Baby bunny suddenly limped and died. Why?

[CTBunny]

Last night my baby bunny of about 6/7 weeks were happily in his cage drinking water. I approached and he came to the opening so I picked him up. Went to sit with him and he immediately snuggled into the corner of my arm and went to sleep (I thought) 5min later mom tries to touch him and he is limp, flopping to the side breathing slowly nothing else. Keeping him warm trying to keep him comfortable. 20min later he starts to spasm and dies. What happened? Still crying don’t understand this?

 

[InspectorMorse]

I am very sorry

When a Rabbit dies they often have what appears to be a seizure. This is as the neurological pathways in the brain shut down

The only way to establish the precise cause of death is a Post Mortem carried out by a VeT. Even then it in some cases the findings can be inconclusive.

Keep a close eye on the rest of the Kits, if there are more. If a pathogen is involved such as coccidiosis or EC then the other Kits are at risk too

Another possibility is RVHD-Rabbit Viral Haemorrhagic Disease

 

[CTBunny]

He was so healthy hopping around eating extremely well. Drinking water. Looked so healthy. Poop looked perfect (Watched that carefully as my other bunny now a year old had issues and is on daily probiotics) No indicators whatsoever that anything was wrong. It was in less than an hour than everything just changed. Could my other bunny now be at risk?

 

[Babsie]

He was so healthy hopping around eating extremely well. Drinking water. Looked so healthy. Poop looked perfect (Watched that carefully as my other bunny now a year old had issues and is on daily probiotics) No indicators whatsoever that anything was wrong. It was in less than an hour than everything just changed. Could my other bunny now be at risk?

I'm sorry you lost your little baby rabbit. Do you mean that he was no longer with the Doe?

 

[susie bun]

So sorry you lost the little one.

 

[CTBunny]

I'm sorry you lost your little baby rabbit. Do you mean that he was no longer with the Doe?

No sorry for the confusion. I got this little one about a week ago. Kept him separated from my doe( she is almost a year) wanted to get her a friend but introduced them slowly. So he was in a big bunny cage while she was free roaming. She could get on-top of the cage and all around. To smell all that there is to smell.

 

[InspectorMorse]

No sorry for the confusion. I got this little one about a week ago. Kept him separated from my doe( she is almost a year) wanted to get her a friend but introduced them slowly. So he was in a big bunny cage while she was free roaming. She could get on-top of the cage and all around. To smell all that there is to smell.

At 6/7 weeks the kit should still have been with his Mum. I suspect enterotoxaemia caused by too early weaning and stress could have been the cause of death

 

[MiniC]

I'm very sorry for your loss

I think your bunny might have been separated from his mum a little too soon. Generally they shouldn't be taken away until about 8 weeks.

It's a bit of a stressor to have one bun in a cage, with the other free-roaming, so if you're looking to introduce another rabbit to your own soon, please do come back for some tips to help bond them, we'll be happy to help x

 

[Babsie]

No sorry for the confusion. I got this little one about a week ago. Kept him separated from my doe( she is almost a year) wanted to get her a friend but introduced them slowly. So he was in a big bunny cage while she was free roaming. She could get on-top of the cage and all around. To smell all that there is to smell.

I
Obviously I don’t know where he came from but he was too young to be separated from his mum. Also he would have been stressed by the other rabbit running round and, possibly, by being picked up. Very sad.

 

[bunny momma]

I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[Frankie Boy]

Last night my baby bunny of about 6/7 weeks were happily in his cage drinking water. I approached and he came to the opening so I picked him up. Went to sit with him and he immediately snuggled into the corner of my arm and went to sleep (I thought) 5min later mom tries to touch him and he is limp, flopping to the side breathing slowly nothing else. Keeping him warm trying to keep him comfortable. 20min later he starts to spasm and dies. What happened? Still crying don’t understand this?

Good evening, I'm sorry for your loss. I suddenly lost my boy last week and I'm devastated so feel your pain x