Hello, we're south of London and the same thing happened to our rabbit who was just over 3 years old. We were given it at the end of the summer, by a family who had a number of rabbits and could not look after them any longer. We took one male - the others had been promised elsewhere. He settled down quickly and we soon got him a two story hutch which doubled his housing. He was shorthaired, but developed a wonderful thick winter coat, with no fur loss and put on weight - although did not become overweight. He wasn't a cuddly rabbit, preferring the independent life - if he didn't want you near him a nip would sometimes come your way. He started coming indoors sometimes - scratching at the patio door when he wanted to come in - I would estimate that he did not spend more than an hour a week over several days indoors. At night the hutch was covered in a loose tarpaulin to keep the rain and wind out, but with adequate air. About 8 weeks ago he was rescued from the mouth of a fox by my son. He was very subdued following this, but fortunately was not injured and recovered to normal within a few days. A few nights ago, I could hear thumping outside and found a fox troubling him - fortunately he was in his hutch, but had become distressed. Then the snow came - he wasn't sure at first, but soon started rubbing his face in it, digging it, and hopping through it. This was not for long as we always look out for Mr Fox. Yesterday morning, my wife noticed him taking a few bite from a Rhododendron leaf, something he'd never shown any interest in and could only reach because of the snow weighing it down. He only took about 2 - 3 small bites - more than half of the leaf is still remaining. About 4 hours later we found him dead in his hutch. There were no signs or warning that we saw. It was at this point that my wife remembered the leaf he's chewed and looked it up on the internet - at this point, we found out how poisonous it was.
I'm sorry for writing so much, but I'd like to try and find out what happened. Does anyone think it could have been the Rhododendron leaf - if so, should there have been any signs? Could we have done anything? Was it the cold? the snow?
Also at the back of my mind, I was given some rabbit food last week, from someone who’s rabbit died suddenly of what she though was old age - I think it was about 12 years old - at the back of my mind I'm wondering if there was something wrong with this feed? The frustrating thing is that it was young, fit a healthy and I’m wondering, without stating the obvious, if we have done something wrong? It’s certainly been a steep learning curve – whilst I’ve always been keen to give any animal as much freedom as possible, I’ve now realised that Rabbits are bit difficult.
Looking at this forum, I've now become aware of VHD, something which I'd never heard of - I don't know it had been vaccinated by the previous owner. Any advice would be gratefully received.
Thank you.
PS. Mmm I've just looked up VHD and in it's extreme form, It looks as though this could be the cause, however there were no symptoms. I buried the rabbit in the garden - is this a good idea, or could I be storing up problems for the future?
