Rabbit pregnancy complications

Question
Hello, my rabbit has sadly just died, while giving brith to her first litter of babies.
We have a neutered male and he managed to meet our female rabbit, once before he was neutered. He seems to be very good at getting out of his hutch, extra security measures are now in force.
Anyway as a result my female rabbit became pregnant and gave birth to her first baby on friday morning. We were very surprised it was just one, but just glad they were both ok. However, on saturday morning we found my female rabbit lying on her back covered in blood, with one dead baby and one still alive.
What complications do you think she had? Was there anything i could of done as she was my pride and joy and i'm devasted that she has gone before her time.
I tried to hand rear the baby and managed to keep it alive two days, but sadly it also died this morning.

I wonder if you have any answers for me.

Thank you Ria

Answer
Dear Ria,

I am so sorry about the tragic, traumatic death of your bunny.  Without seeing her in person, it's very difficult for me to determine exactly what happened.  The most common cause of death during delivery of babies is a baby being too big to exit the birth canal, and becoming stuck.  This can cause cardiac arrest from the strain and other complications.

Another possibility is a hemorrhage due to a vaginal or uterine tear, or a tear of the placenta.  Since there was a lot of blood, it's not unreasonable to suspect that a hemorrhage could have caused a fatal degree of blood loss.

Unless you suspected that she still had more babies to deliver (which would be *very* difficult for you to determine), I can't imagine that there is anything you could have done to help her.  A doe's first litter is not uncommonly just one or two babies, and if she was acting fine after the delivery of the first, and not straining, I would not have suspected that she had another baby to come.

If she was straining, acting very quiet or otherwise not herself after the birth of the first baby, a trip to a good rabbit vet might have been in order to be sure there were not other babies in line.  If this was found to be the case, the vet could either have given her a shot of oxytocin to induce labor, or perform a spay and Caesarian section.  But from your description, I don't see any red flags that would have warned you, unless I haven't gotten all the details.

I am so very sorry about your terrible loss.  Please know that I'm sending healing thoughts for you and your family.

Take care,
Dana