Did I kill my rabbit?

Question
I have had my rabbit for two years, she has always been healthy. She was always kept indoors with the exception of spending a little time on the patio once in a while. She died this past week and I feel like it's my fault. She had poop stuck to her butt so I gave her a bath (7pm), I did not submerge her but I did wash her from her neck down. After I wrapped her in towels for a little bit and then put her on the patio for maybe 30 minutes. It was a liitle cool outside about 68 degrees. I then put her in her cage, she was still damp. At 3am I went to her cage and she was laying in her litter box and she looked very stiff with her legs in the air and her eyes barely open. We took her out and she was still damp, so we blow dryed her hair. When we put her on the floor her body just went flat, she couldn't stand. We put her back in her cage with a towel and she just layed down stiffly, she tried rolling over but couldn't she then started shaking (almost like a seizure). I took her to an emergency clinic about 5am, her temp was 94.5 they put her in an incubator for a little bit. At this point her body seemed very distorted, her back was very arched, her neck tilting to one side. The vet said she was very sick and didn't think she would make it, we decided to have her put to sleep because I was afraid she was in pain. The vet said it's hard to tell what caused this without doing expensive tests, she said she probably had some other problem and it wasn't the bath that made her sick. I feel like I killed her, do you think it was the bath and being left wet that caused this?  Do you think if we warmed her and got her body temp back up she would have gotten better? I think maybe I had her put to sleep to fast and I should have waited to see if she improved. She was well before the bath , she was eating and drinking, she did have mushy poop that kept getting stuck to her butt.

Answer
Hi Daisy,

I am sorry ot hear about hte loss of your rabbit.

I am not a vet and there has been no necropsy done, so take what I have to say with that understanding.

Getting almost all of her body wet and putting her in cool weather probably was the biggest thing that led to her dying.  I say this only to be as honest as possible.  The problem with getting rabbits wet, is that they have extremely thin skin, and they are very difficult to get dry all the way through, without burning their skin in the process.  It's the main reason we never recommend bathing rabbits.  In cases of 'messy butt' such as yours a lightly damp washcloth, alternating that area with a man's fine tooth comb, to work the clumps out, are what I tell people to do.

Her body temperature dropped, and she went into shock.  Blood pulled back from extremities as part of shock, and she would most likely would have died even with a good rabbit vet trying to save her.  Once their body temperatures get to 96 degrees or lower it is very difficult to raise them back up again (normally they run 100-104 degrees).  It would have been a miracle if they could have saved her with her temperature that low.  These are little 4-5 pound (up to 10) little creatures that have such small bodies, temperature is really important for them.  They can handle cold but not cold AND wet.  And most people cannot get them safely dry once wet.  The undercoats are very difficult to dry safely and so all that wetness is against their very thin skin, and that goes and really starts cooling down the body and muscles fast.

I will tell you though, that compared to other forms of death that a rabbit can go through, or even people for that matter, shock is probably one of less unpleasant ways to go.  Because the blood goes back into the core of the body to try to keep the warmth up, it is basically like falling asleep.  I wouldn't spend too much time second guessing you putting her to sleep, given what you are telling me of her condition.

I know what gets to you is you were trying to do the right thing for her and take care of her other problem.  Ignorance is not the same thing as deliberate neglect.  You didn't know what would happen doing what you thought was right, because if you did, you never would have done it.  You will ultimately have to forgive yourself, I know it is probably impossible right now, but part of the grieving and healing process, you will have to at some point.  Your bunny knows you loved her and only meant good things for her.

Like I said, you will be going through a pretty long grieving process depending how you felt towards her.  You'll get to a point at some future day where you won't be kicking yourself over it.  Your bunny wouldn't want you to feel terrible about this forever.  It's something also that you will always remember if and when you ever decide to have a bunny in the future.  You might ask why we have to learn such a lesson at the expense of a pet, and to be honest, I can't tell you why, because the tough lessons like this that I've had, I know I could have learned without my pet dying - at least that's my opinion.  But everything has a time to live, and a time to die.  At least right now.  We can't change that.  It was her time.  ANd it hurts because she was loved and otherwise healthy.  You can thank God she had a life with good health and didn't have to suffer.  You can thank God she wound up living two good years in a home with people who loved her.  And if you're a Christian like me, you can look forward to being reunited with her again in the future, when God restores everything - including all the animals that have died.  You will get her back.  Keep loving her.

Again, I'm sorry for your loss.