A Catastrophic Failure of Medical Planning and Communication – Please Protect Your Pets I am sharing the tragic reality of what happened to my 1.9 kg rabbit, Illu, at The Exotics Vet to warn other families. After a long, complex medical journey, my baby was subjected to an unmanageable surgical ordeal that directly led to her passing. I am sure that the exotics vet team will come up with some counter argument or explanation for this, but whoever really loves their fur/feather babies, needs to read this post completely to understand how their fault cost us our baby's life! In May, Illu was drooling and stopped eating, which we knew was a dental emergency. We took her to the exotics vets, and after certain tests, scheduled an extraction - 1 tooth was fully removed, and 1 only the crown could be, as it broke, and the vet suggested that we wait for it to grow back. The vet then suggested a CT stating that Illu has a progressive dental disease. As per their advise, we went ahead with the CT, while Illu recovered nicely from the extraction. The vet then suggested more extractions based on the CT stating that those teeth will cause a lot of harm/damage. So, we went ahead with a second dental extraction based purely on preventive medical advice given by the vet from a CT scan, as she was completely fit and eating normally on her own. She never fully bounced back from that day. By July, she developed a retrobulbar lesion and aspiration pneumonia. We consented to a follow-up surgery because we were given explicit, confident assurances by the clinical team that a marsupialization procedure would take only 30 minutes and successfully drain the pus to give her relief. Instead, the surgery was a complete failure. The extraction took an hour (4 teeth were extracted in one go!), and the 30-minute marsupialization stretched into an unexpected, grueling 2.5 hours. Illu was kept under general anesthesia for a total of 3.5 continuous hours while she was already in active respiratory distress. No one even bothered to update us about the surgery being prolonged, till the time I intervened to check because I was worried about her being under anesthesia for so long when she already was in a respiratory distress. To make matters worse, despite this massive physical trauma, the surgeons could not even enter or drain the pus. The combined, extended anesthesia time put an overwhelming, crushing pressure on her compromised lungs. We brought her home only to watch her spend her final 30 hours in a state of prolonged and violent suffocation right in front of us until she passed away in my arms. The clinical team miscalculated her anatomy, failed to communicate the extreme time extensions, and pushed a lung-compromised animal past her absolute biological breaking point. The trauma this has caused our family and her bonded companion is irreversible. If you have an exotic pet, please protect them and find a team that respects the fragile boundaries of rabbit physiology. I am sure that the exotics vet team will come up with some counter argument or explanation for this, but nothing can change the fact that it was their fault, because of ILLU is no more with us. From a being a healthy, active bunny, she deteriorated in just less than 3 months and passed away in a very horrible way. Yes, a part of the blame falls on us too, because we okayed the procedures, made the decisions and signed the waiver forms. But, they were totally based on the information and assurances given by the vets, as they are professionals & we are just laymen. And, that's the only reason, we trust them to know and do what is best for our babies keeping their well-being a priority at all times. But, they failed completely and we lost our precious baby ILLU, forever!
