Death of Dwarf Lop Ear Rabbit

Question
Ok

We have had two Dwarf lop ear bucks for 3 years and had to keep them in seperate hutches as they fought each other. One of the Dwarf rabbits developed wry neck 6 weeks ago and we rushed him into the vets. It was 50:50 but we have had him on Baytril for 6 weeks and Panacur for one month.

He has been making good progress and although his head is not upright he is eating and drinking well and making a good recovery. As the weather has been foul we have kept his pen in the house so we could monitor his progress.

While all this was going on our other rabbit was quite healthy and happy and in a pen down the garden and I changed his bedding and gave him some food on Saturday afternoon and all seemed well. I got up on Sunday morning and went to check him and found him dead in his cage. We were totatly shocked as we thought our other sick rabbit was going to be 50:50 with his wry neck and our other rabbit dies instead.

I checked my dead rabbit and he had no signs of fly-strike,serious injury or signs of severe distress.

He had his normal Supa Excel and Cabbage and did not have access to anything toxic.

The only thing I can put it down to is the severe weather we have had as it has been heavy rain for days and very cold for May.

Any other ideas of what may have caused his sudden death ?


Regards


Brian

Answer
Dear Brian,

I am sorry about your loss.

Without a necropsy, there is no way to know for sure why the bunny died.  If he had no shelter from the cold and rain, then hypothermia is certainly a possibility.

This is why we recommend that all rabbits--sick or well--live inside the house where they are safe from predators and the elements, and where you can monitor them for any sign of behavioral changes that could signal a serious health problem.  I'm sorry this comes too late to help you, but please see:

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

I'm glad your head tilt bunny is doing well.  You can read more about this here:

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

His chances for full recovery are actually quite good.

Hope this helps.

Dana