Bunnies sudden death

Question
Hello.I had a Netherland Dwarf, she just passed away yesterday. She was 7 years old. She had not shown any signs of illness at all & had been her regular self. She had just been checked on, then about 2 hours later, she had found a small area in her cage to get out & my son found her right outside her cage, lying on the cold dirt. She seemed very lethargic, I held her, I could tell something was wrong, then in about 30 mintues she was gone. I am still trying to figure out what happened. Maybe just old age? I am devastated. Thank You

Answer
Dear Shawn,

I am very sorry about your bunny's death.  If she was living outside, it's probably quite difficult to tell if she was showing any symptoms of illness before she died, since rabbits are very stoic about pain or sickness.  You can read about how to tell if a bunny is sick here:

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

I'm sorry this comes to late for your bunny.  At seven years of age, she was not old enough to die from age-related causes, unless she had some underlying illness.  Unfortunately, it is impossible to say what might have happened without an autopsy by a rabbit-experienced vet:

www.rabbit.org/vets

and even that might not give the whole story.  It could be anything from exposure to pesticides to heart failure to renal disease to systemic infection.  There are as many ways for a rabbit to die as there are for any other creature.

I wish I could give you a more positive answer, but without more medical information or knowing more about *any* symptoms she might have shown before her passing, no one can really say.

Please write back if you have any other questions.

Sincerely,

Dana