My bunny

Question
My rabbit Etta last away yesterday and we don't know why, i got her from a humans society 1 year ago she was estimated to be about 2 years of age then so 3 years of age now, for the past few months she has been peeing and pooping blood and we don't know why. We brought her inside the house from her outdoor enclosure and she didn't bleed as much. She was NOT spayed. We do not know what breed she was, the humans society found her in a box on the doorstep one day in the morning, no note no info no nothing so her history is very small. I was wondering if you had any idea of what may have come over her. She was eating normal rabbit food from the local pet store from which i had bought for my previous rabbit and all lived to be 10.

Answer
Hi Kindra:

I'm truly sorry that Etta past away.  Allow yourself to grieve her loss as long as is necessary.

The only way to truly determine her cause of death is to do a necropsy of her body.  Without that, I cant give you a definitive answer.

However - based on her symptoms there's a very high likelihood that she had uterine cancer.  Unspayed rabbits have a very high rate of uterine cancer and in advanced stages - it would cause blood in the urine and stool.

I'm rather shocked that the humane society adopted out an unspayed rabbit.  It's typically against policy to adopt out any unspayed animal and especially rabbits because of how high the risk of cancer is to them.

This is nothing you caused.  Spaying her as soon as you got her may have prevented it, but the humane society should have taken care of that.

If you still have her remains, you can have a necropsy done by a veterinary lab (there is a fee) if you want the absolute cause of death - but it sounds like cancer to me.

I'm sure she was very loved and well cared for and had a very good home while she was with you.  You should be proud that you adopted a shelter bunny and gave her a good life while she was with you.

With Sympathy:

Lisa L.