Hi all,
I lost Munchie my castor rex at the end of May unexpectedly, husband and I were devastated
There was no conclusive evidence as to what caused his passing which has added to our guilt and grief these last months....I would love to offer our home to a new bun but to be perfectly honest I am so scared that something will go wrong again. I want to share my story with you in the hope that someone may have experienced somehting similar with their bun and offer good advice for the future:
we returned from an evening out to find Munchie totally not himself: he was sitting unmoving with his nose not twitching, we could not tempt him with any of his favourite treats, and when I picked him up he felt v.odd, 'squishy' (thats the only way I can describe it), not his usual firm & taut body. We immediately took him to the vets but because it was after midnight, they had a locum on duty. She checked him over, gave him an injection but said that it did not look serious. I explained to her that this was totally out of character for him and also that his body was getting cold (I had read that this is a grave sign of danger) but she dismissed this saying he was cold 'because he had been outside in his carrier' when we took him to the vet. (Looking back on it, its unbelievable of her to have said that!) We got him home and wrapped him in linens with a hot water bottle but he was gone by morning.
My husband then complained/explained to the vets that we were less than happy with the diagnosis we had received as the locum had given us false hope that he would survive the night. It was obvious she did not really have a clue about rabbits & ignored the very obvious warning signs. Eventually, we were allowed a 1-2-1 consultation with a senior vet to discuss what may have caused his sudden death; we went over everything that happened the previous day during which he appeared fit & well & I posed multiple scenarios such as poisoning from flowers, GI stasis etc The vet did not seem to think it was stasis as Munch had been eating & drinking normally when we left him & he had attempted a little food when we returned from the vet. The only thing that came to mind was that Munchie, being a boisterous & energetic little boy, had jumped from a chair & landed a little awkwardly (the locum had noticed a slight nerve twitching on his back although, again, she dimissed this). The consultant seemed to think it was unlikely he had broken a bone as this would be obvious but suggested an internal injury. The other thing I remembered was that there was a slight smell of cigarette smoke coming from our downstairs neighbour's & could this have caused some sort of toxic reaction? Vet said we could have an autopsy performed but even then it might not give us exact answer. I was so distraught at the time & the thought of his litte body being cut open was too much, so I didnt agree to the autopsy, but now I'm sort of regretting that decision as its still playing on our minds & we might have got some answers....
I know that accidents can happen, I know that some things are out of even the best pet-owners' control, but this was a healthy young rabbit & we still feel so guilty that his death could have been prevented. Does anyone have any similar stories or recognise the symptoms above? Please help!
Many thanks for reading xx
I lost Munchie my castor rex at the end of May unexpectedly, husband and I were devastated
There was no conclusive evidence as to what caused his passing which has added to our guilt and grief these last months....I would love to offer our home to a new bun but to be perfectly honest I am so scared that something will go wrong again. I want to share my story with you in the hope that someone may have experienced somehting similar with their bun and offer good advice for the future:we returned from an evening out to find Munchie totally not himself: he was sitting unmoving with his nose not twitching, we could not tempt him with any of his favourite treats, and when I picked him up he felt v.odd, 'squishy' (thats the only way I can describe it), not his usual firm & taut body. We immediately took him to the vets but because it was after midnight, they had a locum on duty. She checked him over, gave him an injection but said that it did not look serious. I explained to her that this was totally out of character for him and also that his body was getting cold (I had read that this is a grave sign of danger) but she dismissed this saying he was cold 'because he had been outside in his carrier' when we took him to the vet. (Looking back on it, its unbelievable of her to have said that!
) We got him home and wrapped him in linens with a hot water bottle but he was gone by morning. My husband then complained/explained to the vets that we were less than happy with the diagnosis we had received as the locum had given us false hope that he would survive the night. It was obvious she did not really have a clue about rabbits & ignored the very obvious warning signs. Eventually, we were allowed a 1-2-1 consultation with a senior vet to discuss what may have caused his sudden death; we went over everything that happened the previous day during which he appeared fit & well & I posed multiple scenarios such as poisoning from flowers, GI stasis etc The vet did not seem to think it was stasis as Munch had been eating & drinking normally when we left him & he had attempted a little food when we returned from the vet. The only thing that came to mind was that Munchie, being a boisterous & energetic little boy, had jumped from a chair & landed a little awkwardly (the locum had noticed a slight nerve twitching on his back although, again, she dimissed this). The consultant seemed to think it was unlikely he had broken a bone as this would be obvious but suggested an internal injury. The other thing I remembered was that there was a slight smell of cigarette smoke coming from our downstairs neighbour's & could this have caused some sort of toxic reaction? Vet said we could have an autopsy performed but even then it might not give us exact answer. I was so distraught at the time & the thought of his litte body being cut open was too much, so I didnt agree to the autopsy, but now I'm sort of regretting that decision as its still playing on our minds & we might have got some answers....
I know that accidents can happen, I know that some things are out of even the best pet-owners' control, but this was a healthy young rabbit & we still feel so guilty that his death could have been prevented. Does anyone have any similar stories or recognise the symptoms above? Please help!
Many thanks for reading xx
