Bunny died suddenly

[SarahBryce]

Hello everybody,
I rescued a litter of bunnies recently and decided to raise one to be our families pet. Our baby bunny was over a month old and was still very small. Despite this she was very active, ate regularly and was very social. No signs of distress. All of a sudden she started seizuring for an hour off and on and eventually passed away. Does anyone know what could of caused this?

 

[JimJam]

It could be because of the fact that she did not get enough milk and was weaned way to early. This is not good for a rabbits health at all. Or she could’ve picked up a virus judging by the fact that she seizured. So sad to hear

 

[SarahBryce]

Could the fact that one of her siblings died the exact same way at two weeks old have anything to do with it. She was fine too and then died from a seizure. Could it be genetic since there dwarf rabbits?

 

[Sophia]

You weaned it to soon they are spposed to ha e the option of being with mom for at least 2 months

 

[Preitler]

Weaning at 4 weeks is not the optimum but ok if necessary, it's what is done when there's a back-to-back litters, or on an intensive breeding schedule. Imho it's also quite common in nature. So although it isn't the best for kits or doe, I don't think this was the problem here. I would consider changing food that early which, I assume, happens quite often when rabbits change places, a bigger problem.
Anyway, imho those things like weaning enteritis have other symptoms, but well, there's so much that can go wrong and I'm no expert, and I don't know that dwarf breeds are more prone to problems in this regard, but I have some second thoughts about animals bred out of shape for goals like appearance, it needs good, and consequent breeders to not let bad things slip in.

Personally, I wouldn't pick a pet that was weaned that early, even if it wasn't an actual problem in that case, but I somewhat get a bad prejudice against a breeder who does it, would he cull for health reasons or is producing numbers more important?

Imho, it could very well be genetic, something like epilepsy, for example.

Anyway, the whole point is moot here, rabbits are fragile creatures, they evolved to survive by multiplying, not by a very solid health and immune system.

 

[JBun]

Weaning early is not going to cause seizures in rabbits.

Yes, a genetic trait is a possibility from being a dwarf breed. Blue eyed white rabbits in particular are known for being predisposed to seizures. Though with your bun having had multiple seizures in a row and then dying, I would suspect a health issue/disease as being the cause.

There are health issues like the e. cuniculi parasite, infection, head trauma, herpes simplex virus(cold sore virus spread from people), viral hemorrhagic disease(which if you are near BC is a possibility I believe), toxoplasmosis, heat stroke, toxins, tumor, vit. A deficiency/toxicity(prior to birth, accompanied with other odd symptoms), and a few other less common causes, that can all lead to seizures occurring in rabbits.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/seizure.htm
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/Metabolic/Seizures_en.pdf

 

[BunnyM4m4]

Hello everybody,
I rescued a litter of bunnies recently and decided to raise one to be our families pet. Our baby bunny was over a month old and was still very small. Despite this she was very active, ate regularly and was very social. No signs of distress. All of a sudden she started seizuring for an hour off and on and eventually passed away. Does anyone know what could of caused this?

This happened to our Bunny we brought home yesterday. After he passed I put him in a box to bury him in the morning because it was late. When I woke up he smelt like he had been dead for days in the hot sun, however it was pretty cool in the room I left him and he'd only been dead for a few hours. He was also covered in something that looked like Neosporin or Vaseline most likely pus or maybe urine, I don't know, he was dry when I put him in the Box. I'm at a complete loss as to what happened as well.