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Rabbits - Broken Neck?

Expert: Dana Krempels, Ph.D. - 11/7/2009

Question
Dana, I had written you last week about my male mini lop that I took in for a nueter Friday morning. When I called at noon, I was told he woke up, was eating and that he was recovering great. When I went to pick him up at 4:30 the vet brought him to me deceased with blood coming from his mouth and nose, the vet said it must of been a cardiac issue or an embolism. I left in shock, with out taking my Big Boy with me. Saturday morning I went to retrieve his remains and belongings. Again the doc assured me that it was an cardiac or embolism, but he refunded my money which made me even more suspicious). I took Thumper home with me and buried him. When I carried him, his head was all over the place, very loose, I had to hold it to keep it from flopping around although the rest of his body was cold from being in the fridge and stiff. I emailed the vet Monday and told him I suspected Thumper was dropped, and that while waiting for the vet I heard an animal screaming. The vet emailed me back and said the animal I heard screaming was a parrot being tube feed in the incubator next to Thumpers. So now I think he must of been frightened and ran around in his cage and hit a wall and broke his neck.

Im sorry to go through all that but I wanted you to have the full story.

Anyway, my question is this, should his neck of been so loose and his head been flopping around like that, 16 hours after death and after 16 hours in the fridge? I know there is no way to know for sure without the necropsy. I decided against that because first and most importantly it wouldnt change anything , and secoind the vet refunded me, so there wasnt anything else I could persue legally I dont think. It just kills me that I took him there and this happened. I thought I did everything right though. The vet was a recommended vet throught the society and I thought you were supposed to spay and nueter for their health.

Answer
Dear Dawn,

This is just horrific. I am so sorry about this terrible outcome. And as you say, there is just no way to know what happened without a necropsy. But I have to admit, a lot of this sounds very suspicious.

I don't know of any vets who would refund the money from a surgery simply due to death from a post-op complication. If the vet was so sure it was an embolism (which would be consistent with the blood coming from the nose and mouth), then why on earth would he give you your money back, especially if you hadn't asked? It just doesn't add up, unless he felt guilty about something.

Also, if the entire body was rigid from rigor mortis, the neck should also be stiff. The muscles stay rigid for perhaps 24 hours, depending on many different conditions, and though a rabbit doesn't have a lot of muscle in the neck (and the neck will probably be the first part of the body to lose rigor), it does seem a little weird that his head would be so loose if the rest of him was still very stiff. Cold (as in refrigerator) will delay the onset of rigor mortis, but by 16 hours, his body should still have been pretty stiff. Rigor can also be broken by stretching the muscles, which someone may have done after the fact. Just no way to know.

Even a really good vet can have mishaps. But if someone mishandled him and Thumper was injured, I'm not sure how many would actually come clean because of the fear of the word getting around and/or fear of being sued. Personally, I'm not always sure of the veracity of some of the back-stories I've heard being given by vets who have lost a bunny after routine surgery. There's no way to know unless you're standing there (which I have been, and have witnessed deaths happen during/just after routine surgery, such as a neuter).

I also really doubt that Thumper, in a post-op haze of analgesics and sedatives, would have been frightened enough by a parrot's cried to jump up and hurt himself. He wouldn't have much space to get up any speed, and I have a hard time picturing it. It's not impossible, of course. It just doesn't seem very likely.

You'd think the vet might have cleaned up the blood around the nose and mouth if he was going to lie about something like this--though blood from a head injury might give the appearance of a reasonable alternative (embolism). It's very strange, and I don't blame you for being suspicious.

But, as you say, there is just no way to know without a necropsy, and that would have to be performed by a vet at a different hospital, and perhaps one who didn't even know the first vet.

I'm so sorry about this tragedy. But please don't blame yourself. We have no way of seeing into the future. If I could go back and undo the terrible things that have happened to my bunnies--some of them in a good vet's office--I would. But you were doing the right thing when things went terribly wrong for no good reason, and certainly through no fault of your own.

It happens in human medicine, too. And the family is left with hands in the air, wondering if they should never have agreed to the procedure in the first place. The second-guessing is the worst torture of all (trust me; I lost one of my most beloved hares this week, and I can't stop finding ways to blame myself, even though I know in my head it's stupid to do so).

So I hope you can take some comfort in knowing that you were doing the right thing for him because you loved him, and he knew you loved him. For his too-short life, he had the best of everything. Some rabbits never even know a loving touch. So though Thumper's journey on this plane was not long enough, it was rich and full because of you.

Take care,

Dana

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