# Duchess Passed Friday Morning the 24th



## Bill Jesse (Feb 24, 2017)

My beloved Duchess died in my arms this morning. She was 8 years old and best friends with Bandita. She was not feeling well about 6 weeks ago and the vet found nothing wrong with her, gave her some pain killer and some sub-q fluids.
This week she acted strange again. Would not eat and was lethargic. I gave her 0.04 ml of Metacam. She ate parsley but had trouble chewing it. The cilantro she could handle but no carrot. Last night she nibbled on some Romaine but showed no interest in eating even when I tapped her on the nose with a bunch of hay. Yesterday I gave her sub-q fluids and tried to get her to eat Critical Care. She had a nibble but spit out the rest.
This morning she was still alert but not interested in food. I thought I would try the CC again and make it runnier. She chewed one mouthful and stopped. She refused but I kept giving it to her, a drop at a time. My nightmare is did I give her too much and it got into the lungs? I have given oral meds for years with all my rabbits successfully. So I am blaming myself.
The big concern now is her mate. They have been together since I rescued them about 8 years ago. Always together. I left her body in the hutch and her mate was lying next to her for a while. I have two other rabbits, a male and a female who are bonded but the female does not like any other female rabbits. I was hoping to have them outdoors altogether but don't know if I can. The bereaved female likes the other male as I put them both out together but his mate wanted to fight with the lone bunny.
So I don't know what I can do besides get another rabbit. But that is not in the cards. Will the bereaved rabbit survive the loss or will she die of a broken heart. Might be simpler that way.
And to make matters still worse my wife has terminal brain cancer with little time left.


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## BlueMoonBunnies (Feb 24, 2017)

Although I am not sure how to proceed with your live bunnies, I do wish to send my love and condolences for your loss and my best wishes for your wife. <3 I am sure your journey is rough right now but I do hope happiness finds you again soon. <3


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## stevesmum (Feb 24, 2017)

Don't blame yourself, I'm sure you force fed her properly. It's never easy though and we always ask "what if..?" Please accept my deepest condolences.


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## bunnyluvns (Feb 24, 2017)

I'm so sorry for what you're going through right now. Please don't blame yourself for what happened to Duchess. It sounds like it was just her time. You tried your best but sometimes bunnies just get sick & die no matter how hard we try to save them. I wish I had some advice about the bereaved bunny but both my bunnies have been "singles". 

Having this happen when your wife is so ill has got to be extra difficult. Sending out prayers for you & your wife & the bunbuns.


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## Aki (Feb 25, 2017)

I'm really sorry for your loss and your wife's health. I think it's unlikely you killed the rabbit. If you had put liquid in the lungs, the rabbit would have coughed. Besides, it's really rare for something like that to cause the death of a bunny. Considering 8 is already pretty old for a rabbit (most websites still say that 8 is the life expectancy for a well-cared for bunny, even if some live longer in recent years) and that she had two bouts of stasis, she probably had an underlying condition which ultimately caused her death. There was probably nothing you could have done.
Your remaining rabbit will need some time to adjust and mourn her friend. She might live her life very well as a single bunny. Some rabbits are OK being alone. So, I think you'll just have to wait and see how she is coping. It's too bad you can't put her with the other rabbits, but it's not that unexpected (trios are a lot of work, don't always work, and you sound like you already have enough on your plate for now). So I think it's better for her to be a well-cared for single bunny than to be abused in a badly matched trio.


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## Nancy McClelland (Feb 25, 2017)

So sorry for your loss:bunnyangel:.


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## Bill Jesse (Mar 4, 2017)

I might have posted this earlier. Duchess never liked Cassie who lives with Jerome. When Bandita lost Duchess I tried putting her in the outdoor pen shared by Cassie and Jerome. Cassie immediately got angry at both Bandita and Jerome. I tried Bandita and Jerome and it worked well and then put him back with Cassie. Then he started fighting with his love Cassie. I separated them. All was well.
That night when Cassie and Jerome were put in their indoor hutch for the night they both started again. Took Jerome out and he "slept on the couch" in Cassie's old pen.
Since then I moved the outdoor pens closer together (from 10 feet apart to 6 inches apart) and put their hay close to the edges of the pen. Now they are closer to each other when eating hay. Hopefully that will encourages them to get closer.











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## BlackMiniRex (Mar 4, 2017)

so sorry for your loss. i hope the other two start to get along


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## Aki (Mar 4, 2017)

You might have to start a bonding process as if they were strange rabbits to put Cassie and Jerome back together. I think it might not have been the greatest idea to put the male with another female without the dominant female (you made him cheat on her, in a way! XD) - the male came back smelling like her rival, and if you left Cassie alone on the territory she normally shares with Jerome she was automatically self-promoted Queen of the Land and feels compelled to defend her turf. 
I would clean their usually shared spaces thoroughly to remove the smell and reintroduce the two rabbits in a bathroom with a lot of nice vegetables with a strong smell (celery kills all smells - my rabbits will all smell like celery for 24h after eating some), and put them back in their pen at the same time (from the same pet carrier) if it goes well. Considering they got along before, it might be enough to 'reset' the situation and make the female forget about the male's slight. It happened to me before, after an operation or a trip to the vet, and it always worked like a charm.


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