SUDDENLY DIED

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fantaysah

fantaysah

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Location
newton, North Carolina, USA
One of my two bunnies suddenly dies. I went to town they were fine when I left, came back 2 hours later and salt was lying on the bottom of the cage and was kicking, screaming and could not lift her head... emergency vet is an hour away and she passed on the way there. She will be replaced rapidly by the guy i got her from (to spare my kids) and they will be hitting the regular vet asap in the morning. Any ideas on what could have happened so suddenly? she was about 7 weeks old (mother died at 3 weeks) and the other bunny looks fine... Should i worry about it being something contagious? There was no idication that they were fighting (still babies no marks etc.) her eyes were nice this morning but as of when she passed they had yellow color on fur around them could this be from her flopping around of a sudden disease? she acted fine the whole morning. please any advice for the health of the remaining bunny is appreciated
 
Omg the experts will have to help here but I just wanted to say I'm sorry that this happened :(
 
Thanks... on closer inspection (cleaning just in case) i found some runny poop. They are eating pellets and timothy hay and it was eating fine. my daughter gave them some herb mix yesterday (basil, parsley mint etc. all checked out on the bunny ok list) could this be why? also please note again the list of things


runny poop
yellow on fur around eyes
could not lift head
obviously in pain (screaming)
very fast (was seemingly fine 2 hours before)


 
The speed, screaming, and head make me think some type of Aneurysm, or clot. Unsure how those would relate to yellow around the eyes unless again a neuro issue caused different proteins to be released which caused a yellowing of the tears which stained the fur? Poop could be anything.

Will a necropsy be done?

IMO doesn't sound contagious, but I would remove the remaining bunny and bleach everything.
 
My first thought is that if they are only 7 weeks old, that's awfully young to be giving greens. I'm not sure that it would've caused a death that sudden though, or contributed to it.
 
so for the other bunny stop giving greens? he seems fine but i cleaned the cage and will monitor his poop tonight. No a necropsy is beyond my budget right now as i will have the other bunny at the vet to check him etc tomorrow. The guy i got him from said the mom died unexpectedly also and being weaned at 3 weeks old could cause problems (he guaranteed if something happened he would replace it) but i thought we were out of the woods since we had them about 10 days now. Also could not having alfalfa cause something like this? they were just on timothy hay, i ordered the alfala/timothy mix and it was delivered today. how should i feed the other bunny? all mix ?


 
Its best to keep any new rabbit on the diet they were given previously to you getting them for at least a few days before adding anything new. Please continue feeding the other bunny what the old owner was feeding.

I wouldn't say veggies are the cause, but please introduce them slowly. 1 type at a time(per day) in small ammounts until their system is used to what you're giving them. Plus with only 1 type a day you will learn what they like and what their tummys can handle.
 
The early weaning could well have been the main cause because of not getting the right nutrition/immunization from mom, through nursing & eating her cecals.

Which hay isn't as important [other than what he'll eat], but if he's not on alfalfa pellets he should be transitioned to them & have them until at least 6 months, when they should be transitioned to timothy pellets.

I'm so sorry this happened, but it sometimes does in the first few months, even when they're properly weaned etc.
 
I'm sorry this happened too :( I think it sounds like an aneurysm. A friend's dog had one and the reaction and sad death were comparable. I'm so sorry.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, The guy brought me a new bunny, i figured replace it now the kids wont know and they can BOTH go to the vet together tomorrow. The new bunny is 2 times the size of the other one and they are SUPPOSEDLY the same age but this bunny stayed with its mom. Hopefully we find out that whatever happened is not contagious and we will be safe from now on. If not then we will seek treatment and at least try to save the other one.

As bad as it sounds I am hoping you guys are right because at least an aneurism isnt contagious. Im boggled by it though because it was fine 2 hours before. Glad it didnt suffer long though poor thing. Fingers crossed for me guys!! i have also read a lot online that small bunnies dying is a common thing... so if this happens again i think i will get a lone buck who is fully grown and leave the babies for more experienced people...
 
I have had two die just like that one day they were ok next day dead. I don't know what happened but I think they had a heart attack both were having babies and i reckon one was stuck and they had a heart attack trying to get them out.

The babies died I was not as informmed as I am now now .

Sorry to hear of your loss.

Rhayden
 
I'm so sorry for your loss. Youngsters can have a hard time transitioning if they are seperated from mom too young (obviously this was not by choice). You can see from the size difference how much better off they are and stronger with mom's milk. It's too bad he couldn't have fostered them to another doe.
 
Wondering - can you get an exact package of food that the guy is using?


(Typically, it is suggested that 8 weeks is the earliest that buns should be separated from Mom - for the other little one, more time with Mom or a surrogate might be helpful in this case: you could ask the knowledgable people over in the rabbitry for their opinions on that topic :) )
 
Great news the vet says the buns look and sound good! He says there is a possible parasite that causes nervous system shutdown but shouldn't have happened that fast so he thinks it was a stroke/ anuerysm but we r treating the other 2 just in case. The meds for this treat diarrhea too so i was advised to fully smith the food to whatever they will have long run and the meds would ease any effects. Also he says (a bun specialist) greens of any kind from the safe list are fine even this young and i should continue with them! So yay for us and fingers crossed we have no more issues
 
With rabbits they won't let you know if they have an interior problem because they are prey animals. So even if he looked fine earlier he might have been hiding it from you until he absolutly couldn't hide it anymore.
 
We had the same thing happen, with nosymptomsat all. We out to a show and our son came over 2 hours later and Bonny was laying on her side. He thought she was sleeping, but it wasn't to be. She was 3 years old, happy, healthy, and frisky.
 
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