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unidentifiable death

22 10:40:03

Question
One of my rabbits died last night for no apparent reason. She went to the vet last week for a vaccination and was declared perfectly healthy. She was absolutely fine last night and this morning was gone.  I suspect a heart attack as it's the only thing I can think of. I'm also concerned about her sister. They were inseperable for 5 years and I'm worried about the effect this may have on her.

Answer
Dear Elizabeth,

I am very sorry about this terrible, sudden loss.  Unfortunately, there is no way to know for sure what happened without a post mortem exam done by a good rabbit vet:

www.rabbit.org/vets

For now, the main concern is the surviving bunny, who will be in terrible grief.  She needs to visit with the body and know what happened, and then be given lots of constant love and attention, just as any bereaved person needs.

In time, depending on her speed of recovery, you can contact your local rabbit rescuer and find out about letting her choose a new mate, so her grief can start to heal.

Unless the bunny died from exposure to an environmental toxin, there is not a high risk of your other bunny also succumbing, since most rabbit pathogens are not easily transmissible between rabbits, and other conditions (e.g., cardiac illness) would not be contagious, either.

I hope this helps.

Dana