Graphic Necropsy Photos of Two Rabbits

My doe Evil Blue, who has a litter of 4 week old kits, died yesterday. She had no outward signs of illness. Hopefully together we will be able to figure out what caused Blue's death. I had a young bunny die yesterday as well, but suspect it may have just gotten trampled by the other bunrabs in the growout pen. The rabbits have been on alfalfa hay and my grain mix and haven't had greens for a week or so.

Her liver looked terrible:




Her guts were gassy:



Her kidneys were pale:



Her lungs were bloody, and the top chambers of her heart were filled with clotted blood:




I panicked when I saw the inside of her hide, thinking she had a subcutaneous Pasteurella infection... until I remembered she was lactating.



I also had a young bunny die in one of the growout pens. The heart and lungs looked the same as Evil Blue's, and the guts were gassy. Other than that the organs looked good.



Both of their stomach contents looked like this:



I did find this small structure under the organs, and have seen this before in the same location:



Did I miss something in Anatomy class, or could it be a tiny Pasteurella abscess? :?

I have seen that same little lump in some of Mine as well. Not sure what it is.

Thank heavens! I've been fearing the dreaded "P" word, but couldn't figure out why it kept appearing in the same place.

I think its perfectly normal but I wish I could help with the other stuff.

Wow, those are real red lungs! I've never seen them anything but a pretty pink...
Is blue and the young rabbit related? Maybe something genetic, idk.
I'ma check my rabbits for that little white ball, next time I butcher. I kind of feel like I may of seen it as well.

ChickiesnBunnies":g8bmlti9 said:

Wow, those are real red lungs!

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Tell me about it! I am wondering if they got that way because of the time delay between death and processing. :hmm: It was at least 45 minutes before I did the necropsy on the young bunny, and Blue was already in rigor.

ChickiesnBunnies":g8bmlti9 said:

I've never seen them anything but a pretty pink...

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I have seen pretty pink with dark spots (hemorrhaging), but that was in the summer with a possible heat stroke victim.

ChickiesnBunnies":g8bmlti9 said:

Is blue and the young rabbit related?

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They weren't mother-baby, but all of my Rex rabbits are related.

ChickiesnBunnies":g8bmlti9 said:

I'ma check my rabbits for that little white ball, next time I butcher.

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Please do! I keep seeing it and don't know what it is.

How old was Evil Blue?

Sorry about Evil Blue. That looks live some type of Liver disease, which can also cause the things you see with the kidneys and stomach. But I have no idea how she would have gotten it, because it's generally associated with coccidiosis. I wonder what going on and hope you get to the bottom of this.

I've seen those little things too in rabbits I've processed. I was worried myself.

How strange of an occurrence with the organs!

Could it be a lymph node??
I'm Googling to find pics of dissected rabbits, but I'm not finding many pics that show me much...

Found this pic, Ovary or Pancreas?
http://www.123exoticpet.com/content/rab ... -endocrine

garden lady":2cpnef2s said:

How old was Evil Blue?

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She was about a year and a half. Born May 29th of last year, she was one of my first "homebred" does. This was her third litter- she didn't take on the breeding before this kindling.

The kit was 11 weeks, born August 29th.

skysthelimit":2cpnef2s said:

That looks live some type of Liver disease, which can also cause the things you see with the kidneys and stomach. But I have no idea how she would have gotten it, because it's generally associated with coccidiosis.

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I've never seen any signs of coccidiosis in any of the rabbits I have processed.

Peach":2cpnef2s said:

I've seen those little things too in rabbits I've processed. I was worried myself.

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I'm glad I'm not the only one!

ChickiesnBunnies":2cpnef2s said:

Could it be a lymph node??

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I was wondering that too... but there are lymph nodes all over the body and I haven't seen any in the neck, armpits, inguinal thigh area, etc. :?

ChickiesnBunnies":39wrvuk0 said:

Could it be a lymph node??

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I was wondering that too... but there are lymph nodes all over the body and I haven't seen any in the neck, armpits, inguinal thigh area, etc. :?[/quote]

Lymph nodes seem to be invisible anytime you are looking for them...only show when you're sick, lol.
I've never seen them in my rabbits or birds either, I've looked for them, but seem to just be MIA. =/

Was Evil Blue in a cage or a colony?

garden lady":mmu2e1zc said:

Was Evil Blue in a cage or a colony?

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She was in a cage.

I wish I could point to something and say this is what killed them but....
Neither one of these guys could have been feeling well judging from whats going on in there.

3mina":ajh6y7s7 said:

I wish I could point to something and say this is what killed them but....
Neither one of these guys could have been feeling well judging from whats going on in there.

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But their stomachs had food like they had ate.

MSD...there's a gal on the meat rabbits board who would LOVE to see those photos. I may refer her over her to see if she has any thoughts.

Oooh! Please do, Ladysown!

The small pealike bodies along the spine are the adrenal glands; totally normal.

The best fit guess here is acute hemorrhagic septicemia, probably caused by Pasteurella. That would fit the lungs perfectly.

The liver...oy. In all my years of rabbits, that's one of the very worst looking livers I've ever seen. What was the texture/consistency of the various parts? Did they crumble? Feel slimy rather than firm? Lumpy? Did you rinse them off before you took the photos...? Was there fluid in the body cavity and if so, what did it look like?

It's hard to tell just what's going on in this rabbit; a substantial post mortem interval before necropsy can really change the appearance of some organs--but I've never seen it do THAT. So you can be fairly sure that the horrible hemorrhagic lungs and that liver were likely real pathology rather than postmortem changes.

If you still have the organs in the fridge (I hope you do) you might seriously consider taking them to your vet and have samples sent in for histopathology and culture/sensitivity.

Wish I had more ideas...I do see one yellow lump that says 'cocci' to me on the liver, but that's certainly not its only problem. If you lose any more rabbits, do not pass Go, but take the rabbit directly to the nearest veterinary pathology laboratory for a full necropsy. It would be very well worth the time and expense to find out what the heck is really going on.

Where in CA are you?

And BTW...very nice job on the photos! I'd love to have the full size copies to examine, if you could email them to me??

__________ Sat Nov 10, 2012 7:01 am __________

Oh, and clotted blood in the heart is normal. Once it quits moving, it clots up and sinks to the lowest part of the body by gravity. Might be part of the cause of the darkest portions of the liver on Blue, I don't know. What position was she in when found?

Hello, RRNQ!

You must be Ladysown's friend.

:welcome: to RabbitTalk! I hope you will decide to become an active member of the forum!

If I promise to post more necropsy photos will that entice you? :mrgreen:

RNRQ":3y8co4ku said:

The small pealike bodies along the spine are the adrenal glands; totally normal.

Well that is a relief.

The best fit guess here is acute hemorrhagic septicemia, probably caused by Pasteurella. That would fit the lungs perfectly.

That doesn't sound good. She didn't show any symptoms of respiratory Pasteurella, and there were no pustules or abscesses. Shouldn't I have seen some signs? :?

The liver...oy. What was the texture/consistency of the various parts? Did they crumble? Feel slimy rather than firm? Lumpy? Did you rinse them off before you took the photos...? Was there fluid in the body cavity and if so, what did it look like?

Other than lifting it out of the abdominal cavity, I didn't really touch it much. I will be more thorough in the future. None of the organs were rinsed. It wasn't slimy. No fluid in the body cavity, so she wasn't septic in the sense that her organs were permeable and leaking fluids.

So you can be fairly sure that the horrible hemorrhagic lungs and that liver were likely real pathology rather than postmortem changes.

I am surprised that I didn't notice any labored breathing or other signs of stress. She also hadn't lost overall condition.

If you still have the organs in the fridge (I hope you do) you might seriously consider taking them to your vet and have samples sent in for histopathology and culture/sensitivity.

Sadly, no. I discarded the organs, and fed the carcass to the dogs.

Wish I had more ideas...I do see one yellow lump that says 'cocci' to me on the liver, but that's certainly not its only problem. If you lose any more rabbits, do not pass Go, but take the rabbit directly to the nearest veterinary pathology laboratory for a full necropsy. It would be very well worth the time and expense to find out what the heck is really going on.

I'm not sure where the nearest lab is, but I am friends with our large animal vet and I know I could arrange to have samples sent for evaluation through him or another vet I know.

Where in CA are you?

I live about 50 miles outside of Bakersfield in the mountains.

And BTW...very nice job on the photos! I'd love to have the full size copies to examine, if you could email them to me??

Thank you. I would be happy to email them to you.

Oh, and clotted blood in the heart is normal. Once it quits moving, it clots up and sinks to the lowest part of the body by gravity. Might be part of the cause of the darkest portions of the liver on Blue, I don't know.

That makes sense.

What position was she in when found?

She was laying on her right side with her head raised in the corner of her nestbox. The elevated position of the head may be indicative that she had labored breathing after all.

Thank you for your input, and the questions about texture, etc. My next necropsy will be that much more thorough because of them.

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