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What caused the sudden death of my rabbit?

22 11:22:11

Question
I have two healthy, 2 year old rabbits (sisters) who are fed a proper diet with access to water 24/7.  Yesterday at 5:00 pm I checked on them, and both seemed perfectly fine.  At 9:00 pm I checked on them again, and one of them was near death!  She was laying on her side, and not knowing what was wrong, I tried moving her.  She seemed to be having seizures.  She was also stretched out, once in a while pawing at the sides of her cage, as if in pain.  Then she turned over on her back so her back legs were sticking straight up in the air, with the front half of herself twisted, laying on her side.  She eventually layed flat out on her side again, and looked dead, other than seeing that she was still breathing.  She remained in this position for a couple hours.  I called the local vets, but nobody around here really knows much about rabbits since they never treat them.  They didn't have any suggestions for me.  I felt so helpless and guilty leaving her like that, but I just didn't know what to do.  She ended up dying around 2:00 am.  So this all happened within about 5-7 hours.  My other rabbit was fine.  I have been researching health issues in rabbits, and am wondering if she could have had GI Stasis.  I just remembered my young son giving the rabbits about half of a small bag of treats all at once, two days before she died.  If one rabbit got most of the treats, could this have caused her death two days later?  Since they are together, I'm not sure if the rabbit droppings are from one or both rabbits.  I don't think she stopped eating, but may have slowed down on both pellets and carrots that I give them.  Also, I don't use pine shavings, but am still considering any liver or kidney problems.  Or could she have had a heart attack?  Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!  

Answer
Dear Tessa,

I am very sorry about this tragic death, and even more sorry that none of the vets you called would even *try* to save her.  Shame on them.  You can find a good rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

The surviving bunny will be grieving, so be sure to give her extra love and attention until you can have her spayed and arrange to allow her to meet some eligible "bachelors" at your local rabbit rescuer's foster home.  Please do not buy another bunny, as your surviving bunny will very likely beat it up and fight ferociously.  She is grieving for the loss of her sister now, and needs your love and support as much as you need hers.

Without a post-mortem exam, there is no way to know what happened.  A "small" bag of treats is not likely to harm her, although you don't tell me exactly what those treats were.  If there were corn kernels and seeds, she might have suffered an intestinal obstruction and bloat, which is nearly always fatal.  But without more information, I cannot tell whether this is what happened.

A heart attack kills swiftly, so this is not likely.  It may have been anything from a liver torsion to an intestinal obstruction, and without a necropsy, anything would be no more than a guess.

I am sorry about your loss.  Please write back if you have any other questions.

Dana