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We Lost Beatrice - Update on Cause of Death

Beapig

Mama Doe
Hi guys,

First of all, I'm sorry that I haven't been very active on here recently. Since Covid, things have felt a lot harder with keeping my small business going so much of my attention and free time has been spent working.

On Sunday, Beatrice didn't seem very well. She didn't want to eat her breakfast. We brought her in for a few hours, because Hamilton was bothering her and she clearly didn't feel well. Her tummy was a bit bloated so I assumed it was stasis. We thought we'd leave her for a few hours to see if it passed, and sure enough, her appetite came back and she ate a huge bowl of greens, hay etc, was running around outside back to normal.

Yesterday morning, three days later, I gave her her greens and she was completely fine and ate everything. Then at 3pm I gave her pellets and she didn't want them. Once again we left her a bit, but no improvement. We brought her in last night and she still didn't want to eat but she was still pooping, and they were normal looking poos, not too dark, round and large. We decided to take her to the vet in the morning if there was no improvement.

So this morning, we took her to the vet at 12.00, which was the earliest they could see us. We couldn't even go to our normal branch because the virus has messed everything up and it's closed right now. I told the vet that she has stasis-type symptoms and he took her in. A couple of minutes later he came back out and said that she had a fit on the table and collapsed as soon as he took her out of the carrier. He said that she's in an extremely bad way and that we should prepare for the worst. He said to call back at 2.30pm to see what's happening.

I just burst into tears in front of him. I'm in complete shock. She has always been a really healthy rabbit and has only ever needed to go to the vet for vaccinations. She's never had stasis before or any problems with her teeth. She means everything to me and I can't bear the thought of losing her. The vet is very experienced, he helped us through Plumpkin's condition and said he's never met a better pair of rabbit owners than us, but I still can't help but feel like I've failed her and wonder if I could have done more.

I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but my animals are the ones giving me hope and keeping me going this year. Just being around them makes me feel better. Back in March, my friend's horse died who I was sharing for the past year. It was really sudden and I was devastated because I hadn't been able to see her for a whole month before she passed away. I feel like I'm only just starting to recover from losing that beautiful horse and now I might also lose Beatrice.

Please keep Beatrice in your thoughts and pray that she will make it, her friends need her and so do we! :cry:

Edit: I was just about to post this and the vet called to say that we had lost her. He said they're not sure what it was, but that getting there sooner probably would have done nothing for her. I hope she's with Plumpkin now. My heart is broken.

20180913_135703 by Rachel Brown, on Flickr
 
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The vet said on the phone that he isn't sure why she died. It isn't helping to give me closure. It feels traumatic that she passed in this way. Has anyone else ever lost a rabbit in a sudden and unexplained way like this? I'm so so upset, she meant everything to me.
 
Oh Beapig, I am terribly heartbroken and tearful at reading this sad update on Beatrice. I followed the journey with beautiful Plumpkin and this is just so terribly sad. My heart goes out to you and I know how you must feel.
You gave Beatrice the most wonderful life she could have wished for and I’m sure she has been reunited with the beautiful Plumpkin.
Binky free gentle Beatrice. Xx
 
The vet said on the phone that he isn't sure why she died. It isn't helping to give me closure. It feels traumatic that she passed in this way. Has anyone else ever lost a rabbit in a sudden and unexplained way like this? I'm so so upset, she meant everything to me.
I'm so sorry :(

Yes I have, similar thing actually, they couldn't work out why she wasn't well, went to operate just to investigate and she had a fit and died. We went for a post mortem, hoping we'd get some answers, we got some but it wasn't conclusive, maybe something you could consider.

Sending lots of hugs, I'm so sorry you lost her :( xx

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
 
Big hugs xx You may consider a PM for closure but, as Graciee's case shows, it's not always conclusive :( Look after yourself, you did more than everything you could xx
 
I am so so sorry you have lost Beatrice. I am in tears for you as I had become "attached" to her and her mate. Sometimes Rabbits do die for no apparent reason, maybe a tumour which can't be felt by a Vet, even a PM might not show anything up. Binky free Beatrice xx
 
So sorry for your loss. It's such a shock when it happens that way.

I have lost a few suddenly. I have lost three to liver torsion which can present as stasis and lethargy. I have lost two to blockage but I suspect the symptoms would be more obvious and I would expect the vet to have had a clue to that.

Tink (aged 10.5 years) had a stasis episode that was a bit vague and was treated as cystitis as there were more clues to that than digestive. I thought I would lose her as she was obviously unwell. She recovered and when I did lose her 3 months late a PM showed that she had a tumour in her intestines which had caused a small rupture and infection in the recent past - we put the stasis episode down to this and the fact that she was on Baytril for the 'cystitis' may just have helped the intestinal problem.

There's just so much that can cause sudden death. If you need closure you may want to consider PM. It's not for everybody but it has helped me enormously coming to terms with losses.

This website might help you understand how common sudden death is but it's not a pleasant read and you might not be in the right frame of mind to read it at the moment:
*may have distressing content*
https://www.harcourt-brown.co.uk/articles/sudden-or-unexpected-death/differential-diagnosis-list
 
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So sorry for your loss. It's such a shock when it happens that way.

I have lost a few suddenly. I have lost three to liver torsion which can present as stasis and lethargy. I have lost two to blockage but I suspect the symptoms would be more obvious and I would expect the vet to have had a clue to that.

Tink (aged 10.5 years) had a stasis episode that was a bit vague and was treated as cystitis as there were more clues to that than digestive. I thought I would lose her as she was obviously unwell. She recovered and when I did lose her 3 months late a PM showed that she had a tumour in her intestines which had caused a small rupture and infection in the recent past - we put the stasis episode down to this and the fact that she was on Baytril for the 'cystitis' may just have helped the intestinal problem.

There's just so much that can cause sudden death. If you need closure you may want to consider PM. It's not for everybody but it has helped me enormously coming to terms with losses.

I also had two sudden deaths that were RHD2 which completely floored me.

This website might help you understand how common sudden death is but it's not a pleasant read and you might not be in the right frame of mind to read it at the moment:
*may have distressing content*
https://www.harcourt-brown.co.uk/articles/sudden-or-unexpected-death/differential-diagnosis-list

Thank you for saying all of this Bunny Buddy, it's actually extremely comforting to me. I looked on the Frances Harcourt-Brown page and I think it was definitely something to do with her intestines, possibly a rupture. Her stomach was extremely distended and when I offered her up water this morning, she seemed to choke on it when she drank it, as if it would not go down, and cloudy liquid emerged from her mouth when she drank.

It all happened incredibly suddenly, which gives me a small amount of comfort, because I know that I couldn't have really acted sooner. The vet said that even if we brought her there first thing as an emergency, he doesn't think she would have pulled through. He thinks that giving her pain medication helped her to relax and pass away peacefully.

All I can take from this is that I know I loved her and that we gave her a wonderful life. She was a very special soul. Thank you so much to everyone else for your comments, they have truly brought me comfort today.
 
Thank you for saying all of this Bunny Buddy, it's actually extremely comforting to me. I looked on the Frances Harcourt-Brown page and I think it was definitely something to do with her intestines, possibly a rupture. Her stomach was extremely distended and when I offered her up water this morning, she seemed to choke on it when she drank it, as if it would not go down, and cloudy liquid emerged from her mouth when she drank.

It all happened incredibly suddenly, which gives me a small amount of comfort, because I know that I couldn't have really acted sooner. The vet said that even if we brought her there first thing as an emergency, he doesn't think she would have pulled through. He thinks that giving her pain medication helped her to relax and pass away peacefully.

All I can take from this is that I know I loved her and that we gave her a wonderful life. She was a very special soul. Thank you so much to everyone else for your comments, they have truly brought me comfort today.

I'm glad you are coming to terms with it in some way.

I actually became reminded of another sudden death when you wrote about the choking on water. I had a much more similar experience to yours with Dusty. She was only 15 months old and seemed to be in really good health. Late evening she wasn't eating but seemed quite bright just maybe 'confused' it was difficult to describe. Because I was caring for my mother with dementia who couldn't be left I took the decision to monitor Dusty rather than my usual rush her to the vets. At that time it didn't seem life threatening. The vet (OOH, not my usual practice) suggested syringe feed and I was convinced it wasn't blockage so did try - but it was as if she couldn't take the syringe feed. She was feisty enough to fight it. She died in the early hours. FHB did a PM for me the following day and found she has a salivary gland abscess - extremely rare in rabbits, the only one that Frances has seen (although weirdly enough she had been reading a research paper on them in the days beforehand).

It's so hard losing them unexpectedly and questioning if you should have been aware of something. I'm pleased to read that you are already managing to console yourself that you gave her the best life you possibly could. There's a lot of potential heartbreak with rabbits but with the acceptance of this, there's a lot of joy to be had too.

Be kind to yourself, the chances are there was nothing for you to see earlier. .. and as Frances said to me in Dusty's case - If I had got her to the vets earlier, especially as she was so young, no doubt they would have tried to save her and probably not succeeded and that would have been a more unpleasant end for Dusty and not pleasant for the vets/nurses either. This may have been a similar scenario for Bea. ... she can now rest in peace knowing she was loved.
 
Big big big hugs xxxxx

Sadly I have lost 4 of my rabbits suddenly, over the last 20 years. I didn't have any PMs. I was told two died due to old age. One passed away at the vets in similar circumstances to you. We don't know what she had wrong with her but she wasn't well for a week and I kept taking her back to the vets who said they thought it was her teeth and did a dental. This was before we found a rabbit savvy vets.

More recently this year our big boy passed away at the vets. X-ray showed something wrong like a stroke.

Other than Nancy, who was back and forth to the vets, the three boys were all completely fine until the following day. Then sadly suddenly gone. Sunshine passed away in my arms before we even got to the vets.

I know it's a horrible shock. You did everything you could. Xxx
 
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