Cause of death?

[Blaze_bunnies]

Hi everyone, my gorgeous baby boy zorro just passed away.

Yesterday he was fine binkying, eating, weeing and eating normally.

This morning he was on his side and I poked him a couple of times to see if he was just sleeping but no he had crossed he rainbow bridge.

He had no obvious signs of anything- tummy was normal size, weeing normally, eating, poos were normal, butt was clean, face was clean (it's been hot here but he's hasn't ever gotten heat stroke), he didn't have fleas or Mites, he was fed a great diet, he was vaccinated...

I can't find anything that he would have died from except possible old age? When I rescued him people said he was around 5-6 I know that's not really old but he has been through ALOT.


Can anyone please help me with his cause of death? Thanks in advance.

 

[ladysown]

welcome to the world of rabbits... more than one person has come into to find what seemed a perfectly healthy rabbit dead.

What could have died from: heart attack, seizure, fear, got startled and ran into the wall breaking his back, a whole host of things.

 

[Blaze_bunnies]

I have had rabbits for years, however not many have passed away.

He was flopped on his side in his favourite sleeping spot. He looked quite comfy aswell :/

 

[Azerane]

Knowing how hot it's been in my area of Australia lately it could have been the heat. While a rabbit may not always show signs of heat stroke, multiple days in a row provides no relief and with extreme heat often the damage is already done, even when the temperature does cool down. I'm not saying that's what it was, but without any other indicators, there's not much to go on.

I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[Blaze_bunnies]

He was an inside bunny, had the fan and air con on so not the heat and he wasn't too cold either 😕

 

[runnybunny13]

I have 5 minirex kits. On the first 2 days, it seems as if they are not feeding well. During the 3rd and 4th day they were but the other 2 were not. I tried to manually nurse them but the other one changes from nipple to nipple. On the 4th day one died but it doesnt look like a peanut. The one that is smaller than the one that died is still okay. What do you think is wrong?

 

[squidpop]

I have 5 minirex kits. On the first 2 days, it seems as if they are not feeding well. During the 3rd and 4th day they were but the other 2 were not. I tried to manually nurse them but the other one changes from nipple to nipple. On the 4th day one died but it doesnt look like a peanut. The one that is smaller than the one that died is still okay. What do you think is wrong?

It would be better to this question as a fresh new post with a title. But to answer the question. Its normal for mother rabbits to not get their milk flowing until the second day. This is because they are pray animals and concealing their milk scent helps keep them safe while having the babies. The mother is only going to feed babies once to twice a day for a few minutes, after feeding the tummies should look fat and round, not wrinkly- so can you tell if the small one has a full tummy? If all three have a full tummy then everything is probably ok. Its not that unusual for a runt to die, it could have been born with some genetic problem you couldn't see.

Also, for the mom's milk production, along with good hay and good pellets and some dark leafy greens - you might want to add some raw sunflower seeds- or raw flax seeds, just a teaspoon or so, for extra protein and richness for milk production and added vitamins like E which are hard to get from other foods- this might help her milk production.