2 sudden bunny deaths

I'm a new bunny owner. In August, I had two bunnies die within 2 weeks of each other. I want to get another bunny next summer, but am fearful I'm doing something unintentionally that is killing them.

My first suspicion was my son being too rough with the bunnies. But we watched him very closely with the second bunny and she still died suddenly with breathing problems.

I never fed them iceberg lettuce, always fed them Timothy or Alfalfa hay and provided water and pellets daily. I let the bunnies out of the cage at least 1x/day. No other pets in the house and they never went outside.

I've read several articles and can't find an answer as to why the bunnies died. Maybe heat stroke for the first bunny? But it wasn't hot in the house and he had a large bowl w/ frozen water to cool him down

First one we had for 1 year. He was lethargic one day. The weather wasn't too warm, but I kept a metal bowl w/frozen water in his cage anyway. He wasn't moving. At first we thought it might be heat stroke so we put a cold towel over him, but his ears were cold, so I took off the towel. Then his nose and gums turned blue! I tried CPR...but our bun bun died. This all happened within 10 minutes.

The next day we got a female bunny of the same breed.

Within 2 weeks she was gone. Not sure why. I was told she was just laying on the ground not moving, but when I brought her into the kitchen, she hopped over to her litter box. She died 10 minutes later after I heard a high pitch squeal like she couldn't breath.

The second bunny's appetite was low for a few days and wasn't drinking much. I had 1 very large water bottle and a regular sized 2nd water bottle in her cage, so I can't be sure how much she drank, but the levels didn't seem to go down much.

They were both peeing and pooping regularly.

I'm wondering if a dormant disease could be in the cage itself. I cleaned with soap and water and Chorox wipes before putting the second bunny in the old cage.

Should I toss the old cage, water bottles, hay feeder and food dish?

I'm not a vet or anything, but I'm sorry for your loss.

That sounds very strange! It's hard to tell what happened!
What state do you live in?
I would try calling a vet a large breeder in your area.


~Breeding Quality Holland Lops Since 2012~

Welcome to the forum! I'm sorry for your losses. Had either rabbit ever seen a vet? I know you said you had the first rabbit for a year so presumably it was an adult, but how old was the second and where did you get them?
Unfortunately without a necropsy it's going to be hard to determine why they died.

Where do you live? (at least what country?)

I think the 2nd bunny may have been exposed to what the first one had. Before using the cage again, disinfect it well by using 10% bleach solution, rinse well and put it outside to dry. I would toss the water bottle.

What country are you located? Sounds like myxi or calici.

I'm very sorry for your loss. It definitely sounds like something contagious, I agree with disinfecting all bunny areas and leaving more time in between if you intend to get another rabbit to prevent the chance of a dormant disease taking hold again.

I'm honestly not sure what it could be, it doesn't sound like myxomatosis or calicivirus to me. You should see swelling of the eyes and discharge with myxo, and bleeding from orifices with calici. I honestly have no idea what the cause would have been, but I would say it was likely the same for both bunnies.

California

I can't seem to reply to individual posts from my phone...so here goes....

I live in California. The first bunny was a little over a year old. He saw a vet at 11 weeks because he lost use of his legs. He had xrays and we gave him meds for pain and he was fine; probably injured himself jumping around. I hot him from the county fair.

The first bunny had discharge around the eues/nose a few times. His breathing was labored, but I felt that was due to the crusties on his nose. I cleaned him up and his breathing was normal. Took a day or two of keeping his eyes clean, but eating was fine and he was curious and jumping around

The second bunny was 2 years old per the owner (Craigslist). They said she had something in her eye, was seen by a vet put on medication and she was now fine. After I had her, she might have had a crusty or two on her eyes, but only very minor. Just like human "sleep" when you wake up in the morning.

I feel so bad. The bunny might still be alive if I hadn't "rescued" her.... Just another reason I'm trying to do as much research as I can before thinking about another bunny. If I get another bunny, it'll probably be from a shelter after Easter when kids/parents decide they don't want them anymore.

I'm not a vet either, but from what you said, it seems probable that your second bunny caught whatever it was your first bunny had. Some bacteria are only killed by bleach so there might have been some of them left from your first bunny. The second bunny had just been treated for a health problem before you got her, so that might have weakened her immune system which made her catch your first bunny's illness.
Rabbits are very fragile and they generally don't show signs that anything is wrong until they are very ill so they are hard to treat. It's probably not because of something you did wrong or anything. I've suddenly lost one of my bunnies a year ago when I was doing everything by the book and I've been right paranoid about the other two since then.
But then again, it might be a total coincidence and maybe you've just been unlucky enought to pick a bun with a problem. If you are anxious, you can always buy another cage and, when you get a new bunny, it's always best to take him to a rabbit savvy vet after a week or so to check everything is OK. That's what I did with the last one I got and it helped me to stop thinking he was dying everytime he was sneezing... ^^

Thiis is very weird?? I think you should talk to a vet about it. Perhaps get a new cage as the old one may be harbouring some kind of bad disease???

Hi--two rounds of bad news is unfortunate for anyone.

"Boogers" and eye goop is indicative of an infection which if not handled with antibiotics very early on takes over. Your one bun sounds like a respiratory infection filled the lungs. The rabbit couldn't breath and gasped.

This is not really infectious, because all rabbits have this bad bacteria inside them waiting for an opportune moment to strike--lowered immunity, stress.

You also have to educate yourself about GI Stasis. Dr. Dana Krempels is an excellent rabbit expert on-line to download and read her information.
The rabbit is a Gut with a cotton tail and ears. You should be able to recognize the symptoms of slow gut (GI stasis) and know what to do. It looks like one of your bunnies suffered this where you thought it was heat stroke. Even with heat stroke, run the bunny to an exotics vet pronto.:rabbithop

I was also focusing on the eye and nose discharge. That can be indicative of snuffles which can actually be from any of a few different types of bacteria. Snuffles, if left untreated, can spread to other organs. It must be treated with antibiotics or it will not go away, can become chronic and spread internally. It can be fatal if left untreated. Snuffles is definitely contagious too.

If I were to hazard a guess, that would be mine for what caused the first and the subsequent second death.

Here's an article on it (though I read another article too somewhere...)
http://www.pethealthandcare.com/rabbit-health/rabbit-snuffles.html