Oh No!! What happened?! Rabbit suddenly dead this morning.

saltnpepper

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When I went to let our goats out and feed the rabbits this morning, I found my daughters' rabbit dead.
When I took her out to burry her, she was very skinny, and she was normally very chunky. She's been fine up until now.
The only thing I can think of is that yesterday I noticed she still had a full bottle of water, and when I picked it up, I found that the ball was stuck. When I put it back, she immediately started drinking and seemed fine. Between then and this morning she had half a bottle gone.
Looking back, I now recall her hopping around near the bottle a few times when I went in there. I'm thinking it could have been a couple of days that she'd been doing that. I think the ball could have been stuck then and I just didn't realize it because I had just taken the top off to refill, not realizing it was stuck.

I don't know what to tell my daughter who is still sleeping. She is going to be heartbroken.

I think my own stupidity led to her death.
 

a7736100

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Depending on her age maybe you should just tell your daughter the truth.

Her bunny probably starved to death. Without water rabbits stop eating.

Now I try to feel backbones of all my rabbits because I can't tell just looking at the furry animals if they have meat on their bones. I was shocked when I found healthy looking rabbits that were really boney.

For her next rabbit, teach her to notice changes in water and food consumption and have her pet the rabbit daily so he can notice changes.
 

Bunnylady

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Nothing like a little guilt, first thing in the morning!

I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's bunny. I had the privilege once of telling my son that my stupid dogs had murdered his favorite bun, when they dug into the rabbitry and had a field day (they killed 4 that time, and it wasn't the first. Who's fault was that??!)

It sounds like you have just experienced the reason that I hate water bottles. I help out with the local fair, and every year, I tell the youth volunteers, "don't just look at the water level in the bottles, tap the balls at the ends of the tubes to see if the water is getting through. It takes longer, but the bottles can fool you." I have a water system here, which has its own problems, including the ability to get clogged at any point and cut off the water to maybe dozens of rabbits at one go!

My best clue that there is a problem is that the rabbit isn't eating its pellets. If there is any feed left in a feeder in the morning, the first thing I do is check the water valve. They need water to process the food, so if they can't drink, they won't eat.

Of course, this may not be the actual cause of death. You fixed the problem with the water bottle, as soon as you noticed it, and the rabbit was still alive and drinking at that point. You said the rabbit was skinny, it takes more than a couple of days for significant weight loss. Her thinness could be a result of anything from a furball to cancer, with many other possibilities in the mix. I have had rabbits that seemed fine one day (bright and lively, eating well) that turned up dead the next. I had one bloodline that I wondered about a possible congenital heart problem, there were at least 4 that died from no obvious cause at less than 2 years of age. (I've never been curious enough to spend the money to have a necropsy done on a maybe $30 rabbit.) After 20+ years with rabbits, when people ask me how long do rabbits live, I now say, "until they get tired of it." Sometimes, they just quit on you, and you never do know why. My condolences to you both.
 

saltnpepper

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Thanks everyone.
My girls are both under 10 yrs of age, and have had to deal with a lot of death in humans and pets. And they are too smart to tell them anything but the truth. (I think my own guilt was actually worse than delivering the news.) But, they took it a lot better than I expected, and both said that they don't spend enough time with the rabbits.
We've had the one we lost, and her sister for 4 years. Their birthday is next week. So, we're not exactly new at this.
I've also always had water bottles and never had a problem with one sticking before. However, I am now going to mount water dishes next to the bottles. May seem like over-kill, but at least we shouldn't ever have that problem again.
It may not have been the water bottle that did it, but I'm sure it also didn't help. We'll all be more in-tune to them now, I'm sure.

Thanks again!!
 

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