Dead rabbit

Question
Hi, unfortunately for my rabbit this information is too late but just in case I get another one in the future I would like to be more informed. My four year old rabbit had been showing a lot more interest in its fresh feed than usual and was not as interested in the pellets but I hadn't noticed any lack of pooing and weeing and she still seemed to be eating well.  I cleaned out her litter tray on Friday and she came out of the hutch as she usually would for a while. On Saturday night we had a thunderstorm with a lot of lightning, the rabbit seemed OK in the morning just lying around and I was out for most of the day but I found her dead later on Sunday.  The kids said she had been laying in the same spot in the afternoon that I found her that evening but they thought she was just having a nice lay as she was outstretched like she lays in the sunshine.  Do you think she had a digestive problem that I hadn't noticed even though she hoed into some apple on Saturday night or was she scared by the thunder and lightning of the storm during the night?  The hutch was covered and stayed dry throughout the night.  She had been having carrots, hay, celery, kiwi fruit and a bit of banana within the last week etc in addition to pellets and the litter tray had plenty of droppings and urine when changed on Friday however after her passing I noticed that the litter tray had no faecal deposits in the last 24-48 hrs only urine.

Answer
Dear Leanne,

I am very sorry about the loss of your bunny.

Unfortunately, the only way to confidently establish a cause of death is via necropsy/post mortem exam, including histopathology of major organ tissues.  It could have been any of dozens of things, from heat stroke to an infection that went undetected--or any number of other things.

Sadly, it's very difficult to monitor the health of a bunny who lives outside in a hutch.  If you do decide to bring another bunny into your home, I hope you will be able to make him/her a house rabbit.  All the information you need about litterbox training, spay/neuter, etc. can be found here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

with a special section on basic rabbit care here:

http://www.rabbit.org/care/new-bunny-index.html

I hope this helps.

Dana