My Cottontail died today

Question
Over a yr and a half ago my husband was out walking our dog in the snow and almost steped on the lil guy fit in the palm of my hand so he brought him home. Well we have had him over a yr and a half now and I was the only one could pick him up and love on him..... This morning he passed. For the last week he has had a nasty sounding cough then I noticed runny stools. That led to just laying around and doing nothing but shake so bad his whole cage rattled. yesterday it came down to no food and water. What could have happened he was such a happy and always seemed healthy rabbit? The only thing I can think of but not limited to is my husband brought home a kitten with a dislocated hip that I took care of and since she has been here Thumper came down with his cough and so has my other cat? could that have something to do with it?

Answer
Dear Laura,

I am sorry for your loss.

Wild rabbits of any species are very, very good at hiding symptoms of illness until they are close to death.  Without a post mortem exam, it is not possible to know exactly why your little cottie died.  But the coughing suggests that he had a respiratory infection, and possibly pneumonia.  This can quickly cause systemic toxemia (infection that travels into the bloodstream) and death within a short time.

One symptom of a completely failing rabbit is the onset of true diarrhea.  I just lost my most beloved hare, Attila, in almost exactly the same way you describe your cottie's passing.  He was fine in the morning, but by evening he had smelly diarrhea, and despite all the treatments we administered to him the instant we knew he was sick, he left me by morning.

With the wild ones--both cottontails and wild hares (which Attila was)--you sometimes just cannot know they're sick until it is too late.  It's a horrible, helpless feeling.

It is possible that the new kitten brought a pathogen into the house, such as Pasteurella.  But this bacterium is actually not easily transmitted between animals without direct contact.  Even then, it's not highly contagious.  Other pathogens, such as Bordetella, are possible.  But without a post mortem and culture and sensitivity test done on lung tissue samples, there is no way to know for sure.

Please see:

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

and

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

for more complete information on this.

I hope this helps a little.

Dana