Weird Death. GROSS PICS

[Shara]

So my Himi doe died this morning. I wentout to feed and watr everybunny, and herback leg were through the wire. I freaked, when I picked her up, she was very stiff and bloated feeling. I assumed she was dying of dehydration because she couldn't reach her feed and water. I couldn't get her to drink, and her body wasstiff, but she was alive. She felt cool to the touch, even though it was not cold outside. She kept flopping over, and wouldn't fold her legs under her body, I tried to open her mout, and she was gritting her teeth and hd her mouth clamped shut. Her eyes were filmy, andI decided that she was dying, so I broomsticked her. It went uneventfully, she didn't twitch even a little, and I bawled because I thought howhorrible I was. I opened her up, to see if I could find out what went wrong with her.

This is whn it got really weird...her abdominal cavity was filled with liquid, almost clear but filled with something that looked like poop particals. It stank, I almost threw up from the stench. Her bowels were full, and greyish. Her belly was full, even though she hadn't been eating lately. Her liver looked darker than normal to me, but there were no lesions. Her gall bladder was black. She was covered in fat. Gross, lumpy fat. all under her skin, even though she felt very thin. I opened her chst and her heart wamushy, lk a fat blob. Her lungs seemed very infected, all blochy and red. Her bladder was empty.

The smell was very sour, and strong. Like normal rabbit gut smell, butEVERYTHING smelt like it, and about a hundred tmes worse than normal. Se was eating great when she came here, then only oats, thn nothing. Fresh greens wouldn't even tempt her. She wasn'tdrinking towards the ed, but until yesterday, I did't notice anything crazy off, just not eating well.

Oh, her overies (I am assuming) were long and pink with white dots. Her uteus horns were all twisty an pink, I don't know if that is normal. She recentlyweaned a litter, maybe two or a week ago, but had vry thick milkIt was thick, like sligtly diluted mayonaise or sour cream. Se ws in quarrentine, but not strictly, because I am limited in how much I ca do in an apartment. I talked t Stump Ares aul, nd se was Stumped. lol. We are both looking forward to hearing any and all responses. I am attatchingsome really disturbing pics.

 

[MaggieJ]

Poor bunny! And poor you, Shara! You did the right thing to euthanize her. No idea what was the cause of her ailments, but they seem to have been substantial. (((Hugs)))

 

[HendricksHearth]

I am sorry to hear about this. I am not a vet, but it sounds like she was shutting down when you found her (symptoms of pain and shock) and euthanasia was probably the most humane thing you could have done. From what I read and can see, GI stasis seems likely and if her heart was flabby then she might have had cardiomyopathy, too. Either of these could just be a symptom though of something else so I am afraid it is not very helpful, but maybe someone else here will know more from the pictures.

Take care,

Lauren

 

[ladysown]

i second the GI stasis.
I've seen this with rabbits before...primarily a rabbit that a young rabbiteer got and then died within the first week or so of arrival. When opened up had liquid in the guts, extension of bowl and so forth. Much as what you have seen. I've seen gall bladder dark like that before on perfectly healthy rabbits as well. Under GI stasis it doesn't take a whole lot to have a rupture somewhere.

 

[pfaubush]

OK, Shara. Now that I see the pics, it makes more sense to me. I agree that it looks like a rupture.

I called the woman that had her with the litter. She told me that all but 2 of the litter died. She also told me that the reason the original owners got rid of her was because they couldn't get her to raise a litter. Other than that, she said there have been no problems in the rabbitry. I am glad you mentioned calling her. For some reason my brain was stuck on stupid and I didn't even think of it.

 

[Shara]

Hmmm, well, so far everyone else is acting fine, mini rex is doing great. Although, she is due today, and I am almost certain she is not pregnant. But everyones eating, and no one is exploding as of now.

I almost wish she had been taken care of by the original owners, although I feel bad saying it, but if she had had a problem raising litters, seems to me the first people to notice should have resolved the problem. I still feel terrible about what happened to her.

*sniff*