The vet said the rabbit is normal. He died the next day.

I was busy typing the blog on pyometra in 2 old dog cases and lessons to be learnt for the owner. A young fair lady called me off the screen and asked whether she should get another rabbit. Her boyfriend's cat was being treated by Dr Vanessa.

"The vet said my rabbbit was normal," she extened her right elbow out and sideways while pulling in her left elbow and pointed her finger backwards to show the position of the rabbit. "This abnormal posture, instead of lying on the chest", she said was the reason she consulted the vet near her house in East Coast.

The rabbit died the next day. "Why did the vet say he was normal?" she asked me. The rabbit was around 5 years old and she found him lost at East Coast Park and adopted him.

"It is hard to explain why," I said. "The rabbit sounded as if he was in pain - heart pain and tried to spread out his legs to be more comfortable.

"He was also walking like a drunken person earlier," she said. The vet gave a bottle with powder. She was to add water and give it to the rabbit. After giving the medication, the rabbit died.

So this rabbit was not normal. "The cause of death would not be the medication," I said. "It would be something inside the brain or heart. A blood vessel might have ruptured. Sudden death as he was eating normally and pooping."

She agreed that it would not be possible for any vet to diagnose what's wrong without further tests like X-rays. "In any case, the rabbit could have died of stress when X-rayed," I said. So I hope she was satisfied with the explanation. As she was young, I asked her and her boyfriend to quickly apply for the new HDB flat before prices rise again.

"The HDB Duxton flat cost around $300,000 last time and everybody was complaining," the boyfriend said. Now, the flats cost at least $400,000 to more. The boyfriend's mother kept mum about marriage encouragement. It might not be the right time yet.