mysterious death of rabbit

Question
I recently lost a female rabbit that was about 16wks old.  She had diarhea.  I treated her with a preparation from our feed store.  The product was called, "Peter's rabbit ProBiotic".  When I first realized she was having this problem, she was not eating (she had not eaten for 2 days).  After treating her for 2 days,  she begin to nibble on bits of apple and carrots.  She seemed to be getting better and stronger.  Then, she simply died.  

Do you have any idea what might have happened?

I appreciate you time and help.

Terry Knorr

Answer
Dear Terry,

I am very sorry about the sad loss of your friend.

The "diarrhea" you saw was a sign of a very serious health problem known as cecal dysbiosis.  Probiotics might help a little bit, but a good rabbit vet is really needed to do a full exam and diagnosis of the underlying problem that caused the cecal dysbiosis.  You can read more about this here:

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

Without more information and an autopsy, there is just no way to know what caused the cecal dysbiosis, but it is likely that she suffered some intestinal and/or liver insult from the cecal dysbiosis, and that this was the proximate, if not ultimate cause of her death.  I am sorry this comes too late to help your bunny, but if you should ever have another one, please use this:

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

to know what to do if bun is ill.

I hope this helps a little bit.  Please write back if you have any other questions.

Dana