My sister received a Rabbit for her birthday in March and it was her pride and joy. Unfortunately, it fell ill on Wednesday 27th October 2010. She had fallen ill previously, but we monitored her and she had recovered, however this time she got worse .
On Thursday morning, when refilling her food bowl, we noticed it was still full up. Nevertheless, we repalced the food and water. The same occured on Friday the 29th October. On this day, my sister decided to take her inside to see how she was. In the rabbits mouth was some unswallowed food, showing she had tried to eat, but was to weak. An appointment was made to see the Vet.
A couple of hours later, my mum and sister drove the the Vet, but as they were parking the car, the rabbit made a big, sudden jump in her carrier, before laying motionless. My sister screamed, fearing the worse, and my mum ran inside with the Rabbit. Giving the Vet the rabbit, the Vet left then returned with the bad news.
She died within 72 hours of noticing the first symptons and she was only 9 months old.
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After returning home with the rabbit, we noticed an orange discharge coming from the rear of the rabbit. We dont know what this is, but were wondering if it was a sympton of an illness.
Although nothing can bring her back, we would love to know what had killed a 9 month, apparantly healthy, rabbit. Thank you.
Sounds to me like this bunny had stasis in her gut and died as a result. Often rabbits will make one last heroic jump or jerk before the end - it happened with my rabbit who died of old age. He lay motionless resting on the floor all day and then jerked up and ran down the stairs. It was his last major effort before he passed away. I am very sorry you sister's young bunny died, but outdoor bunnies have very short lifespans because they are so exposed to the elements and predators, etc. If there is ever another bunny in your household, please consider making it a house rabbit and don't banish it to a hutch outdoors ...
I thank it was most likely the muscles relaxing after rigor because the body will release the fluid. Though I am not a vet I am pretty negligible about rabbits because I show rabbits for 4h and grow up around them. I also raise rabbits. Sorry about the rabbit. I hope I helped.
I think it depends on if the fluid was clear or cloudy. If it were a bodily fluid it would more than likely be clear. If it were cloudy, that could be a symptom of what went wrong. I'm not sure about this, but I think I've heard that you can release bodily fluids during rigor as well (though possibly uncommon?)
It is quite likley if the orange discharge appeared after the rabbit died it was likely body fluid let loose after the muscle relaxed.
