Fine until 30 minutes later she was dead

[nicolevins]

I received Cora, my Vienna rabbit, in early June as a gift from my boyfriend. He was told that she was the runt of the litter but she was the one with most personality apparently. I enjoyed several months of happiness with her and she bonded well with my other 3.

Yesterday the family noticed that she was not exactly herself. They spent their free time running around the garden. When you opened the back door to the garden, they would instantly come running towards you. The other rabbits ran straight to the door last night when I was locking them in the shed and Cora sat still. It happened a couple of times and I didn't exactly think anything of it.

This morning my father let them out of the shed. I came down to the kitchen and looked out the door as I usually would at the rabbits. All cute and huddled up. I went to take a shower when I heard my father shouting my name not 10 minutes later telling me to come downstairs. Cora was laying stretched and flat out on the ground, with her hocks twitching. She was still breathing.

I picked her up to carry her inside and placed her on the chair. As she was in my arms that sounded sort of like the snuffle/wheezy/sneeze sound you would hear with a sick rabbit. Not 10 seconds after I placed her down she stopped breathing. She was placed in my freezer.

I intend to perform a necropsy on her with the help of my Animal Anatomy & Physiology teacher.

She is/was on a diet of unlimited hay, pellets and daily apple, banana and tomato and fresh water. I haven't decreased or increased the amount of pellets/fruit/veg that I was feeding my rabbits.

Eyes and mouth were free from discharge, anus was clear etc.

Any ideas?

 

[Watermelons]

Just an FYI, Necropsys are hard to do on frozen animals, if you intend to do it soon, I would place her in a fridge.

She was acting strange yesterday so that means something was off.
She very well could have had something like a clot or embolus of some sort and that's impossible to predict.
Is there anything possible at all she could have gotten into in the garden? It doesn't take much of a toxic plant or substance and if she was the only one who found it.

 

[nicolevins]

Just an FYI, Necropsys are hard to do on frozen animals, if you intend to do it soon, I would place her in a fridge.

She was acting strange yesterday so that means something was off.
She very well could have had something like a clot or embolus of some sort and that's impossible to predict.
Is there anything possible at all she could have gotten into in the garden? It doesn't take much of a toxic plant or substance and if she was the only one who found it.

I had emailed my tutor about it and she said that she could do it on Monday once she was defrosted, as I wont be able to do it until then.

The garden is slightly small but it is walled about 10 ft high. We don't get predators other than birds and I foxes are rarely ever spotted. Unless something blew into the garden while i wasn't watching and it was contaminated, I am clueless.