Rabbitts Both Passed - Help Needed

Hi,

I'm Nick, New to the forum.

We had two Rabbits Ronnie 2yrs & Mutley 5yrs they had always been given freedom of the garden and then put way in the evening, We had done this for over 5 years with no problem at all...Until Yesterday!

My Wife returned home and opened the back door to which they usually come to great you, But not today. She then went in search for them in the garden only to find Ronnie and Mutley both dead in different places in the garden.

I suppose I dont know why I'm sharing this I just cant work out what has caused this, we have never had an issue with foxes and I would have expected them to have injuries if this was the case, they both had none!

I can only think a cat has chased them, but we have had cats in the garden many times, the rabbits just stomp and the cat leaves. I couldnt imagine a Cat chasing them both to the extent that they die of stress, and if this were the case it would have had to have chased them individually.

Any ideas, i just cant understand how this has happend. Totally devestated!

Thanks
Nick

So sorry to hear your news. That sounds horrible :-( Do you think they maybe ate something that posioned them?

I am very sorry to hear your news

Were your bunnies vaccinated against VHD?

Maybe something got into the garden and scared them (foxes have been known to be around during the day and can jump 6ft fences).

So sorry

Did you have extremely hot weather?

It would be quite easy for a rabbit to die of shock they are fragile little things, they might not even have been chased very much.

It could possibly have been stasis, where they stop eating and pooping, or heatstroke.

I'm really sorry to hear about your loss, sleep tight little bunnies xx

So sorry to hear this, how devastating for you

Without a post mortem it's pretty impossible to tell really, there could be so many reasons so anything I can suggest is really only a guess at best :?

It's possible I guess that something frightened them to death - foxes seem to be able to kill bunnies through fear rather than by injuring them, but I would have expected them to have at least taken a part of one of them away (sorry to be so graphic).

Were they vaccinated against VHD within the past year? This can kill within a day if buns contract it and doesn't necessarily show any outward signs. It is highly virulent so I wouldn't be surprised for both to catch it.

The other thing that springs to mind is some kind of poison. For instance laburnham is highly poisonous, do you have any kind of tree or bush in your or a neighbour's garden which may have dropped something that your buns could have eaten? Any new plants? Any chance that someone could have deliberately thrown something into your garden?

It must have been really horrible to find, I do hope you get some answers x

Im sorry, how awful

The fact that both have passed does suggest a fright (a dog, cat, fox, large bird??) or maybe as someone else suggested they had eaten something they shouldnt. This seems a less obvious reason as they free ranged for 5 years without problems..You could get a PM done to find cause of death.

Binky free Ronny and Mutley

im really sorry

OMG I feel for you as this is what happened to me two weeks ago!!! If it helps, you might want to consider an autopsy. We had one done on our boys and it confirmed our suspicions that it was most likely the new dog next door. Could it have been a stray dog? I'd imagine an autopsy would be able to determine if it were a canine, or cat/mustellid. Ours were in a fenced garden (admittedly the fence was quite low, about 4-5ft) and in a sturdy run but the run was caved in when we got home.

This thread provides more information on what happened to my boys, you might glean some info from it although you also might not want to read it. I'll leave it up to you:

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=234743&highlight=gasket+tappet


Big hugs!

Jo x

Thank you so much for all your replies.

Yes they were both vacinated against VHD, the garden is fully enclosed with 6ft + high fence, no new trees or plants. Its just completly bizarre.

i'm sorry to hear this.

So sorry to hear about your pets. It must have been devastating to lose them both at once. It sounds like they had a lovely life together, free ranging all day long.

I can't offer any info on why they died, but I hope when you feel a bit better you might feel like having a look at the rehoming page. There are lots of bonded pairs looking for a home and it sounds as though you could offer a great home to a couple of needy bunnies.

so sorry to hear this - absolutely aweful....

So sorry for your loss.It sounds like your buns had a great life.Bunnies lifes are so fragile they have to deal with so many obstacles.Hopefully in time you will be able to give another pair a chance for a lovely life.