You must all feel happy while welcoming your pet bunnies home. However, most rabbits that seem to be perfectly healthy could die even for no apparent reason. There is always a cause of death, no matter how sudden it is.
Bunnies are born in litters consisting of 1 to 14 babies. They start eating what their mom eats at around 3 weeks and can leave their mother at 8 weeks.
Most male bunnies become sexually mature when they reach the age of 4 months. That’s why it is recommended to neuter the males instead of spaying the females. Most of female bunnies can die during the operation.
Before dying, there must be some issues that they suffer from, such as illness, stress or injury. If you suspect your bunny is depressed, you can check whether she or he displays any of these signs your rabbit is depressed.
As an owner of a pet bunny, it is very important to highlight and notice these 10 most common causes why they die suddenly. Let’s discuss each of them further.
- Heart Attack
Bunnies can experience heart attack as they are known for their sensitivity, which is very important instinct for their survival in the wild. However, this instinct could be a serious issue when they are kept in captivity.
Heart attacks are commonly caused by fright of any intensely startling moment. To handle this issue, it is important to keep your bunnies away from dogs, cats and other wild animals. Put them in a safe area, even from the unfamiliar people, foreign objects and animals.
If you have small children at home, encourage them not to chase your bunnies and try to catch one who seems afraid. Read more details about heart attack caused by fright in rabbits in how come frighten be the one of rabbit’s dead caused.
Heart attack in bunnies can also be caused by natural issue, such as being born with a weak and underdeveloped heart.
- Cold Temperature
Bunnies are adapted to cold weather, but baby bunnies cannot withstand extreme cold temperature. No wonder, they are born hairless and unable to retain the body heat enough to keep the internal systems to operate properly.
Mama bunnies or does are sometimes unaware of the danger of giving birth in an open area. A tiny rabbit can feel really cold when there’s a cold breeze. If you have a pregnant bunny, make sure to do this intensive care for pregnant rabbit so that the mother and babies would be safe and healthy.
If you live in a cold area, make sure to keep the rabbits indoors until they are old enough and their bodies hardier. Not only extreme cold temperature, extreme heat should be avoided as well.
- Dehydration
Dehydration is the condition where your bunnies do not consume enough water. While they are babies, they will consume their mother’s milk. However, once they are growing up, they will need water. Sometimes they don’t enough water. As a result, their health is affected.
To prevent dehydration, you should provide a lot of water to your rabbit. Think of various ways to provide water for them. Some rabbits don’t like drinking out of a water bottle, while others require encouragement to drink.
- Injury or Accident
There might be some accidents that your bunnies experience and that lead to death. Poisoning is one of the common accidents most rabbits experience.
Plant toxicosis is the condition where your bunnies consume some poisonous plants, such as milkweed, foxglove and lupine. If you have a pet bunny, make sure to get rid of these plants from your garden.
Then, there is also heat stress or acute shock. As we know, rabbits are susceptible to heat stress and heat stroke. It is all because they cannot sweat. They may get affected by temperatures as low as 82 degrees Celsius. There are some symptoms of heat stroke in rabbits , such as open-mouth breathing, depression, and seizures.
- Myasis
Myasis or fly strike is a secondary disease caused by certain flies. These flies are being attracted to a rabbit’s soiled perineum. This area may accumulated caecotrophs because the rabbit is not consuming the materials due to some other problems, such as obesity, dental disease and arthritis. The eggs of the flies are also laid between the skin folds and cause tissue damage.
- Other Causes
Besides those which are mentioned above, there are some other causes of sudden death in bunnies that are as important as the others. Aborted pregnancy, swallow a sharp object, bunny was older than you thought, injured by other pets, and pre-existing health condition.
If you plan to have a pet bunny at home, make sure to follow these tips to take care of baby bunnies.