My son squeezed my rabbit...

Question
I had recently purchased an 8 week old bunny, my 5 year old son was ecstatic and named him Chowder. Just last night, after having the bunny for 2 weeks, my son had come to me and said "Chowder peed on me." This was not an uncommon behavior in the bunny. He did it to all of us. I told my son he didnt want to be held, sent him to get changed, and went to get Chowder to place him back in his cage. I found Chowder under a chair, sitting up, but almost dazed. When I picked him up, he didnt even try to fight. I placed him in his cage and he climbed up to the upper level and flopped on his side. In the meantime, my son had told a friend of mine that Chowder peed on him, so he was mean to him because he shouldnt have done that. I went back to check on Chowder, but he wouldnt react to anything. Being picked up, offering his favorite foods, nothing. He was almost limp but still dazed. We rushed him to the local pet hospital, but Chowder had died in my arms on the ride. My son later admitted that he squeezed the rabbit. As I research, it seemed as though my son may have hurt the rabbit and sent him into shock which killed him, but I am afraid this is just the wishful thinking of a mother who doesnt want to believe her son killed her pet. I loved that little bunny. The vet want familiar with rabbits, and being that Chowder had already passed when we got him there, I didnt really have any answers. I just want to know if it possible that the squeeze itself caused Chowders demise, or if it was simply the reaction to the squeeze.

Answer
Dear Melissa,

I'm sorry you have learned the hard way that small children and rabbits are NOT a good match.  And I'm afraid I can't mince words.  Yes, it is very likely that your son killed your bunny.  

Until your child is older and able to better understand his strength and the relatively fragile nature of small animals, you should refrain from getting another bunny unless you can keep the bunny in a place that is 100% secure from your son unless you are closely supervising.  For complete information on children and rabbits, please read:

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/children.html

Baby rabbits, in particular, are very delicate.  A squeeze like this--especially if your son was intending to "punish" the rabbit for urinating on him--can easily rupture internal organs (stomach, liver, bladder, etc.) and be fatal.  It would be very unusual for the "shock" of a squeeze like this to be the cause of death.  A necropsy would be the only way to know the exact damage that was done, but it was obviously enough to kill.

Sadly, your situation is not unique.  Every year after Easter we hear similar tragic stories of innocent bunnies being killed, usually by accident, by small children for whom they were bought as "Easter Bunny" toys.  But as the families of such bunnies learn too late, a rabbit is anything but a toy.  It is a very fragile animal, and not at all suitable for a household where unsupervised children might very quickly do fatal harm.

I am very sorry about the loss of your bunny, and wish I could have warned you before you and the bunny suffered this very, very sad tragedy.

Dana