What caused my daughters holland lop to die?

Question
Last friday after mopping the floors with Murphy oil soap(non hazardous) I washed my daughters rabbit in the sink that had prevously had the floor soap in it, after I drained and rinsed the sink out.  I washed her with baby shampoo and put her back in the cage not completly dry. Reason I washed her, she had wet stool all over her back side.  I had given her a baseball sized center of lettuce and a cucumber skin sliver the previous night witch must have caused the runs.  The next day was Saturday and I noticed she was acting strange, not eating or drinking much, also was leaning to one side and couldn't move good.  Sunday had no improvement so I took her to the ER vet, noticed she had a few abcess under her skin.  They ran some test and all they fiund was her protein levels were alittle high as well as her white blood count.  They gave her fluids and antibotic shot and sent her home, she died the next day.  She was aprox 5 years old and was loved very much.  We are trying to figure out what happened?  Any thoughts or ideas would help us put some closure on this.

Answer
Dear Richard,

I am very sorry about the loss of your bunny.

The mushy poop you saw before she obviously got ill was a sign of cecal dysbiosis:

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

This usually occurs in response to illness/stress, and could have been a side effect of the infections that were going on, characterized by the abscesses under her skin.  Those are not normal, and if she had many of them, she had some serious health problems that were not noticed in time.

It is also very dangerous to bathe a rabbit, as this can cause enough stress to push an already debilitated rabbit "over the edge."  I  have known even *healthy* rabbits to die from the stress of a bath.  Please see:

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

for safe ways to bathe a rabbit--though I am very sorry this comes too late for your little girl.

The high protein levels in her blood could indicate dehydration, or could signal kidney problems.  But without more diagnostic tests, there is no way to be sure.  And unfortunately there is no way to know for sure the ultimate cause of your bunny's passing without a post mortem exam including histopathology of major organs.  A gross post mortem sometimes just doesn't reveal what happened.

It sounds as if she might have had multiple problems.  Holland lops often have dental problems that can lead to stress and immunosuppression, too.  But again, we can't know for sure whether those contributed without more information.

I am very sorry about your loss.  I wish I could have been of some help sooner.

Take care,

Dana