My 2 year old bunny just died suddenly ?

[Bunny lover 10]

I have noticed that over the past month my rabbit ( a 2 year old mini lip buck) wasn’t eating as much hay as usual. It all started when I accidentally left the cat in his cage with him. I’m not sure how it happened but they both seemed fine the next morning. Anyway my bunny started getting a little slower and less happy. I noticed that he stopped eating hay altogether but he was still eating pellets and drinking normally. Yesterday he was totally fine and acting normal and today I found him dead. Did I do something wrong? I just don’t know what happened? I also noticed today that his water bottle was lodged in his cage and he may not have been able to drink (but I really hope this isn’t the case). I would appreciate anyone’s thoughts and comments. Thank you?❤️

[lunavenus]

I’d first like to say that I’m sorry for your loss.
From what I researched extensively regarding rabbits, hay is super important for a rabbit’s digestive system to work and not go into GI Stasis…
When your rabbit stopped eating as much hay and started only relying on pellets, it should have been a sign that something was really really wrong because the hay is what really drives a rabbit’s digestive system. Rabbits can seem fine by hiding obvious signs of pain because they are prey animals since in the wild if they showed signs of weakness or injury then they would be a predators next meal. I think you should’ve taken him to the vet after you started noticing he wasn’t eating the food he needed to eat…. He might have gotten stressed when your cat was locked in the cage with him, so it upset the pH balance in his digestive tract and as a result he stopped eating properly for a period of time. Then, his guts started slowing down soon after (since a rabbit can go into a critical state in only 6-12 hours) so he probably just lost the appetite to eat the correct food because he was in pain and he felt full of gas which led to his death a month later…

[lunavenus]

I send my condolences to you for the loss of your rabbit. I hope he rests in peace… 

[Bam]

I’m very sorry for your loss.

Rabbits are very good at hiding signs of illness. Prey species do that so as not to attract the attention of predators. So it really is very hard to tell sth is very wrong, the signs are very subtle. Eating less is a warning-sign though. It is like Lunavenus says about stress and bunny tummies: Stress (like the thing with the cat) can cause the GI-system to slow down, the bunny eats less and that in turn makes the GI system slow even more. Undigested food can build up in the intestines and cause a partial blocking, the gut slows down even further. Cause of death in your buns sounds like it might have been GI stasis, ie a full stop of all GI movement. It’s unfortunately a very common cause of death in bunnies. Him not being able to drink his last night could’ve sped up the process, but this was sth that most likely had been going on for quite a while.

If action is taken early on when you see poor appetite and reduced amount and size of poop, it’s often possible to save the bunny (but unfortunately not always). But you need to know what to look for and how serious it is for a bun. This is not really common knowledge. You don’t really see this in other pets like cats and dogs (although cats can get blockages if they get dry feed and don’t drink enough). We try to raise awareness here, and by posting about your bun, you’ve helped doing that.

Again, I’m very sorry.

Binky free, little bun.

[Theodorusrex]

Were his poops normal? Or had he stopped pooping?

It’s normal to blame yourself but try not to beat yourself up about it. As bam said, rabbits can hide illness really well.

I’m really so sorry for your loss- especially with it being so sudden. May your little one Rest in Peace.

[Bunny lover 10]

Thank you so much for your thoughts and advice. It is a great relief to know what happened to my sweet bun. I know from my original post I sounded a bit irresponsible with the cat thing and all (that was an accident and it was really scary), but I took really good care of Wooton and he got a lot of care, love and cuddles?❤️ In the future I will watch very closely at my bun’s eating habits. Thank you again for all of your helpful advice it’s means a lot to me.

And btw when I cleaned his cage out a few days ago i found out that a good amount of his poo was less then half of it’s normal size (I hadn’t noticed it at all before). So with that said it is extremely likely that GI stasis was the culprit?

[Bam]

Bunnylover, it seems extremely likely that stasis was the culprit, everything points to that, small size poop is a typical finding. It’s not certain it had was caused by the cat-accident since he was still eating his pellets fine. There can be other reasons for a bunny to stop eating hay, dental problems are the most common. And without enough hay, the gut can’t work properly and one thing leads to another in a slow, downward spiral.

It sounds like you loved him a lot. Again I’m sorry you lost him.

[Author]

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