Really struggling, heartbroken and full of guilt and regret, please be kind.

[Bunnybobs]

Hi everyone please be gentle I am heartbroken and emotionally very fragile at the moment after losing one of my bunnies, and it’s all my fault as if id made different decision I could maybe/likely have saved her and got her through the trauma.

End of last week, I let a couple of my rabbits out of their enclosure for some free roam time in the garden (which they love). This pair are 6 year old lionhead bunny sisters – I’ve had them 3 years after agreeing to adopt from friend of a friend who no longer wanted them. I was in the garden at the same time, pottering about. It was approx. 2:45pm. I nipped inside to get something, and as walked back out saw a fox streaking across the garden and into the rabbit enclosure, where one of my rabbits had run back into. I of course screamed, shouted and ran straight across – the fox was like a heat seeking missile and it all happened so fast and fox was in enclosure pinning rabbit down and rabbit screaming (I am trying to block that out). The fox ran off, empty handed. I located my bunny from the enclosure where she was now cowering in a corner, and brought her inside to check for injuries. There was no blood, nothing obvious, just some lose clumps of hair (she was lionhead with very thick winter coat). I gave her some painkillers which I have always have in stock for my bunnies and guinea pigs. I sat with her a while, cuddling, stroking, continually checking her coat and skin for anything, and after about 15 mins put her back in her enclosure with her sister. I kept an eye on her for rest of afternoon and evening continually popping back out to check on her. She was very quiet and sat in same place mostly in straw and hay, but was moving periodically, cuddling up to her sister, grooming each other and she was nibbling at her food, ate some of her dry food, some apple and some romaine lettuce that I gave her. The enclosure they live in is a large omlet enclosure. I debating bringing them in for the night, I did start to get an indoor set up started that evening, and went to get her to check on again and give more medication (was about midnight by this point/last check so was able to re-medicate). Again she was moving and they were grooming each other, but she was still quiet. When I brought her into the house at this point she got quite stressed and agitated. I decided that maybe it was best to leave in enclosure rather than bring inside, as it seemed to stress her out being inside, rather than the enclosure they knew.



Fast forward to the morning, when I checked in on them about 8am, I found her deceased, lying on her side, eyes open.



I am now absolutely bereft, heartbroken, racked with guilt, regret, shame, depression and cant stop crying, I am struggling to eat and sleep, and it’s effecting me at work.



I feel I completely made the wrong decision not bringing them into the house rather than leaving outside in the enclosure. I’m not sure what happened but assume possibly the fox returned and maybe scared them sniffing around the enclosure (obviously which was secure and fox they would not get in), and she maybe went into shock at some point in the evening, and had heart attack.



I feel so stupid that I made the wrong judgement and didn’t bring inside, and so regretful of my actions. I genuinely don’t know how to move on from this and I’m beating myself up morning until night.



The surviving bunny sister is doing ok, albeit quiet - she is eating, drinking etc and I am spending as much with her as I can. What is concerning me though is the body of her sister is still in the enclosure, as everyday the surviving sister I do observe her still sitting next to her, and grooming her, and it’s been 7 days now, is this normal? (I haven’t removed body yet because of this, but given time of year and low temperatures no decomposition has set in, and to be honest I'm having hard time with acceptance of what to do).



Thank you for reading if you have got this far, I really needed to write this down and get in out. I don’t know if anyone has any words at all they can offer, again I know I made the wrong choice that evening, I don’t know how to come to terms with that at all. I love my pets so much and spend so much time in evenings and weekends looking after them and always looking to improve their lives, and it all feels for nothing when I made a poor judgement and my bunny needed me the most. If anyone can offer anything to help me come to terms with the above i would really appreciate, thank you.

 

[bunny momma]

I am sorry you had to go through such a horrid situation. Since you do not know why your bunny died overnight, you are treating some things as facts that may not be correct.
You just had an awful trauma and it may help you to write a tribute to her life with you and her sister in the Rainbow Bridge section of the forum.
Sending gentle hugs to you and her sister.

 

[joey&boo]

I am really sorry to hear you lost one of your beloved bunnies. I imagine the stress of the fox attack took its toll but we'll never know for sure. Please try & be kind to yourself...foxes can be very brazen as you discovered & no one can say if the same outcome wouldn't have occurred if you had brought her inside, especially since she was eating & snuggling with her sister.

I think its time to bury or cremate her now.

I'm so sorry for your loss & the pain that comes with it. Give yourself time to grieve

 

[SarahP]

So sorry to see this. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and you have no proof that anything you did differently would have helped, including bringing her inside. It may be that the fox did some damage before being chased off, that wasn't at all obvious, or just the extreme stress of it caused the body to fail over the space of a few hours. I don't think you can assume that the fox returned.

You do need to deal with the body now.

Be kind to yourself x

 

[Barn Yard Bunnies]

Don't blame yourself at all. I think everyone on here was once unaware of how fast foxes are and even with humans around.

I've had many pet rabbits over 27 years. About 18 years ago, when I knew little about hutches I had an igloo, not the right spelling, these are so called fox proof. Anyway 6 am I heard screaming, it was one of my rabbits. I immediately ran outside and a fox sped off, I opened the hutch and my male rabbit ran out into the garden in terror screaming, my female was lying on her side, she died of a heart attack.

I later got him a friend, a month or so later in the evening, had the same stupid hutch, my husband found our new girl minus her ear. Rushed her to the vets and they operated, she needed two operations. She survived and after that they lived inside.

Condolences on your loss and a warm hug. X

 

[Barn Yard Bunnies]

Sadly you do need to consider burying her or arranging cremation. It will be traumatic for her surviving sister. You can get pet cremation services to collect her if you cannot cope. I got my vet to come around to collect my rabbit. If you can, could you bring the sister inside, she will be very distraught on her own. She won't be coping with her sisters body in the same cage. Please at least bring her inside tonight, she will be very frightened out on her own.

 

[Zoobec]

When these type of situations happen, I always think, that you can only do the best you had with the knowledge that you had at the time. I’m sorry you had to go through this. I think you or probably better someone else does need to recover the body and bury or better have her cremated. Sending hugs xx

 

[Cinnabun14]

Big hugs for you.

A couple of weeks ago my girls got out of their enclosure. For a few hours, I could only find one of them. The only sign of the other was a clump of hair next to some dog droppings, so I assumed the worse. It was a miracle that we found both of them, with minor injuries. But during the time I was certain my sweet Cinnamon was killed by a dog, I blamed myself. I could hardly focus on the one we found, I was crying so much, so mortified of finding her dead, mangled body.

Nature sucks, foxes are fast, and life can deal us a horrible hand sometimes. There's nothing I can say to change that. But I don't think you're entirely to blame, or even blame at all. You did what you could, and sometimes we need to remind ourselves that our best is enough. Because that's all we can do. No one is perfect, no one is superman.

Give yourself some time to grieve properly. I think burying/cremating the body might give you some closure. If you can't bring yourself to bury her, ask someone for help, but leaving her there will only make things worse/ Maybe make a memorial or a memory album of your bunny, as a project to help you work through the grief. Talk to a friend you can trust about this situation (I know not everyone understands the bunny thing, but hopefully there's someone in your life who knew how much they meant to you, even if they don't "get" rabbits). Focus on your remaining bunny. She's grieving now too, and you can do that together. Animals are amazing healers in times of mourning.

Another hug for you. You made a big step writing this down, and that's a great step towards healing.

 

[Shimmer]

Maybe look at getting a toy rabbit or similar as company for your girl to snuggle up to, or a furry hot water bottle / snugglesafe heatpad.

Do you have anywhere that you can bury her sister? It needs to be as deep as you can manage. I wrap them in a favourite T shirt and bury them in a kidney shape pond basket with a large flat stone or roof slate across the top, then replace at least a spade depth of soil on top. If it’s too shallow, you risk eg a fox digging them up. You can also place a heavy pot plant or ornament on top as a memorial.

Cremation is option. Your vet can advise on this, or google for a local provider, who will call round and collect / return.

Give yourself plenty of time to grieve. We’ve all had incidents that we regret - be kind to yourself and look after your other girl.

 

[Preitler]

I'm sorry for your loss. I think there wasn't anything else you could have done.

I had the same happen 10 years ago, my boy was outside, heard him scream, I ran out and scared off the fox, I couldn't find my rabbit for half an hour, my garden is full of hiding spots. No injuries, he was calm, so I put him in his hutch. What I could find on the internet, rest and quiet was pretty much all that could be done in such a case. He died a few hours later. Seems that in such an emergency they go into overdrive, damaging their heart beyond repair. I really, doubt a vet visit would have changed anything, apart from being very calm there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him, and it was sunday noon anyway.

I live in a small valley, so that unlike for an urban fox it's behaviour, to attack close to people, in summer, around noon was highly unusual. He kept making problems, and I got him some weeks later, turned out it was a severe case of mange even the hunter in charge hadn't seen anything worse. Still have foxes and marten around, so I have always a radio running whenever a rabbit is outside. Seems to work out here in the sticks where they are not used to human noises (knocking on wood). Have to balance safety vs. freedom and quality of life, and as it is now I let them live happy bunny lifes, even though risks are involved.