden deaths - finally some results

JLG

Mama Doe
hello again - some of you will have read my post in late November/early December about the sudden deaths of my 2 beauties :cry:
With the help of my fantastic vet we have had tests done at edinburgh and then in france to try to determine cause of death. The main concern was that it was a new strain of VHD (of which there are apparently several, I know now due to the power of www). One of the drug companies paid for all the tests.
Anyway, it was definitely not VHD and although there is still some doubt, the cause appears to have been mycotoxins :shock: :cry:
Someone did suggest this on my original post (thank you).
Whilst it doesn't bring my bunsters back and I'm still beating myself up about the whole thing, from my research into mycotoxins it would appear that they could have taken them in from any number of sources as they had a wide and very varied diet including severla types of hay, pellets, muesli and dried herbs as well as all the green stuff.
Anyway, just wanted to share. if you haven't read about mycotoxins my hard-learned advice is - do it now.

I will be looking at new bunsters after my holiday in April to inhabit the lovely 12 foot covered kennel/run I have standing empty so if anyone knows of any rexes or mini rexes who are in need and not too far from Northumberland, I'm interested. I haven't looked at Rabbits in Need yet but I will.
thanks for reading.

Binky free my special bunsters, you were the first and will always be the best
 
I remember their sudden deaths :(

I'm glad it wasn't a new strain of VHD. I can't remember hearing anything about mycotoxins before, I'll have to look into that.
 
I'm so sorry about your two bunnies. :cry:

It is shocking when they pass away so suddenly and without any warning. My Cinnamon died suddenly in December and we had full post mortem done as, like you, we needed an answer/reason. Cinnamon died of acute scepticaemia caused by pasteurella in her lungs and vital organs.....there was absolutely nothing to see from the outside until she suddenly became weak and then she died at the vets a few hours later.

I will defininitely have a read about mycotoxins. There is always so much to learn about our furry friends.

Celia at Kirkby Pet Welfare in Nottinghamshire has a number of rexes in the rescue. I know it's quite a distance from you, but if you have no luck finding rexes elsewhere then bunny runs are always possible and I'm always happy to help and do some driving. Not all of Celia's rabbits are on Rabbit Rehome as she has so many, so if you were interested I could go and take some pics....just give me a shout. :wave:
 
I'm so sorry about your two bunnies. :cry:

It is shocking when they pass away so suddenly and without any warning. My Cinnamon died suddenly in December and we had full post mortem done as, like you, we needed an answer/reason. Cinnamon died of acute scepticaemia caused by pasteurella in her lungs and vital organs.....there was absolutely nothing to see from the outside until she suddenly became weak and then she died at the vets a few hours later.

I will defininitely have a read about mycotoxins. There is always so much to learn about our furry friends.

Celia at Kirkby Pet Welfare in Nottinghamshire has a number of rexes in the rescue. I know it's quite a distance from you, but if you have no luck finding rexes elsewhere then bunny runs are always possible and I'm always happy to help and do some driving. Not all of Celia's rabbits are on Rabbit Rehome as she has so many, so if you were interested I could go and take some pics....just give me a shout. :wave:

This happened to my previous giant :cry:
 
Glad you have an answer.

This is very interesting to me because I used to work in DEFRA food science lab where foods were screened for mycotoxins. Did they identify which mycotoxin was resposible?
 
Glad you have an answer.

This is very interesting to me because I used to work in DEFRA food science lab where foods were screened for mycotoxins. Did they identify which mycotoxin was resposible?

Thank you everyone, it was awful to know that bits of them were being sent all over the place for the tests but I needed to do it for their sakes as well as mine. And also I needed to rule out anything infectious, or anything poisonous that I hadn't noticed in the garden for the sake of new buns when they arrive.

No RedFraggle, they didn't identify any specific mycotoxin but they did say that both their livers were seriously damaged :(

I still have bad days and I miss them SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much but I am starting to think about new buns now and will be extra extra vigilent about everything.
Thanks again everyone, its really appreciated
 
Do they have to be rexes?????????? I have a gorgeous pair of fosters, a mini lop and a nethie x, Gus and Jack and they are desperate for a new home
 
Do they have to be rexes?????????? I have a gorgeous pair of fosters, a mini lop and a nethie x, Gus and Jack and they are desperate for a new home

Oh thanks Molly, and you're not far from me I know.
I know there are millions of buns out there looking for homes but I have a particular thing about rexes. When I start looking maybe some other buns will find me but I'm starting with rexes.
 
Thank you everyone, it was awful to know that bits of them were being sent all over the place for the tests but I needed to do it for their sakes as well as mine. And also I needed to rule out anything infectious, or anything poisonous that I hadn't noticed in the garden for the sake of new buns when they arrive.

No RedFraggle, they didn't identify any specific mycotoxin but they did say that both their livers were seriously damaged :(

I still have bad days and I miss them SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much but I am starting to think about new buns now and will be extra extra vigilent about everything.
Thanks again everyone, its really appreciated

Thanks for the extra info. I would suspect aflatoxin if they had liver damage. I hadn't considered the possibility of mycotoxins in feed etc. so thanks hugely for making us all aware of this and for agreeing to the testing to get to the bottom of it. Many will have learned from your buns which could in turn save other buns.:thumb:
 
Glad you have some answers JLG, just so sorry this happened to your babies :cry:

Thanks for posting about the results and raising awareness, Jacks-Jane I've just read through one of those links it makes for very interesting reading :shock: though quite scary. Going to read the other now.

Hope you're both having fun at the bridge, Kane and Sparkle xxx
 
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