my rabbits sudden death

Question
Hi,

My three year old holland lop rabbit died early yesterday morning. I noticed Monday night she was acting very listless and unresponsive. She also had clear discharge coming from her nose. When I picked her up, she couldn't seem to hold her head and upper body up. Do you know what this could be and how I could prevent it in the future with my other rabbit?

Answer
Hi Mary,

I am sorry for the loss of your rabbit.  It is always difficult.  Holland Lops are very special to us in our rescue.  My very first rescue and the namesake of our rescue was a Holland Lop.

Without a necropsy, there is no way to know exactly what happened.  When I hear of something like this, I immediately think first of a digestive system problem.  I would review all my husbandry protocols.  Adult rabbits should have unlimited grass hay such as timothy, orchard grass, oat or brome.  Unlimited hay is vital to a healthy GI and it is also the primary was a rabbit keeps it's teeth worn down....and teeth are one of the problem spots for Holland Lops.  A diet too high in protein....too many or poor quality pellets, too many veggies/fruits and too many treats can be damaging to the GI tract.  Most people feed far too many pellets....our Hollands get less than 1/8 cup pellets per day.  We also see rabbits eat a lot of things they shouldn't that cause major problems....carpet is a huge problem and can cause serious problems in the GI.

My comments above are only a guess and represent the most often issue we see like this....but there are many possibilities but the only way to know is to perform a necropsy.