Two young rabbits suddenly die

Question
Hello,

My family have two rabbits (Holland Lops) who both died suddenly last night. They are about 6 months old and we observed no problems with them previously. But when my daughters went to feed them last night, they were both dead (and already stiff). To my knowledge, they didn't eat anything abnormal recently, and they are kept in the garage (in separate cages), so I don't think anything could have scared them to death.

My only possible explanation is that my daughters had them playing in the snow yesterday and I don't believe they dried them off before putting them back in their cages. It gets down to about 30-35 degrees Fahrenheit in the garage, and they have had no problems with the cold up to now. Do you think the cause of death was the combination of cold and wet fur or something else?

Answer
Hi,

I am sorry to hear about your rabbits' passing.

I'm not a vet, but I would probably point to the snow wetness and the cold of the garage.  Anytime rabbits get wet, it is important to dry them off properly, slowly, and safely - you can also burn them using a hairdryer on a regular setting.  

Their skin is very thin, what I am assuming occurred is that they were still wet, overnight the temperature dropped (it actually isn't good for any domestic rabbits to be in 30-35 degree Fahrenheit temps normally), they were still damp, got very cold, went into shock, and died.  It doesn't take much with small animals.  

It's one of the main reasons why 1) we don't bathe rabbits or get them wet, 2) we keep domestic rabbits indoors at more moderate temperaturess we want to live in, and 3) keep them inside the house with us so we can monitor them more closely during the day and night.