Five week baby bunny died

Question
Thank you for your answer. In answer to your questions, the baby was 5 weeks old on that very day. We noticed no signs that it was sick until that morning and it was having trouble breathing and it's nose was running profusely. The baby died within 4 hours of being seen by the vet. We tried to feed it baby food but it couldn't eat it so we stopped.The baby died within minutes of trying to feed it.

Answer
Dear Linda,

When a baby rabbit shows signs of breathing trouble, things are very serious.  And, like adult rabbits, they may not show signs of illness until they are quite sick.  It's a defense mechanism that protects them from being noticed (and picked out) by predators.

But babies also have very fast metabolisms, are very small, and thus can very quickly succumb to pathogens if they are compromised.

I get dozens and dozens of questions in this category, so I can't remember your exact situation.  (If you write again, please do so as a followup, so that your previous questions will be included in the posting, and I can place your problem more precisely.)  But if the baby was still nursing, his mother's milk should have afforded him protection against bacteria that cause this type of sudden illness.  It might be simply that he didn't have the strength of his siblings, and was one of those little ones who is doomed because of that.  There just isn't any way to know for sure.

Check to be sure the cage is very dry and there's no mold (on hay or around the bunnies' enclosure) or anything around that can compromise the respiratory system.  The environment should be no warmer than about 75 Farenheit; above that, the bunnies start to become stressed, and stress leads to compromised immune system.  Providing a very clean, airy environment will go a long way to preventing any type of illness in the baby, so check to be sure the little family has all of this.

I hope the rest do fine.

Dana