Bunny dies suddenly

[Kstaylor921]

My 4 year old dutch rabbit died suddenly yesterday morning. I fed her pellets like I do every mornong. I got home from work 3 hours later and she was on her side with her head still in her pellet bowl with her eyes open, food in her mouth and mucous all over her nose and mouth. She didn’t seem like anything was wrong. I wanted so opinions on possibly what could have happened. I was thinking a heart attack or choked.

[Daisy]

Oh no, I’m sorry! :C The mucus, her head being in the food bowl and her mouth filled with food seems to point to a choking incident. She seems to have choked on a pellet. I hope you may find comfort in knowing that such deaths are usually quite fast, so she probably hasn’t suffered much.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

I’m so sorry your the loss of your bunny If you want, we have a special memorial subforum called the rainbow bridge. You can always make a tribute topic to her if that helps you.

Rabbits are extremely delicate creatures, and can die suddenly of many causes. It’s hard to be sure unless a vet does a necropsy.
Most sudden rabbit deaths are caused by heart attacks, especially with outdoor bunnies. Being a prey species, rabbits can get very frightened if a predator approaches. They may even see a neighbour’s curious cat as a predator, and lterally be scared to death. This is one of the reasons we are advocates for indoor buns.

Choking is also a risk because rabbits can’t vomit. Their oesophagus goes one way only. You can see if a rabbit has choked when their gums have turned blue from lack of oxygen.

I hopes this helps a bit to cope with the loss. Feel free to ask all the questions you like. Wishing you all the best in these difficult times!

[kurottabun]

Oh no All the signs do seem to indicate a choking incident. If your bunny was one who goes crazy for pellets, then it’s highly likely she ate too many, too fast. Sometimes bunnies are able to dislodge the pellets on their own, but in unfortunate situations it is possible that they fail to do so, resulting in choking and subsequent death.

I’ve seen my bunny choke on pellets many times as a result of eating more pellets at a speed faster than he could handle. Fortunately he has managed to dislodge it on his own every single time so far. But for your future reference and also for others reading this thread, to prevent choking, one could either scatter the pellets so that bunny can’t stuff more pellets at one go into their mouth, or place the pellets in something like a treat ball so that the pellets are only dispensed one or two at a time.

Really sorry for your loss

[meridiian]

This is really sad. I’m so sorry you lost your bunny this way. RIP little one.xx

[Author]

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