Introduction Of A New Rabbit

Question
Dear Sarah,

I am writing to you in the hope that you may be able to shed some light on a recent tragic loss that me and my partner have suffered.
Yesterday one of our rabbits passed away, we have no idea why she died so suddenly, she was just over a year old and full of life. She lived in side, had a big hutch that we left the door open when we where in the house so that she had the full run of the house. We read up on how to look after rabbits and always fed them the rite food, always had hay, cleaned the hutch out every second day, fed them greens and gave them toys to play with. As you can imagine it came a great shock to both of us when we found her dead in the hutch. It looked like she had died in her sleep as she was laying down in a relaxed position like rabbits do when they are relaxed. We had no signs that she was ill or in destress, the night before she was playing around and seemed to be fine.
I have check the cage for any unusual droppings or wee but it looks fine to me. As you can image we are really upset but more upset for her best friend that she has left behind. We got both the rabbits at the same time as little babies and they have grown up together and done everything together, where one was in the house the other was rite behind. This is upsetting as she now looks lost and down, she is not very active anymore and seems to have gone a bit off her food. What should we do for her now? We are trying to play with her as much as possible and show as much affection as possible, it is just hard as we can see that she is not herself anymore.
I have done lots of reading on the Internet for reasons why my rabbit might have died and i am going to take my other one to the vet just to have her checked out incase it may have been a diease that she might have been able to catch. Is the rite thing to do as i do not want to put her through and more stress then she may already be suffering.
My main other question is i do not like seeing rabbits on their own and firmly belive that they should have a companion, my only problem now is that i would like to get another rabbit eventually but i am not wanting to get a baby one but look at adopting a slightly older one and roughly the same size. Would i be able to bring another rabbit in the house and would they both get on ok? Could you please tell me what would be the best way of going about this or do you recommend that i do not get another rabbit?
I have also read that if you by rabbits from a pet shop then it is quiet common for them to die without any signs due to lots of inbreeding? Is this true? I bought both the rabbits from a very big well known pet shop.

Thank you for your time in reading this.

Regards

Kai


Answer
Hello

I am so very sorry for your loss. Reading that brought a tear to my eye. It sounds to me that your rabbit has such a fantasic life and had so much love. Your rabbit couldn't have had a better owner.
That is true, so many rabbits die without no sign or warning but not just if you buy them from a pet should, it could happen if you buy them from anywhere. I have had that happen to me before so i totally know how you must be feeling. At first reading your message i thought that your bunny could have died from VHD which is a virus that rabbits get and they can die very sudden. But as there were no signs then i really dont think that could be the case. Just in case i would take your other bunny to the vet for a check up. Your rabbit is going to find the next few days very tough as she has a broken heart and will miss her buddy terribly. Your doing the right thing by giving your bunny loads of attention, thats what she needs.
Try giving your bunny her fav treats or veg as she may won't to eat somthing that she really loves. It may take some time for her though.

I think she would love another mate  but leave it for a week or so to let her get over her loss. Getting a bunny her age and size would prop be the best and remember to take baby steps and introduce them slowly and dont leave them unattended. When putting them together  put then both in a new enviroment other than there own to avoid fighting.

hope this will help you and agiain, very sorry for your loss.
Please let me know if i can help any more and let me know how your other bunny gets on.

sarah