runny stool

Question
I purchased a rabbit (they said it was 2 months old) a week ago. The rabbit seemed perfectly fine until this past sunday when it began having runny stool. Unfortunately, I figuered it wasn't a big deal and it was just something he ate. The next day I noticed the rabbit seemed worse; I looked in his cage and noticed a big pool of water with some brown in it and then he began twitching and died. What went wrong and maybe you can shed some light as to what actually happened?

Answer
Dear Albert,

I am very sorry about the loss of your bunny.  This is not an uncommon occurrence when it comes to baby pet store bunnies, and this article explains why:

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

At the first sign of mushy or runny stool in a baby rabbit, you need to get the bunny to a good rabbit vet:

www.rabbit.org/vets

for treatment with antibiotics (fluoroquinolones such as Baytril or ciprofloxacin are usually effective, as diarrhea in baby rabbits is often due to E. coli--sometimes from human handling--which are usually sensitive to this class of drugs), subcutaneous fluid therapy, diarrhea remedies, etc.

I am sorry this is too late to help your bunny.  But I hope that it will help if you ever have another.  If you do decide to do that, please consider adopting a bunny, rather than buying from a pet store that might be victimizing you by selling rabbits too young to be weaned (a very common--and usually illegal--practice).

I am sorry about your loss.


Dana