How did rabbit die?

Question
Hello, I had a dwarf rabbit that was two years old.  He just died suddenly.  He seemed fine all day until I went to feed him.  I noticed that he was having trouble breathing and there was a clear mucus type substance coming from his nose and mouth.  About 45 minutes later he died.  I can't figure out what happened.  We just got a new baby mini lop two days ago.  They were not sharing a cage but they were next to each other.  Could this baby bunny have spread a sickness?  I have another adult mini lop whose cage has been moved just in case.  Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Erin,

sorry to hear about the loss of your rabbit.  Sounds like a very sad death.

I don't really know what it is, it sounds like possibly some kind of toxin to me, possibly he had an internal infection that got out of control, or perhaps in his stomach bad bacteria overgrew and created a lot of toxins his body couldn't handle.

But all of this is pure speculation on my part.  I recommend, because you have other rabbits, that you take your rabbit who passed away to a good rabbit vet for a necropsy, to see if they can determine a cause of death, and to let you know if it's something you have to worry about affecting them.

If you don't have a good rabbit vet, start here:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html


Lee