follow up seizure in 1 month bunny

Question
QUESTION: Hi Dana this is Elisabet...I just got a very very young bunny. i don't know exactly how old is he, but when i got him, it's seem he's just started to walk. i got him for over a week now. but tonight i noticed he pull away from the other bunny, and his ear feel cold. i give the cage bulb so that he feel warm, but he doesn't seem like it. and i realize he's got seizure. i pull him up, and separate him from the other and his ear still cold, so i warm him with my body temp. his ear and body get warm, but the seizure come and go. just over 30 min he's gone. what happen? what make that seizures? i cleaned the cage twice a day, give him proper food as i could. could that because he feel cold? please help me. thanks

ANSWER: Dear Elisabet,

The seizures you describe sound like the spasms of the agonal phase before death.  Once an animal starts doing this, it is usually too late to save him.

It sounds as if the baby you got was far too young to be away from his mother:  maybe only about 10 days old.  

I have to ask...where are you getting all these baby bunnies?  You seem to have a constant supply, and they are not doing well, judging from what you are writing to me.  

If they are being taken from nests or from their litters, then I hope this will stop.  A baby rabbit must have mother's milk for a full 8 weeks, and human substitutes are not sufficient for good health.

Leave the baby rabbits with their mothers unless there is an extreme emergency.  Do not accept babies if they are being taken from their mothers too young. I cannot stress this enough.  It is *very* difficult to successfully raise baby rabbits, and it shouldn't be attempted unless there is no other option.  

For instructions on how to raise domestic rabbit orphans:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/orphan.html

If these are wild rabbits, they should be given to the care of a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, whom you can find here, if you are in the US:

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact.htm

Good luck,

Dana

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Dana, it's me, elisabet again...but just before the seizure he's eating well, walking here and there and his stool is normal. and then suddenly his ear geting cold and got the seizure...?what makes it?

Answer
Dear Elisabet,

Death can come very quickly to baby rabbits if they are not given proper care, and it can come without warning.  There is no way to know for sure without a necropsy, but it is very common for this to happen in babies taken from their mothers too young.

I just saw the sad story about the bunnies coming from fairs.  Please dont' set yourself up for heartache by buying bunnies that are too young to leave their mothers.  You should tell those bad breeders that they are sentencing their bunnies to death, because that is what is happening.

If you have a baby that gets diarrhea, you can try to save them with the protocols here:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/squirts.pdf

if you can get the medications where you are.  But I know this might be difficult.

I hope you can educate those breeders and change their evil ways.  I'm sorry about all this heartache.

Dana