Bunny Passed Away

Question
This morning, my beloved baby bunny passed away and I am so confused as to why. He was absolutely fine last night. I was laying on my bed while he was running about on my bed and i would pet him like usual and he go run off again and come back. It was getting late so I put him in his box like usual and made sure he had some food and water. I wake up the next morning and he seemsd a little drowsey but I assumed it was from being sleepy. I took him with me to my college ( I had to stop by admissions for 5 min to turn something in) and I was going to go to the vet to have him checked out. I noticed that he was had some lettuce in his mouth but wasnt eating it, and when i went to take it away he would move away and still not eat it. I took it out and thought it was odd but not too much of a big deal. I go to Admissions and took less than 5 min. come back and he's kinda limpy and not moving....i freaked out because i thought he was dead...he then shakes a little, opens its mouth wide and just looks like its having a small seizure....i hold it and pet it and rush to an emergency pet hospital...but they open at 6pm and it was only about 11 am...but by the time i got there...it had gotten worse and died there. A man checked to hear a heart beat and nothing. I am so disdraught and so heart broken, and i don't understand why and how it died. I only had it for about 3 days...i bought it from a man who was selling the baby bunnies...and it was upbeat and healthy until this morning. What could have happened?

Answer
Hi Paula,

I'm very sorry to hear about your rabbit passing away.

Nobody can really tell you why without doing a post-mortem exam on him to determine cause of death.  However, I may be able to tell you a possibility.

You had him three days from a guy selling baby rabbits (did he mention approximately how many weeks old they were?).  I would guess it is a combination of stress and wrong diet.  AS you probably do not know what is and is not good for baby rabbits to eat, you did your best and fed him what you thought was okay.  Vegetables are not good for baby rabbits.
they will eat them because they taste good, but their gut and gut bacteria is not mature enough to handle them.

Generally baby rabbits are on mothers' milk exclusively for about 3-4 weeks, with this time they slowly start eating a grass hay like timothy hay.  By eight weeks mom has weaned them and they are exclusive hay and hay pellet eaters.  At about 6 months it is pretty safe to SLOWLY start introducing greens, but at a slow rate, and one at a time.

The guy selling you your bunny did not do you any favors, in my opinion.  He probably never asked you if you knew anything about them, or what to feed them, etc, etc.  He basically set you up to fail.  It's not your fault, it's his fault.  Irresponsible breeders are people like this.

To be honest with you, a rabbit is not a good pet to be in a college environment.  A college setting is way noisier than what a regular rabbit can handle.  And if your living space is like mine, way too many people moving way too fast around it.  Rabbits are animals that need a consistent routine, with food being fed at regular times.  They are a lot more delicate (as you know now) than a cat or a dog.  What a dog and cat can handle (like not eating all day) is something that can kill a rabbit.  They can get very stressed by strangers and strange smells and loud noises (including stuff like loud music or music with heavy beats).  I would not suggest at this point you getting another rabbit while you are in college unless you are at home and your home (and you) are a quiet, calm place to be with relatively low activity levels.

Again, I am very sorry for your baby rabbit dying, and that you had to go through such a heartbreaking experience.

Write back anytime.