My Daughter’s Bunny Died Last Night and I don’t know if I caused it

[MyBabyGirlsBunny]

This morning I found my daughter’s sweet Holland lop, Thumper, stiff with rigor mortis. My daughter (and me) are really distraught. We held a small funeral in our back yard and shares stories about the little tyke and what we loved about it. I’m currently dealing with it a lot more heavily than I would have predicted. I’m also just so confused to why he died. He was nearly three, so he was still so young. I cooked food last night and it created a lot of smoke in the kitchen and our house is really small so I can image some smoke made it’s way into her room. We also cleaned up his feet with a wet rag about five days ago and got rid of his matting, we did this in addition to cleaning her room and thoroughly tidied up his area. He didn’t have a cage but had like a wooden castle like thing he lived in but he was restricted to the room himself. He occasionally did chew up a book and we had sometimes see something plastic he’d chew at. I’m mostly concerned about the smoke though. He was seemingly so healthy and finding him stiff and dead is ruining me.

Here are some lovely photos of the amazing little potato.

[Wick & Fable]

I’m very sorry for your family’s loss. Unfortunately, it is impossible for us to know for certain what may have caused the death without an autopsy. Rabbit lungs are more sensitive, but in most circumstances, consequential smoke from cooking and a generally well ventilated home typically do not cause imminent respiratory concerns. I lived in essentially a studio apartment with two rabbits before (just opening the oven would set off the smoke alarm), and even with bad cooks, there were no signs of respiration issues in either rabbit.

 

Binky free lovely.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[DanaNM]

I’m so sorry for your loss, he was an adorable bun. 🙁

I think it’s very very unlikely that the smoke or cleaning caused this, so please don’t beat yourself up. Very sadly sometimes buns die very suddenly with very few warning signs. Often the more sudden, the less that can be done to help them.

Did you notice whether he ate his dinner normally the night before he passed? Usually low or lack of appetite is the first (or only) sign something is wrong with a bun. It would take a lot of smoke inhalation to kill a rabbit (like a house fire), and you would have seen other symptoms if he was bothered by it. I used to live in a studio apartment with my buns and cooked often… sometimes things got smokey as well. Not ideal if it’s prolonged or if the bun has a respiratory illness already, but occasional cooking smoke is not generally a problem. Buns are not as sensitive as parrots to smoke etc.

Buns can have heart attacks and strokes just like humans. There are other causes too that even vets don’t fully understand (I had a friend who’s bun died of what can only be described as complete organ failure with no other real cause). One preventable cause to consider is RHDV2, a virus that causes sudden death, often without symptoms. I’m not sure where you live, but it is present in Europe (buns are routinely vaccinated there), Australia, and has been spreading in North America since early 2020. There is a vaccine available now in most US states so if you are considering getting another bun and are in an outbreak area then you should definitely get the new bun vaccinated. You can read about RHDV2 in the USA here: https://rabbit.org/health/rhd/

Again I’m so sorry for your loss, it’s an awful shock to loose a young bunny so suddenly.

(((Binky free Thumper )))

 

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[MyBabyGirlsBunny]

Only upon cleaning up her room today that I noticed that his poop was uncharacteristically smaller than normal. In hindsight I now recall it had been that way a few days prior as well. I guess at the time it didn’t strike me as anything weird. But now in looking back I’d be easily convinced that this is connected to his death. Upon doing some minimal research this is a sign of eating less. I wish this was something I paid more notice to beforehand 😔

[BZOO]

So sorry for your loss.  Beautiful bun.  Hugs to y’all.

[MyBabyGirlsBunny]

I commented on the wrong post. Sorry for this replay.

[Elderbunny]

The nature center in town had a bunny that looked like a cottontail rabbit (of course it wasn’t because you can’t keep them in cages).

It was there as a demonstration for the schoolkids who took field trips there.

One time I took my daughter there and he was gone.

The workers said he was doing fine the evening before and the next day they came in and he had died.

Sometimes you never know what happened to cause death.

Sorry about what happened.

[Adam]

My boy died before he reached 3, just sudden heart attack. I had a camera in the bunny room and I watched it happen after I found him. I googled some and found that this is surprisingly common, and with male rabbits specifically.

[Author]

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