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what could cause sudden death

neeshkabeesh

Warren Scout
My rabbits are fine, its just I was at the vets getting their vaccinations and told them of my neighbours rabbits which dropped dead in May. They weren't vaccinated against VHD and the vet said there are other reasons why a rabbit would just die suddenly, but wasn't letting on why. Why would a rabbit die suddenly? With my neighbours rabbits one was found dead one morning and the next morning the second one was also dead without a mark on either of them or any sign of illness, so I assumed it was VHD.
 
I would assume that's VHD too. Tia dropped dead at Christmas with no ill health beforehand. In fact I'd just noticed she was looking in fantastic condition (I'd had her a year) so I was very shocked to find her collapsed one morning after she'd eaten her breakfast all up. The vet checked her over and said her lungs were fine and her womb felt fine (I didn't get her spayed as she was a nethie, very small and not in great health when she was rescued, so I didn't want to push it) There was just a slight drop in her body temperature, which I guess indicates shock. What caused the shock I don't know. Internal bleeding? Liver failure? Sometimes if they have been starved, fed badly, or had lots of anaesthetics and stress, their liver packs up. I couldn't afford a PM so I'll never know. E-Cuniculi also causes sudden death sometimes.
 
Poisoning can also cause sudden death. I know of a case where two rabbits died very suddenly within a day of each other with no apparent causes. Investigation found that the neighbours had sprayed their lawn with some insecticide or herbicide or something and some had blown over onto the rabbits in the their pen.
 
If the buns were related it could be a genetic disease too - like congenital heart disease or something.

Or if they were too hot in the hot spell - or dehydration. they could even have been ill - but not shown symptoms. they hide it really well:(
 
Were they experienced rabbit owners?

If not, it might not have been as sudden as they say. Rabbits tend to be good at hiding signs of illness until they are pretty much at deaths door.

Could also be pneumonia, meningitis or septicemia (sp?), cancer, or probably about a million other conditions.
 
I found Rowan dead one morning after he had seemed fine :cry: and it was suggested that it could have been something genetic like heart failure...or liver failure from a bout of stasis he had a week earlier :cry: .
 
All of mine died suddenly :( Mary's I think was due to the kidney problems he'd been having for a while. Not sure about the other 4 - the PM results for Squishy said coccidia was partly to blame but none of the buns showed any symptoms at all. They literally went from perfectly fine to dead within hours :cry:
 
My first rabbit, Jessica - who was vaccinated, died very suddenly without warning at around 1.5 years old. I came home after a night out with friends and immediately knew something was wrong. She was limp and cold but still alive, I called the emergency vet and went to get her down there but she started having some sort of fit and it was so traumatising. All I could do was try to restrain her so she didn't hurt herself but she died shortly after before I could even get her in her carrier. I'm just glad I could be with her.

I didn't get a post mortem done as I couldn't handle it after going through that but my vet said that the most likely thing was that she had an undetected heart defect which got the better of her :( It was so horrible but she was vaccinated fully. She was from a pet shop.. I know that's bad but I know better now.
 
It takes many years of 'bunny watching' to spot the early signs of illness.

For instance you can learn to spot the early signs of GI stasis before bunny stops eating or has diahorrea (sp?) or suchlike.

Also Ill rabbits often sit looking upwards at walls or into corners. I have no idea why, perhaps to maximize the amount of air they can breathe in.

Yes, adult rabbits can go from fine to dying, but I don't think it's as common as you'd think...perhaps only as common as SID or sudden adult death in humans? I'm not really sure.
 
Such sad stories, they seem such delicate animals sometimes :(

I wouldn't say they were experienced rabbit owners despite being 'breeders' once upon a time. I don't think they were the kind of breeder I would get an animal from, and having never heard of VHD and the length of their rabbit's nails when I went round the day the first rabbit died was just ridiuculous. They seem very naive and uneducated in how to keep all of their animals, or maybe just a bit ignorant.

I've had my own rabbits die suddenly too. In 1997 I had three female rabbits, one was the mother of the other two. I moved house and six weeks later one of my rabbits collapsed and died (August time), two days later her mam was ill and went to the vets and died there and then the third rabbit was ill and I had to have her put to sleep because I was due to start a new school the next day and couldn't nurse her, it was the very last week of the summer holidays that it all happened. The first rabbit had a post mortem but they couldn't find anything wrong. I think VHD only came out or was discovered in 1995 so they didn't have vaccines then. Around 1999 or 2000 I had two rabbits, one died on the Wednesday and I was going to get the second a friend that weekend but she died that Saturday morning, they weren't vaccinated either I didn't know about it, that was in October. When those two died I said I would never get a rabbit or guinea pig which would live in the garden because we thought there must have been something on the grass or something in the area causing my rabbits to die suddenly.

I feel very lucky to have my three little ladies, they've been relatively healthy all the while I've had them :) And they are vaccinated of course!
 
Bloat is another quick killer if not acted upon quickly which could be why some rabs are found dead in the morning. Bloat and GI Statis are two different ailments according to my rabbit books, bloat being the quicker killer :(
 
My first rabbit, Jessica - who was vaccinated, died very suddenly without warning at around 1.5 years old. I came home after a night out with friends and immediately knew something was wrong. She was limp and cold but still alive, I called the emergency vet and went to get her down there but she started having some sort of fit and it was so traumatising. All I could do was try to restrain her so she didn't hurt herself but she died shortly after before I could even get her in her carrier. I'm just glad I could be with her.

I didn't get a post mortem done as I couldn't handle it after going through that but my vet said that the most likely thing was that she had an undetected heart defect which got the better of her :( It was so horrible but she was vaccinated fully. She was from a pet shop.. I know that's bad but I know better now.

Exactly the same thing happened with my hamster Jocelyn, and it was absolutly awful. I know some people will think it's only a hamster....but I'd had her for over 5 years and she was the sweetest most affectionate little thing.

Anyway, I too came home from a night out with friends, and knew instantly something was wrong. Then she started fitting. It was awful. To begin with she climbed out the cage as normal for me to hold her, but then she was fitting, I was trying 2 stroke her between fits, but she was trying to throw herself out my hands so I put her back in her bed. It was absolutly horrific, one of the worst things I've ever seen. Felt like it went on for hours but must of only been 15mins. By the end she was just looking at me, glazed eyes, bleeding out of her nose, and I was crying and begging her to die. That sounds awful, but I jsut wanted it to stop. Absolutly awful. Im so sorry you went through a similar experience :cry:
 
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